He Said / She Said: Replacing Pierre Gauthier

With the trade deadline rapidly approaching, one question has oft been asked by both local and national media: Will Pierre Gauthier be remain at the helm for the Montreal Canadiens.

While he may survive past February 27th, it is looking increasingly likely that the Montreal Canadiens will go in a new direction with regards to its management team.

With that in mind, our resident writers Bryan Willey and Rosalyn Roy were asked about who they would like to see replace the embattled GM.

Bryan Willey: I think there is a difference between who I would like to see as GM and who will ultimately be given the role.

In my mind, the top-two candidates have to be Jim Nill and Rick Dudley. They could turn the team around in a short time and, out of the names available, are by far the most qualified. However the chances of either of them ultimately be named GM border on nil - pun intended.

Of those who have a chance, the person I would most like to see is Pierre McGuire. I have always been a fan of his, love his passion and the fact that he has knowledge for hockey at its many various levels.

He has been wrong on a couple of calls, but overall has been right a heck of a lot more.

Ultimately, I believe the GM will be one of Julien Brisebois, Serge Savard or Vincent Damphousse.

Frankly, this scares me.

Rosalyn Roy: Bryan, I am also convinced that who I want and who will be the next Habs GM are likely two different beasts.

I'd agree with you on Jim Nill, though I am not a huge fan of Dudley. Nill has an excellent track record and, of course, speaks French. Dudley doesn't and, while he did do his best with Atlanta and is now with the Leafs organization, he wouldn't be one of my first choices.

In fact, in looking at the Leafs, who are rebuilding nicely, they have a potential candidate we could pillage in Claude Loiselle, who is currently an Assistant General Manager with the club.

Negotiating and cap space management are Loiselle's strong suits, two items that have been sorely lacking in Montreal. The Tomas Kaberle acquisition to supposedly fix the power play is a good example of what not to do, and I doubt Loiselle would have made that mistake.

I do think that the next Habs GM is quite likely to be Larry Carriere. He's a direct hire by Geoff Molson and was clearly shoved behind the bench not for his hidden coaching talents but because the head office wanted eyes inside the room. Carriere also speaks the requisite French.

I'll agree that Savard is also a candidate, albeit a minor one, because he also has ties to the Molsons. Better him than Bob Gainey at this point.

Bryan Willey: It all makes you wonder why Molson has not acted yet?

I am relatively confident that Gauthier is not his man so my guess is that the man in question is currently employed by another organization.

Because of this assumption I do not think that Carriere is part of the plans going forward.

There have been reports that Molson has been in contact with Savard. My take on this is that Molson is looking at hiring a rookie GM and wants the mentoring ability of a Savard to help along the way.

Personally, I would view this as a mistake because Savard has been completely out of the loop for more than a decade. The Canadiens need someone with in-depth knowledge of the game today.

In regards to Loiselle, I wonder how important he really is in during negotiations. If the Habs wanted to sign Brad Richards for five million dollars and the Rangers offered him seven million then the chances of him coming to Montreal would hover between slim to none, regardless of Loiselle's talents.

If he is simply a means of cap management then the organization should hire one of the best CFO's in Quebec and have him run the books.

I am thinking more along the lines of bringing in a man who can bring back the cockiness, pride, and arrogance that made this team so great. In my eyes, McGuire leads that race.

Rosalyn Roy: I'm not really willing to speculate on what Molson will or will not do. I do agree Savard is well past his expiry date when it comes to GM potential. I'm pretty sick of the old boy's club that has been in charge of this club for far too long.

Contract negotiation and proper cap management are essential in the realities of today's NHL. And Loiselle has perfectly acceptable credentials and experience that extend beyond that a mere accountant would obviously lack. Whatever one may think of the Maple Leafs, Brian Burke does not fill his head office with incompetent people.

The Habs' arrogance, self-entitlement and cockiness are not attributes that have served them well in the recent past.

Pierre McGuire's passion aside, if he were as ideal a candidate as he seems to think he is, he'd have held a GM position for years now, or at least risen through the upper ranks of an NHL team.

McGuire is pretty low on my list of candidates I want retooling this team. He has bashed this team for too many years for my liking, even when they got it right like during the Jaroslav Halak for Lars Eller trade, which in hindsight was a solid deal.

