It’s certainly not my intention to open a language debate. Frankly, I don’t think it has any place in this forum. I would prefer that any position in the Canadiens organization be filled on merit rather than political considerations.
But, I was astonished at some of the things said by Canadiens’ president Pierre Boivin at Monday’s news conference announcing the resignation of Bob Gainey. They would be unthinkable in any other market in the NHL. Given that Boivin opened the door, I think his comments are worthy of discussion.
I also wonder whether Boivin’s preoccupation with non-hockey matters when making hockey decisions is a major reason preventing the Canadiens from taking the next step of once again becoming an elite team in the NHL.
While Gainey had to endure daily criticism in his position of general manager, it appears that Boivin is remarkably thinned-skinned for someone in his position. Unprompted, Boivin responded forcefully to a rumour circulating that Gainey had less authority since the Molson brothers assumed ownership of the team than under George Gillett Jr.
“Unfounded. Nothing has changed,” said Boivin, assertively. The “general manager has always had the full latitude to take hockey decisions.”
It appeared that the rumours hit a nerve with Boivin. He could have been accused of protesting too much. Whatever it was, Boivin was being more than a little disingenuous. In an obvious example of the general manager not having complete autonomy, Gainey was restricted to a very small pool of candidates in his selection of head coach to one who met Boivin’s language criteria.
Boivin’s policy also applied to the general manager’s position. He said that considering candidates from outside the organization was a brief exercise given his requirement that the person have the “ability to communicate in both languages.” He conceded that the “list narrows down very quickly.”
No kidding. Yet, it seems that the organization has not yet figured out that a diminished pool affects the quality of the candidates.
Having a “francophone presence” at all levels of the organization was mentioned by both Boivin and Gauthier in their media interviews.
When asked about the importance of bilingualism for the GM’s position, Boivin responded, “You bet it’s important. It’s our mission. There’s no question about it. 2/3 to 3/4 of our fans and clients are francophones.”
Boivin’s statement about mission partly explains why the Canadiens may find themselves in tough against NHL teams who have ‘winning the Stanley Cup’ as their organization mission.
While his statistics may be accurate for the city and province, I imagine that it may have been quite a surprise to millions worldwide that Boivin’s myopic vision of the Canadiens’ fanbase doesn’t extend beyond the boundaries of Quebec.
I thought of all of the fans who don their Canadiens’ jerseys and travel long distances to fill arenas in the 29 other NHL cities across North America who are not part of Boivin’s select statistics. Also excluded are the European Habs fans who set their alarms for the middle of the night to watch games; the fans in Asia and Australia who scramble to find online video streams; and Brazilian fans who follow game tweets on Twitter as a way of keeping up with their beloved team.
With the Canadiens being Canada’s team (as determined in a recent poll) and their worldwide following, Boivin seems oblivious to business and marketing opportunities. If all were tallied, French would be only one language of many spoken by their fans and potential clients.
Maybe it’s not a surprise that global fans are out of his view when Boivin apparently can’t even see a few blocks away to Percival Molson Stadium. There, the Montreal Alouettes’ general manager, head coach and star quarterback wouldn’t meet the Canadiens’ language requirements. The Alouettes hire on merit and the results speak for themselves. Not surprisingly, fans don’t appear too upset to support a winning organization.
It’s clear that in choosing Gainey’s successor in Pierre Gauthier that Boivin didn’t cast a very wide net. Don’t the Canadiens deserve to choose from the best of the best?
In pondering a suitable replacement, is there another in the ranks of NHL executives with the intellect and class of a Bob Gainey? You would be hard pressed to name one. Perhaps the one who most readily comes to mind is Steve Yzerman, a future NHL GM in the making.
And sadly, according to Boivin, Yzerman is not qualified for any position with the Montreal Canadiens.
With his comments yesterday, Boivin has made it clear that elite status in the standings is not a priority for the Canadiens, but if it happened, it would be a happy accident.
That's unnacceptable. So to answer your question of did the wrong guy leave, I would say that not enough people left.
Boivin has done a great job in helping to turn this team in to a cash-making machine, and that should be the extent of his job. But he continues to interfere and dictate how the on-ice team will take shape.
