New GM Discussion Thread

[LaP]

He is on the Stanley cup champion and that D was not full of Norris winners last season so he must have done something right last year for sure and again, results based business.

Martin is a good system coach. As a head coach his main problem is roster making. He tend to like soft useless bottom 6 players. He tend to fall in love with the type of players you must avoid to win. But as an assistant he is not the one making the decision about who is going to play or not. So he can focus solely on the system and he's very good at it.

 

[Belial]

You’ve stated this a few times, pointing out a number of players and I don’t disagree... got a lot of passengers and underperformers here.

However, what are we going to do? You can’t fire a player. MB is on the hook either way. This is his team. The core guys he inherited, well, he chose to resign them or trade them so this team is his vision.

I think MB is safe until end of the season so his options are to get rid of the underperformers or bring in more pieces. Hard? Of course it is since he should have done this right during the off-season.

What can you do really? Start selling? It's dumb IMO as you will sell low...

Hope they get their shit together till it's not too late...

 

[yianik]

I would be shocked if Molson terminated MB any time soon.

The best I think we can hope for is Molson puts in a President.

Now I'm not sure how interventionist Presidents are supposed to be but ours must be that , and also have the view that MB has screwed up on some stuff anyway.

Also the mandate has to be a Cup , whether it can be done this year or in 5 years, but do what is necessary to get us there. And yes, rebuild is on the table.

 

[badbrains]

I think that if Molson and his cohorts decide to continue putting race/ethnic background over talent in his next management hire I will sell my kids (he's about 1) Habs gear/give it away to friends. Honestly disgusted by how this organization has operated during the last 6 years.

Molson was so shell shocked by the media bullying after the Cunnyworth debacle that I don't think he can make the tough decision to hire a non francophone in almost any senior position at this point. He publicly, and unnecessarily, apologized for hiring an Anglo interim coach. Embarrassing.

He needs to hire a president that will make those decisions for him and not take cap from media and/or fans about it.

Molson is simply not the right person for the job.

 

[member 256847]

Adding my vote for Brisebois. Smart guy, good management experience, paid his dues and young enough not to be a prisoner of the old school mentality that clouds MB's decisions. Not opposed to bringing someone else but he should be a finalist I would think.

 

[koyvoo]

Hey. Would all the die hards on this issue say no to a coaching/management trident of Sam Pollock, Frank Selke and Toe Blake?

I mean, c’mon.

 

[Icejoker]

You have to wake the team, then hire Juhani Tamminen
http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=52488

 

[habsgirl5000]

Molson is in love with MB in the same way MB was in love with MT,

its going to take a hell of a lot more then a bad 10 game stretch to fire MB,

Molson didn't fire MB after the worst collapse in franchise history, why would he fire him after a bad 8 or 10 games stretch?

 

[Adamcrazy3]

How would you guys feel about Patrick Roy being the next GM? He said he's more interested in the management part of the game.

 

[DAChampion]

Molson is in love with MB in the same way MB was in love with MT,

its going to take a hell of a lot more then a bad 10 game stretch to fire MB,

he didn't fire him after the worst collapse in franchise history, let that sink in

It's standard for the GM to be allowed to fire his coach first.

Further, there's now a pattern, Bergevin has had multiple collapses.

Bergevin was also allowed to trade Subban. At the time, people said that Subban's antics ion the locker room were causing the collapse, and that the stern look on Weber's face would keep everyone competitive.

 

[Moose Head]

Hey. Would all the die hards on this issue say no to a coaching/management trident of Sam Pollock, Frank Selke and Toe Blake?

I mean, c’mon.

Obviously no, but they were all bilingual.

 

[Inkling]

Hey. Would all the die hards on this issue say no to a coaching/management trident of Sam Pollock, Frank Selke and Toe Blake?

I mean, c’mon.

Toe Blake spoke French.

 

[Moose Head]

How would you guys feel about Patrick Roy being the next GM? He said he's more interested in the management part of the game.

Too rash and emotional. I think he has a great head for the game though, I just see something blowing up in an ugly way because of his personality

 

[De Montreal]

I agree with those saying it's better if the GM speak french. Big majority of Habs fan speak french, and lot of them dont know english even as a second language. It's a form of respect for them to be able to hear what their GM has to say, not from a secondhand translation. Now I'm saying it's better if it's this way, but I wouldnt be fiercly against an english GM if he's willing to learn french. It's honestly not that big of a commitment, summer classes 2 years in a row and you're good to go. Especially if you focus on hockey vocabulary.

Gainey french wasnt perfect, but it was good enough

 

[De Montreal]

Also, you guys sold me on Brisebois. Local guy, smart, played with us 10+ years so he knows how to cope with the pressure.

Edit: sarcasm

 

[JianYang]

If all the players don't have to speak French why should the management have to?

