Some habs small talk
I don't know about you but I'm really befuddled as to who should be GM and Head Coach of the once mighty habs. The other big bewildering issue is who will be the third pick overall?
The GM conundrum seems to have divided us along linguistic lines again as the Anglophones and the Anglophone media seem to support Pierre McGuire, while the Francophone media and Francophones seem to support Patrick Roy. The Francophone media is slightly divided between having Patrick as the habs GM or as their coach. I guess if Geoff Molson wanted to appease both sides he would find the middle ground and hire Pierre as the GM and Patrick as the coach. However both sides concede that Patrick would not be able to work for any GM other than himself. I believe that the future habs GM should be someone with great powers of persuasion and a keen awareness of hockey talent. The powers of persuasion will come in handy when he has to discuss trades with other GMs and persuade them that the habs have talent that the other team should covet. These powers will also be necessary to sign free-agent players who will want to make Montréal their home. In either case this will not be easy because of the past regime and their treatment of players as cattle. I, for one, think that Pierre McGuire is much better suited in this area then Patrick Roy. However what do I know, I'm just another anglo. I am not sure that either one of them is really the best candidate. GMs that should be considered if they would become available would be people like Dale Tallon and Peter Chiarelli. A longshot would be Bobby Smith or Doug Riseborough.
As for the habs Head Coach I seem to get the feeling that it will be somebody from the past and there are many to choose from. Names that have been mentioned and are available or will be available include Alain Vigneault, Claude Julien, Bob Hartley, Mark Crawford, Guy Carbonneau, Michel Therrien and even Jacques Lemaire. The popular candidate is Patrick who gets the Francophone vote and Mike Babcock who gets the Anglophone vote. My choice would be Larry Robinson. Larry has instilled in his long hockey career the coaching philosophies of the maestro Scotty Bowman and the master technician Jacques Lemaire. Larry would have respect from the players on day one. The one issue is Larry's age and whether he wants the job. Hopefully he will have assistant coaches that can be groomed to become the head coach in the very near future.
What to do about the third pick overall? I think the habs can forget about Nail Yakupov who will be chosen first or second overall. The intrigue will be whether Ryan Murray is chosen second or first overall. If Murray is not chosen with the first two picks, will the habs decide to take a defenseman third overall? We have several good defenseman prospects in the minors including Nathan Beaulieu and Jarrod Tinordi. Of course we also have PK Subban who will anchor our defense for many years to come. However, a wise GM once said you can never have enough top-notch defenseman. Everyone is aware that the habs have sought out a big scoring center for years. However if Murray is the best player available for the third pick then the habs should take him. Having an over abundance of talent in one position will only lead to being able to make trades for other players at key positions. It is much easier making trades when you can offer real talent for another team's real talent. If Murray is not available, then the habs will probably take one of the following big forwards, Mikhail Grigorenko, Alex Galchenyuk, or Filip Forsberg. Grigorenko was the early favorite because of his stature and the fact he was playing in Québec under Patrick Roy. However, hockey experts do not seem to be that keen on him and his dismal playoffs have cast a shadow on his talents. Galchenyuk, on the other hand, is highly considered by those same experts. The one caveat is that he was injured all year and had a knee operation. Therefore it is very hard to gage his progress in junior. Finally, there is Forsberg who played a prominent role in the world juniors this year. His main negative is that he plays in Europe and therefore it is difficult to know how he will fare in North America. Good luck Pierre, Patrick, Dale, Doug, Bobby, or whoever else Serge decides to choose as the habs GM.
The GM conundrum seems to have divided us along linguistic lines again as the Anglophones and the Anglophone media seem to support Pierre McGuire, while the Francophone media and Francophones seem to support Patrick Roy. The Francophone media is slightly divided between having Patrick as the habs GM or as their coach. I guess if Geoff Molson wanted to appease both sides he would find the middle ground and hire Pierre as the GM and Patrick as the coach. However both sides concede that Patrick would not be able to work for any GM other than himself. I believe that the future habs GM should be someone with great powers of persuasion and a keen awareness of hockey talent. The powers of persuasion will come in handy when he has to discuss trades with other GMs and persuade them that the habs have talent that the other team should covet. These powers will also be necessary to sign free-agent players who will want to make Montréal their home. In either case this will not be easy because of the past regime and their treatment of players as cattle. I, for one, think that Pierre McGuire is much better suited in this area then Patrick Roy. However what do I know, I'm just another anglo. I am not sure that either one of them is really the best candidate. GMs that should be considered if they would become available would be people like Dale Tallon and Peter Chiarelli. A longshot would be Bobby Smith or Doug Riseborough.
As for the habs Head Coach I seem to get the feeling that it will be somebody from the past and there are many to choose from. Names that have been mentioned and are available or will be available include Alain Vigneault, Claude Julien, Bob Hartley, Mark Crawford, Guy Carbonneau, Michel Therrien and even Jacques Lemaire. The popular candidate is Patrick who gets the Francophone vote and Mike Babcock who gets the Anglophone vote. My choice would be Larry Robinson. Larry has instilled in his long hockey career the coaching philosophies of the maestro Scotty Bowman and the master technician Jacques Lemaire. Larry would have respect from the players on day one. The one issue is Larry's age and whether he wants the job. Hopefully he will have assistant coaches that can be groomed to become the head coach in the very near future.
What to do about the third pick overall? I think the habs can forget about Nail Yakupov who will be chosen first or second overall. The intrigue will be whether Ryan Murray is chosen second or first overall. If Murray is not chosen with the first two picks, will the habs decide to take a defenseman third overall? We have several good defenseman prospects in the minors including Nathan Beaulieu and Jarrod Tinordi. Of course we also have PK Subban who will anchor our defense for many years to come. However, a wise GM once said you can never have enough top-notch defenseman. Everyone is aware that the habs have sought out a big scoring center for years. However if Murray is the best player available for the third pick then the habs should take him. Having an over abundance of talent in one position will only lead to being able to make trades for other players at key positions. It is much easier making trades when you can offer real talent for another team's real talent. If Murray is not available, then the habs will probably take one of the following big forwards, Mikhail Grigorenko, Alex Galchenyuk, or Filip Forsberg. Grigorenko was the early favorite because of his stature and the fact he was playing in Québec under Patrick Roy. However, hockey experts do not seem to be that keen on him and his dismal playoffs have cast a shadow on his talents. Galchenyuk, on the other hand, is highly considered by those same experts. The one caveat is that he was injured all year and had a knee operation. Therefore it is very hard to gage his progress in junior. Finally, there is Forsberg who played a prominent role in the world juniors this year. His main negative is that he plays in Europe and therefore it is difficult to know how he will fare in North America. Good luck Pierre, Patrick, Dale, Doug, Bobby, or whoever else Serge decides to choose as the habs GM.
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