What happened?

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 h...

Well I actually thought Gauthier had begun to do well with his trades. Here we were giving up on old long in the tooth Hal Gill for a second round pick and someone with a decent pedigree like Blake Geoffrion. Gill had shown not much of anything this year and frankly other then finding himself on a Stanley Cup team with the Penguins had really been a big bust in the NHL his whole career. Well one out of two trades ain't bad if your a gambling man. AK46 has played most of the year in a fog. He has shown only glimpses of his innate hockey skills and offensive capablilities. He has averaged over 20 goals a year in his career. He uses the body more frequently then most Hab forwards. He seemed to show some pride as well when he demanded more ice time to show what he can do. He still has a poor command of english and this may create some communication problems with teammates and coaches  However, with his impending UFA status it was clear that unless he signed soon, the H...

Thank God the habs traded Gill. I don't understand this whining about giving up on the season. We can still give it the 100% try without Gill, and for that matter Ak46 and Moen and Weber and Campoli and even others if we get the right offer. Has anyone actually seen Gill play this year. He has slowed down to a snail's pace. Added to his lack of pace is the fact he is the softest 6'7" player in the history of the NHL. He cannot deliver a bodycheck, and he has virtually no upperbody strength to move opposing power forwards. He is a total waste in the offensive zone with his shot being as fast as his skating. Granted his one strength was his penalty killing where he could take up space in front of the net and make it hard for point shooters to zone in or forwards on the wing to get the puck across for a pass. All to say a second round pick would have been great to get for this unrestricted free agent with diminishing returns. However, we also got 2 prospects. Is this trad...

Mr. Molson : I have written this blog to discuss my blueprint for the Habs future. Since this is a forward-looking statement, several hypotheses will be elaborated upon without any documentary evidence. I can unequivocally state that we have had a dismal year caused by the recessionary actions of Jacques Martin and Pierre Gauthier. Therefore, we must look to the future, and since we will be distributors of excess surplus before the trade deadline, the financial considerations of which assets we will divest and what should be the asking price is of primary importance? However,  before my exhaustive analysis of the trade possibilities let us discuss some past achievements by  the company and its cup winning managers. History The legendary Sam Pollock did not have an unblemished record as a General Manager. He traded Red Berenson for Garry Peters and Ted Taylor. What, are you kidding? He traded Danny Gran...

I am depressed about the habs so I wrote this blog to make me feel better. So we are headed towards another dark ages phase for the habs. The Cammalleri trade a sure sign we are going to be sellers up to the trade deadline. I think we should say our goodbyes and thanks to the likes of Hal Gill and Travis Moen. In the darkest and coldest period of the Montreal year, when hockey is the only  bright spot in the winter landscape we are doomed to watch in silence as the Leafs try to make the playoffs. Since we can't get intoxicated with the present day habs, let us commemorate the past.The case I want to make is where does Jean Beliveau stand among the elite of great hockey players. I encountered Jean Beliveau when I was a kid. He was shooting a commercial in a shopping mall. Since I was only 6 or 7, I had to look up at what seemed like a godlike tall figure. Everyone seems to admire the man, from Jean Chretien who wanted to make him the Governor General,  to ...

The first time I realized how good Scott Gomez was when he was a Ranger and he was playing head to head versus Saku Koivu. He was skating circles around the Habs captain all game. I was thinking that's what the habs need some speed down the center forget the size. So I was delighted when Gomez was traded to the habs and this led to the signings of Gionta and Cammalleri. Cammalleri at once said he wished to play on a line with Gomez. Is it any wonder snipers wanted to play with Gomez who lived for assists. Gomez once led the league in assists in 2003-2004. His statistics prove that he has always been a playmaker rather than a goal scorer. He had one blip in his career where he got 33 goals one season, otherwise he has never scored more than 19 any season. He had had an illustrious career with the Devils making it to the Stanley Cup final 3 times in 7 years. He did win the Holy Grail twice. Clearly he was an important cog but others such as Martin Brodeur and Scott Stev...

I have to admit I had predicted the Habs finishing in the top 5 spots in the East this year. So what happened in the first 3 months? Weren't we one shot away from eliminating the Bruins last year? If only we had Pacioretty for that series, the result would have been different we all said. So onto the new season and hope springs eternal. However, a malaise hit the squad as early as the preseason. The oomph wasn't there and we could not beat anybody. Who did we sign in the offseason? Cole and Markov our big signings and Campoli to add a little consistency to the defence and some European ringers Diaz and Emelin. We had Pacioretty back and Gomez was promising to mend his lackadaisical ways. We could always count on Gionta and Cammalleri for key goals. We were still small at center especially with Gomez, Plekanec, and Desharnais. We also had budding superstars PK Subban and Pacioretty. We had the likes of Eller and AK46 who could only get better. So what happened? I think...