On the lighter side of things here at THZ, us lazy workers tonight stumbled what appears to be Bob Gainey’s Facebook. Apparently, Tampa GM Brian Lawton said it would take Higgins, Plekanec and Gorges plus a couple of draft picks to trade for Lecavalier. Also Gainey was watching season 4 of House on trade deadline day last year!

Without spoiling the entire thing, here is the link:

Bob Gainey’s Facebook

Cheers,

WC

Bob Gainey, now a former Montreal GM.

The stepping down, or aside, whichever way you look at it, of Bob Gainey from the Habs GM post sure did come as a surprise.

He looked tired and relieved all at the same time. He is one of Montreal’s all time great players and his resumé as GM is not all that bad. The team has been a winner under him but in a city where it is the Stanley Cup or bust, he could not meet lofty expectations. Let’s remember that he has not decimated this team like other former Habs have when in power, such as Rejean Houle and Mario Tremblay.

He did make some confounding and frustrating decisions. Bringing back Brisebois, losing Mark Streit and Mark Komisarek were among them. However, what I think ultimately undid his tenure was not his faith in Carey Price, his draft pick who is slowly developing and adjusting to NHL life but his faith in Alex Kovalev.

His long walk and talk with Kovalev a few summers back to entice Kovalev to stay and be the key cog in the Hab engine really did screw him in the end. As per his resumé, Kovalev proceeded to have a great season followed by a crap one. The same mantra always applies to Alex, one of the most talented players in the game but an enigma to coach. Kovalev and the example he set and the reported strife he caused in the lockerroom vis-à-vis leadership and Saku Koivu could not be ignored. The Habs hitched their wagon to “The Enigma” and it frustratingly stuttered and stalled along the way.

Bob Gainey, at left, Larry Robinson and Mats Naslund, my 1986 Cup memories include Gainey's key leadership.

Something was amiss last year when Gainey axed Carbo as coach. The move just did not make sense. Two former close teammates with a shared history beyond their playing days, once mentor and student as well, it seemed like a bond which could not be broken by a team not producing but it apparently did. Today, on a Toronto sport radio show, Carbo said that his firing was an “un-Bob” like move and now that we see Pierre Gauthier taking the mantle and Jacques Martin as coach, the dominoes become clearer to see.

We now have a former Senators GM at the helm with the coach he brought in, when they were in Ottawa, to help right the Ottawa ship. How long has all this been brewing behind the scenes?

I like Gainey’s gutting of the squad this past off-season, it is was bold and needed. If not for some injuries, all the free agents would have been able to give even more positively to the team’s fortunes. Camalleri has worked out as has Gionta, Gill and Spacek. Gomez, if not for his price tag, would be an ok pick up as well.

Gainey has given his life to the Habs and the man himself must be remembered for all he has endured recently. He lost his wife to cancer in 2005 and the his daughter at sea in an accident in 2006.

He now can live his life, we can hope and live it with the spotlight he wishes to shine on the things nearest and dearest to him-which is all we can wish for one of the greatest Habs of all time.

Take care Bob.

Au revoir et bonne chance Bob.

So Gainey is gone.

After a night of sleep, I feel ready to write about this.

To begin with, I’ll miss Bob Gainey as a person. I like how he behaves, how he adresses the media, how he treats his players, and the sense of respect he has for the franchise. The Canadiens are everything to him. I also love his cold sense of humor. As everyone said yesterday, he’s a classy person, and one who deserves a good salute.

About Bob the GM, now, I think it’s fair to say that his record with the Habs is mixed. I’ve always trusted him, because I’ve always felt he’s a very intelligent guy, with a LOT of hockey knowledge. His best moves were not always flashy, and they sometime took time to pay dividends. Among those smart decisions: getting Kovy for Balej and a pick (admittedly his biggest move until last summer), trading Rivet for a first pick (Pacioretty) and Gorges, trading Garon to LA for Bonk and Huet (he got lucky with Huet on that one), getting cheap but very important veterans like Lang or Metropolit. The way he personally handled some difficult situations with his players also produced pretty good results (the famous old port discussion with Kovy before his best season as a hab, and the way he handled the Sergei K issue early this season are good examples) Some of the picks made under his tenure turned out pretty good too: Sergei K and Halak, drafted respectively 200th and 271st, are great examples of this.

But to be honest, over the last few seasons, some of the decisions he took started to shake my faith in him. Some of the things that bothered me a little didn’t actually happen: his bid for Brière missed, his pursuit of Marian Hossa at the trade deadline 2 seasons ago was unfruitful, and his attempted trade for Lecavalier failed. In the end, I think the Habs really dodged a bullet in all of those cases, but the fact Bob really tried to go for those players left me a little worried.

There are also some moves that I really disliked: trading Huet to Washington for a 2nd round pick comes first. I understand the idea that the Habs were going to lose Huet for nothing in the summer, but going into the playoffs with Price and Halak was indeed a mistake.

Associated with this is the whole Price question. I think Price is Gainey’s project. I like how Gainey has always defended Price. But the way Carey was thrown into the fire and the pressure put on him is really worrying. Bob is not entirely at fault here, because the pressure largely comes from the fans and the media, but I’m not sure the situation has been dealt with ideally so far, to say the least.

Then, of course, are the moves he made after last season. It was an admission that the team he had built over the last few seasons was going nowhere, and this is probably what surprised me the most. Of course, the most stunning and debated move was the acquisition of Gomez. Gomez is a pretty good player, and honestly his association with Gio and Pouliot is not disappointing. But the real problem, of course, is his contract. I think we’ll measure its real impact in the offseason. It’ll likely force the habs to make some tough decisions. Although the good thing about Gomer is that as long as he’s there, Lecavalier and his contract are not coming. Letting Koivu go was also a move I really didn’t like, although it’s true that Saku is past his best years now.

So yeah, the results are mixed. The habs often made the playoffs, but they never went very far.

All in all, it’s weird for me to imagine the habs sans Gainey. I became a real habs fan during his first season as a GM in Montreal. So he’s the only GM I’ve known. Seeing a new face is disturbing, because Gainey really fits with the image I have of how a GM’s supposed to be. For some weird reason, I’ve also come to think of Gainey as someone from the family. He’s like a good uncle. And because of this irrational attachment I developed for him, I’m actually pretty happy to see him leave that way. He chose the moment (or at least it seems), he had obviously a say in the choice of his successor. And most importantly, he stays in the Habs family. Knowing this really makes me happy.