He enjoys the press and sensationalizes pretty much anything and everything. He is far too emotional at times, hindering his ability for logical, clear headed decisions. And, frankly, his mouth runs most of the time

Arrogance, cockiness and pride are not what this team needs and not what has made them great in the past either. What made them great was a combination of talent, skill, hard work, a solid pipeline and good luck.

The organization needs practical solutions and I don't see anything in McGuire that makes me think he could offer more than any other mainstream pundit.

He may have been right about a lot of things, but the bottom line is I don't like him and I don't see anything that makes me trust him to retool this team either.

Bryan Willey: That's where I disagree. The best GM's surround themselves with the best talent. We need a guy with direction to surround himself with a capologist, an assistant GM, and other qualified people.

Sure, bring Loiselle in to help with cap but not as the guy making key decisions. Kind of like Nill to Holland or Brisebois to Yzerman.

This needs to be done with a team effort.

Rosalyn Roy: If we're talking mouthpiece only who can pander to the press while his underlings do all the actual work then yes, Pierre McGuire will suffice nicely.

Claude Loiselle ran Tampa Bay's AHL affiliate and, as a result, has experience assessing upcoming talent. As an ex-hockey player he is still young enough to have some insight into the game that does not pre-date the last Canadiens Cup win. It's not solely about his experience in the financial end of things, but rather his resume as a whole.

As an experienced assistant GM for two NHL teams now, he's got solid credentials and experience that I find sorely lacking McGuire.

Bryan Willey: Regardless, McGuire is still my choice. A local guy with an indepth knowledge of all levels of hockey.

It's easy to assume that his knowledge is courtesy of the the TSN team, but it isn't. He calls the local TSN 990 everyday and has conversations on so many players, their stats, their home town and their junior careers.

His experience as an assistant GM is from to long ago, but his critical comments towards a lack of scouting in Quebec, his comments on the Habs' horrendous pro scouting, everything is spot on.

Regardless of expeirence, I like his attitude and the fact he is right a lot more than he is wrong.




What do you think? Who would you choose as the Habs next GM?

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Bryan is a Marketer by day, writer for HabsAddict.com by night and full time fan of the game. Follow me on twitter @BryanWilley78 but don't bother looking for me on Facebook, I'm just too old for that now!

Rosalyn used to frequent the old Forum during her early childhood when her father was a corporate season ticket holder, where she fell in love with Larry Robinson, so her lifelong obsession with the Habs is entirely his fault.

He Said / She Said is regular column on HabsAddict slated to appear on a bi-weekly basis.

(Photo by Getty Images North America)

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He Said / She Said: The Canadiens' New Conference

Looking ahead at 2012, many questions surround the Montreal Canadiens.

Will Andrei Markov return? What will happen to Scott Gomez and his egregious contract? What fate will be reserved for Randy Cunneyworth and Pierre Gauthier? How will the new CBA impact the team?

Amidst this sea of unknowns, there is at least one item that remains certain: Montreal will play in a new conference next season, joining Buffalo, Toronto, Boston, Ottawa, Florida and Tampa Bay.

Likewise, around the league three others conferences of either seven or eight teams will be formed and the top four in each will qualify for the post-season. Once a conference champion is crowned, the idea is that the remaining four teams will face off against each other, creating the potential for some unusual semi-final matchups.

The scheduling matrix will be changed accordingly and every team will, at a minimum, play a home-and-away series against each other.

Taking a break from contemplating the many uncertainties facing the club, our resident writers, Bryan Willey and Rosalyn Roy, discuss how they feel about this re-alignment and how it might affect the Habs.

Bryan Willey: I absolutely hate it. How does it make sense to have Montreal in the same division as the Florida teams?

I understand the league wants to group the major metropolitan areas, but the Canadiens have to fly across the Eastern seaboard just to get to Florida. C'est ridicule.

Only having seven squads in the conference makes it slightly easier playoff wise, but the amount of travel will balance that. And don't even get me started on the general poor results the Canadiens muster on their trips to the Sunshine State.

Rosalyn Roy: My first thought when I read of the new four conference format was pretty simple and telling: Patrick, Adams, Smythe and Norris. I've never seen the need for six divisions to begin with.

I get how the restructure does not bode particularly well for Hurricanes or the Islanders, but it is the responsibility of every NHL team to improve to the point where it can legitimately contend.

