Go Habs Go!

[Doc Holliday]

My recollection is that it was well known the Panthers were going to fire Gallant, couldn't Montreal have just waited til he became available rather than rushing to sign Julien to a 5 year contract, a guy Montreal has already fired once before for not being able to coach the mediocre players he was given by the then GM?

The Gallant firing came by surprise. He got word of his firing after boarding the team bus and had to get off the bus and wait on the side of the road with his luggage until a taxi came by.

Claude Julien is highly regarded as a coach. Even higher regarded than Gallant. Montreal did the right move in hiring Julien over anyone else that was available or would have become available. Had they not jumped at the chance to re-hire Julien some other team would have jumped at the chance. This was one of Marc Bergevin's good moves. It was an easy move to make since Claude Julien is fluent in both french and english and we all know how important this is for a Montreal Canadiens coach after the likes of Randy Cuneyworth and Don Lever were chased out of town mostly for their lack of speaking french.

Julien hasn't been able to turn this team into a contender yet. But let's not forget that Carey Price was awful in most games he played in. He's also not the guy who traded PK Subban to Nashville. He's also not the guy who can't acquire a #1 (or #2) center to play with the likes of Pacioretty, Drouin and Galchenyuk. Legendary coaches like Scotty Bowman and Toe Blake couldn't win with this bunch!

 

[EagerBeaver]

And by the way, why not just hire the best coach available and if he doesn't speak French, hire an interpreter for him? This is what the Yankees do for Matsuhiro Tanaka (Japanese interpreter) and Gary Sanchez (Spanish interpreter). Does it cost too much money? It doesn't cost too much money for the Yankees and they don't care if the best player doesn't speak English, even though the players, just like the manager or a hockey head coach, have media interview responsibilities. They hire a full time interpreter and the problem is solved. You have to decide if you want to win or if you want to cheap out. The teams that cheap out don't win.

 

[Doc Holliday]

And by the way, why not just hire the best coach available and if he doesn't speak French, hire an interpreter for him?

The Montreal french media is the reason why the Habs feel they must have a french-speaking coach. It has nothing to do with the players.

By the way they did hire the 'best' coach available at the time. Claude Julien is a heckuva coach and regularly gets chosen to be among Team Canada's coaching staff at various international events. He's also won a Stanley Cup in the past.

 

[EagerBeaver]

By the way they did hire the 'best' coach available at the time. Claude Julien is a heckuva coach and regularly gets chosen to be among Team Canada's coaching staff at various international events. He's also won a Stanley Cup in the past.

Doesn't that become a problem for Bergevin when time comes to evaluate performances at the end of the year? He can't blame it on the coach who was the best guy available and whom he gave a 5 year contract to, can he? That can only mean one thing, which is that the players he has given that highly thought of coach suck donkey balls. Bergevin, in the interest of self-preservation as GM, could have hired a less proven coach and then blame him when things go south and the playoffs are missed. Now that he hired the prime guy, the "main man" coach, so to speak, where will the finger of blame be pointed when Montreal sinks out of the playoffs in the second half?

 

[Doc Holliday]

Everyone is blaming Bergevin. No one's blaming Julien although some people are starting to doubt firing Michel Therrien was the right move since the team has not improved. People are also starting to realize that Michel Therrien may be a better coach than they ever believed he was.

Signing Julien to a five-year contract doesn't look very brilliant right now. But Julien likely would have been able to get a 5-year contract elsewhere so maybe the Habs didn't have a choice but to give him this. Plus Mike Babcock's current contract with the Maple Leafs is the model which top coaches use in their negotiations with teams.

But Bergevin was brilliant when he managed to convince team president/owner Geoff Molson in granting him a long-term extension which will keep him under contract until 2022. If you ask me Geoff Molson's the idiot in all of this and should never have appointed himself as the team's president. Geoff Molson could easily have vetoed the 5-year contract granted to Julien if he wanted to. He's the one who granted Bergevin that long extension (which was made 2 years ago). He's also the one who stuck his nose in the PK Subban negotiations and overruled Bergevin and ordered him to sign Subban to that 8-year $72 million contract (with a non-movement clause which was scheduled to kick in a year later) which eventually led to PK Subban being traded away to Nashville before that non-movement clause would kick in. Had Bergevin re-signed Subban to the original contract he was willing to offer him, PK Subban would very likely still be a Hab today.

