Comments on: Dispelling the Myths of the Habs Language Debate

By: John doe

John doe — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:42:14 +0000

“Scotty Bowman took St Louis one of the first expansion teams from the first round of NHL expansion in 1967 to the Stanley Cup Finals in each of their first three years of existence.”

Just want to preface by saying while I agree that Bowman should be considered as among the best; that Blues fact should hardly be considered as supporting that argument. The Blues got in the Finals simply because one of those expansion clubs (who were all put in one division) were *GUARANTEED* to make the finals for a number of years.

By: Mojowillyray

Mojowillyray — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:15:28 +0000

TOE BLAKE is the most successful coach in Canadiens history, not Scottie Bowman, Blake coached the Canadiens for 13 years, winning eight Stanley Cups—the most for any coach in the team’s history and second in the NHL, only behind Bowman’s nine, which he won with the Canadiens, Penquins & Red Wings. He is still the winningest coach in Canadiens’ history…oh, an ANGLO.

By: Uncle Leo

Uncle Leo — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:38:02 +0000

VJ Singh, there is plenty wrong with your fascist education system that empowers language monitors to patrol the school playgrounds, “tapping” young children on the shoulders to discourage any spoken language but French. In another time and place, the advice of the ‘monitors’ was probably similar: “Englisch ist verboten!”

Keep up the great work, Rick.

By: Uncle Leo

Uncle Leo — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:12:29 +0000

As one of the “millions of Canadiens fans outside of Quebec”, thanks for saying what so few have the courage to say.

Brilliant article.

By: AllHabs

AllHabs — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:57:22 +0000

And this is the best that the language militants have to offer. With such compelling logic, in three languages no less, it’s hard to figure out why only 100 protesters came out to support the cause.

By: MarkBlack

MarkBlack — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:25:37 +0000

Reread what I wrote. I never said that Bowman wasn’t the best coach in the NHL, I disagreed with the reasons for why Bowman was hired and why he made a good fit with the Canadiens.

I am not disagreeing that Bowman was the best coach at the time, my point was simply that success elsewhere doesn’t always translate to success in Montreal. Bowman’s case was pretty unique in that he had a previous relationship with the franchise and the city.

By: VJ Singh

VJ Singh — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:56:01 +0000

You obviously represent all that is wrong with our education system. You need to get back to school, mais il est trop tard. Usted no es bastante intelligent.

By: AllHabs

AllHabs — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:55:43 +0000

Very good and balanced points Lyse. The draft always offers fodder for those who want to play politics. Fischer over Giroux is commonly tossed out, but less so is selecting Lapierre over Howard and All-Stars Backes and Byfuglien. Gainey and Timmins don’t get enough credit for selecting Price when the masses were screaming for Pouliot or Brule. Leblanc will be interesting to watch — did the Habs make a wise choice passing on the big, skilled center that they have coveted for so long in Kreider.

But the main thrust of your argument is that you want the Habs to win — it is the overriding wish by the vast majority of Canadiens fans.

By: AllHabs

AllHabs — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:23:17 +0000

Thanks Kristina. I really appreciate your kind words.

By: AllHabs

AllHabs — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:22:33 +0000

I agree with both neumann103 and MarkBlack that among the best coaches in the league, some are better suited to certain teams than others. I’ll even agree with MarkBlack that Scotty Bowman was a good match with the Canadiens as well as being one of the best coaches at the time, and all-time. But detailing the reasons for Bowman’s success was not the point of this piece.

The formula is not simple to finding a successful coach for the Montreal Canadiens, but it starts with a search that includes the very best coaches in the game today, including Babcock, Bylsma, Ruff and others. Then it can be narrowed down to find the best fit for the assets on the roster and the rest of the management team. The point of that particular section of the article is the process that I just described hasn’t happened in Montreal in a very, very long time. Fishing in the shallow part of the pond means that the Habs have to win the lottery. And it’s clear that they haven’t.

If the Canadiens want to once again raise the Cup and quit resting on their past glories, they must attract the best talent — that includes at the head coach and general manager level. As long as they follow the policy of letting language trump all other criteria, they will continue to be “severely competitively disadvantaged.”