25 Years Ago Today (October 21, 1995): Rejean Houle & Mario Tremblay Were Hired

[Habs Icing]

I heard a story that the morning of that game, Roy ran into Mike Vernon at Moe’s.

Vernon said words to the effect of “you look like shit, what’s up?” Roy said he was stressed and miserable. Vernon said he knew that from his Flames days, and getting a new start in Detroit gave him a new lease on life.

The story goes that at that moment Patrick started thinking about getting out of town.


Here is a source

How Mike Vernon set the stage for the Roy trade

Yet everyone blames Tremblay.

 

[groovejuice]

So according to you it was all Tremblay's doing. Roy had nothing to do with?

It was an historically garbage move by Tremblay to intentionally humiliate Roy. A lot of players would have reacted similarly.

 

[bobholly39]

So according to you it was all Tremblay's doing. Roy had nothing to do with?

Yet everyone blames Tremblay.

It's Tremblay's fault. Roy was the star of the team. Did he have character/attitude issues? Sure, by all account he was a bit cocky/arrogant and had ego. Very prideful probably. But he's your star - you come in and learn to get the best out of him. You don't go for a confrontation/blow up, that's dumb.

I don't know off hand who Edmonton's coach is - but if he were fired today and replaced by someone else - the first thing that new guy would say is "ok - how do I make it work with McDavid". He wouldn't say "Ok - time to show McDavid whose the boss".

So was Roy difficult? Yep. Was his handling of the situation in that game largely his fault as well as why it escalated? Sure, he got pissed and probably could have handled it better. But it's Trembley's responsibility to ensure it never gets to that level.

You know your goalie is touchy? Ok - pull him early, don't let him get that way.
You see your goalie clearly unhappy/struggling in that game, even reacting to the crowds? Ok - talk to him, calm him down, take him out, don't escalate shit.

So yeah - it's Tremblay's fault.

 

[Tighthead]

It was an historically garbage move by Tremblay to intentionally humiliate Roy. A lot of players would have reacted similarly.

Roy was a thoroughbred. Temperamental, egotistical and difficult.

He was also historically great.

You live with that bargain all day, every day. I don’t think his teammates had any issue with him.

Part of what made him great is that he wasn’t going to stick around for the garbage act. Why sacrifice your life and legacy to Corey, Houle and Tremblay?

 

[admiralcadillac]

What a great duo. Legends.

 

[OldCraig71]

Roy was a thoroughbred. Temperamental, egotistical and difficult.

He was also historically great.

You live with that bargain all day, every day. I don’t think his teammates had any issue with him.

Part of what made him great is that he wasn’t going to stick around for the garbage act. Why sacrifice your life and legacy to Corey, Houle and Tremblay?

Roy was like Michael Jordan, hard on everyone around him because of the expectations that he put on himself and expected from everyone else. You want that guy on your team as a fan but for those forced to be with him day in and day out it was probably a much tougher journey.

 

[Miller Time]

Start of 25 years of franchise mediocrity...

if COVID hadn't happened, who knows, maybe we'd be looking at a fresh start with a new GM (and coach?) and a legit shot at ending this cycle.

 

[Habs Icing]

It was an historically garbage move by Tremblay to intentionally humiliate Roy. A lot of players would have reacted similarly.

Adding the adverb historically to your sentence doesn't make it any more truthful. I don't want to remove any blame from Tremblay but Roy was manipulating the situation way before that Detroit game. The little tidbit from Vernon is just the tip of the iceberg. Roy was just as responsible for that fiasco as Tremblay and Ron Corey. And I don't freaking care how great of a goalie he was. It doesn't excuse the passive-aggressive BS he pulled. Everyone forgets the f-u gesture he gave the fans at the four or fifth goal.

 

[Fixxer]

The whole press-conference, from RDS...
L'intégrale de la conférence de presse annonçait les nominations de Réjean Houle et Mario Tremblay comme DG et entraîneur-chef des Canadiens.

 

[boompuffboom]

darkest day in habs history.

 

[Sterling Archer]

A day that shall live in infamy forever.

 

[groovejuice]

Adding the adverb historically to your sentence doesn't make it any more truthful. I don't want to remove any blame from Tremblay but Roy was manipulating the situation way before that Detroit game. The little tidbit from Vernon is just the tip of the iceberg. Roy was just as responsible for that fiasco as Tremblay and Ron Corey. And I don't freaking care how great of a goalie he was. It doesn't excuse the passive-aggressive BS he pulled. Everyone forgets the f-u gesture he gave the fans at the four or fifth goal.

That team was a mess due to the egomania of Corey and his two incompetent hires. How can you possibly blame players for hating that environment?

Roy was the main reason for the recent Cups and the crowd deserved a finger or two. The situation probably could have been rectified, but the egos won out.

 

[salbutera]

Enjoy this beautiful memory:




Also, I didn't hear Savard's full interview on TSN690 yesterday, but apparently, he was planning a coaching change before he was fired as GM.

I fell off my chair when Savard clarified the Chelios trade. He said Corey never ever interfered or stuck his nose in anything hockey ops related, except a couple of days before Savard was fired when after the Sat night game he ordered a practice at 11am Sunday morning even though Habs were not scheduled to play their next game till the following Thursday. Savard saw 11am on the board and went to see Demers about it, and was told it was Corey’s orders

As for the trade itself, Savard said the Habs medical staff said they didn’t think Chelios’ knee would hold up more than 1-more season, and that was the reason for the deal, not anything related to off ice issues as reported ad nauseam.