[I wanted this post to be about Gainey and how I feel about him, so I'll stop here. I'll write another post, probably later today, about two things that seriously irked me yesterday during all the habs talk. Prepare for a stupid angry rant. ]

It was a big story in Montreal and it will be most likely continue to be for at least the next week; some guy stepped down from his job working for the Montreal Canadiens. It’s amazing how the retirement of one individual from a privately-owned professional hockey team would dominate the Montreal media but that’s life in this city. Most people, it seems are glad the Bob Gainey is gone although they also seem to be complaining about the new guy before he starts. Why would anyone want to be the general manager of the Habs?

To be perfectly fair, it’s not like Gainey was a wonderful GM. Under his watch, he’s seen the locker room fall into despair with poisonous individuals creating a rotten atmosphere. He drafted a goaltender at near the top of the entry draft one year when the Canadiens had solid goaltending between the pipes. He’s also been witness to how the young goaltender felt that partying was more of a priority than keeping his mind focused on playing hockey. Carey Price has not been the same since his days playing on the Canadian World Junior team and looks he’ll end up more like Andre Racicot than Patrick Roy.

Yes, Gainey may have hired the wrong personnel to handle the off-ice problems. However, he also made some bad decisions about letting go of certain off-ice personnel. Claude Julien was fired in 2006 while the Canadiens had an above .500 record. He later went to Boston, returned the team to the top of the standings and won the Jack Adams trophy last year for best coach.

He also may have kept Guy Carbonneau around too long as the environment in the locker room deteriorated. Although, to Gainey’s credit, the year prior to all the problems, Carbonneau had coached the team to a surprising 1^st place overall in the Eastern Conference.

It’s also not Gainey’s fault that not that many players want to sign with Montreal. Young players talk about how their dream is to sign with their favourite childhood team of the Canadiens. However, most players that have been around the league for a few years shy away from signing with the team. Many players cite the intense scrutiny the team is under from the press and the rabid fan base ready to turn on someone for doing something accidental like misplaying a pass during a practice as a reason they don’t want to play here. There have even been whispers that it’s even tougher to play for the Habs than it is to play for baseball’s New York Yankees.

There are other problems though. Some NHL players have developed addictions here like gambling (which led to the decay of at least one all-star player during his tenure here). Word about the vices available to players has spread through the league and while young guys who are just over the legal age for all these things may think it’s paradise, seasoned players with families realize that Montreal is a city that can get them into a lot of trouble.

This is one reason why Gainey has had such a large problem bringing players onto the team from the free agent market. There’s a ton of pressure to do well on the ice and there’s a ton of pressure to do crazy stuff off the ice. Being a benchwarmer for the Habs still makes you a huge celebrity in this city and peer pressure becomes insurmountable when spending a night on the town. These aren’t things that Gainey or whoever was the GM before him or will be after him could avoid.

Although some would look at this as a language issue from multiple sides. Gainey isn’t French enough. The guy they replaced him with is the French guy they were looking for. Players don’t want to play in a French city. Language has nothing to do with anything. Gainey wasn’t doing such a hot job as the GM and if he hadn’t had stepped down, he most likely would have eventually been let go. Pierre Gauthier isn’t just some French guy in a suit. He helped raise the Ottawa Senators from expansion upstarts into a playoff-calibre team. He also has coaching experience for Team Canada and coached teams to championships on an international level. Also, it’s not like people are banging down Habs president Pierre Boivin’s door to be the general manager of the team. It’s a tough job with too much stress to be worth it.

As for players not wanting to play in a French city, I strongly doubt that is the case but if you do look up interviews of players who played for the Quebec Nordiques years ago, they did say living in a French community was tough for the families of the players, but not themselves personally. The problem would be English-speaking wives and children trying to interact in a French environment. Obviously, Montreal isn’t as unilingual as Quebec City and there have been days walking around in pockets of downtown where the only thing to remind me that I was in a Francophone city was all the French signs. However, people outside of Montreal look at it as more of a French city with limited English. Players who are old enough to reach free agency generally have or are starting families (not all but a good portion of them). If someone’s wife vetoes a move to Montreal on account of it being French for fearing problems of integration, it’s another strike against the city for being something that it is organically and beyond control of the hockey team. However, I would think that this is rarely the case and most likely hasn’t been a major issue for any player (and their agent) who was seriously been approached by the Habs about playing here.

Therefore, the whole French thing is ludicrous. Gainey wasn’t pushed out of the job because he was English and Gauthier wasn’t pushed into the job only because he was French. Gainey wasn’t even fired; he stepped down. There’s too much nonsense about the entire situation and eventually the news will break on the real reasons as to why Gainey left the team. However, the hockey team as it stands is only hanging onto a playoff spot by a thread and the short-term future doesn’t look all that good. Also, the problems that Gainey had with trying to get players to play here aren’t going to change just because someone else is in charge. No matter who’s running the show, the Canadiens are in serious trouble.

***

Site News

I’ve been busy working on a couple of projects for school that took longer than I expected. Thankfully, I go to a schedule of only two days a week for the rest of the semester in two weeks so I won’t have to worry as much about being short on time. I’ve got a few movie reviews that I said I would put out yesterday. They should be published on the site sometime before Thursday evening. I also have a couple of video game reviews that I’m working on. One will be published tonight (or early tomorrow morning) and the other two will be posted tomorrow evening.

I spoke to Chris about the audio issues. I recommended that I’ll run the podcasts solo until I fix the hardware issues. This means while the podcasts will be on schedule, there may be sound quality issues although they’ll still be very listenable (there will just be a soft humming sound a few soft popping sounds; it won’t blow out your eardrums). I’m looking into an audio solution today so everything might be clear for Friday’s movie podcast but I can’t make any guarantees.

I revamped the Video Game Hall of Fame page. According to the broken WordPress stats, it’s the most popular feature on the site at the moment so I thought it should at least look presentable. We’re currently working on voting for titles from the beginning through to 1985. I’m a little disappointed by some of the titles that have yet to make it in (and maybe some of the titles I’m championing will never make it in) but that’s why it’s not just me voting. If it were up to me, titles like ATP Tour Championship Tennis for the Genesis would be in and God of War for the Playstation 2 would never be inducted.

