Go Habs Go!

[jeff teliska]

Franchement , cher Jalimon.!!!
Tu connais deja la reponse a ta question..:nod:
Il ne parle pas francais donc il est automatiquement elimine de la liste de candidats potentiels.
C'est extremement malheureux mais c'est l'heritage de Ronald Corey.

 

[Doc Holliday]

C'est extremement malheureux mais c'est l'heritage de Ronald Corey.

Bien dit. Et c'est totalement vrai.

 

[EagerBeaver]

Yes he could. But not as the head coach. He doesn't speak any french.

The fact that he is highly qualified is, of course, much less important.

 

[Doc Holliday]

The fact that he is highly qualified is, of course, much less important.

The last time a unilingual habs coach was hired was 8 years ago when Randy Cunneyworth was hired to replace the fired Jacques Martin halfway into the season. They justified hiring a non-french speaking head coach by giving him the job on an 'interim' basis. He ended up coaching the habs for 50 games & then they decided not to renew his contract (of course!!) and he left the organization. The french media & fans really gave him a hard time mostly because he didn't speak french during his press conferences. He was a hard-working coach who seemed like a very nice guy. He deserved better.

It's astonishing that in 2020 the most popular & legendary NHL franchise in history still gets away with discriminating against english-speaking coaches. And that's what it is: discrimination. I'm surprised no one has filed a lawsuit against the franchise yet.

And years earlier i remember when the french media & fans made a big fuss that Mike Keane had been team captain. They didn't like the fact the team captain didn't speak french. Keane had to make a promise that he'd take french classes during the offseason. Ridiculous!! And then came Saku Koivu and although not as vocal about the fact he didn't speak any french we still heard about it once in a while. But Koivu was a very good player and became well-liked by the media and the fans so all was forgiven about the fact he didn't speak french. Then he got cancer & came back after beating it and he was a hero for it. And ever since then it's now okay for a non-francophone to be named captain as we've seen with Max Pacioretty & later Shea Weber. But before Mike Keane & Saku Koivu it was basically the same thing as today with the head coach. Stupid!

 

[jalimon]

They should slack off on the coach speaking french I agree.

It's french player the teams need. Just like Serge Savard mentioned recently half the team should be french players. Like it was when he played and when he won the cup as a GM.

 

[jalimon]

And years earlier i remember when the french media & fans made a big fuss that Mike Keane had been team captain. They didn't like the fact the team captain didn't speak french. Keane had to make a promise that he'd take french classes during the offseason. Ridiculous!!

You have to remember the mentality back then. Beside one of the most admired player of the Montreal Expos learned french (Gary Carter). Look at how well like he was because of that. Anglophones all seem to think it's a big thing learning another language. It's not. And it's cool

 

[Doc Holliday]

It's french player the teams need. Just like Serge Savard mentioned recently half the team should be french players. Like it was when he played and when he won the cup as a GM.

I don't care what language a player speaks but it's the best player that any team (including the habs) should have on their team. And let's just say that the habs should have more french players: what if the french-speaking players prefer playing elsewhere? Considering that Montreal has the highest taxes in the NHL i can't blame a french-speaking player or any player to prefer playing elsewhere since knowing full well professional hockey careers don't last very long it's a player's personal duty (and to his family) to earn the most amount of money he can while he can still earn money playing the game of hockey. Unless he has no choice but to earn a living in the highest taxed city in the NHL.

 

[Doc Holliday]

You have to remember the mentality back then. Beside one of the most admired player of the Montreal Expos learned french (Gary Carter). Look at how well like he was because of that. Anglophones all seem to think it's a big thing learning another language. It's not. And it's cool

You bring up Gary Carter. He joined the Expos 44 years ago! And yes it was nice to see a young attractive lad from California take french lessons in order to look good with the media and the fan base. But Gary Carter never saw a camera or microphone he didn't like. He was a media whore and it caused friction with his teammates throughout his career with the Expos. He was a me, me, me type of player. A hot dog!

What i'm saying is that it takes a special type of mentality to do what Carter did and take french lessons. Andre Dawson didn't. Ellis Valentine didn't. Larry Parrish didn't. Steve Rogers didn't. Woody Fryman didn't. No other player did. If that's the reason why habs fans expected their captains to speak french then they were foolish to think so since i doubt any professional athlete would have agreed to take the 'C' with the condition that he be forced to take french lessons. Had i been an anglophone player and told i had to do this in order to be named captain? I would have told the organization to shove the 'C' up their ass!

I know several people who are going out of their way to learn french but find it extremely difficult. It's not an easy language to learn! Sure if you're a kid who hangs around with french-speaking people or put in a french school it'll be quite easier to learn french. But when someone's never spoken french for his entire life and then tries to learn the language when he or she is middle age? Very difficult. I personally speak 5 languages and out of those five i think the most difficult to learn would probably be french. So there's no way i'd expect any english-speaking coach to start taking french lessons in order to get the job as habs coach. Plus the fact i've been going to Montreal for 30 years and i hear english being spoken as much as french. The province of Quebec may be a large majority french-speaking but the city of Montreal (and surroundings) itself is as much english-speaking as it is french.