 

[salbutera]

Savard also said on the air (which he states in his book) Roy & Keane went to see Savard and told him Demers has lost the room.

 

[ahmedou]

1909-1995

RIP

 

[CheldishGamibno]

That's why I scratch my head on people rating Bergevin an E/F in this thread: POLL: What grade do you give MB as Habs' GM for the last 8 years

You CANNOT be a worse GM than Peanut Houle. Bergevin at least deserves a D if you hate him.

Houle gave us this disgusting roster: Montreal Canadiens 1999-00 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com
From this: Montreal Canadiens 1994-95 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com

You can't make this s*** up. Absolutely absymal.

 

[MD thaivuN]

The whole press-conference, from RDS...
L'intégrale de la conférence de presse annonçait les nominations de Réjean Houle et Mario Tremblay comme DG et entraîneur-chef des Canadiens.

Rejean Houle was try-hard cringe in that press conference.

 

[dralaf]

f*** Ronald Corey !!!

Patrick Roy said it best...

Patrick Roy avait raconté avoir appris la nouvelle de la nomination de Réjean Houle et Mario Tremblay comme DG et entraîneur-chef du Tricolore en regardant la télé après sa sieste. « Je suis allé prendre une douche pour voir si j’étais bien réveillé ! »

En quête de succès depuis un quart de siècle

 

[Kimota]

Enjoy this beautiful memory:




Also, I didn't hear Savard's full interview on TSN690 yesterday, but apparently, he was planning a coaching change before he was fired as GM.

Seriously what kind of Halloween scare did you jusy give me bro, with a title like that.

RIP Habs.

Pretty much. It killed what the Habs used be forever.

------------

That being said, while Tremblay acted like someone that lacked experience, Serge Savard revealed later that he indeed was thinking about hiring Tremblay as coach and he had a planned a trade between the Nords and Habs Owen Nolan and Stephane Fiset for Roy. The difference is, if Savard had hired Tremblay and there would have been a problem with Roy, Savard was a figure of respect and wisdom and was intimidating like an old school dad and would have calmed things down and solve the issue, bringing all parties together and we would have forgotten everything the next day. Houle didn't have the experience and poised to do that. He didn't know how to resolve it other than a trade.

 

[Fixxer]

f*** Ronald Corey !!!

Patrick Roy said it best...

Patrick Roy avait raconté avoir appris la nouvelle de la nomination de Réjean Houle et Mario Tremblay comme DG et entraîneur-chef du Tricolore en regardant la télé après sa sieste. « Je suis allé prendre une douche pour voir si j’étais bien réveillé ! »

En quête de succès depuis un quart de siècle

That also didn't help (translated with Google)

"To add to the difficulties, the Molson Breweries of Canada, to which the Habs belonged, no longer wanted to play the game of overbidding. At a time when there was no salary cap, Réjean Houle had to make do with a budget of around 30 million dollars. The Red Wings, Rangers and Maple Leafs were in the 70-80 million range."

 

[Miller Time]

Adding the adverb historically to your sentence doesn't make it any more truthful. I don't want to remove any blame from Tremblay but Roy was manipulating the situation way before that Detroit game. The little tidbit from Vernon is just the tip of the iceberg. Roy was just as responsible for that fiasco as Tremblay and Ron Corey. And I don't freaking care how great of a goalie he was. It doesn't excuse the passive-aggressive BS he pulled. Everyone forgets the f-u gesture he gave the fans at the four or fifth goal.

you aren't wrong... and... you don't appear to have much experience working with elite talent.

while it's fair to point out how problematic they can at times be, the main job of a coach is to get the best out of the talent available. For whatever ego issues Roy had, his success under multiple coaches suggests that they were certainly manageable by competent coaches and organizations.

The responsibility starts at the top.

 

[Habs Icing]

you aren't wrong... and... you don't appear to have much experience working with elite talent.

while it's fair to point out how problematic they can at times be, the main job of a coach is to get the best out of the talent available. For whatever ego issues Roy had, his success under multiple coaches suggests that they were certainly manageable by competent coaches and organizations.

The responsibility starts at the top.

That's an irrelevant comment to make unless you or the others in this thread have experience working with elite talent. We're both in the same boat.

 

[26Mats]

That also didn't help (translated with Google)

"To add to the difficulties, the Molson Breweries of Canada, to which the Habs belonged, no longer wanted to play the game of overbidding. At a time when there was no salary cap, Réjean Houle had to make do with a budget of around 30 million dollars. The Red Wings, Rangers and Maple Leafs were in the 70-80 million range."

And 25 year later every team's budget is 81.5 million for player salaries, while the game has grown financially at an exponential rate. Just shows how much money the owners are making off of the players.

 

[Miller Time]

That's an irrelevant comment to make unless you or the others in this thread have experience working with elite talent. We're both in the same boat.

I do. Hence why I made the comment. Those who work in those spheres tend to understand this very well... unless they fall in the excuse-making camp.

 

[Fixxer]

When it's Yvan Cournoyer's turn to talk, being hired as an assistant coach, Ronald Corey is clapping his hands and looks so proud of his hire(s) of rookie GM Houle, rookie coach Tremblay and as Tremblay said, his rookie assistant coach Cournoyer. I also never figured Roy was out of town 2-3 months after these new guys were in. I heard that Roy and Tremblay didn't like each other back in the day, for the small part of the season they were together in 1986. Oh well.