I have plans to redesign the podcast page as well although that’s probably only going to happen towards the end of the month. I’d still like to work on an overall site design change but I have too much on my plate right now. It may look fugly under certain browser conditions but at least it’s functional.

First of all, Bob Gainey could not have shown more class on the way out the door and I wish him all the best in his retirement. He will always be a member of Les Glorieux.

Second of all, Pierre Gauthier is the new GM of the Montreal Canadiens. That’s right, no interim tag. The job is his.

Worst. Decision. Ever.

Blog over.

For those of you who missed the press conference:

Gainey says he can’t see himself commit to the role that he is in now in 3,4,5 years from now.

“I’ve done my best and now it’s time to pass the torch”. -Bob Gainey

He has been happy to see the new generation of Canadiens fans, how much joy passion and enthusiasm they have for the team.

For the short term, Bob will stay in touch with Pierre with regards to the trade deadline. Long term, he says he will have a lot more control over his schedule but has no plans as of yet.

Overall, it’s a happy day for Bob. Again he will remain in a position where he will be a special advisor to the GM.

Pierre Gauthier says that it’s an honour to be a GM in the National Hockey League, but it’s an even greater honour to be the GM of the Canadiens. He likes the team that they have right now and would like to continue to build it. His vision for the team, like with any other team is to win the Stanley Cup but the direction they would like to take  is to compete year after year for the Stanley Cup. That is what makes a team successful.

“That’s the objective – to get to the top tier of the league and to do that consistently,”

-Pierre Gauthier

Gauthier also says he likes having 2 “strong young goalies” and it’s unlikely that a trade is coming. “Never say never” but as of today, it appears unlikely.

I was wrong! And I couldn’t be happier.

What a football game last night! First onside kick outside the fourth quarter in SB history, most combined pass completions in SB history, first ever SB title for the Big Easy and Peyton Manning tosses up a pick-six to ice the win for the Saints.

I can’t imagine being more excited after a game I was incorrect about.

It was the kind of game, at least to me, where it felt like if New Orleans didn’t get that ring now, who knows when they’d get back. Now I believe the confidence is in them to be back very soon.

In other news…

The Montreal Canadiens are holding a press conference at 4 p.m. ET to announce a development with their management team. Speculation coming in from everyone in the media is that GM Bob Gainey is expected to step down.

While I’m almost certain this is exactly what is going to transpire, I’ll reserve my farewells for after the official announcement. However, I will take this opportunity to offer my own speculation into why this move is about to go down.

Gainey has hung his entire Montreal tenure on the future of Carey Price as the Habs’ No. 1 goaltender. From day one he has publicly stated it and has also proved it through transactions by shipping out Cristobal Huet a couple of years back and handing the starting job to Price.

While I don’t think anyone argues Price’s skill set, a conflict has risen for the starting job with Jaroslav Halak and many – if not most – are siding with the young Slovak. Many, except for Gainey.

Here’s what has happened, in my best speculative guess:

The Habs are receiving offers for both goalies, and as I said in a blog the other day, Gainey is in a real pickle over what to do. But I now believe Gainey has been wanting to trade Halak for sometime now but the rest of the front office brass want to ship out Price.

Rumours say only a handful of teams would be interested in Halak but that all 29 other teams would make bids for Price, as he has every prototypical characteristic a GM wants in their starter. My guess is a trade offer has come in for Price that Gainey refuses to accept and the rest of the management team wants to go ahead with it.

A standoff has resulted and Gainey has decided not to compromise his beliefs on the situation, thus resulting in his resignation. This is all a guess of course but it makes sense and if my estimation holds water, I believe Price will be gone in a matter of days. Is it the right move for the organization? Only time will tell, of course, but I expect this kid ends up the superstar we all have believed he will become and will go on to a great career.

Halak is no slouch, that’s for sure, but most agree he doesn’t possess the same upside as Price, regardless of how much better he seems to be today. If Price goes and Halak stays, many will call it a great move but every last one of them will wonder if they’re going to regret it in the long run. Any way you look at it, Price has won at every level and proven to be the best at every level. Giving up on that when he’s only 22 is a major risk, no matter how much fans believe he has fallen from grace.

*New development*

Well since I’ve started to write this, TSN has officially announced Gainey’s resignation and the debate over who will replace him has begun. At the top of the rumour mill right now is none other than TSN analyst Pierre McGuire. As shocking and outside the box as that seems at first, I personally would be pretty excited to see him take over that roll. He’s the kind of guy fans either love or hate because he’s a fiery ball of passion and always has something to say.

Seeing as that also describes my personality, it’s no stretch for me to say I love that guy. Do I always agree with what he says? No, but I never agree with anyone 100 per cent of the time and he is on TV talking hockey almost 24/7 so we’re bound to differ on occasion. But if there is one thing Gainey is that McGuire is not, it’s passive. Gainey seems to sit on the sidelines and wait for the perfect deal, while other teams make all the moves. I’m positive McGuire will be the exact opposite. I believe he would never hesitate to try and improve the club.

Even if it means shipping out the kid we all thought was their future.

Ah, a brisk Monday morning in Central Ohio in early February.  Snow blankets the ground, the Super Bowl is history, the Olympics looming just ahead, and the airways are filled with trade rumors ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous.  Here are some ramblings to crowd your brain pan as we shake off the cobwebs, restore circulation to those snow shovel wearied shoulders, and contemplate the upcoming week.

