seriously tho, how great would it be for Gainey to get fired on the 100th centennial season ceremony tonight? i bet it would get a standing "O" from the spoiled Scab fans! bwahahahahahaha......
A lot of people are starting to ask for Gainey's head. Martin's also, but to be perfectly honest, i think he's done a fairly good job considering he's only got a few players with talent on the team (and most of them play on the same line). He's also had to deal with injuries, even though as Wendel Clark said on OTR the other night "i'm so tired of hearing all the whining about injuries.....injuries are and have always been a part of the game." It's true that it's no one's fault but their own that Mtl doesn't have much depth in order to replace those injured players, and that Mr. Gainey should have made a transaction to replace the fallen few skill players he has. But not having much cap room to work with doesn't make things easier.
But let's say the Molson brothers & Boivin decide that enough is enough & want to give Gainey his walking papers. Who would replace him? I truly can't see anyone out there who'd do a better job other than maybe Brian Burke, but he's already signed long-term with the Leafs. Dave Nonis? Nope. Burke's got him signed long-term as his right-hand mand. I'm afraid Gainey will finish the season, since there's no one out there to replace him.
The major problem i've seen with the Habs over the years is scouting. They haven't had a good scouting record since the days of Sam Pollock. As best as i can recall, the most successful top pick they've had in a long time was Carey Price. However, he was an early first-round pick by the team, which many believe is way too early to draft a goaltender. The jury is still out on that one. Personally, i believe it may have been the right move to draft him early since if it wasn't for him right now, the Habs might very well be last in the standings. I mean it. The Habs haven't been able to score goals & Carey Price has kept them in games most of the time they've won, includng the overtimes. But i guess it doesn't help that someone being paid $8 million per season just scored his 3rd goal of the entire season last night. It also doesn't help that Gainey traded away a top forward & two of its top prospects in order to obtain him. However, some say he wouldn't have been able to sign Brian Gionta if he hadn't done the deal. I say 'bullshit!" Do you think Brian Gionta wouldnt have signed with the Habs if they hadn't thrown a $25 million five year contract at him? Who in his right mind would have given Brian Gionta $5 million per season on a multi-year deal? No one! Same goes with Mike Cammallari. He's likely the team's best forward. But no one in the league other than Gainey would have thrown a $30 million 5 year contract at him. That's $6 million dollars a season for Mike Cammallari!!!!! For those who are unaware of this, he wanted to sign with Toronto. Toronto and Ottawa were his likely teams of destination on July 1st when Montreal suddenly showed up with a ridiculous offer. Both Toronto and Ottawa balked at increasing their offers, so Cammallari went for the money (can't blame him, i would have done the same thing) and took Mtl's offer. But is Mike Cammallari a $6 million per season player?? Ridiculous!!! Small stature players like him & the others they signed often will fade out by the middle of the season due to the heavy physical toll on their bodies in a gruelling 82-game NHL season.
Now the team's capped out, with few ressources left to re-sign Tomas Plekanec & what will they do when Andrei Markov becomes a UFA after the 2010-11 season? Don't forget that they'll also have to re-sign Carey Price after this season, which will mean a considerable increase in salary. I'm sure many teams will be lining up to offer Price a huge contract, with Mtl having the right to match all offers, which i'm certain they will. Jaro Halak proved last night that he's not a #1 goaltender. He's a heck of a good #2 goaltender on any team, but not strong enough to spend an entire season as a team's #1.
Finally, the team will have to wake up & realize you can't let people go with getting nothing in return. Wouldn't Francis Bouillon look good with the Habs right now? What about Stephane Robidas? Why spend a first-round pick and spend a lot of money on him during the early part of his career with the organization & then let him go to the Leafs (i'm referring to Mike Komisarek) without getting anything in return? Same thing with Saku Koivu. Why not trade these players, along with Alex Kovalev, if you didn't want them back next season? By the way, for all the idiots who like to boo Komisarek everytime he touches the puck when playing in Mtl, he actually wanted to re-sign with the team. He loved playing for the Habs and loved the city of Montreal and the passion the fans bring to the sport. However, when he didn't hear anything from Gainey until June 30th, the day before free agency officially began, he realized that the team no longer was seriously interested in his services. Why wait all that time to offer him anything? So he basically gave them the finger & sold his services to the highest bidder, which is what ANYONE would have done. They also screwed up the Kovalev thing the same way. He wanted to return to the Habs and possibly be their next captain. THE HABS STILL DONT HAVE A CAPTAIN, THIS BEING THEIR CENTENNIAL YEAR!!! Anyways, on July 1st, the Habs finally made an offer (kind of a lowball offer), and the Kovalev camp came back with a counter-offer. The Habs then told them they'd get back to them. Next thing you know, they had obtained the 3 smurfs & never did get back to Kovalev, who had no choice but to sign with the highest bidder (Ottawa) since Mtl was nearly capped out by then.
It's been an embarrassing centennial year for the Habs. Embarrassing!!
(and i mean this as a disapponted hockey fan....who actually does want the Habs to make the playoffs since i love HOCKEY)
