Category Archives: Canadiens

It’s Your Fault

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If there’s one topic and player that has been flogged harder than Scott Gomez in the past 2 seasons, it has to be Andrei Kostitsyn.

Since being drafted 10th overall at the 2003 draft, he has consistently done one thing: fail to live up to expectations.

Guess what? It’s your fault.

He’s been assigned labels like “heartless”, “lazy”, “inconsistent”, “soft” and “replaceable”. Seriously, guys?

I guess you’ve been duped in to thinking that 20 goal / 100 hit guys grow on trees, or that Kostitsyn is somehow overpaid for what he brings. “Heartless” and “lazy” are off-base monikers that are totally subjective, and I suspect more often than not are derogatory adjectives given to Eastern European players by “lazy” fans and media who can’t be bothered to actually “do the research” before passing judgement on him.

Inconsistent
Let’s tackle this one: Since 2007-08, Kostitsyn’s points-per-game average has been: .68ppg (07-08), .55ppg (08-09), .56ppg (09-10), .55ppg (10-11), .51ppg (11-12). While this year represents a low, we should also note that he is no longer getting prime ice time, and rarely gets power play time (1:48 of powerplay time per game, 8th on the team). If Kostitsyn plays 70 games, he scores 20 goals and will throw 100 hits on a team that has been forever labeled small and weak. Talk about shouldering the burden.

Soft
Another misnomer for AK46. Over the course of the past 5 seasons, Kostitsyn has ranked no lower than 5th among forwards in terms of hits thrown, and anyone watching knows that Andrei Kostitsyn can throw his weight around as well as anyone. In fact, Kostitsyn led the team in hits last season with 140, and was 3rd in 09-10 despite missing 20+ games. This season, AK46 is second in hits behind Erik Cole with 75 hits in 47 games. Kostitsyn has played 10 fewer games than Cole, who will not keep up this year’s pace as he ages.

Replaceable
Habs fans have been clamoring for Kostitsyn’s ouster from Montreal for years now, mostly because he hasn’t pleased those who think he’s a 35 goal man with a 20 goal man’s drive. With the NHL average salary about to creep closer to 3 million dollars, I’d hate to think that there are people out there dumb enough to think that his 3.25 million dollar salary is some kind of overpayment for his services. I defy you to find another player on the open market that is a lock for 20 goals, 40pts and 100 hits for what will be slightly more than the league average next season. If the Habs look to replace his production and presence on the free agent market, they’ll have to badly overpay in terms of annual salary and term. The Habs would be smart to re-sign Kostitsyn while he’s still willing…if he’s still willing. And don’t talk to me about in-house replacements. The Canadiens have nobody – N-O-B-O-D-Y in the organization that is close to being able to produce the way Kostitsyn does. Not Louis Leblanc, not Mike Blunden, not Aaron Palushaj, not Brendan Gallagher.

While Kostitsyn was drafted behind all-stars like Perry, Getzlaf, Richards, Kesler, Parise and Carter, fans simply need to stop being so unbelievably and absolutely thick-skulled about Kostitsyn. Adjust your expectations already! Andrei Kostitsyn brings stability, skill and a sorely needed physical presence to the Canadiens lineup. If he was given steady linemates and given a role that suits his best skill (that of a sniper), maybe he’d be closer to the guy everyone thinks he ought to be. But until then, the Canadiens have a reliable, home-grown player that comes at excellent value. Apparently that isn’t enough, though. That damn 10th overall tag just won stop dogging him. Stubborn fans and media won’t let it go away. Apparently fans want to see assets mismanaged to the point where the next guy that is brought in to replace him is paid 30% more, while he inevitably eventually becomes somebody fans want traded for a bag of used mouth guards.

