Firing Jacques Martin only part of Solution

For the record, let me state that I was never a big fan of Jacques Martin as the Habs' head coach. I found his system suffocating and brutal for any fan of the team to watch. I also didn't agree with his blind loyalty to under-performing veterans while showing a lack of patience with young players.

Do I think Martin is a bad coach? No, I don't. When you look at his overall record of wins and losses with the team he had in Montreal, you can't say he's terrible. You can say though, that he made a lot of questionable decisions as a coach and that his system hasn't been effective this season.

Having said all that, I was all for going in a new direction at head coach. However, this won't magically solve the bigger problem lying with the Montreal Canadiens.

The bigger problem is the notion that they MUST make the playoffs every season. That makes the job tough on any general manager looking to build a perennial cup contender. Look at Pierre Gauthier. Has he made a lot of head-scratching decisions? Of course. However when your job is on the line and if you don't make the playoffs, you're out, of course management is going to ignore future problems and reach the playoffs right now.

Judging from what I've seen from Geoff Molson thus far, he's looking at making the money back that he spent when he bought the Canadiens, which was over $500 million. The way he'll make the money back is if the team's in the playoffs every year. That's a lot of pressure to put on management to make it every year to the dance, even if it's as a 7th or 8th seed.

The truth is, things have to get worse before they get better in Montreal. The organization needs to change it's philosophy and be patient with its young players and build around them. The priority for the Habs should be locking up their blue chip players for the future. Locking up Carey Price, PK Subban and Max Pacioretty should be the priority, but instead they're only thinking up until April and not thinking 3-5 years down the road.

The best trade the Habs have made in the last decade was not giving up youth and draft picks for a veteran; it was the opposite. The organization's best trade was trading Craig Rivet to the Sharks for a youngster named Josh Gorges and a 1st round pick that turned out to be Max Pacioretty. Obviously that took a stroke of luck as well, but it's a prime example of thinking ahead, and now you can make the argument that Pacioretty is the team's best forward and Gorges is the best defenceman.

Again, for the Habs to truly be a cup contender, they need the right personnel. They don't have it, due to constantly overlooking the future to salvage a single season. That philosophy hasn't worked and won't ever work.

Look at the Edmonton Oilers. As a Canadiens fan, which team would you rather have? Habs will probably make the playoffs this year, the Oilers may not. But since Edmonton has been patient and built from within, and have been terrible for a few years, they've locked up the best prospects. They're going to be a scary team soon and are already a thrill to watch.

So in essence, I believe the Canadiens took a step in the right direction today, but there are many steps to go before this team raises number 25.

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Why Canadiens fired Jacques Martin and what Randy Cunneyworth will do for Habs

Deer - meet headlights

First, I want to make it abundantly clear that I am not a so-called insider, nor do I pretend to know what the Montreal Canadiens are thinking in firing Jacques Martin and replacing him with assistant coach Randy Cunneyworth. These are merely educated hockey assumptions. See, unlike some of my blowhard media cohorts who claim to know why certain things are done, the truth is NO ONE ever knows why the Canadiens do anything. They're so tight-lipped, they should also be the keepers of the Caramilk secret.

Here's what we do know. Martin liked his veterans and always reluctantly played his youth, unless pressed into it. We also know that whenever his team got a lead, NO ONE was permitted to push the tempo, EVER! And the man loved to juggle his lines. I'm sure players were known to get dizzy under his stewardship. Finally,  with Martin, it was also about how players played without the puck. Heaven forbid he acknowledge how they play with it.

So why Cunneyworth? Well, he's already there and under contract, did a great job in Hamilton last year, knows some of the younger players well from his time with them last season in the AHL and he's got character and leadership skills. He'll trust the younger players on this team a little more than Martin, who played Louis Leblanc an astounding 50 seconds following his Thursday first NHL goal versus Philadelphia. And Mathieu Darche got 17 minutes. That's right. Mathieu Darche.

What I love about Cunneyworth is that he is unpolished from a media perspective. You saw him looking like a deer in the headlights in the media, meaning we might get some slip-up sound bytes, very uncharacteristic of a Habs coach in recent years. He was banging his hand on the press conference table and making noise unbeknownst to him. Hey Randy - there's a mic on. You can't be sighing deeply into a mic. We CAN hear you!

This should get interesting. I still say you jettison some vets and get some high picks, tanking the season to possibly get a top five June draft selection. Look at what happened the last time they got one in 2005 - Carey Price.

The jury is still out, the future is unknown and Cunneyworth has some French lessons to take. Can you imagine, the second question today at the press conference was about him not speaking French. Talk about petty from the French media. Get a grip and give the guy some time.

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So It Has Come Down to Criticizing Shootout Choices

I have a job that requires me to wake up at the ungodly hour of 6am every day. This doesn't cater well to 10:30pm starts to Habs games so needless to say, I missed the tail end of the team's latest loss last night. I woke up to see Travis Moen as one of Twitter's trending topics in Canada. Naturally, my immediate thought was that Moen was either traded or scored/was responsible for the game-winning goal. Turns out Moen was selected to be a shooter in the shootout, a decision Jacques Martin has been grilled for today.

I'm among those who believe that while Jacques Martin is not a bad coach, he isn't the ideal candidate to get the most out of this group of Habs players. However, I certainly won't judge him for his selection of shootout participants because frankly, the entire thing is a crap shoot.

Guess who the active NHL leader is in shootout percentage (among those with at least five attempts)? Hint: You're more likely to find his name on the waiver wire than any endorsement contract. John Mitchell, he of 21 career goals. Someone you've seen suit up for the Connecticut Whale this year far more than you've seen in a Rangers jersey. In second place is Adrien Aucoin.

Some teams are lucky enough to have players who do decently enough in the shootout that you can pencil them in without thinking twice about it but let me do some research for you. None of those players are on Montreal's current roster. The best the Habs currently have to offer is Brian Gionta and he fails 61% of the time. Point is, there is no one close to automatic on this team so Jacques Martin may as well just pull names out of a hat.

The typical fan says to go with your goal scorers. Well guess what? The first four shooters last night were the top four players in the lineup in goal-scoring. I can get behind the logic that you go with the guys who have seen the most shots of theirs hit the back of the net. No one who took the ice in San Jose last night has seen their shots light the lamp this season more than Travis Moen.

So grill Jacques Martin all you want. Just get some better material.

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