• The early leader in the “LSD for Breakfast is Not a Good Idea” category:  Twitter member Jagrmeister (likely named appropriately) posted at NHLDigest that Pittsburgh was proposing Nash, Umberger and Filatov to the Penguins for Staal, Orpik, Letang and 1st Round pick.  A mind is a terrible thing to waste . . .
• The annoying persistent rumor that has the CBJ interested in the Bruins’ Tim Thomas is likely also the product of excessive consumption of non-standard pharmaceuticals.  The latest incarnation of this one has Raffi Torres and Kristian Huselius going to Boston for Thomas.  Thomas is having a lousy year, so we are going to take a $5 million cap hit for a goalie who can’t keep his job, and surrender 71 points of production thus far???   Mason has not had a good year, but is showing a resurgence and has a cap hit of < $1 million.  No brainer here folks . . .
• Rumor of the Day (non-trade related):  Lots of buzz that Bob Gainey will be stepping down as GM of the Canadiens.  No confirmation, but a 4 PM Presser has been set in Montreal.  (UPDATE:  Bob McKenzie of TSN confirms the rumor and reports that Pierre Gauthier will be the new GM)
• Eric Smith of HockeyBuzz.com reports that the Penguins have serious interest in Raffi Torres, and are talking about center Dustin Jeffrey and a conditional draft pick in exchange.  Jeffrey is supposedly a good prospect, but has only 14 games of NHL experience.  This year, he has 47 points in 47 games for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.  Just my opinion, but this is not enough.  Torres brings energy and goal scoring ability, and I think has considerable up side potential.  I would prefer that we keep him, but if not, we need a solid NHL contributor in return.  We need to beef up our experience level a bit, as we are heavy with prospects.
• With three days of practice, the Jackets and Claude Noel can work on refining things a bit and ironing out some wrinkles.  Almost a shame that this break comes now, with the team playing so well in its last two outings.  Only unexpected player missing at practice this morning was Stralman, but he is slated to go on Wednesday against the Sharks.
• Seeing the smiles on faces, the constant flow on the ice and the performance of Mason, is there any doubt that the intangibles of trust, confidence and consistency play a HUGE role in hockey, particularly with a young club?
• The home stretch before the Olympic break is going to be hectic on all fronts.  I’ll do my best to stay on top of things.

Please post your comments and provide ideas of things you would like to see.  Thanks.  Go Jackets!

UPDATE: Bob McKenzie has confirmed that Gainey will step down as Canadiens GM. Pierre Gauthier will be taking over duties on an interim basis. Press conference at 4pm.

According to multiple reports on Twitter, the Montreal Canadiens are holding a press conference at 4pm to make “an important announcement regarding the Club’s hockey management”. A rumour came up yesterday saying that Gainey will resign from the GM post.

Kovalchuk is a New Jersey Devil. I don’t care what anyone says, they are for sure the favourite to win the East now. How do you combat a team with two 100-point threats, which still stinks of Cup sweat? Add one 100-point prospect to a club with the most prolific puck-stopper the frozen pond has ever seen.

But just for the record, if fair is truly meant to be fair, when Brodeur finally retires the Devils have to go the next two decades with net-minders related to Greg Millen.

It’s only right.

Incidentally, Atlanta gets back a pretty good puck-moving defensemen (Oduya), a who-the-hell-knows-what-he’ll-be first rounder (Bergfors) and a mediocre, couldn’t-control-his-flapping-elbows-and-is-now-suspended-for-the-rest-of-the-year-because-of-it moron (Cormier).

Great work Don Waddell, thanks for keeping us in suspense.

Did everyone see that save Minnesota’s Josh Harding made last night versus the Oilers? Save of the year candidate for sure. That’s the kind of play that makes us couch potatoes really respect the flexibility of elite athletes.

By the way, he completely wrecked his hip on the play and needed two guys to carry him off after. Big save Josh! You’re probably done for the year.

Every day I read somewhere about how lucky Habs GM Bob Gainey is to have two goaltenders that could be No. 1s. Really? Lucky?

Let’s see, if he trades Carey Price, the fans are happy right now but they give up on a budding superstar, who’s only 22 and who probably wins 300 career games in his sleep with a new team. If he trades Halak the fans possibly lynch him because he just dealt a guy who is 7-0 when facing more than 40 shots and is possibly the only reason they aren’t worse than Toronto. If he does nothing, he’s the dummy that sat on two insanely tradable assets, while the season past them by and is more than likely finished in Montreal as GM for being too complacent.

If I had that kind of luck, I’d pad my room and never leave the house.

Switching gears…

I’ll make my official Super Bowl pick tomorrow but to give you a sneak preview into how I might be feeling about this one:

The New Orleans’ defense says they plan to incorporate some crazy tactics in order to confuse Peyton Manning. I don’t want to say a lot of football players are too dumb to pull this off but Manning is to the rest of the NFL what Einstein is to Alabama.

The only way the Saints confuse him is if they slip him Rohypnol before the game. I suggest a new strategy, boys.

Lastly…

Anyone not happy for Jesse Lumsden to see him all of a sudden competing in the Olympics with Pierre Lueders, after watching his football career go down to injury, either hasn’t heard about it or is an even bigger d!c# than me…

But seriously, is there bigger proof out there that after four seconds, everyone in a bobsled but the driver is getting a free medal?

Talk to you soon.

The Montreal Canadiens’ dismissal of enforcer Georges Laraque Thursday won’t affect their team. He’s hardly played this year and hasn’t registered a penalty minute since December 12. What may affect them however: The G-force motion sickness of their descent into hell. Habs GM Bob Gainey said the decision to drop him had been made prior to the Haiti earthquake in which members of Laraque’s family went missing. Apparently Laraque was whiny because of playing time and the “code” by which he chooses fights had alienated teammates. This is also the same team that imploded last year amidst rumors of cocaine use and two players associating with known mobsters. Apparently now however it’s Laraque that is an expendable distraction.

Which brings us back to timing. I’m the last person who should give advice on decorum, but is now, given the earthquake and all, the best time to cut him? They couldn’t wait 12 games until the Olympic break, when the news cycle (at least in Canada) forgets Haiti and moves onto Vancouver? Even worse, he’s still getting paid, which is also a little vexing because Montreal is now paying a fighter to not play while not having another fighter on the roster.

Hey look, over there! It’s the future I see. It’s the NHL playoffs, and the Habs aren’t in them again.

• Stat item from another Haitian-Canadian Montrealer: Philadelphia 76ers center Samuel Dalembert was averaging 7.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game before the Haiti tragedy. Since the earthquake he’s averaged 12.8 and 14.5. Somewhere, Leo Rautins is ambivalent.

Georges Laraque #17 of the Montreal Canadiens plays in his first game at the Bell Centre on October 15, 2008 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images)

Good bye George, you’re a good guy and a heavyweight to respect.

We won’t miss his goal scoring touch or playmaking abilities. Will we even miss what he was meant to do, fight and protect his teammates? Strangely, enough, we probably won’t miss that either.

