The Montreal Canadiens Will Fail
The Montreal Canadiens have punched their ticket to failure. How is that possible, you’re asking? I’ll give you a few reasons why.
Bob Gainey signed every available known player he could, so how does that result in failure? Why don’t you ask Glen Sather and the New York Rangers organization? Sather’s 2002-03 roster consisted of players, Mark Messier, Alexei Kovalev, Brian Leetch, Eric Lindros, Petr Nedved, and Jaromir Jagr to name a few. This team couldn’t even finish in eighth place to make the playoffs. It wasn’t just the 2002-03 season that had an incredibly overpaid, stacked Rangers squad, it was like this for near 10 seasons, all of which were unsuccessful. I watched more Rangers games during those years than any other team, I found it mind-boggling that an all-star team like this couldn’t beat anyone; I would joke about how AHL teams could potentially give them a tough time on the ice.
So now, Bob Gainey has signed Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta, Mike Cammalleri, Jaroslav Spacek, and Hal Gill. “WHOOPEE!”
In the process of acquiring these apparent superstars, they lose Alexei Kovalev, Chris Higgins, Mike Komisarek, and team captain Saku Koivu. I’m sure more players such as Alex Tanguay and Robert Lang are on their way out too. So what are all the Habs fans getting so excited over? I guess Scott Gomez’s 16 goals are worth the $8,000,000 salary he has? Hal Gill did win a cup with Pittsburgh last season, but it was only two years ago playing with the Toronto Maple Leafs when people around the league were saying his career was over. Gill is a below average defenceman that played within a great system at Pittsburgh. Francois Beauchemin was available for the blue line, but apparently home town boys aren’t part of the plan for 2009-10 in the city of Montreal, Bob Gainey has decided team USA would look good wearing the Habs logo.
Teams like the Detroit Red Wings win every year because they don’t dump half their roster; they stick with their team, making only a couple minor changes, the NY Rangers technique clearly doesn’t work.
Montreal seemed to be headed in the right direction just a few seasons ago; they had former players Gainey and Guy Carbonneau directing the team, a young star goaltender in Carey Price, as well as a good mix of veterans and prospects. Gainey has since managed to lose Sheldon Souray, Mark Streit, and now Komisarek in the past few years, if that isn’t a top three manning the blue line with cup winning potential, then I don’t know what is. He also fired head coach Guy Carbonneau after less than two seasons behind the bench.
Mike Cammalleri won’t be scoring 39 goals without Jarome Iginla’s assistance, especially under Jacques Martin’s dreadful defensive system. Jacques Martin is the complete opposite of a players coach, he has a system and you better follow it, player communication is not a known trait of Martin’s. What was wrong with Bob Hartley being hired as head coach? He’s exactly what this team could have used, he communicates well with his players, has a Stanley Cup on his resume, demands respect, and speaks French. I bet the Kostitsyn brother’s would think twice about going on all night benders in downtown Montreal with Hartley keeping tabs on them, Martin won’t even be aware of the party scene that’s all around his team, he’ll be too busy drawing up plays for his robots…I mean players.
Does any of this look familiar? You may remember the Serge Savard era of being GM for the Canadiens? He made one bad decision after another. What’s with former Habs superstars mucking everything up in the front office?
I suppose if Gainey’s signings don’t work out, he could move one of his goaltenders up to forward or defense, he has four of them.
It will be interesting to watch the Montreal Canadiens 2009-10 season unfold, or shall I say collapse. The fans in Montreal expect a lot from their beloved Canadiens, if Gomez, Gionta and the other new acquisitions aren’t near flawless, they will certainly be made aware of it sooner rather than later, especially being American born. Bob Gainey may want to look into one way flights back to Dallas.
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I don’t know why you are being so pessimistic, I think the moves they made this summer aren’t that bad. It’s not about the big flashy players that suck up all your salary pool. It’s about finding players with the right chemistry to bring it all together. We are on the way to that. Not every team can have Crosby and Malkins to carry the load. Need a team pull.
