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.

 

[Jeune Poulet]

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

It's a requirement, not a bias.

The last time I worked in an office, I had colleagues from all over the world. And they learned French and weren't making 7-figure salaries. Anyone can learn the language. My wife learned Polish and German for her job.

I would advise any young, talented coach who has the NHL as his ultimate goal to learn the language. Because there is a very restricted pool of potential employers and 32 chances is better than 31.

 

[golgoXIII]

From what i read and listen from the ex NHL'er who are working in the media the '' Man to man'' systeme is the worst you can use in the NHL . it take a lot of energy and the defense ase to follow his player to the blue line and the others team using this to split the defense and that's why they give 45 shots a night. So systeme will probably have to change if MST want to keep is job.

 

[Blitzkrug]

It's a requirement, not a bias.

The last time I worked in an office, I had colleagues from all over the world. And they learned French and weren't making 7-figure salaries. Anyone can learn the language. My wife learned Polish and German for her job.

I would advise any young, talented coach who has the NHL as his ultimate goal to learn the language. Because there is a very restricted pool of potential employers and 32 chances is better than 31.

Or they could just ignore this nonsense and go coach one of the other 31 teams as they've done for the better part of 3 decades.

Do keep acting like handicapping yourself is a badge of honor though.

 

[Ghost of Murph]

He's doing fine with what he has been given.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Hard to tell. No coach is making that Habs roster look good this year. Their bottom 6 has some guys who should not be in the NHL at this point in Anderson and Gally. Their defense is young with some potential but not very good. Their goalie is unproven and a waiver wire pickup, remains to be seen what he is.

Habs have a few years until they are competitive IMO.

 

[The Macho King]

Their roster is trash. Hard to judge.

 

[Jeune Poulet]

Or they could just ignore this nonsense and go coach one of the other 31 teams as they've done for the better part of 3 decades.

Yeah, good luck with that!

There are hundreds of coaches waiting on the sidelines, some of them with an impressive resume including hardware like Stanley Cups and Jack Adams trophies. It's not as easy as "deciding" to be hired by the other 31 teams. You'll compete with a ton of people. Most coaches will not make it. Out of those who do, many with have very short careers.

BTW. Every year, thousands of people learn a new language to improve their career prospects. You can call it "nonsense to be ignored", I call it common sense that a lot of ambitious adults have.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

No but we are getting another top 10 pick this year so its not all bad

You need different kinds of coaches at different stages of a rebuild IMO.

great answer , St Louis shelf life will expire if steps aren't taken no doubt

 

[BostonBob]

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

None of us will live that long.

 

[MXD]

Maybe.
Too many roster issues at the moment to answer that question definitely.
- Only 4 Top-6 players (and Dach may be stretching it)
- The 1D - OR AT LEAST THE PLAYER DEPLOYED AS SUCH - is actually a decent 2nd pairing guy.
- Bottom-6 doesn't have much of a direction
- Physicality only present in a few pieces.
- Defense is still rather green

 

[MXD]

Habs really have an abundance of impressive blue liners in the system but who is going to be the shutdown or two-way stud? Guhle, Reinbacher, Hutson, Mailloux all seem like PP guys. Only Reinbacher projects to be a two-way difference maker and that remains uncertain.

Guhle is that 2-way guy. He's better than he looks because he's deployed on the wrong side, so as to babysit... A veteran, mind you.

 

[MNRube]

Guhle is that 2-way guy. He's better than he looks because he's deployed on the wrong side, so as to babysit... A veteran, mind you.

I guess I need to watch him more. I thought he had more of an offensive bend to his game.

 

[MXD]

I guess I need to watch him more. I thought he had more of an offensive bend to his game.

Yeah, absolutely not. The well-known player he's stylistically the most similar to is probably Ryan McDonagh.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Not sure why they hired a guy with coaching a peewee team level experience, should have been an assistant.

 

[Goptor]

They're still several years away from the playoffs, roster construction wise.

At some point they will have to switch from a more learning approach style, drop the young guys who can't hold up, and target vets that work with how they want to play.

Can he make the transition? Sure, coaches have done so in the past.
He'll have to fight complacency and do so with no coaching background experience to go off of. Sometimes its just easier to get a new guy.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Not sure why they hired a guy with coaching a peewee team level experience, should have been an assistant.

Is it really a mistake though? We got pick #1 #5 #5 in the past three drafts , sounds like the rebuild went exactly according to plan