I’ve always believed we needed a police officer to protect our playmakers and small guys but too often than not, big bad George was either injured or simply not fighting. He never fulfilled his career reputation.

“Not being productive…and being destructive on the whole…” were among the words Bob Gainey used to explain why George was released.

We can’t comment, as fans, about the distraction he had become to his team, as Gainey reports, but couldn’t his release have been done in a more classy way? The poor guy must be suffering with the tragedy that has hit homeland of Haiti, this unceremonious severing of ties just seems plain cold.

“…Gainey said he gave Laraque an offer Wednesday to give him a leave of absence so he could deal with the situation in Haiti, either by being with his family or by going to the devastated country to help with the recovery. Gainey said Laraque refused the offer, saying everything was fine, ” reports the Toronto Star.

Well, if the above is the case, that answers my question.

Au revoir Georges.

Buenos morning,, hockey fans! Last week we took a serious look at the mid-point of the NHL season, and decided there was still hope for the future; this week, after a string of soul-crushingly awful losses, it’s time to ask Stars fans the tough questions: if everyone in the world died, where will farmers get their food?

While your brain chews on that for a minute, also consider this: it may finally be time to blow up the Stars.

"No problem, it's just like shooting womp-rats in Beggar's Canyon back home."

Now, for those of you interns working for Homeland Security who just found this column a few seconds ago using your special anti-terrorist search engines, I’m not literally talking about blowing up a solar objectAIRPLANE BOMB PATRIOT ACT CIA JIHAD SUPERBOWL MEGAN FOX, I’m simply referring to the classic ebb-and-flow of a professional sports team. All sports teams go through up-and-down cycles of success-decline-rock bottom-rebuilding-upswing-success, and from what most of us have witnessed this year, this Stars team certainly appears to be in the “rebuilding” phase.

If last year’s debacle of a travesty of a shameful episode was any indication, it would seem the leadership core of this team –Morrow, Modano and Turco– has precious little left in the tank, both off and on the ice. This year’s on-ice results are only marginally better than the embarrassing lack of competitive fire shown last season: while new head coach Crawford has shaken things up a bit on the offensive front (praise Jebus!), the primary problems from last season (defensive lapses, goaltending) are still middling along at a pathetic pace.

Can this team, the way it is currently structured, truly compete on an NHL level?

Some signs say “yes” — despite being 27th in the NHL in total payroll, the Stars currently sit 18th overall in points and just four points out of the final playoff spot despite all teh suck. And the Stars still have not had a real winning streak yet, and just one serious losing streak, so one could argue that they’re ‘due’ for a slight rise in the standings. Perhaps most impressively, the Stars have played well against the top two teams in the West, setting up a tantalizing matchup should they squeak into the playoffs to face the Sharks or Blackhawks.

But by this franchise’s standards, this season has been disappointing. Turco started strong, but lately has been allowing more rubber to squirt past his five-hole than a product tester at a sex toy factory. Right now Jose Canseco’s got a better glove side than Marty, and the athleticism that was once there to cover up his lack of fundamental technique has all but disappeared.

Surely, some of that blame lies at the feet of his defense, which is the lowest-paid defense in the entire league by a long shot.

But the defense is, statistically, doing a far better job than the goals-allowed stats would tell. The Stars currently allow around 30 shots a game, which is middle-of-the-pack; but the team has the seventh-worst save percentage and GAA, meaning that the Stars defense is mediocre but their goaltending is performing at a significantly less-than-mediocre clip.

And that’s with young d-men Nick Grossman and Mark Fistric playing lights-out. Matt Niskanen and Trevor Daley have been absolutely atrocious in all three zones, and Crawford’s recent experiment pairing the two together has been the most predictable disaster since The Hottie and the Nottie.

Pictured: an artist's conception of Sean Avery interacting with the Stars' leadership core last season

So what does shiny new Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk do with this roster at this point? Payroll-wise, this is already a rebuilding year for the franchise –the Tom ‘Spendomatic 9000′ Hicks of yesteryear is a distant memory, one day to be unearthed by the sports archaeologists of the future– but perhaps this team needs to stop putzing around and go all-in on this rebuilding thing now, while they’ve still got the goods. Here are some options for Savior Joe, in no particular order.

#1: Trade Turco while you still can. Perhaps Turco’s excremental performance in this week’s Philly game was an intentional reverse-psychology suckfest, showing the most likely Turco Trade Suitor first-hand that the old guy just isn’t worth the cost of the phone call anymore. And statistically, Turco is still doing slightly better than his godawful season last year, although he’s getting closer to those numbers every game. Trade him for what you can get now, dump his massively-bloated contract and move in another direction. What direction would that be, you say? Why…

#2: Acquire Jaroslav Halak before his asking price gets ridiculously high. Halak started the season as Montreal’s backup to Jesus Price, but has pretty much played his way to the top of the goaltending free agent pool for this summer. We all know that making a trade with Canadiens GM Bob Gainey is like punching a kid for his lunchmoney, so why not pull the trigger now before the bidding war gets out of hand? The kid’s got chops, stops boatloads of pucks like Keanu Reeves in the (first) Matrix and can be had for the low low price of a 2nd-round pick. As an added bonus, we could…

#3: Dump Niskanen and Daley for someone, anyone with a pulse. Or without a pulse. Or perhaps no one at all. After seeing these two allegedly ‘offensive defensemen’ take such huge steps back this season, it’s decision time for GM Joe. Does he stick with these two massive underachievers, in hope that the mistakes they’re making every night on every shift will only make them stronger? Or does he open his eyeballs and see what’s transpiring on the ice, and witness the sheer visual brutality of watching Niskanen completely surrender the puck with unforced errors and then not even make the slightest effort to play defense on the ensuing odd-man breaks? These two are young, with the “offensive upside” tag that makes NHL GMs salivate uncontrollably. Stars fans have seen enough –perhaps they’ll light it up on some other team, but for whatever reason, they’re not going to get it done in Dallas. Put ‘em out of their misery and send ‘em packing to a sucker in the Eastern Conference, where defensive effort is an afterthought. And while we’re on the subject of defensemen…

#4: Get some more defensemen, preferably young prospects instead of over-the-hill Sheldon Souray types. While it may be impossible to land the next Tyler Myers or Drew Doughty, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Stars could land the next Braydon Coburn, who was traded to the Flyers for a song. Robidas, Grossman and Fistric are awesome at what they do, but they’re not putting up Pronger or Lidstrom-type minutes anytime soon, so go out and get them some much-needed help! And if we can swing a guy like Doughty for Turco and Niskanen (hey, more lopsided trades have happened), more power to ‘em. Bringing up young guys like Ivan Vishnevskiy can’t hurt at this point, either. And finally, perhaps most importantly..