I don’t disagree with your comment, however I didn’t mention anything about signing “big flashy players”. My point was that they dumped half of their roster and replaced them with more expensive talent. I also feel the players they acquired to replace the ones that left are nothing more than average hockey players.
You said in your comment that it’s about finding players with the right chemistry. I completely agree with that, but how are the Canadiens expected to do that when they haven’t kept a roster together in years. I mentioned in my post that I felt having Souray, Streit, and Komisarek on the blue line would potentially guide them to a Stanley Cup, if you look at the teams who have won Stanley Cups over the years, they always have a “big three” on the blue line. Bob Gainey has somehow found a way to lose all three of those guys. I just don’t understand how that happens.
Maybe the Canadiens will surprise me this year and be a top team, but if history proves anything, it proves that signing multiple overpaid players all at the same time does not work.
Are they average hockey players or are they superstars? Because if they’re just average players, then you’re Rangers comparison is void, seeing as the Rangers just had a free for all of some of the most talented in the game at the time (not to mention one of the all time greats in Messier).
The Habs core was imploding. Gainey opted for a younger roster (Kovalev and Saku were no spring chickens) that will at least TRY every night. Gomez, despite his seeming inability to score these past few years, at least looks like he’s doing something, which is more than could be said for the likes of Kovy. There were also many a rumour swirling around that Koivu was something of a cancer in the locker room.
Souray had to go, it was him or Markov. The loss of Streit does still sting, as Gainey clearly underestimated his place on the team (look to the dismal PP from 08-09). Something bigger than Bob Gainey most likely drove Komisarek away. Probably the treatment he got from fans and the media after having such a garbage season.
Also, Jagr was on Washington for the 02-03 season. Just sayin…
My Rangers comparison was simply that Glen Sather was signing any player with a recognizable name on their jersey. I feel Gainey’s signings during this off season is a similar tactic. I wasn’t saying that I felt Gomez and Gionta were equal in talent to Messier and Leetch.
If you ask any player around the league that has played with Kovalev they’ll say he’s the most talented, I feel his criticism is unfair, he’s able to win games by himself, and he does it more than once during a season. No one ever stops to think that maybe it’s just not possible to single-handedly do that for all 82 games in the schedule. It’s the NHL, the greatest players in the world play in this league, instead of being praised for having the talent to win games unassisted from time to time, he gets blasted for not doing it all the time. I think the Ottawa Senators got a steal at $5,000,000 for Kovalev and I’m betting he’ll thrive with their club.
Your comment on Koivu being a cancer in the locker room surprised me, I read up on the Canadiens all season long and I did not once hear anything remotely close to that, if you still have the link, I would love to read it. Now having said that, I did read multiple stories on a few players being heavily involved with cocaine and the night life in downtown Montreal, and I do still have the links to those articles if anyone is interested. Maybe the young players on the team who were acting like Ray Emery off the ice, were distracting the veterans such as Kovalev and Koivu on the ice. When Kovalev was sent home last season for not producing, he mentioned that some of the young players and their life style choices away from the rink were a distraction.
I’ve been a Montreal Canadiens fan my entire life, I’m not attacking them for pleasure, I’m passionate and disappointed with the direction Gainey has gone. I hope I’m wrong, I hope they are successful this season. I hope Gomez can crack the 20 goal mark for the second time in his career.
I apologize for the Jagr mistake, he was traded to New York at the end of the 03-04 season for Anson Carter.
I appreciate your feedback WangChun.
Not sure I’d throw them (the Habs) under the bus just yet.
As others in the comments have mentioned, there were things within the core of the team that needed to be addressed. Gainey opted to rebuild the team’s core.
Quite honestly, I believe he’s done the best that he could. There were many changes that needed to be made.
I’m not a coach or a GM or a scout…etc. But I’m a rabid fan who not only enjoys watching the Canadiens but hockey in general.
I’ve watched practically every game for the last 3 years (at least). It became clear to me as it did to many fans that there needed to be a change on several levels.