Andrei Kostitsyn as a failure? Hardly. It’s your fault for letting your imagination continually run wild. Is he a perfect player, and a perfect little boy scout? No, he isn’t, and he has hit slumps, sometimes for long stretches. Which player hasn’t? Stop comparing him to others in his draft class. We can play this game all day, and you’re sounding like a broken record. To boot, we can sing the Habs praises for drafting Pacioretty and Subban before other teams snatched them up, unless you would have preferred Riley Nash, Angelo Esposito, Logan MacMillan, Jakub Voracek, or Zach Hamill. If you’re going to remain in the camp that insists Kostitsyn is a drag on the team, at least be armed with a good reason other than “I watch the games and he’s poopy and he was drafted before Corey Perry and I hate him and he’s a bum”.

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Shepherding the Lemmings

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So the Catholic Church has concocted an ad, asked us all to pray that the Habs can go on a miraculous run and escape the depths of despair to snatch the 8th playoff rung. How cute silly.

Usually you don’t go looking for miracles until you really need one.

  • Turning water in to wine
  • Granting sight to the blind
  • Healing the lepers
  • Exorcising the demons
  • Making 8th place

Hmmmm…one of these is not like the others, but it does a wonderful job in cementing the “Habs are a religion” story.

Do we really need to waste a miracle in hoping that the Canadiens can sink their hooks in to a playoff spot that historically bears no fruit? If you’re like me, and the Stanley Cup is the only goal that truly matters, then you no doubt know by now that finishing anywhere from 5th to 8th place is nothing but fodder for the top ranked teams. Why? I’ll say it again: because the last fifteen consecutive Cup winners started the playoffs with home ice advantage. It doesn’t get any clearer than that. History matters, and after 15 years, it is no longer a trend, but has become reality. Sure, we just saw the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series after making a miracle run to the playoffs. We just saw the New York Giants win the Superbowl as nothing more than a .500 team that got hot at the right time. Neither of those sports are NHL hockey, and this is precisely the reason why we always hear the saying that “the Stanley Cup is the hardest trophy to win.” The NHL playoffs are a grind that are designed to weed out the weaker teams. Yes, 16 teams make the playoffs every year with “a blank slate and equal chance to win it all” but since the lockout ended, 8 of the 12 teams to compete in the Stanley Cup Finals had the minimal requirement of winning their division locked up. To boot, the Canadiens are not constructed to endure a run to the Cup finals. Thin on defense, small down the middle, not nearly rugged enough.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen quite enough of the Habs wearing Cinderella’s gown once the post-season ball begins. In any other year when they are traditionally a bubble team, I’d be hoping for the team to make the playoffs because once you’re in the mix, you may as well go all in and reap the experience of being in the playoffs, because aside from ownership rolling in pure playoff profit, there is no tangible benefit aside from experience. But this year, the Habs are not in the mix, and they aren’t close to the mix. Their current 3-game winning streak has only brought them 1 point closer to 8th – that’s how hard it is to claw back once you fall far behind, as the Habs did in October. You can claw back, as they did, but what happens when they have another mini-slump? Wallowing as low as they have this year, this is the team’s best chance at a brighter future by selling off their assets for draft picks, cutting dead weight loose, and trimming fat from the roster. Under no circumstances should the General Manager hoard his pending UFAs for a shot at 8th place, just to lose them for nothing a couple months later. Similarly, under no circumstances should he be permitted to be a buyer at the deadline. The Canadiens haven’t drafted in the first AND second round since 2007; a draft that netted Pacioretty and Subban in rounds one and two. Where is this Habs team without either of those players? The Canadiens would be without a young power forward that already has 21 even strength goals, and without a defenseman capable of playing 25 minutes per night. A one-year hiatus from the status-quo can do this franchise’s future a world of good. But we live in the instant-gratification age, and apparently it’s too much to ask to forgo one year of merry-go-round uselessness. It’s all now, now, NOW!