And with his current contract in hand, Marc Bergevin will be very hard to fire considering he'll get paid right through 2022.

Who's to blame??? GEOFF MOLSON.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Yeah but Molson is top dog and top dog always gets to blame whomever he wants to blame. If the team really really sucks elephant balls as I think they could before season's end, he has to blame someone, doesn't he?

 

[gaby]

COLUMBUS IN TOWN TONIGHT.....big test for the Habs and Price......enjoy.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Every game seems to be a BIG test for the Habs and Price.

 

[gaby]

Well true...après Buffalo juste voir comment ils vont se comporter devant une équipe nettement supérieure.....sur une autre note Doc je comprends très bien le pt de vue exprimé à savoir que les Habs devraient perdre toutes leurs games afin de pouvoir jouer à la roulette du repêchage.......MAIS jamais avec le duo BERGEVIN-JULIEN cela ne va se produire.....JULIEN a signé pour 5 ans et il est un coach d'expérience, respecté dans la NHL et qui veut se battre pour gagner CHAQUE GAME....et on peut le comprendre....c'est son orgueil qui est en jeu.....on lui demanderait de laisser glisser les choses et je ne serais pas surpris qu'il donnerait sa démission......de plus comme moi vous connaissez les médias d'ici et les fans dont certains paient 200.00 pour les voir GAGNER chacune des games ...et les applaudir...c'est dans notre ADN. Médias et fans ne pensent pas à long terme.....veulent des victoires game après game.

De plus la direction est géniale:blah: en baissant les attentes et en disant que l'important est de faire les séries et non de gagner la Coupe......alors un tel objectif modeste est relativement facilement réalisable....et ce semble satisfaire tout le monde. Évidemment c'est se contenter de peu...MAIS c'est là que nous en sommes.

Vous me direz que Toronto a suivi la bonne voie et vous avez raison...les résultats sont probant ..MAIS malheureusement Montréal n'est pas Toronto....nous n'avons pas ici d'équipe de baseball et de basket....nous nous concentrons seulement sur nos Habs et leur demandons de gagner pour faire les series....period.

Ce n'est peut-être pas la bonne stratégie......mais à mon avis elle est là pour longtemps......MY TWO CENTS.

 

[gaby]

...oups...surprise...victoire inattendue de 3-1....Price 72 arrêts sur 73 tirs en 2 games...pas si pire....Grosse semaine...les HABS jouent leurs 3 prochaines games contre des équipes de leur division soit Ottawa et 2 contre Détroit....et oui grosse semaine .

 

[tiga]

Les Canadiens ont la chance de jouer dans une division où la troisième place leur est encore accessible.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Price’s trade value is at its maximum right now! There is a small window of opportunity to make a trade and it’s going to close as soon as he gets hurt again. I would pull the trigger now. If it can’t be done the only way Habs sniff playofffs is he stays healthy the rest of the way. I am not terribly confident that will happen. It’s been a long time now that the team sinks or swims with this one guy’s health. I would rather have a complete team than relying on one good but fragile guy.

 

[gaby]

Les Canadiens ont la chance de jouer dans une division où la troisième place leur est encore accessible.

Effectivement....outre TBay et Toronto.....les HABS peuvent rivaliser avec les autres équipes de leur division....leur gros problème cependant ce sont les games que leurs compétiteurs ont en main....at the end of the day ca peut leur faire mal.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Price’s trade value is at its maximum right now! There is a small window of opportunity to make a trade and it’s going to close as soon as he gets hurt again. I would pull the trigger now. If it can’t be done the only way Habs sniff playofffs is he stays healthy the rest of the way. I am not terribly confident that will happen. It’s been a long time now that the team sinks or swims with this one guy’s health. I would rather have a complete team than relying on one good but fragile guy.