The stuff of Turco's nightmares

#5: Get some new, younger leaders in the locker room like James Neal, Jamie Benn and Fistric. The guys that are playing their tuckus off every shift need to step up off the ice and fill the leadership vacuum left by I-might-try-when-I-feel-like-it types like Modano and Ribeiro. Truly successful teams always have a strong veteran presence in the locker room, but this team’s old guys seem more concerned about which shiny Prada shirt they’re wearing to the Ghostbar after the game than, say, exerting the effort to keep the puck in the zone while manning the point on a crucial third-period power play. Let the guys who obviously still enjoy playing hockey fill the leadership roles in the team, and the on-ice product will invariably improve. Of course, that would take some growing pains at first. But if you wanted instant on-ice results, you should…

#6: Get on your knees and beg Sergei Zubov to come back to Texas. Zubov is doing quite well for himself in the KHL, and hey, it’s never too late to pull a Forsbellanemayer, and return to the NHL with like 10-15 games left in the season on a pro-rated contract that even the penny-pinching Stars could afford. Adding Sergei is only slightly less productive than adding a Lidstrom in terms of rocketing up the standings, and having the cool-as-a-glacier Zubov manning the blue line could do wonders for our current crop of under-25 d-men. Also, Zubov is awesome. Did I mention he’s awesome? Well, he is. Awesome, that is.

That’s it for this week’s explosive, divisive Cupcheck. Tune in next week when a new era of peace and understanding is unleashed upon downtown Dallas when the Stars complete the first-ever ‘Hands Across the AAC‘. The shocking amount of human corpses on the ice may surprise you.

Patrice Bergeron has been the best Bruin this season, at both ends of the ice.

I know it’s early but I wanted to be the first one to say it. Hopefully I won’t be the last, especially when the 2009-10 NHL Season is closer to it’s conclusion than it is right now.

Patrice Bergeron is a Selke Award candidate.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is the case right now following his outstanding performance Wednesday night at home against the Lightning and going into tonight’s contest in Montreal. To this point in the year he has displayed all the qualities one would attribute to a Selke candidate as witnessed against Tampa Bay where he had a goal and two assists, shut down the opponents best offensive line and was 14 out of 19 in the faceoff circle. These are the things that win games, folks, and Bergeron is doing them night in and night out.

We need to look at the larger picture, of course, to make the case that he should win it for real. The season is barely past the quarter mark but it’s enough of a sampling to make a serious argument for his legitimate contention for the award.

First off, the Bruin’s defense and penalty killing has been stellar for the past two years and Bergeron has been a key element. Each night he matches up against the opponent’s best line and it’s a rare occasion that those stars get a chance to shine, especially the center lined up across from him. It’s a difficult assignment but Patrice does it well and the fact that the B’s goaltending tandem of Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez won the Jennings Trophy last season and Thomas also took home the Vezina is directly attributable to some stellar defense in front of them. Granted, Zdeno Chara is a huge factor in that but so is the B’s team defense, of which Bergeron is a gigantic part.

He’s a leader on the team’s penalty kill, as well, where the Bruins have now worked themselves into second place in the league at 85.4 %. In that respect, he is a leader on the ice with exactly the sort of hockey smarts, positioning and hard work that make for effective penalty killing. If the B’s are killing a 5 on 3, guess who’s out there on the ice?

He also takes every important defensive zone face-off for the team. His total wins in that area and his percentage have been phenomenal where he has ranked amongst the top forwards in the league all season. There’s no reason why this shouldn’t continue.

And, guess what, he leads the team in scoring with 8-13-21 totals through the first 27 games of the season. Solid totals that probably won’t measure up to the gaudy numbers put up by last year’s winner, Pavel Datsyuk, but offensive numbers should never be the focus of a Selke winner. Certainly Bob Gainey never scored 100 points. Regardless, Bergeron’s numbers are respectable and that carries weight with voters as we all know. His +/- might not be that impressive but that should improve as the team’s fortunes have done of late.

Bergeron has consistently shown superior hockey intelligence and has become a forward that Claude Julien relies heavily upon in all situations but especially in the defensive zone and has risen to the challenge and them some, working himself into one of the most proficient and reliable defensive/offensive forwards in the NHL. What more do you want from a Selke candidate?

Let the Campaign begin.

I woke up in the middle of the night Sunday with a startling, half-awake realization: This offseason, instead of trading multiple dudes to the Rangers to acquire Scott Gomez’s suffocating contract, why didn’t the Canadiens just trade no one and sign Marian Gaborik? I know there’s some injury concern there, but geez, the dude’s 10 times the threat Scott Gomez has ever been, Gomez’s contract is just as massive, you keep Chris Higgins this way, and you end up with a dude who’s already scored more goals in 25 games this season than Gomez has in every season of his career except one.

Yep — half-awake Me is a better GM than Bob Gainey. Man is that dude fired after this season…

Anyway…the Pens remained impressive last night, beating the Rangers on the road with Henrik Lundqvist back in goal, despite a continued power play malaise and repeated inability to cover Gaborik with seven guys at all times. We knew it going in, but how clearly is Gaborik the only remotely threatening player on this Ranger team? Who else would you even think about covering in a playoff series against the Rangers? Like, Vinny Prospal? I feel like he should be the captain and star player on an expansion team somewhere; he’ll be on the Las Vegas ThundercrushDogs for their 2012 season opener, once Phoenix moves.

Mike Rupp’s inconceivable offensive season continued with a hat trick, including the game-winning goal and an empty netter to give him 8 goals on the year, shattering his former career-high mark of 6 goals in a season (and doing so after only 28 games).  Sidney Crosby added two more goals of his own, flanking a play where he bumped Gaborik in the Pens’ crease after a whistle and drew MSG chants of “CROSBY SUCKS!” I will henceforth refer to the “goal-Crosby sucks chant-goal” combination as a “Crosby Sandwich,” because that’s precisely the sort of lame-ass Crosby term that would really piss off other Atlantic Division fans, but then it would keep happening, continuing to piss them off even more. For as hated as Crosby is by the Flyers, Rangers, and Capitals, the guy really couldn’t own the Flyers, Rangers, and Capitals more.