If you buy in to the Church’s silly ad (ease up, Kyle it’s all in good fun!), if you buy in to the “make the playoffs and anything can happen” garbage, and if you think that all the Habs needed all along was a little luck to be Cup contender, then this is where we part ways. You’re simply not paying attention to reality. Wait. Let me backtrack for a second. Anything CAN happen, as long as your goal is anything BUT the Cup. Winning one round CAN happen, and happens often enough. Winning two round is also possible. Heck, winning 3 rounds happens on average once every 5 years, but winning that key fourth round never does. If you want the Cup, wishing upon a star will just leave you disappointed at the end of the season. If you settle for less than the Cup…well…I’ll withold my opinions. This is a family website, after all.

If you want to see this organization realize true success, or at least give it their all in trying, then try this: Demand that Geoff Molson has a long chat with smart hockey people from outside his organization on how to build a winner in the cap era, because the hockey people running things today are there by either convenience, nepotism or cronyism. And when you breed mediocrity with mediocrity, you simply get better mediocrity.

The Canadiens have an open window to flush out the pipes and retool on a strong foundation of young players that desperately need the input and influence of somebody that gets it. They’d be wise to embrace this open window, because the usual way of doing things has led to nearly 20 years of futility and a generation of Habs fans who are now more than halfway to being Leafs fans (yes kiddies, we were already teasing the Leafs about 1967 back in 1997 – The Habs are a mere 11 years away from those depths).

Look, I hate seeing the Canadiens in this position, and I don’t enjoy them losing by any stretch. But I hate this never-ending cycle of mediocrity even more. If somehow, after trading away assets and allowing nature to take it’s course, the Canadiens manage to “Rise Together” to snatch 8th place, then fine. It will cost them the chance to draft the big, skilled franchise centerman that the team has desperately needed for more than 15 years, but so be it. It’s a compromise to appease the lemmings who would follow the team over a rocky cliff.

After reading this, I ask you yet again, what is the point of finishing 8th when it is so crystal clear that teams who finish 8th get nothing? Do not believe the “anything can happen” tripe. If “anything can happen” was at all true, then it would have happened more than once in the last 15 years. Again, it may work in other sports, but not in the NHL. What is your goal? The Stanley Cup, or something less?

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Opportunity Cost

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When an underachieving team has its back to the wall, and faces a huge uphill climb, it’s only natural to rally around that team when they rattle off some impressive wins. This is the case with the recent performance of the Habs.

Since trading a disgruntled Michael Cammalleri to Calgary, the team is a mediocre 3-2-2. Not nearly good enough to put them back in the playoff hunt, but optimism has been renewed since those 3 wins have come against the Conference-leading Rangers, the hated Leafs (in Toronto), and the mighty Red Wings. When the most recent victory sees the downtrodden Habs hanging a converted touchdown around the league’s best team’s neck, it’s easy – and sometimes fun – to get carried away that the turnaround is in fact upon us and that the Forum Ghosts are ready to lend a hand.

As the Canadiens blew off the preseason, most shrugged with indifference. In most years, I would have agreed – after all, didn’t Carey Price tell us to “chill”?. This year, however, I didn’t see a team building toward an identity, or establishing chemistry – I saw a team running out players that had no business being a part of a training camp for so long. It felt like the Habs were focused on squeezing as many dollars as they could from whatever time was allotted for preseason games. Once the regular season began, nothing changed. How could it given the lackadaisical approach given to the preseason schedule?  The team that sputtered through the exhibition season fell flat in October, so much so that they became ensnared in the dreaded numbers game bear trap.

The “coveted” 8th place slot drifted further and further out of reach as the season reached the quarter pole, all the way to the point where the Habs were a distant and dismal 11 points out of 8th at mid-season. In other words – they’d need a miracle to claw back and grab that 8th playoff position.

The more pragmatic Habs fans were reading the writing on the wall as they were taking the Halloween decorations down and dusting off the Christmas season regalia. Yes, the regular season is 82 games, and 6 1/2 long months, but the reality is that you can scuttle your playoff hopes in the first month of action.