Making weaker divisions for the chronic bubble or wild card teams to get a shot at the Stanley Cup does not benefit the sport, which is why the league currently has 30 teams, some of which are in markets that will never, ever be self-sustaining.

As for the Habs, not much has changed. They're still going to contend with Boston and Toronto a lot of the time, though they caught a break avoiding the likes of Philadelphia and getting the two Florida teams, who actually got the short end of that deal.

That said, I'm not sold on the playoffs format with the top four in each division contending against each other, with a reset once the division champs are crowned and they move to the semi-finals.

I'll have to reserve some enthusiasm until I see it actually play out. But a Toronto or Boston series for the conference crown is appealing.

Bryan Willey: Again, I don't like it. More travel, more games against the West, and a division featuring two teams with no relevance.

Can't wait to see the amazing playoff schedule. Let's play Boston (what else is new?) in round one and then perhaps the likes of San Jose or Anaheim down the road. Yeah that's going to make for better hockey.

And what's the deal with 16 Western teams and 14 Eastern teams. What happens when Phoenix is moved?

It also irks me that the other Eastern teams basically travel by bus everywhere yet Montreal faces two Florida teams nearly 2,500 km away.

I can understand wanting Four divisions but to have Florida and Tampa with us makes no sense except to fill the arenas with the Snowbirds.

Rosalyn Roy: All teams have to travel to some extent. For the Habs and their Jekyll and Hyde persona, I'm not sure it plays a factor anyway. They can have three days off and still come out with no zip in their skates or play four games in a week and come out firing.

Frankly, I like playing more teams in the West. I'm sick to death of Boston, Philly, Toronto and not much else rammed down my throat year after year. I'd like to enjoy players from the other conferences too.

When the Habs are in the playoffs it's exciting for me, regardless of whom they are playing against. If we can get out of the new conference at all, I'll be happy but that's a long shot at best anyway.

After that it's all gravy.

There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that Florida and Tampa Bay got jammed into this conference in hopes of making them profitable. At least we're not them and having to commute almost every game to face pretty much everyone else within the division. The NHL is nothing if not consistent in trying to sustain its non-hockey cash strapped markets.

As for Phoenix, I'm sure we'll gripe about it when it happens. In the meantime I can speculate all I want, but it's clear Bettman will likely have to tweak depending on where they go.

Bryan Willey: I could care less about playing San Jose or Columbus or Colorado. I want to see the Habs play Boston eight times a year. Same for Toronto, Buffalo and Ottawa.

I like the way baseball does it with the teams playing only same league teams except for designated periods of the season.

Like you, I'm happy when the Canadiens are in the playoffs. I want to see the best hockey, not teams fatigued because of incessant cross-continental travel. Play in the East only and then make your way to the West for the Cup. That's how it is now and how it should remain.

And why are there 14 Eastern teams and 16 Western teams? It doesn't make sense that more than 50% make the playoffs in the east.

My guess on this is that Florida folds soon because they now have 11,000 more miles to travel and that's going to be costly to them.

What about the rest of you, do you like the league’s proposed realignment? How do you think it will impact the Habs?

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Bryan is a Marketer by day, writer for HabsAddict.com by night and full time fan of the game. Follow me on twitter @BryanWilley78 but don't bother looking for me on Facebook, I'm just too old for that now!

Rosalyn used to frequent the old Forum during her early childhood when her father was a corporate season ticket holder, where she fell in love with Larry Robinson, so her lifelong obsession with the Habs is entirely his fault.

He Said / She Said is regular column on HabsAddict slated to appear on a bi-weekly basis.

(Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images North America)

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He Said / She Said: Montreal Canadiens Faced With Blueline Logjam

As various reports have noted, Montreal Canadiens' star defenseman Andrei Markov is now practicing with full-contact. On top of that, Jaroslav Spacek and Hal Gill’s injuries do not seem to be of the long term variety, so they should soon be back in the lineup.

So, for the first time since, seemingly, the big-bang, Montreal will potentially be able to ice a full contingent of blueliners. While this is an interesting prospect for the team, it also creates a log jam at the defensive position.

In this edition of He Said/She Said, HabsAddict.com writers Bryan Willey and Rosalyn Roy discuss the implications of the issue.

So, assuming everyone is (relatively) healthy, what should the Habs do with their D once Markov returns?

Bryan Willey: Not a simple question to answer because there is a huge difference between what will be done and what should be done.