On a both good and bad note, I keep forgetting that Chris Kunitz is out of the lineup. It’s great that the Pens have the scoring depth to notch 13 goals in two games against a division foe despite a depleted lineup, but it’s also a little disconcerting that the absence of a so-called top-line winger is so insignificant. Hopefully he’ll be back botching Crosby’s one-timers thus frustrating Crosby and getting him to keep shooting more and racking up goals in no time.

Also, why have the Pens played like 12 more games than every other team in the conference? Is there a stipulation in the schedule that the Flyers must always have 5 games in hand on the Penguins every season to ensure that you always get more initially excited when you look at the standings than you should? Just another example of the league’s clear anti-Crosby bias…

C’est assez incroyable ce qui est en train de se passer chez le Canadien. En moins de deux semaines, l’équipe a perdu, au profit de la liste des blessés, Jaroslav Spacek, Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, et probablement les deux frères Kostistyn en plus ! Le plus vieux se serait blessé en troisième hier en recevant un tir d’un défenseur de Columbus. Sergei, lui, a une entorse et est incertain.

Je suis excité de voir David Desharnais commencer le match pour le CH ce soir, ça a l’air d’un très bon joueur, mais je préfère quand même compter sur une équipe de partants et de vrais joueurs établis de la LNH !

En plus, Montréal va peut-être devoir jouer à seulement 19 joueurs ce soir si la décision de Sergei s’avère négative.

Eh merde! Va falloir voir d’où vient tout ça. Malchance, ou un mauvais entraînement ? Il est à remarquer que, des nouveaux venus du Canadien, seuls Paul Mara, Travis Moen et Marc-André Bergeron seront en uniforme ce soir.

Au moins, l’équipe est en train de se batir une personnalité, est en train de devenir, en fait, une VRAIE équipe. Le Tricolore n’a pas perdu en temps réglementaire à ses quatre derniers matchs malgré l’absence de ces joueurs importants. Je ne serais pas surpris par une défaite ce soir, la question est de savoir si le Tricolore va bien ou mal perdre. C’est un vrai test pour la troupe de Jacques Martin. J’espère qu’on gagnera, ou qu’on perdra avec dignité ce soir, sans abandonner Price et lui laisser 40-50 tirs. Ça serait mauvais pour tout le monde.

Parlant de personnalité, deux joueurs retiennent mon attention : Tomas Plekanec et Mike Cammalleri. Le premier a appris à jouer sans Kovalev et en tant que centre #1 “à temps plein”, et il relève très bien le défi avec 24 points, dont 19 passes (!) en autant de matchs ; Cammalleri, lui, en est déjà à 12 buts et semble se reprendre après une passe plus tranquille. L’équipe repose actuellement sur ces deux joueurs… et sur Price, ne l’oubliant.

Un seul hic à tout ça : Plekanec n’est pas sous contrat pour 2010-2011, et si Gainey ne lui fait pas apposer sa signature au bas d’un document au cours des prochaines semaines, il pourrait lui coûter très très très très cher cet été, surtout si Tomas continue sur sa lancée et fait 85-90 points.

Grouille-toi Robert !

Comme promis, au cours des prochains jours, on repassera en revue toutes les transactions et signatures effectuées par Gainey depuis son arrivé et on les notera d’un à sept, façon Médiafilm*. Ce soir, c’est au tour des années 2005.

*Les cotes de Médiafilm, en résumé :

1 : Chef-d’œuvre

2 : Remarquable

3 : Très bon

4 : Bon

5 : Moyen

6 : Pauvre

7 : Minable

Incapables d’en venir à une entente avec l’Association des joueurs, les propriétaires de ligue décrètent un lock-out le 15 septembre 2004. Et bien croyez-moi, croyez-moi pas, la veille, le (censuré) de Bluejacket de Columbus réclame François Beauchemin au ballottage.

1) 14 septembre – François Beauchemin est réclamé par Columbus.

Je sais, je sais, ce n’est pas exactement une transaction. Je sais aussi qu’on l’a perdu pour rien parce que la convention est ainsi faite et que Doug Jarvis n’a pas insisté auprès de Gainey pour le retenir. Je sais tout ça, mais ce n’est pas assez pour m’empêcher de m’agrafer les couilles sur ma chaise pour m’éviter d’y penser davantage. (Ouilles! Ouch!! Ouilles!!!) Cote : 6

2) 30 juillet – le Canadien échange un choix de 2e ronde en 2005 (Marc-André Cliche, D) et un choix de 3e ronde en 2005 (Brodie Dupont) aux Rangers de New York pour un choix de 2e ronde (un piano à queue; mais non, Guillaume Latendresse voyons).

Note : Au moment d’écrire ces lignes, la situation de Latendresse vient tout juste d’évoluer. Quelques heures plus tôt, Guillaume et Annie Villeneuve ont été échangés au Wild du Minnesota contre le Franco-Ontarien Benoît Pouliot. Néanmoins, je vais traiter de l’échange comme si elle n’avait pas eu lieu.

Double note: Normalement, je ne traite pas du repêchage, mais vu que dans ce cas-ci le CH a transigé pour pouvoir sélectionner notre Guillaume national, je ferai une toute petite exception.

Décelant un potentiel énorme chez Latendresse, André Savard insista auprès de Gainey et de Timmins pour qu’on repêche le Québécois le plus tôt possible. Doué d’un physique imposant et de bonnes mains, le CH pensa longtemps avoir commis un vol à l’encan 2005. Ce ne sera pas tout à fait faux. Ni tout à fait vrai.

Parce qu’il connut un bon premier camp professionnel, parce qu’il est gros, costaud et habile (une denrée rare comme la marde de Pape chez le Canadien) et enfin parce que c’est un authentique jambon Lafleur, le public montréalais eut tôt fait de jeter son dévolu sur le numéro 84. Ce fut la pire chose qui ne pouvait lui arriver.