Thus was born the #failfornail campaign, a euphemism for tanking the season and grabbing the top draft pick at the 2012 entry draft. This slogan sticks in the craw of many fans, who want the Habs in the post-season dance, no matter what. After all, you can’t win the Cup if you don’t make the playoffs, n’est pas? Never mind that no 5th-8th seed teams have won the Cup since 1995 when Braveheart was the reigning Best Picture winner and Gangta’s Paradise was dominating the radio waves. The Devils won the Cup that year, and it was during a shortened 48-game season, meaning that without having to endure the full 82-game grind, conditions were ripe for a team to win the Cup without starting on home ice. Even at that, the Devils were on the cusp of becoming a dominant league power, not a bubble team. The ’93 Habs were the last team to win the Cup without home ice to start the playoffs in a full season, but again, it should be noted that the Canadiens were a 102-point team that year and were in a stacked division, and were not a bubble team.

In short, bubble teams don’t win anything. In a town with a history like Montreal’s, an 8th place finish is nothing short of a platitude.

As a believer in history and trends, I’m tired of the Habs going in to the playoffs with the “plucky underdog” label. The dire reality is that if you want to win the Cup in the modern era, you need home ice advantage, at least to start the playoffs. The 2006 Oilers are a nice story, but that’s all they are – a nice story. If they had a healthy Dwayne Roloson for game 7, things may have been different, but he was hurt, and they lost. There are no moral victories to be found in game 7 of the Cup Finals, and the Oilers have been rebuilding ever since.

This season has 3 possible outcomes for the Habs:

1- They buck history to “rise together” to grab the 8th playoff spot, despite overwhelming odds. Pragmatists will weep at the loss of a potential lottery pick, while optimists and die-hard homers will trumpet this as an accomplishment worthy of recognition in the annals of Habs lore.

2- They make a brave charge for 8th, but fall short. Pragmatists will weep at the loss of a potential lottery pick, while optimists and die-hard homers will trumpet this as an accomplishment worthy of recognition in the annals of Habs lore.

3- They trade their available assets before the deadline, restock the draft pick and prospect cupboard by moving guys like Hal Gill, Travis Moen, Chris Campoli, Tomas Kaberle, in an attempt to do the one thing they haven’t done since the fluke of the 2005 draft (and previously the 1984 draft): draft in the top 5 and secure a franchise centerman.

When you weigh the team’s needs vs the daunting mountain of history that lies in in their path, the “smart” thing to do for the team’s future success would be to cut bait, let nature take its course and rebound hard next year.

Options 1 and 2, in my mind (and I know I’m not alone) represent a waste of time that although would be exciting for a couple months, would ultimately be a step back for the team. As Division and Conference rivals continue to improve, this is the year to make a huge leap forward in narrowing that gap, if not closing it altogether. Smart teams in today’s cap era build upon a foundation of young, cheap talent that can only come from good drafting. They do not build with pricey free agents. In terms of personnel in the organization, the Canadiens have one of the best evaluators of amateur talent in Trevor Timmins. Give him one year where, in a deep draft, he can lay claim to several high-end prospects and Habs fans will reap the rewards for many years to come.

I’m not naive enough to believe that a team of professional athletes are going to roll over and die. They just aren’t wired that way. With the amount of skill on this Habs team, their current position in the standings defies logic, and in that vein it’s not inconceivable that they could at least turn things around just enough to make everything look respectable. Like the thrilling run to the Eastern Conference Finals a couple years ago, I still believe snatching 8th place and missing out on the opportunity to solidify the future is nothing but a smokescreen that while exciting for a time, really sets the team back. It sparks false hope and conjures up delusions of grandeur.

Now, if only the shareholders would agree to forgo playoff revenue *just once*, the path would be so much easier for Geoff Molson and Pierre Gauthier.

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A Plea to P.K. Subban’s Detractors

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This isn’t so much of a typical blog post as it is an impassioned plea to leave P.K. Subban the hell alone. It isn’t a revelation that a segment of fans and media in this town are unreasonably eager to rush to judgement on any growing pain a young player on the Habs will go through. What makes this the “last straw” in my eyes is that Subban is the best talent to come along through the Habs organization in my lifetime since Patrick Roy and the way things are going, Subban will be chased out of town and rise to Norris Trophy-calibre prominence in another uniform.

