written by Bailey, AllHabs.net
TORONTO, ON — Call it what it is, but I don’t think sarcasm is going to help me right now.
Last night was my tipping point.
I’ve been annoyed – and really, that is putting it mildly- with the way the organization has been handling a lot of the issues that surround this team. And I get that what might be going on behind closed doors can be different to what we hear or see (and might, is the key word here), but as fans, and as smart fans, all it has shown, to me anyway, is that Geoff Molson and Pierre Gauthier have little to no faith in its fanbase.
I also think they believe we’re stupid.
At the beginning of the season, when the Habs were losing, and we were all calling for heads to roll, I was incredibly surprised at the move they did make, with the firing of Perry Pearn. In my eyes? Perry Pearn was the sacrificial lamb, the assistant coach who needed to go, just to take the heat off of Jacques Martin, and Pierre Gauthier. What, exactly, did it change?
If you look at the games after the firing of Pearn, the Habs are no better now, truly, than they were in October. I’m sorry, if this is an unpopular opinion, but truly, the things that need to be done, are not being done.
I had a conversation with the very smart, very insightful @kyleroussel not too long ago about this very thing, when I was ranting about the Toronto Blue Jays and their new logo unveiling. Yes, a new logo is nice and pretty and shiny, but it was a ploy – a very smart ploy, mind you – to gloss over the real issues. I can’t tell you how much it frustrates me to see teams such as the Jays, who, have HUGE potential to do amazing things not address the issues that loom over them like a dark shadow.
It is the exact same thing with the Montreal Canadiens. And whether fans want to admit to them, or not there are a lot of things that they simply do not address.
Watching the Columbus – Montreal game on Tuesday, I looked at it from a different perspective. I took away my bias towards my team, and watched it, as if I was simply a fan of the game. Hard for me, considering how big of a Habs fan I am, really, but the more I watched, the more I realised just how MUCH is wrong with this team, and this organization. And here are a few of the things that went through my head as I watched:
We should not have even made it to overtime. We did not deserve to win. No shots, no movement. There were players (Alexei Emelin, Andrei Kostitsyn) who had fantastic games, but two players aren’t going to get us points. No drive, no heart.
Louis Leblanc had his first game at the Bell Centre, and he was put on the fourth line with Petteri Nokelainen and Mathieu Darche. And you know what the worst part about that was? Leblanc played 4:48. The whole game. He had a fantastic game the night before, playing with Lars Eller and Kostitsyn and then… that happened. I didn’t get it.
Carey Price had every right to be annoyed. I would be annoyed too.
There is a lot of finger pointing that comes from the coach, and rarely, if ever, does he actually lay the blame upon himself.
There is a lot wrong with the way this team is managed. And there is that saying ‘attitude reflects leadership’, and it’s starting to show. Lack of communication, lack of passion. Lack of trust in the younger players, and there is now also a lack of trust coming from the veterans, towards the coach. The coaching style is dated. There’s no life in the players, there’s no room to make mistakes – because heaven forbid if you do – you’re essentially stapled to the bench, or up in the press-box.
There is unrest from the fans, and I don’t know if the organization is unwilling to see it, or has their blinders on, but there will come a time where more fans will start to realise what is going on – and will want something done.
But is it enough? Is it enough to have the fans start an uproar? To be honest, no matter what we think, what our opinions are, there is only so much water we hold, to the Canadiens. Should we? Of course we should. We’re the ones who pay to go to games, who pay for merchandise and for Centre Ice (for those like me who live out of province and don’t get to see games very often.) We hold stock in a certain way, and when the team is under-achieving, we want to see change.
And going back to my earlier question: nothing has changed.
That’s not to say that the TEAM needs to change. I like the team. I like the group of players we have, and don’t think that trading away players is the answer to the cornucopia of problems that surround us right now. What I have issue with, is the way the team is handled. From top to bottom. And personally, if I was Geoff Molson? I’d be worried, too.
I’d be worried about the fact that your fans – the ones who love and support this team, and have done so for 102 years – are starting to see through the smoke screen that they’ve created this year, and are watching you turn what is a historic franchise, into a circus. It wasn’t just the Columbus game that pushed me over the edge, it’s all the things in the past three months that have lead up to me writing something negative about my team.
Stop pretending that all is well in Habsland. Stop trying to tell me that there are no issues. Stop with the nicely-worded press announcements. I hate when all I hear from the team are rehearsed lines off a pre-made script. Admit that there are things that need to be addressed, that need to be fixed. Admit that there are problems. Admit to the things that we, as fans, already know, instead of skirting around the issues and making yourselves look like idiots. Which, you’re really starting to look like in my eyes.
*sigh* Here I was thinking that I could do this without resorting to name calling.
Right now, this is like a bad relationship. You want to love them with all your heart, but how can you, when all they do, is continue to disappoint you? And Habs, I really do love you – but you seriously need to get your act together before I can trust you again.