Given the philosophy of Jacques Martin, we are going to see a veteran laden line-up that will consist of Markov, Gorges, Gill, Spacek, Subban and my guess Campoli as the sixth guy. The team will then keep Diaz and Weber as the spare parts and ultimately send Emelin to Hamilton.

If the decision were up to me, however, I would be looking for a trade. If there is a taker for his contract then Spacek is my number one choice to find a new area code.

If teams are unwilling to take his $3.833 million contract off their hands then it seems Yannick Weber will be the odd man out.

With that said, should the right deal present itself, I would also be willing to part ways with P.K Subban.

Rosalyn Roy: I agree that what will be done will most likely differ from what should be done, and that Jacques Martin's penchant to value veterans at the expense of what's best for the team will likely come into play when it comes time to make the hard decisions about the blueline.

My choices differ a bit in that I think Markov, Gorges, Gill, Spacek, Subban and Campoli will be the six starters, with Weber playing out of his natural position as a fourth line forward and Emelin kept in the press box as backup. Diaz will get dropped to Hamilton. There is no way Gauthier will take the chance of letting Emelin walk after a seven year wait. It's easier to send Diaz down.

The Habs should really be looking to deal and since Spacek is likely not going anywhere if a veteran is offloaded chances are pretty good it's Campoli.

That said with the insane amount of injuries that this team suffers rather routinely I think Gauthier will be unlikely to pull the trigger just because he has a log jam, and will try to hedge his bets by keeping his blueliners as possible insurance.

Bryan Willey: Personally, I cringe at the thought of Yannick Weber as a fourth line right winger. The best teams in this league roll four lines. Sure, the top three play the bulk of the minutes but you need a dependable fourth unit if you want to go anywhere in the playoffs. Weber as a winger is an experiment that should never again be duplicated.

The problem with the defensive core is that if Weber or Diaz sit then there are two players playing out of position. Sure Gorges and Spacek seem capable, but both play better when they are on the left side.

I agree that Diaz to Hamilton makes the most sense because of the two-way contract but I like the way he plays, more so than Weber. As for Emelin, he absolutely must be in the lineup. He is the only D-man on the team that provides a physical element to the squad. Emelin absolutely must play.

Rosalyn Roy: I don't care for Weber as a fourth line winger either, but if the Habs’ blueline is healthy for more than five minutes it's what I expect will happen. I suspect Martin will worry more about his veterans logging heavy ice time and less about if they're playing out of position or not.

As for Emelin, as you have pointed out he is precisely what we need, but Martin didn't put him into the lineup regularly until he had no choice but to do so. That's why I think he'll get shoved back into the pressbox first, though if it were me I'd put Spacek on the shelf.

Under Martin the young bloods, regardless of performance, always give way to the veterans regardless of ability, performance or what's best for the team.

Bryan Willey: Are you suggesting that Martin may be the issue?

Weber as a fourth liner, Emelin as a press box staple; to me this absolutely means we must seek a trade. The team would have nine D-men on the roster and an apparent lack of depth on the fourth forward line.

I think it is extremely difficult for any of us to accurately project the value a guy like Weber has in the NHL but I just don't see him on this team long term.

There just has to be a team in need of an offensive blueliner with a stock pile of fourth liners and willing to trade.

Perhaps the answer to this conundrum is a bigger deal involving more than just a utility defenseman?

Rosalyn Roy: I am suggesting that Martin is a creature of habit and it makes him somewhat predictable. If all the Montreal blueliners are suddenly magically healthy the only way no one gets dealt is if Diaz is sent down and the Habs decide to carry eight blueliners as insurance.

As far as deals go, I'd expect Weber to be in the mix if we do deal a young puck moving defender, but beyond that I have no predictions.

What about the rest you, what do you think? What should the Habs do if and when their blueline is healthy?



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Bryan is a Marketer by day, writer for HabsAddict.com by night and full time fan of the game. Follow me on twitter @BryanWilley78 but don't bother looking for me on Facebook, I'm just too old for that now!

Rosalyn used to frequent the old Forum during her early childhood when her father was a corporate season ticket holder, where she fell in love with Larry Robinson, so her lifelong obsession with the Habs is entirely his fault.

He Said / She Said is regular column on HabsAddict slated to appear on a bi-weekly basis.

(Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images North America)

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