Make no mistake, I FIRMLY believe Subban will realize, maybe even exceed, his potential. As hard as it is for any rookie in the NHL to develop and succeed, it’s most difficult for young defensemen. It isn’t hard to think of blue-chip defensemen in other organizations who have taken steps back after their initial breakthrough seasons. Tyler Myers and Drew Doughty immediately come to mind. What happens with young players, and defensemen in particular, is that they spend their breakthrough seasons victimizing their foes with talents and assets that are a completely mystery to others around the league. Much like rookie goaltenders often experience success because opponents don’t know about a weak glove hand or a tendency to go down early, rookie defensemen take advantage of similar circumstances.

Last season, the league learned out how good Subban is at carrying the puck and how dangerous he can be rushing up the ice once he gains a full head of steam. This season, opponents started putting more pressure on Subban in the defensive zone to force him to get rid of the puck early and cost the team with the glaring turnovers we have become accustomed to seeing, particularly in recent weeks. What it’ll take for Subban now is to re-adapt to how opponents are handling him.

For Subban to keep developing and make sure his opponents don’t stifle his strength, his coaches have to make sure Subban is listening to them and they have to make sure Subban is as committed to getting better as they are to making him better. I know Subban has that work ethic in him. You can’t come this far and this fast as a professional on talent alone. What Subban also has, however, is the maturity of a 22-year-old kid. What last season’s 14-goal rookie campaign did for Subban was make most people think he had arrived as a professional and maybe to an extent, make Subban himself think that. It’s difficult for a young guy like Subban to be crowned the unofficial prince of Montreal, have fans chase him down the street, chant his name in the stands and not have that all go to his head. It’s a harsh lesson that most young players learn,harsher when it’s learned in a hotbed of unreasonable expectations like Montreal. What you thought was commitment and dedication to your craft turns out to be the type of work ethic that produces average players. Subban is anything but average and Randy Ladouceur along with the rest of the Canadiens coaching staff knows that.

This city’s attitude of wanting results now has hurt the team for the better part of 20 years now. Sometimes “winning at all costs” will produce nothing but losing. The NHL’s successful franchises are given time and understanding that the way to win is to draft and develop their blue chip young talent and tolerating their growing pains on the bumpy road to success. I’m 28 years old and when I think back to the person I was at 22, the change is significant and for the better and I’m sure when you look back on the person you were six years ago, you’d agree. Why should P.K. Subban be expected to be any different from you and me?

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So Long, Sniper

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After Cammalleri’s comments the other day, it was quite apparent to me that he wanted out of town, and that if he wasn’t already unpopular in the Habs dressing room, he would be. He may have said the opposite, that he has a love affair with the city and that he’s building a house. To paraphrase Seinfeld: “yadda yadda yadda, now he’s in Calgary”.

The adage is that the team that gets the better player wins the trade. I find that an overly simplistic way of looking at things. Under this prism, it would be a knee-jerk judgement to say that the Flames won the trade, after all, Cammalleri is a star while Rene Bourque is, well not Ray Bourque. If we take their entire careers in to account, there’s no doubt that Cammalleri has been the better player. But over the course of the last 2+ seasons, Bourque has actually outscored Cammalleri. Viewed in that light, the trade is already much more even. Given that Bourque is much bigger and tougher than Cammalleri, he brings another important component that the Habs have been sorely lacking.

