Can Montreal Really Take The Next Step With St. Louis As The Coach ?

[GAGLine]

I think Gorton and Hughes have put together a pretty good collection of young players to be honest...

I think the jury is still out on that. They've drafted a lot of players who either haven't made it to the NHL yet or haven't made a significant impact at the NHL level yet.

MSL needs a defensive system coach and a PP coach. If he doesn't like it, bye bye....

The problem then becomes politics of getting rid a Quebecois coach, which needs a Quebecois replacement.

Or they could hire the most qualified person, regardless of their background.

It's a myth.

There have been only four Québécois out of the last ten Habs coaches chosen.

Whether they are from Quebec or not, they want coaches who can speak French. Out of the last 10 coaches, all but one spoke French. Cunneyworth was on the only one who didn't, and he didn't last long (50 games).

Randy Cunneyworth - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Cunneyworth's promotion caused minor controversy because at the time he only spoke English. The last full-time Canadiens coach who did not speak French at all was Al MacNeil in 1971, and he was dismissed at the conclusion of that season despite coaching the underdog team to the Stanley Cup. As a result of Cunneyworth becoming head coach, several Quebec nationalist groups called for a boycott of Molson. In response, Canadiens owner Geoff Molson promised that Cunneyworth's permanent replacement would be bilingual. Quebec Culture Minister Christine St-Pierre said she expected the Canadiens to rectify the situation as soon as possible. Cunneyworth himself had promised to learn French during the season.[3][4] In contrast to Quebec nationalists, most regular fans were not bothered by this issue, as "a common refrain heard in Montreal is that fans would be willing to support the hiring of a coach who can't speak French if it were someone like the accomplished Mike Babcock, or local hero Kirk Muller" (indeed, no such controversy occurred when Muller was interim head coach on August 13, 2020). [5] The Canadiens were also criticized for failing to defend their interim head coach against the attacks from Quebec nationalists and politicians, as it "is not Cunneyworth’s fault that he speaks only English. He’s working to change that" and he continued to be professional when this issue came up during press conferences.

So, yes, there is a very clear bias toward French-speaking coaches and GMs.

 

[Next Best Thing]

at this point I do not see MSL as a barrier to the habs taking the next step

The next step.. lol. As if we're there yet

 

[Zalos]

MSL is great. We can judge him once he has a team that can compete for the playoffs.

 

[zenator]

I think MSL is an excellent coach. Most nights, he gets a great effort from an undermanned team. The problem is the players, not the coach. It's hard to win when your best defensemen are #4s.

 

[bov]

Literally the last coach in the league I would doubt.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Standard question from fans getting frustrated with a rebuild.

Which inevitably always happens. People on HF love to fetishize prospects and tanks but watching losing hockey for years takes a toll and I'm personally of the opinion that the sport should try to find a way to either discourage teams from tanking even more/encourage player movement because I'm not sure how good it is for the sport when fans can easily expect their team to be absolute trash for five years (and that's if it works out) when they inevitably have to start rebuilding. It doesn't make for a fun fandom.

Different sports and rules for sure but you seem to get a lot more excitement of how things work in the NBA and the NFL.

 

[JianYang]

St Louis has been around since early 2022 and is approaching the 3 year mark. Coaches who don't have success in that timespan, despite the circumstances, are going to have a tough time, because the losing gets old quick, and along with that, the players tune out the messages too.

I suspect that the Habs are going to be more aggressive next season and ramp up the expectations, and I think this is when st Louis will start to feel the heat if things dont go well.

This year? Not so much. You could tell from the interviews during camp with management that the expectations are still fairly low this season from a standings point of view.