The team’s core was aging, there were other elements lacking such as physical toughness….etc…
Gainey has actually addressed many elements this summer. The only question is what it will look like halfway through the season.
We can predict all we want but hindsight will decide if any of Mr Gainey’s decisions were good or bad.
Sorry I don’t share your pessimism, I’ll take the wait & see approach, can’t be worse than last year…….one more thing, you state Souray, Streit & Komi are the Big Three to guide a Cup team……Souray is a minus player, as is Streit, both are great shooters on the PP, so realistically you only needed one, But neither is worth the money they are commanding, as for Komisarek, to use your beloved Detroit RedWings as an example…..they do not pay big money for non-skilled defensive players, they pay for offence, in other words they feel guys like Komi at 4.5 mil per season are ludicrous, I tend to agree. IMO no matter who the Habs re-signed or signed or traded for, Carey Price IS the key to their season.
Cheers.
“Does any of this look familiar? You may remember the Serge Savard era of being GM for the Canadiens? He made one bad decision after another. What’s with former Habs superstars mucking everything up in the front office?”
Wow, Serge Savard built two Stanley Cup winning teams and you’re saying that he made one bad decision after another? Aren’t you confusing the Serge Savard era with the Réjean Houle era?
Raph, you are absolutely correct, and I apologize. Rejean Houle was the GM from 1995-2000, which were some of the darkest years in Canadiens history. Serge Savard was the GM for 12 years prior to Houle. I can admit when I’m wrong, thank you for pointing that out. I’m actually surprised you are the first to comment on my error.
Cheers.
You say that Kovalev will be missed because he has the ability to win a game all by himself just not all 82. If Kovalev was needed to win all 82 games then the other guys the team let walk couldnt have been that good.
Both Striet and Souray were one dimensional players. How many times a week was Souray the center of the TSN play of the day getting turned inside out by Spezza? Teams didnt exactly line up to sign him once the silly season arrived, and as far as I can tell the only really serious bidders were the Oilers.
Striet while gifted offensively isnt exactly a defensive stalwart and is way over paid at 5mill per season. Had he been willing to play defense/forward as needed by the team he’d still be on the team.
Komisarek will be missed especially if ever returns to the form that he showed in 2007-2008, but the version from last certainly won’t. After returning from the Lucic beating, Komisarek was a turn over machine. Based on the treatment Komiserak recieved from the team during his days in Monteal I would have expected better than him bolting for 500k a year. But c’est la vie.
To say Camellari will not do as well because of the lack of Iginla is a farse. Gomez has always been a good setup guy, as good as Ignila in my opinion. Cammelari didnt have the luxury of Iggy in LA. Also Martin might be a defensive minded coach but no more so than Keenan.
This years edition of the team will be better than last years team for a couple of reasons, in my opinion. They may not challenge for first in the division, but they will be good enough for a top 5 finish.
1. The finally have a coach that can institute a defensive system. This means that maybe, just maybe once in awhile they will be able to get the puck out of thier own end – a task that seemed to be beyond last years crew.
2. The team is far more mobile than they were in the past and better offensively in adding Camellari, Gomez, and Gionta.
Just One Man’s Opinion
It will certainly be interesting to watch the Canadiens this season. This posting seems to be getting a lot of response, most likely because it is so highly opinionated.
In all honesty this article is a losing situation for me regardless of how the Habs season plays out. If my predictions are correct, then my favourite hockey team is a failure, and if I’m completely wrong, then you can imagine the people and the responses that will be posted here.
A few people have made their opinion be known regarding this posting, and I have done the same, but opinion is simply all it is. I can’t see into the future, and neither can anyone else, so who knows what the Canadiens will do this year?
I appreciate the feedback, even though no one is agreeing with me.
I still feel strongly about the words I’ve written, but if I’m completely incorrect with this article, then I’ll apologize for the poor judgement at the conclusion of the 2009-10 season.
[...] discussed in an earlier post “The Montreal Canadiens Will Fail” that signing everyone doesn’t work. Tampa Bay finished with the second worst record in the league [...]