When news of the trade broke last night, I didn’t know what to think. I thought Cammalleri deserved to be traded, and I believe he wanted to be traded. I don’t trust Pierre Gauthier, as most Habs fans don’t. When somebody is as univerally disliked as Gauthier is, it’s easy to pan his each and every move. He’s blamed for moves that Gainey ultimately signed off on, as if he forced Gainey to trade for the Gomez’ of the world. Twitter makes for a great sounding board, but it’s prone to make people look like they have some kind of manic disorder. Such was the case with my timeline once the trade was announced. I vacillated between hating and liking the move; If Cammalleri had to go, at least make it a salary dump…make it a move about the future of the team. That wasn’t the case, and the Habs held true to their traditional modus operandi. They’re not holding a firesale, and they will not tank the season in search of a lottery pick. That was a fantasy. After marinating in the trade overnight, I woke up this morning liking it more than when I went to bed. There are reasons to NOT like it, if that’s your choosing, and I wouldn’t hold that against you if are a Cammalleri fan, but I’m opting to look at the positive aspects and run with them:

  • Bourque has actually been a better scorer in recent years than Cammalleri.
  • Bourque is much cheaper (although his contract runs much longer). Nevertheless, he represents good value.
  • Bourque is much bigger, and that is something the Habs need very much need, especially in the dog days of the season when small guys show signs of fatigue.
  • The Habs got a 2nd round pick in return, as well as a depth prospect who may turn out to be a little more than a throw-in.
  • Team unity may improve with the removal of a guy who apparently was not very well liked in the room, and you can’t put a price on that.

If there’s a reason to not like the trade, it’s that Cammalleri was an elite playoff performer while in Montreal. Halak is hero #1, but Cammalleri is right there with him. Trouble is, his elite playoff production is useless if he can’t help the Canadiens get to the playoffs. Any way you slice it, 9 goals is unacceptable from Cammalleri. There’s no excuse for it. He’s been a giant bust this year, sulking around the ice and not doing what he was paid to do: score goals. Guys who come in on the heels of scoring 39 goals and who are given 30 million dollars are not paid to do anything other than score.

If there’s another reason to not like the trade, it’s the manner in how Gauthier goes about his business. He operates in a cone of silence and seems to not have a concrete idea of how to construct and maintain a team. It’s fair to say that the vast majority of Habs fans want him replaced, and perhaps some of the anger of this trade stems from the fact that we now see that he is likely not going anywhere any time soon. It appears that Molson has continued trust in Gauthier, and that makes us mad, and that casts a pall over any move that Gauthier will make. The Canadiens have long stood as an organization that carried itself with class, from top to bottom. Gauthier is sullying that reputation with his panic moves. Firing Assistant Coaches 90 minutes before a game, and other ‘save my job’ type moves are tarnishing the Canadiens, and the results are trickling down to the ice. They used to get it right nearly everywhere. Now they rarely do. There are no more ceremonies to honour the past, to show off how the Canadiens show class and reverence. The focus is on the present, and the focus is blurry.

In the end, there’s no choice but to get on board with the trade. To pray that Gauthier’s 180° turn from a mantra that asked small, skilled players to win it on the powerplay to a team that is getting bigger & grittier will eventually bring badly needed wins in a division that is quickly improving. We can also hope that it show semblance of a team that can tough it out with sandpaper in the playoffs. They won’t get there this year, but they weren’t getting there with Cammalleri, either. If team unity improves as result of a disliked player being moved, then that’s another huge, intangible plus.

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The Conundrum

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If it was a secret, it’s not anymore. Actually, it was never a secret; the signs were there from the very beginning, but most chose to ignore them.

For those still unaware, the Canadiens season has been, and remains in jeopardy. Truthfully, it’s been on life support since Halloween. No, that’s not a typo. On the morning of November 1st, the Canadiens were in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, a mere 2 points out of a playoff spot, and very few fans were concerned with the situation (I was). If that isn’t grounds for “life support”, then let’s call it a gestating illness. There was a lot of nonchalance among the fanbase, despite what historical precedent showed to be the harsh reality. That reality said that being outside of the top 8 on November 1st meant a tough climb to get back in. Yes, November 1st is awfully early to pronounce any conclusions for how the season will end, but history was already against the Habs.

Fast forward to January 2012, and the Canadiens have dug themselves down to 12th place in the East, 7 big, fat, bloated points out of the playoff picture. In short: they went in the wrong direction. If things were unsettling back on Halloween, they must be bleak now. Or are they?

