WHEN WEARING THE ‘C’ CAN BECOME A CURSE
We don’t know yet who the next captain of the Canadiens will be, but it’s a pretty safe bet he won’t finish his career in Montreal.
The last captain to retire in bleu-blanc-rouge was Bob Gainey, who hung up his skates after the Canadiens lost to the Calgary Flames in the 1989 Stanley Cup Final after spending his entire 16-year NHL career in Montreal.
Since then, the Canadiens have gone through nine captains: Chris Chelios, Guy Carbonneau, Kirk Muller, Mike Keane, Pierre Turgeon, Vincent Damphousse, Saku Koivu, Brian Gionta and Max Pacioretty. They were all traded or allowed to leave after the Canadiens no longer wanted them.
The NHL has changed dramatically since the Original Six days and before free agency, when it was normal for players to spend their entire careers with one team. From 1948 until 1989, the Canadiens had only eight captains: Butch Bouchard, Maurice Richard, Doug Harvey, Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, Yvan Cournoyer, Serge Savard and Gainey. Harvey (New York Rangers) and Savard (Winnipeg Jets) were the only two to play for another NHL team after the Canadiens.
While teams changing captains is nothing new now, the Canadiens have a bad habit of turning the departure of their leader into a drama.
Chelios was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks for Denis Savard, in part because former Canadiens president Ronald Corey was worried about the future Hall of Fame defenceman’s off-ice activities. Carbonneau was traded to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Jim Montgomery after he gave the finger to a Journal de Montréal photographer lurking in the trees while he was playing golf with teammates three days following a playoff elimination and only a year after he had hoisted the Stanley Cup. Muller was in a state of shock after being traded to the New York Islanders shortly after former GM Serge Savard told him he wasn’t going to be moved. Muller was the second captain to be traded in eight months.
Eight months after the Muller deal, Keane was brought to tears when he was part of the Patrick Roy trade to the Colorado Avalanche following the future Hall of Fame goalie’s famous feud with coach Mario Tremblay. Keane felt much better after the Avalanche went on to win the Stanley Cup that season. Turgeon was dealt to the Blues 10 months after Keane was traded, requesting a move after being relegated to the third line. Damphousse then spent three seasons as captain before being dealt to the San Jose Sharks in the middle of a team flight on trade-deadline day.
Koivu spent nine seasons as captain before signing as a free agent with the Anaheim Ducks. The Canadiens went one year without a captain before Gionta took over, spending four seasons with the ‘C’ before signing as a free agent with the Buffalo Sabres.
The Canadiens went another year without a captain before Pacioretty took over for three seasons. His stint ended at the odd hour of 1:05 a.m. Monday with the announcement he was dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights after Pacioretty said he didn’t ask to be traded and Canadiens owner Geoff Molson and GM Marc Bergevin insisted he did request a trade.
The Canadiens have become like the old Lance et Compte TV soap opera — but with a better script — when it comes to their captains.
There’s a chance the Canadiens might decide to go another year without a captain now with the two leading candidates being Brendan Gallagher and Shea Weber. Gallagher was captain of the Vancouver Giants in junior, while Weber was captain of the Nashville Predators before being traded to the Canadiens for P.K. Subban.
“That’s really not something that’s really cropped up in my mind all that much,” Gallagher said Monday at the Canadiens’ golf tournament when asked about the captaincy. “I think, for our group certainly, the leadership group is going to need to step up. But that’s a lot of guys and we have a lot of guys capable of that. A lot of voices in the room that are capable of taking the lead. If we’re going to be successful, I think we’re going to need a lot of voices, regardless of who’s wearing the ‘C’ — if we even have a ‘C’.”
When Weber, 33, was asked about the captaincy on Monday, he said: “I think with the respect to Max, I don’t think that I even want to touch on that right now. Obviously, he just got traded today and that’s something that the team will deal with in due time and, obviously, they’ll make the right choice for this historic franchise and do the right thing.”
If Gallagher does become captain, the 26-year-old believes he’s ready for the challenge.
“I think I’m capable of it, but there’s a lot of guys in our lockerroom that are capable of the same opportunity,” he said. “It is an incredible honour to wear the captaincy for the Montreal Canadiens.”
Unfortunately, it often doesn’t end well.