Gainey makes a tough decision

2009-03-10T14:01:00.007-04:00

Sometimes its fun to play GM in your head. You think, if you were able to run an NHL team, you might hire a buddy to coach and maybe another friend to be president of hockey operations, etc. However, with your fantasy dream team, you never go through long losing streaks or problems with communication between players and coaches. Everything is fine and dandy but in reality, you're thinking of a world that exists only on EA Sports' NHL 09. Real life is much, much different.

This brings us to what some might feel is the shocking news of Montreal Canadiens General Manager Bob Gainey's firing of head coach Guy Carbonneau. Carbonneau and Gainey have been friends for a long time. They are both former captains of Les Blu, Blanc et Rouge, former linemates and former winners of the Selke trophy on multiple occasions. Both are highly revered throughout the province of Quebec and by fans everywhere of the Canadiens as hard working checkers that gave it their all every game.

So it is somewhat shocking that Gainey would relieve Carbonneau of his coaching duties with only 16 games remaining in the season and especially coming off of an emotional win in Dallas on Sunday. If there was a time to fire the coach, many would have thought that it would have been after Montreal's horrendous road trip earlier this year to Western Canada. In fact, Captain Saku Koivu admitted as much in an interview earlier today in the media scrum after practice.

So why then is Carbonneau being punished now? The team has won 5 of their last 7 games. They've managed to retain their playoff spot despite long term injuries to Robert Lang and Alex Tanguay, Gainey's two prized offseason acquisitions. They've won despite starting goalie Carey Price's well documented struggles. They've won despite Alex Kovalev's decreased production and despite the seeming regression of Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Kostitsyn, Christopher Higgins and Mike Komisarek. So why has Carbonneau gotten the axe?

Before I go on, I want to make it clear that I like Guy Carbonneau. I always have, always will. But sometimes just because a person was a great player, it doesn't mean that they are a great coach. In my opinion coaching is a very difficult job, but managing is even tougher. A coach works with what he has, whereas a GM must try to anticipate what he will have or won't have and how to best prepare his club for that situation. He deals with unknowns, such as how a new player will impact the chemistry of the dressing room or what the salary cap will be next season. A coach deals with the present, what he can affect now. Guy Carbonneau was simply unable to accomplish that.

Carbonneau is gone because the team failed to progress. They have been outshot in all but one game in their last 11. They've been out worked and out chanced in almost every game, including games against lowly Colorado and Atlanta. Their best players haven't been their best players. They've looked slow and dysfunctional, prone to giveaways and taking chances offensively that lead to goals...for the other team.

Yes, some of those errors lie with the players. Who lead the players though? Guy Carbonneau did.

It's common knowledge that you play your best players when you need a goal. You don't play Glen Metropolit on a 5 on 3 powerplay when he's only scored 4 goals all season. Instead you take Alex Tanguay (10 goals, 27 points in 36 games) and Andrei Kostitsyn (team leading 23 goals) and you put them on the ice instead. During the last minutes of a game, you play Kovalev, Plekanec, etc not Maxim Lapierre and Tom Kostopoulos when you need that tying marker. But those are the things that cost Guy Carbonneau his job.

Has Gainey ever made a mistake as a GM? Sure he has.

Wasn't Gainey the one who traded Mike Ribeiro (Dallas' leading scorer) for Janne Ninnima? Didn't he sign Sergei Samsonov to a hefty contract, and then later was forced to trade him for almost nothing? Didn't Gainey sign Georges Laraque to a 4.5 million, 3 year contract? Wasn't he the one who said just a few short months ago that his best decision as GM of the Canadiens was the hiring of Guy Carbonneau? Isn't Gainey the one who refused to make a move at the deadline?

Yes, Bob Gainey has done all of those things. But Gainey also knows that the team that won the Eastern Conference last year is almost the same as the present one, if not better. He knows that Tanguay coming back from injury is better than sacrificing his young talent or draft picks for a rental forward. He's kept his core of Max Pacioretty, Matt D'Agostini, the Kostitsyns, Plekanec, Komisarek, Andrei Markov, Price and Jaroslav Halak and younger talents such as Ben Maxwell, Ryan White, Cedrick Desjardins, P.K. Subban, Ryan McDonagh, David Fischer, Yannick Weber, Mathieu Carle, Danny Kristo and Kyle Chipchura. He's kept his cupboard full. He hasn't sacrificed the future for a present that he knows will not win it all anyways.

Both Gainey and Carbonneau have made some good and bad decisions. But the difference is that Gainey deals with variables that he sometimes can't control or predict. Carbonneau knows (or should know) which players on his team have certain talents for specific areas and how to best utilize them.

Bob Gainey did not decide to juggle his lines around every game. He didn't play Metropolit on a 5-3 powerplay. He didn't put Kostopoulos and Lapierre out during the last two minutes of a game when the team was down by one goal. He didn't play games with Price and Halak by constantly switching them in and out of the starting role. He didn't put Kovalev on the fourth line when he wasn't playing well. He didn't refuse to dress his hardest working player (Steve Begin) for weeks at a time. He didn't suffer a break down in communication with the team. He didn't create an environment where the growth and progression of the team's young talent couldn't blossom.

Guy Carbonneau did all those things. And now he's gone.

Analysis of the Mathieu Schneider trade from Atlanta

2009-02-16T16:54:00.003-05:00

Montreal Canadiens receive: Mathieu Schneider, conditional (3-5th round) pick
Atlanta Thrashers receive: Montreal's 2nd and 3rd round picks in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft

In my opinion, this isn't a bad trade for Montreal if Schneider stays healthy. They get an experienced powerplay specialist who shoots left and has always been the shooter on the right side of the powerplay. This is exactly the position they've been missing this season on their powerplay and one that Mark Streit and Sheldon Souray (both left handed shots) filled prior to this year.

They trade second and third round picks, but they will receive a conditional third to fifth round pick based on playoff performance. If Montreal loses in the first round or doesn't qualify for the playoffs, they receive a third round pick which is more valuable than their own third rounder. If they make it past the first round, it become a fourth round pick. If they get through two rounds it becomes a fifth round pick.

What makes it even better is that Montreal traded Mikhail Grabovsky to the Leafs for their second round pick (Greg Pateryn) in last year's draft and a second round pick in this year's draft. Montreal will have a first round pick (their own) and two second round picks (Toronto's and Washington's which they acquired in return for Cristobal Huet at last year's deadline). The possibility exists too that they will receive Atlanta's third round pick as well.

Introduction

2009-02-05T11:47:00.002-05:00

Just a small post to get going. I'm probably going to do a lot of posting about hockey, but I'm not afraid to comment on whatever sparks my interest, no matter what the topic.

The Fine Line

Gainey makes a tough decision

Analysis of the Mathieu Schneider trade from Atlanta

Introduction