Unbeaten in 2012 (nyuk nyuk nyuk), the Habs appear to be a new team. As Will pointed out in his piece yesterday: “early returns suggest this two-game winning streak is more than just a fluke“. Two games is certainly a short sample, but the attitude and tempo appears to be contagious. They no longer sit on leads, they no longer have poor body language, and they no longer look like the stifled, frustrated, crippled group they were under former Coach Jacques Martin. And not to be overlooked: they are no longer boring to watch. We all reserve to right to reevaluate our opinions after more games against tougher teams are in the books, but we are starting to see the team that we thought we had when it was assembled back in 2009 (and tinkered with ever since).

The big question today is whether or not this modest turnaround is “too little, too late”. The Canadiens need to rack up 53 points in their remaining 41 games to end the regular season with 92 points, which represents the average threshold needed to make the playoffs since the lockout ended. Not to be misplaced is the fact that the 8th place team is currently on pace for 94 points, making things yet again harder. The aforementioned 53pts in 41 games is a win percentage of .646 over the second half of the season. If that imposing number wasn’t enough, they have to do their damndest to earn those points in regulation and not allow Eastern opponents to grab “loser points”. That would only make the Canadiens’ task tougher still. Simply put, the Canadiens need to go at least 27-14 from here until the final siren blares on game 82. That would represent quite the reversal of fortunes, and would still only likely reap them the 8th slot in the East – if that. Making things even harder is that the Canadiens need to leapfrog 3 teams, or hope that other teams completely fall apart. The Panthers, Leafs, Sens, and now massively depleted Penguins are all common targets to have the trap door open under their feet. As of yet, none have officially fallen out of the playoff picture, and even if they do, there’s no guarantee that the Canadiens will play well enough to surpass them. Interesting to note that in the past 3 days, the Leafs beat the Wings, Senators took 3 of 4 points from the Flyers, and the Panthers beat the Canucks. If those teams are going to give up the ghost, they aren’t going to do so quietly.

Here’s where The Conundrum rears its ugly head. Is it worth it for the Canadiens to play each of their remaining games like it’s the 7th game of the Cup finals? How much would they have left in the tank for the playoffs? Sure they’d be battle-tested, but they’d also be incredibly weary. Is it worth it for Pierre Gauthier to be a buyer at the trade deadline? Is it worth it to dump assets in a potentially futile quest to grab the 8th in the East? And given that only one Cup winning team since 1994 entered the playoffs without the benefit of home ice advantage, is all of the back-breaking effort really worth it? I would say no, it is not worth it. I would hate to go through a Habs-less spring, but this hamster wheel of mediocrity has to stop. Stakeholders in the team might disagree, as would those fans who say that “you can’t win the Cup if you don’t make the playoffs“. Personally, I would allow nature to take its course, and I would trade away pending UFAs (unless Kostitsyn can be signed at the right price) for future prospects and draft choices. In the cap era, having good, young talent at a cheap price is the only way to have a perennial contender.

But what do April tee times mean for “interim” Head Coach Randy Cunneyworth? Quite simply, it would likely mean his termination, but is that not already inevitable? He’s already been thrown to the wolves by his Owner and by his General Manager. Short of long playoff run, I’m not sure that anything can secure his future as Coach of the Habs. As much as I like Cunneyworth, and as much as I believe he deserves every single opportunity to be this team’s long-term Head Coach, there’s every reason to believe that the Canadiens brass will bow to pressure from narrow minded media types and extremist fringe elements and opt yet again to take the path of appeasement rather than institute a meritocracy. That means that Cunneyworth’s future as a Coach is elsewhere, and for that reason I see no reason to sacrifice key parts of the future for what is already a virtual mission impossible.

What’s your take? Go for broke, or look to a brighter future, albeit one minus Randy Cunneyworth?

Bonus question: What if the players, as a group, tell Molson that they adore Randy Cunneyworth and want him to stick around permanently? What then? Appease the nose-out-of-joint lunatics, or keep the team happy?

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