You are correct but every time the habs win it's less and less likely to happen because suddenly all things are good again and team management no longer hears the fans and media whining about how terrible their team and GM are. Winning brings calm and normalcy to the team and for the habs to start winning consistently it means that Carey Price has to remain with the team.

Carey Price's upcoming monstrous contract isn't a problem yet but it will become a huge one once it starts to kick in next season. And the older he'll get the harder it'll get to trade him. Plus he has a non-movement clause on top of that which will make trading him next to impossible. But one player i'd definitely try to trade right now since his value is still at its highest is the aging defenceman Shea Webber. Webber's contract expires only in 2026 and it's as problematic as Price's. What may make the team reluctant to trade him right now is the fact he's by far their best defenceman and most importantly he's the player they acquired by trading away fan favorite PK Subban.

But Webber still has very high value and trading him would fetch back several players that would help the team at the present time and especially in the future. Max Paccioretty may also be a player that seems to have overspent his time in Montreal and playing elsewhere may do wonders to boost his career. But he won't fetch back as much now since he'll be an unrestricted free agent less than two years from now. Plus the fact that he's been terribly unproductive this season and appears lost out on the ice. The load of the captaincy has simply been too much for him. Many hockey experts have compared his state to Phil Kessel's when he was with the Leafs. Too much was expected of him in the role he was put in at the time. I also compare his state to Dion Phaneuf's, who was wrongly handed the captaincy soon after arriving in Toronto and before he had even played a single game for the organization. Both Kessel and Phaneuf have played much better in secondary roles and i believe this is where Paccioretty would thrive in.

 

[tiga]

Pour que les Canadiens fassent les séries il faut qu'ils gagnent deux fois pour chaque trois parties à venir. Ce ne sera pas facile et ça dépend des blessures et du rendement de Price.

S' ils ne maintiennent pas ce rythme de victoires-défaites (autour de 630+) après le match des étoiles il y'aura peut-être des échanges mais d'ici là Webber, Pacciorety, Price ou tout autres joueurs majeurs ne bougeront pas.

Si ils réussissent cependant ils entreront avec un bon momentum et seront d'importants acheteurs à la date limite.

C'est à suivre.

 

[tiga]

Effectivement....outre TBay et Toronto.....les HABS peuvent rivaliser avec les autres équipes de leur division....leur gros problème cependant ce sont les games que leurs compétiteurs ont en main....at the end of the day ca peut leur faire mal.

Tout à fait d'accord et les matchs contre ces équipes de leur division sont déterminant. Les trois à venir par exemple contre Ottawa demain puis Detroit allez-retour.
Ce sera Price Niemi puis Price dans les buts.

 

[gaby]

Oui comme on dit ce sont des matchs de 4 points....et oui tiga comme tu l'as bien démontré la tâche est énorme. Faudra que la machine roule à fond....que tous mettent la main à la pâte....grosse commande MAIS au moins on veut sentir l'effort.

Quant à Price...dans mon livre il est le Crosby--Stamkos des HABS...le coeur de cette équipe...le superstar et joueur franchise....si JAMAIS il est échangé c'est parce que LUI l'aura demandé.....sinon imho il est ici pour rester...like it or not.

 

[gaby]

Victoire de 2-1......se tetrouvent à 1 pt des Bruins et de la 3ème place.....cependant après le match de ce soir contre Détroit Boston aura 4 games en main...ouchhhh. Pour les Habs cette semaine est déterminante et l'homme de 84 millions doit absolument être devant le filet ce soir à Détroit.

 

[gaby]

Price devant le filet....c'est la bonne et seule décision dans les circonstances...Price ne peut pas être fatigué...il revient à peine au jeu et n'a pas été très sollicité hier......d'autant plus que Weber et Drouin sont out......vous savez qui va remplacer Drouin.....hum...De La Rose...et oui....alors enjoy.......

 

[tiga]

Daniel Carr a été rappelé de Laval mais va jouer sur la quatrième ligne.
Price devant le but Niemi back-up.
Webber peut-être samedi soir de retour.
Match crucial, troisième tentative de rejoindre le 500 de la saison.