Gui Gui Gui devint une veuhdette avant même d’avoir compté son premier but dans la LNH. Son statut d’enfant chérie le plaça malgré lui dans une situation précaire. Tout ce qu’il allait accomplir par la suite qui ne ressemblait pas à une saison de 30 buts, ne fut assez aux yeux du public.

De son côté, la direction n’a jamais caché être déçu de la courbe de progression de Latendresse. Elle estimait que selon son talent et son expérience, il y aurait dû y avoir une amélioration substantielle au niveau de ses performances. Malheureusement, les stats de Guillaume continuaient de se ressembler d’une année à l’autre. Malgré tout, je ne désespérais pas de le voir un jour éclore. Surtout qu’il ne serait pas le premier gros attaquant à arriver à maturité sur le tard. Todd Bertuzzi et Olli Jokinen par exemples.

Justement, comparons rapidement les trois premières saisons de ces deux joueurs à celles de Tender (pour les fins de la discussion, je vais me limiter aux stats de base) :

G. Latendresse

Âge    PJ     B     A    PTS  +/-
19     80   16   13    29   -20
20     73   16   11    27   -2
21     56   14   12    26     4

Totaux : 209 matchs, 46 buts, 36 aides, 82 points, -18

T. Bertuzzi

Âge    PJ     B     A    PTS  +/-
20     76   18   21    39   -14
21     64   10   13    23   -3
22     74   13   20    33   -17

Totaux : 214 matchs, 41 buts, 54 aides, 95 points, -28

O. Jokinen

Âge    PJ     B      A    PTS  +/-
19      8     0      0      0   -5
20     66    9     12    21  -10
21     82   11    10    21    0
22     78    6     10    16  -22

Totaux : 234 matchs, 26 buts, 32 aides, 58 points, -37

Suis-je le seul à avoir remarqué les nombreuses similitudes entre Latendresse et Bertuzzi? Je peux vous garantir que Guillaume les avait remarquées lui. Ce n’est pas pour rien que le no. 84 a toujours cité Bertuzzi comme exemple (à part peut-être pour les attaques dans le dos). Il se disait probablement «laissez-moi le temps et vous verrez». Moi, c’est ce que je me disais du moins.

Bertuzzi a mis 5 saisons avant d’atteindre le plateau des 25 buts. Il avait 26 et 27 ans lors qu’il atteignit son peak (36 buts, 85 points et 46 buts et 97 points). Pour Jokinen, ce fut encore pire que Latendresse. Il a mis 5 saisons avant d’éclore définitivement et lui aussi a atteint son peak à 27-28 ans (38 buts, 89 points et 39 buts, 91 points).

Est-ce qu’on a tiré la plogue trop vite dans le cas de Latendresse? Assurément. Est-ce que le gros Latendresse était le spécialiste des garbages goals? Comme personne avant lui! Mais comme l’a si bien fait remarquer Jean-François Bégin de La Presse, avant cette saison, Crosby, Kopitar, Stastny et Cogliano étaient les seuls de la cuvée 2005 à avoir cumulé plus de points que Guillaume. Ce n’est pas si mal pour un piano à queue, non? Cote : 4

Note : Pour savoir ce que je pense de l’échange, relisez les deux derniers paragraphes, mais remplacez le nom de Pouliot par Latendresse. Je crois qu’il y a de l’espoir.

Double note : Préparez-vous à voir Lapierre et Bergeron souvent en entrevue. Et préparez-vous aussi pour les saisons 2, 3, 4, 5 et 6 de La maison de Maxim Lapierre.

3) 2 août – le Canadien signe Peter Vandemeer.

Après tout, il n’y a pas que Latendresse dans la vie!

Une autre vaine tentative pour le Canadien de se dénicher un policier. Je ferais bien une joke du genre «ils auraient plus de chance d’en trouver un au Dunkin», mais vous me connaissez, ça serait bien en déca de mes standards d’excellence. Cote : 6

4) 5 août – le Canadien signe Mathieu Dandenault.

Gainey a toujours été comme André K, un homme de séquence. Ici, il embaucha son premier joueur autonome établi, qui plus est un défenseur Québécois. Un Canadien-Québécois. Un Français Canadien-Français. Un Amahricain du nord Français. Un francophone Québécois-Canadien. Un Québécois d’expression française-française. Un Canadien-Américain francophone d’Amérique du Nord. Un Franco-Québécois-Canadien du Québec. Un Québécois-Canadien (je crois que si le maire de Tremblayville me lisait en ce moment, il exploserait tel le Old Faithful).

Dandy a été repêché comme attaquant, puis transformé en défenseur. Il a signé à Montréal comme défenseur, mais a été transformé en attaquant. Finalement, lorsqu’il a quitté l’organisation, il était redevenu un défenseur. Inutile de dire que son parcours n’a pas été de tout repos. Cote : 5

Note : j’ai failli lui donner 4, mais je me suis rappelé que c’est à cause de sa venue à Montréal que sa femme a animé La maison de Maxim Lapierre. Moins un.

5) 16 août – le Canadien signe Jonathan Aitken.

Un jour, j’ai été chier. Puis, j’ai flushé et tout ça devint vite du passé. Cote : 6

6) 30 septembre – le Canadien échange Marcel Hossa aux Rangers de New York pour Garth Murray.

À l’époque où Hossa évoluait avec le Canadien, à chaque fois que je regardais l’alignement, pendant une ou deux secondes, je croyais toujours qu’on avait Marian. Inutile de vous dire que je débandais une fois que le match commençait. Juste pour ça, je l’aurais échangé contre une palette en pastique râpée sur l’asphalte.

Finalement, ce ne fut pas une palette de plastique mais tout comme : on obtint un énième partenaire d’entraînement pour les autres pugilistes de la ligue. Ce fut la dernière transaction de Bob avant la reprise des activités. Je ne sais pas comment relativiser cette transaction mais tout ce que je sais, c’est que Murray n’était pas très bon comme bagarreur et qu’aujourd’hui, Hossa est l’un des meilleurs franc-tireurs de la KHL. Cote : 6

C’est ainsi que se conclut le magasinage de Bob durant la pause du lock-out. Plus tard la semaine prochaine, on s’attaquera à la période la plus intense de l’ère Gainey (2006-2009). Je nous promets bien du plaisir!

Maxime Paiement

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