Ask and Ye Shall Receive, Habs Pick a New Direction

Canadiens/BGL Split Indicates Habs Have an Idea 

As I wrote yesterday, the Montreal Canadiens were sitting in a precarious position, perched between a run for the playoffs or a dip into the deep end full of high level draft picks, and while the announcement of their parting ways with Georges Laraque may seem significant, it simply highlights what has been an undertone to evaluating the eventual direction this remolded club will take.

Beginning with the deployment of Kyle Chipchura to the sun and fun of Anaheim for a 4^th round draft pick and then followed by the intelligent decision to move Guillaume Latendresse to Minnesota, the Canadiens appear to be addressing a need to clear out the slower footed individuals on the team and, although it may appear to be happening one player at a time, the Habs are actually doing it.

This recent move of rescinding Georges Laraque’s privilege to don the #17 in Blue, Blanc et Rouge may seem a bit harsh considering Big Georges ties to Haiti and the Montreal community and vice versa, as the Habs have been heavy supporters of the ongoing relief effort taking place in Haiti, but the actual specs of this particular move speak not only to the business aspect of clearing cap space, but also follows suit with the trend of opening spots for younger, faster players. In this case, the removal of Laraque is more addition by subtraction as it opens up spots for younger, faster players who are itching to get a shot in the NHL such as Tom Pyatt and Ryan White.

And, in response to whether the Habs were doing this at a bad time, the reality is that this decision had been made ‘weeks ago’ as Bob Gainey stated this morning. The reason for waiting this long to go through with the move was out of respect for Georges and the difficult situation surrounding his ties to Haiti.

So, in response to my question yesterday, it does indeed appear that the Montreal Canadiens are indeed picking a new direction in which to take the club.

Although the fans in Montreal are rabid, intelligent puck-heads who demand immediate results, they are also smart enough to realize that this season hasn’t offered much in the way of answering questions about how the team actually plays together. Injuries have piled up and have forced Bob Gainey’s hands at times, as he had to do when Andrei Markov went down at the beginning of the season and he picked up MA-Bergeron.

Gainey and Martin thought things would shake out by mid to late January, but that hasn’t quite been the case. Here we are, January 21^st and  the Habs sit with 51 points in 51 games and have done nothing but move laterally for the last few weeks.

The reality is that it has been hard to evaluate this club because of the injuries and the inability to find chemistry and create consistency.

If anything, it seems that Martin has been beyond his challenge level in trying to figure out how to get this team performing at a consistent level. It’s hard to blame the guys who go out and give everything they have every night, but with so much lineup juggling, how do you actually get a read on what this team is capable of?

I believe that Gainey is trying as hard as he can to build up the Canadiens draft depth as well as their farm rosters while trying to pare down cap space for the team moving forward. And he’s done a decent job of doing so with the moves he has pulled off thus far, but the truth is that this team has far more potential than they are showing.

Perhaps that’s the coaches fault, but I still cannot find a way to truly lay fault on the players as they have had a tough enough time matching up against their opponents night after night.

Bob Gainey is passing on the fools gold and holding out for the real thing. Fans are impatient and wish to see this team take a positive step forward in their progress. Yet it seems that fans are going to have remain ever so patient as this is not a quick fix situation.

Perhaps, as my buddy Praxy suggests, the Canadiens will go a different direction with management in summer and move into the post-Gainey era, but I’m not there yet. I believe that the Canadiens coaching and management are in a tough spot as the season hasn’t yielded the results they have wanted, and because of this, they haven’t been able to pick a definite path.

Despite the tumultuous course the Canadiens season has taken, they are still in the mix and will continue to vie for a berth in the post-season while making changes one piece at a time.

Things aren’t that peachy in Habs land and it’s going to remain a rough ride for a little while longer, but with each minor tweak that has occurred this season, the Canadiens have gotten quietly better and deeper.

Health is always the hope for the New Year, so hopefully that resolution will come to pass sooner rather later for the Canadiens.

In the meantime, as Montreal struggles to get the rest of their season pointed in the right direction, management is doing its best to give the team little shoves in the right direction whenever they can.

Just remember what Gainey has done thus far; he moved out the slow-footed Kyle Chipchura, removed the slow-footed Guillaume Latendresse and, finally, removed the slow-footed Georges Laraque.

In their place, Bob brough in a 4^th round draft pick, Benoit Pouliot and cap space. All 3 of these moves have positively benefited Montreal and, despite the inability to take large strides in a short period of time, the Canadiens have chosen their direction.

This team is going to continue to get younger, faster and deeper. That’s the bottom line.

Any proposal to Gainey in which he is offered something other than those 3 variables will be met with a straight forward No.

Hang in there Hab fans, it’s not going to be an easy ride, but it definitely appears that the team will stay the course in trying to get younger and faster.

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Go Habs!!!!!