 

[sharkman]

C'est extremement malheureux mais c'est l'heritage de Ronald Corey.

Bien dit. Et c'est totalement vrai.

Wonder Doc, if Chelios still comes to town to pump Corey's wife!

 

[sharkman]

Best scenario for the Habs is to go for the Tankathon and tank hard!...+ make wholesale changes in the front office and coaching staff!...Just start from 0!

The Habs odds today of getting the #1 pick are 6.5%...Detroit has the highest odds at 18.5%!

 

[Halloween Mike]

Players are drafted and its completely impossible to go for even just half a team of french speaking guy in today's NHL. Too much teams, not enough french "stars" like back then either.

Coach on the other hand are hired, so they can be more selective. The Captain have to adress the media/fans too but his primary role is to be the leader IN THE LOCKER ROOM, so that he speak french or not is not as important. Altough you could say the Coach primary job is also to coach the players, he has a huge role with the medias/fans, constantly adressing them before and after games.

Altough Gallant seem like a very interesting pick and i would really like him to be head Coach, i totally understand why they go with french speaking coaches.

Also its a bit early to say, but is Kovalchuk finally that "coup de maitre" that we hoped for with guys like Semin. Costed nothing, totally risk free, and end up producing. Maybe he really want that sweet contract next. I think he makes what? The base salary for a hockey player right now? lol

 

[EagerBeaver]

I agree with Sharkman. Habs are not going anywhere with this team, even if they make the playoffs (which I seriously doubt they will), they would be eliminated 1st round.

Tank hard and get the top pick. They keep resisting this and it is why they are permanently in the 8-12 seed range in the East going on 20 years now. They keep making mediocre draft picks, easiest way to fix that is get a top pick so you cannot fuck it up. Doc H posted the draft picks the last 15 years, it's a veritable Hall of Shame, time to turn that around. Tank hard and pick high!

 

[Doc Holliday]

Wonder Doc, if Chelios still comes to town to pump Corey's wife!

I had forgot about that story. One thing i do remember about Chelios' early days with the habs: he used to sleep in his pickup truck. He was too cheap to rent an apartment. Finally management stepped in & forced him to get himself a place since it was starting to embarrass the organization.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Best scenario for the Habs is to go for the Tankathon and tank hard!...+ make wholesale changes in the front office and coaching staff!...Just start from 0!

The Habs odds today of getting the #1 pick are 6.5%...Detroit has the highest odds at 18.5%!

I agree but it won't happen unless management starts dumping their best players NOW. Players themselves won't tank since their personal stats are too important to their own careers and their ability to get future contracts. But Kovalchuk's arrival has revitalized the team and they may win more games than they lose from now on until the end of the season....especially if Carey Price keeps on playing like he's been recently.

'Tanking' isn't as easy as it looks. A lot of luck also has to be involved. For the Leafs the key move was to trade away their best player Phil Kessel to the Penguins. At the time it looked like a poor return for such a high profile scorer. Now the trade looks better with the emergence of Kaspari Kapanen, who was just a prospect at the time & had been immediately assigned to the minors. They then literally gave away their best defenceman at the time Dion Phaneuf to the Ottawa Senators. Phaneuf was also the team captain. By ridding itself of its top scorer and best defenceman the Leafs' fortunes took a turn for the worse. But they knew that there's be a prize at the end: generational franchise player Auston Matthews.

Were it not for the Phil Kessell trade there'd be no Auston Matthews on the Leafs team today. There's no way that the Leafs would have finished last in the standings with Kessell still in the lineup. But the Leafs bit the bullet & crossed their fingers and ended up winning the lottery and got the #1 pick overall. But it took a lot of maneuvering & luck.

But even for a team finishing last there is no guarantee that the team will win the lottery and end up picking first. However the lower a team finishes in the standings the better the odds of obtaining a top pick. And according to Pierre McGuire this years's draft may be the best draft to come in two decades with top prospects among the top 15 players ranked. That's why a team like the Ottawa Senators is smiling these days since they'll likely be picking 2 players out of the top 5 since they own the Sharks' #1 overall pick that they got in the Erik Karlsson trade. Now it looks like a brilliant move!

I don't believe there's ever been a time when a team selecting first overall ever traded that pick on draft day. Could the team owning the first overall pick be tempted into trading that pick to Ottawa for their two picks? Personally if i were that team's GM i would definitely entertain that idea since this is one of the best drafts in years! But i doubt Ottawa would ever make that trade prior to the lottery since there's no guarantee that the team in last place (likely Detroit) will hold that spot....plus who knows....maybe Ottawa will win the lottery!

 

[sharkman]

I had forgot about that story. One thing i do remember about Chelios' early days with the habs: he used to sleep in his pickup truck. He was too cheap to rent an apartment. Finally management stepped in & forced him to get himself a place since it was starting to embarrass the organization.

...lol Doc!... yeah Chelios loved to do coke lines in his 4x4...lol!