I mean what's the real priority here, actually icing a successful team or having someone who can go up to the podium for a few minutes a week and answer questions like "why is the team struggling" in fluent French?

As a habs fan who has no real link to Quebec, I agree with you... But there are many loud people who do not. I want to ice the best possible hockey team, with the best possible HOCKEY people running it, but the market is what it is.

As far as potential candidates go within these special constraints, brisebois is also the first name that jumps to my head. No GM experience but lots of assistant experience, and Yzerman must have valued him since I recall him not allowing brisebois to seek other opportunities at one point. The one thing I'm unsure about is how well rounded he is. If I recall correctly, his role has been mostly towards the contract side of things, but someone correct me if I'm wrong.

One thing that does not make our situation appealing to a new gm is the coach's contract though. Julien has 5 years left, so I'm thinking that Molson would not allow the gm to bring his own guy for at least a couple years anyway.

 

[Rickkins]

Personally I am stunned to have heard nothing about Berg's firing already.

 

[CaptainBenn]

Too rash and emotional. I think he has a great head for the game though, I just see something blowing up in an ugly way because of his personality

like trading Subban ? Bergevin has bigger personality problems

 

[CaptainBenn]

I agree with those saying it's better if the GM speak french. Big majority of Habs fan speak french, and lot of them dont know english even as a second language. It's a form of respect for them to be able to hear what their GM has to say, not from a secondhand translation. Now I'm saying it's better if it's this way, but I wouldnt be fiercly against an english GM if he's willing to learn french. It's honestly not that big of a commitment, summer classes 2 years in a row and you're good to go. Especially if you focus on hockey vocabulary.

Gainey french wasnt perfect, but it was good enough

how many fans actually listen to all his whole pressers ? most of the time you can only get glimpses of things he said through some video edits on tv or internet articles

 

[OldCraig71]

Also, you guys sold me on Brisebois. Local guy, smart, played with us 10+ years so he knows how to cope with the pressure.

Edit: sarcasm

Not that one, the one with talent. Edit, I missed that.

 

[sandviper]

What can you do really? Start selling? It's dumb IMO as you will sell low...

Hope they get their **** together till it's not too late...

Agree, Galchenyuk's value is probably super low, as is Patches, Weber and Price.

And yeah, we can hope they turn it around. As for it being too late, many here, including myself, saw the writing on the wall during preseason (I suppose last year playoffs and offseason also). If there was a time for change, that ship has sailed. MB would be an idiot (more than usual) to start selling now since it would take a series of moves to right this ship.

While ultimately it is the players responsible for their performance, I don't see how we can ignore the fact that MB assembled this mess. Over the past 2 seasons for example, let's remove the 3 players that had the biggest impact to Pacioretty's scoring goals. Listen, I won't get into Subban, but for the others, Beaulieu was a tool and played like one sometimes and Markov was old but there is no denying how much offence they drove. This is not just an eye test. This is a statistical fact.

Sure, who knows if this would have been the case this season, but we all knew Alzner, Morrow and Streit cannot make up for the loss of Markov's ability to drive offence. I know we got Drouin, but we lost Radulov who is now clearly being missed. Nothing wrong with Drouin, but Radulov was a bulldog of a forechecker and creative as well.

Price, who I personally think is elite, is clearly sucking ass now. I do feel he didn't play great last night, but a lot of those goals I don't think he can really do much about. That said, great goalies have great defence and our defence is terrible.

I realize spending money for no reason is stupid, but c'mon, going into the season with obvious holes sitting on $8m of cap...

 

[Whitesnake]

Okay so for everybody who is whining about the language issue....give me the names of the GM and coach you'd have that would be anglos. I'M waiting.

 

[BLONG7]

Also, you guys sold me on Brisebois. Local guy, smart, played with us 10+ years so he knows how to cope with the pressure.

Edit: sarcasm

I think everyone is talking Julien Brisebois.....not Patrice...

 

[Habs13]

Create a position of "Press liaison" - hire a Franco. You're now free to hire ANY GM and coach you want to.

 

[Roadhouse]

Okay so for everybody who is whining about the language issue....give me the names of the GM and coach you'd have that would be anglos. I'M waiting.

Bobby Smith for GM! http://ourhistory.canadiens.com/article/Where-Are-They-Now-Bobby-Smith

I'm only half-kidding. He has GM experience, owns/manages the Mooseheads and had PK Subban as his favorite player at the time of this interview.

Keep CJ, hire an experienced current Asst GM like Paul Fenton or Les Jackson. I would gladly be along for the crazy ride if Molson hired Roy, though. We missed on Stevie Y back then.

Create a position of "Press liaison" - hire a Franco. You're now free to hire ANY GM and coach you want to.

LOL wat. I would assume there's already several PR-focused employees up there, and both the GM and coach are French. Hey Press Liaison, why did player x (...)? "I don't know, let me ask the coach later and I'll get back to you". Right.