Canadiens need director of hockey operations
What’s required is a fresh set of eyes with no sense of loyalty to those in place
The Canadiens’ post-mortem news conference on Monday would have gone much better if there had been a third man on the podium in Brossard joining president/owner Geoff Molson and general manager Marc Bergevin.
A director of hockey operations.
Molson spent much of his time Monday talking about how the Canadiens were going to be more transparent with fans and how the food and in-game experience at the Bell Centre would be improved next season and that ticket prices would not be increasing. Those are the kinds of things an NHL owner should be concerned about, but are also things most Canadiens fans couldn’t give two pucks about.
The fans I’m talking about are the ones who can’t afford to go the Bell Centre — or live too far away — but are the largest, most passionate and diehard fan base the Canadiens have, watching games on TV, buying sweaters and other merchandise and maybe even drinking Molson beer while cheering the Habs on.
Molson’s No. 1 business is selling beer, not winning hockey games. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to win, but the sole focus of a director of hockey operations would be to win hockey games, period. He would also be someone to help guide the GM — and at this point Bergevin could use all the help he can get. Molson is an expert in selling beer, but he’s not a hockey expert no matter how much he loves the game.
The only logical explanation I can think of for Bergevin still having his job is because Molson gave the GM a contract that runs through the 2021-22 season and the owner is already paying two coaches for one more year since Michel Therrien remains under contract. Paying two GMs and two coaches at the same time is obviously not a smart business move.
Moving forward, Molson and the Canadiens need to separate business and hockey and realize all their fans really want is a winning team. Preferably one that can also play an entertaining brand of hockey, similar to what the Toronto Maple Leafs do now thanks to the “Shanaplan” that was put in place after Brendan Shanahan was hired as team president. Luc Robitaille has played a similar role as president of the Los Angeles Kings.
You have to think there would be no shortage of qualified people interested in being director of hockey operations for the most storied franchise in the NHL.
A new director of hockey operations with the Canadiens could analyze the team’s hockeyoperations department, medical staff and everyone else involved in helping the team win (or lose) games with a fresh set of eyes and no sense of loyalty or friendship to the people already in place. He would also be able to explain to Bergevin that it takes much more than attitude to win games and start working toward erasing the losing culture that has penetrated the franchise, including the AHL’s Laval Rocket.
This Canadiens season was a disaster right from the start when they struggled through the pre-season and then went 1-6-1 to start the regular season after Bergevin’s off-season roster changes.
“I think right off the bat, I think we were all on different pages,” Andrew Shaw said. “We weren’t playing a team game. A lot of turnover, a lot of new D, a lot of new forwards. It was a tough year. We started behind the eight ball and didn’t seem to catch up.” Brendan Gallagher agreed. “Right from the start, you can even go right back to our training camp ... we weren’t good enough,” Gallagher said. “We were searching for solutions and that was probably the hardest thing all year was coming to the rink every day, talking to you guys (in the media), thinking we had the answer and then, obviously, not having it.”
Phillip Danault said things need to change next season, starting at training camp.
“We got to buy in everybody together in the culture Claude Julien’s bringing here,” Danault said. “We got to buy in from the beginning next year, that’s for sure.”
The Canadiens now have a long summer to try and fix things, but I don’t think fans are optimistic after Monday’s news conference.
“What’s the most disappointing for me, for our fans, is it was not fun … it was never fun,” Bergevin said about this season. “I never felt like we were a team that was competing every night. We were never in sync.
“We had a really good season last year, 103 points, we brought a lot of pleasure to our fans,” the GM added. “But this year was not the case. So I want them to believe in me that we’ll reset, refresh it and we’ll fix (it) and we’ll have a team that they’re proud to be fans of the Canadiens. We let our fans down and I take that personally.”
The Canadiens certainly did let their fans down and this is a franchise that obviously needs help.
A third man on the podium.
It was a tough year. We started behind the eight ball and didn’t seem to catch up. ANDREW SHAW