Between fucking Corey's wife and the cops getting tired of protecting him after one too many coke adventures, there was a lot of issues in the Habs locker room during those years. Schneider was fucking Roy's wife, constant politics which drove guys like Nilan to demand a trade. Nobody could stand Lemieux but they put up with him because of how valuable he became in the playoffs....etc...etc!

But it got us 1 Stanley Cup!....lol!...but none since Chelios stopped fuckin other Habs players' and VPs wives!...I guess the player's took out their hanger on the opposition which got them that fluky Stanley Cup in '86!

Lesson learned for the Habs is that they should have more players like Chelios!...because today, it's the Habs organization that's embarassing themselves and IS an embarassment to the NHL!!!

 

[jeff teliska]

Lol!! Yeah..I miss the good old days when the team was loaded with "bad boys" but be a contender, year in, year out.
Reading these stories, reminded me of when Pat Burns, had to wake up in the middle of the night while in Winnipeg, then go to the police station where a couple Habs players were detained, having brawled with CFL players..Not sure cause its been so long ago but i think Skrudland and Keane were involved in the mayhem..
I miss those days.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Players are drafted and its completely impossible to go for even just half a team of french speaking guy in today's NHL. Too much teams, not enough french "stars" like back then either.

Also its a bit early to say, but is Kovalchuk finally that "coup de maitre" that we hoped for with guys like Semin. Costed nothing, totally risk free, and end up producing. Maybe he really want that sweet contract next. I think he makes what? The base salary for a hockey player right now? lol

The Nordiques were a big reason why the habs had many french-speaking players back then. They were in direct competition with one another for the province's fan base. When the Nordiques moved to Denver having the highest number of french-speaking players on their team wasn't as important to the habs anymore since the province's fans now had only one team left to cheer for.

As for Kovalchuk indeed he's getting paid the league minimum on a pro-rated basis. There's no one cheaper in the league right now. On top of that he has a two-way contract meaning that if he turned out to be a bust the habs could have sent him to Laval and pay him $60 000 or so. But the plan is to trade him for a valuable asset, likely a 3rd round draft pick at the very least. If all they get as far as an offer is a 4th round draft choice or worse then i'd hang onto him since the fan base is falling in love with him. He reminds them of their beloved Alex Kovalev.

There's no chance he'd re-sign with the habs at the league minimum. His agent will shop him around for the top value he can get for him since he still has a mansion left to pay for in Los Angeles. He needs the money as much as he needs the habs. But he also loves to play in Montreal so my guess is that he'd accept a reasonable contract offer from the habs before he starts shopping his services around the league. His family is due to visit him in Montreal next week or so and if they end up enjoying their stay who knows. But of course he'd want to remain close to his family and if his family doesn't want to leave Los Angeles (who could blame them?) and relocate in Montreal then maybe there's no chance he'll play in Mtl next season.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Lol!! Yeah..I miss the good old days when the team was loaded with "bad boys" but be a contender, year in, year out.
Reading these stories, reminded me of when Pat Burns, had to wake up in the middle of the night while in Winnipeg, then go to the police station where a couple Habs players were detained, having brawled with CFL players..Not sure cause its been so long ago but i think Skrudland and Keane were involved in the mayhem..
I miss those days.

I have notes stashed somewhere about those incidents involving the team's bad boys back then. If i remember correctly Skrudland was a peace-maker in that scuffle and ended up in jail. Remember when some of the players were drunk and hit a telephone pole after a night at the bar during the playoffs? It was incident after incident and it led to Jean Perron's firing (although he had just won a Cup) and he got replaced by former undercover biker cop Pat Burns, a no-nonsense type of coach who would be counted on to enforce the discipline.

And indeed there were also sex scandals surrounding the team at the time. Players rumoured to be sleeping with fellow players' wives & girlfriends. A former habs & Leafs player who was single & the only girls he banged were either strippers or escorts. A well-known escort at the time who was dating a habs player and her "secret life" discovered when a rival player(s) called her agency one night for some company & when she showed up he immediately recognized her. She was drop-dead gorgeous so it was easy to recognize her. And that infamous night in Florida when a player was charged with stealing a girl's cellphone in a bar. But she had compromising pictures of the married habs goalie making out with other women and that's why the goalie's teammate stole her cellphone in order to delete the compromising pictures. And on and on.....

 

[No_Church_InThe_Wild]

^^
I know people that knew Chris Chelios and they have only good things to say about him , pretty humble guy and a gentleman is what I hear
Might of been a bit of a womanizer back in the days and did some foolish things but he was pretty young too , and besides Nilan and some other guys were not far behind , something that of heard straight from the horse’s mouth

And as for the Habs tanking I don’t know if that’s what they should do . I don’t think the Montreal fans would put up with something like that . As things stand they are being competitive and fighting at least and besides tanking doesn’t guarantee you first pickings
But fir them to be able to truly build another championship team again they will need nothing less than a priest and an exorcism

 

[jeff teliska]

The player who stole the girl's phone in Florida is Ryan O'Byrne if I'm not mistaken Doc.. The last notorious" bad boys" I can think of :
The 3 amigos ( Theodore , Dagenais and Ribeiro ) and The Kostitsyn brothers !
All of them lucky enough to have acted wildly and immaturely, before the social media era.