Without a proper selection process, we are doomed to endure this mediocrity for years to come. Blind luck aside, there's nothing to suggest that the tandem of Pierre Gauthier and Jacques Martin will help get this team to the top.
As relieved as I am that the ball has begun rolling on the 7th floor, there were some very troubling quotes coming out of the press conference. You touched on many of Boivin's, but here's the one I dread the most, from Pierre Gauthier:
"I like our coaching staff".
That made me shudder.
As for Gainey, I do think his departure is appropriate, if not too late. He perhaps should have resigned at the conclusion of the 2009 season after being swept by the Bruins. Perhaps then a new regime could have been installed and rebuilt the team according to his own plan instead of this retooling. Now Boivin has the convenient excuse of timing when installing Gauthier as GM, should he need it.
Gainey said that he was leaving of his own accord "too early rather than too late", but I'm not sure I believe that. I believe that he is getting out now before he is left twisting in the wind without a contract.
As a lifelong Habs fan (32 years), I admit it is more than worrisome that I agree with everything Rocket has to say about the team's priorities these days. As an English Canadian, I'm beginning to wonder if I "deserve" or have "what it takes" to be a Habs fan. It would be a great job done if someone could put together a very well worded petition to deliver to the team voicing concerns over the direction of the team.
The "French requirement" may have been a blessing forty years ago, but today's "equal opportunity" world isn't just built on political correctness (which depending on your view point, is totally lacking from this organization) – it is built on the necessity to embrace our wide talent pool of physical and cultural ability and insight. It seems only a melting pot of talent can excel and succeed at the the high level to be truly relevant in todays game – or life. As a "cosmopolitan European city", I would have imagined it easier for Montrealers to grasp this fact…
Well said, bien dit.
#1… a pat on the back. Well played M. Rocket.
#2… Boivin is becoming more myopic than Ronald Corey. This makes the two GMs under Boivin (A. Savard & Gainey) two of the 3 GMs since S. Savard to fail to win a cup. Cause and effect?
#3… We've tweeted about this, but I'll go on record here: limiting your pool to Francophone talent is the most ridiculous HR excuse. From business history, we all know that the civil rights movements and the womens' rights movements brought the biggest influx of capable, talented individuals to the workforce. Far be the Canadiens organization to be compared to such a grand shaping of the workforce, but it says a lot as to how little Boivin cares to win a Stanley Cup for Montreal. Myopic to the extreme.
#4… Love the bit about the international marketing of the Habs. Interestingly, the marketing dollars have poured into Ovechkin v. Crosby (wah wah), and I'm convinced that pretty soon, the league will play that one matchup 4 nights a week, and it will be the only televised hockey. But I digress…
The ability to market the Habs on a global stage could be unprecedented – the likes of a Manchester Utd or Arsenal. You'd think Boivin would understand wanting to give the Molsons some ROI.
#5… It's been 17 years since the Habs won a Cup… Oh and we already have Belarussians, Russians, Finns, and Slovaks on the team, and 21,273 always fill the seats. And what Francophone is jeering Cammalleri again? So I'm pretty sure that language is a non-issue when it comes to the fans just wanting to see the Cup return to la Belle Ville.
#6… Agreed with Kyle… I can't believe Gauthier, the man responsible for bringing Jacques Martin (whom we all know I abhor as coach) is now managing one of the NHL's sacred franchises. It's no wonder Gary Bettman has his attentions focused back south.
#7… Also agreed with Kyle… there was a lot of "HRspeak" in that presser. It's the same as when you read in the paper that the CEO of a company "quit for personal reasons" or "wanted to spend more time with his family." It's a bunch of strategic, tactical, PR BS that's left for Bob Gainey to at least keep his integrity and dignity in leaving. At least Boivin afforded him that much…
I have to agree with Nathan; it is worrisome that you agree with everything Rocket has to say… And I am worried about myself too.
But even if I agree that limiting yourself is the stupidest idea ever, let's be honest here: Gainey and Boivin weren't signing the same tune when they were talking about the next head coach. They said it was an advantage to be bilingual, and it's true. In Montreal it will always be an advantage to speak French.
But now they announced that they selected a former General manager, already in the organization and he speaks French. It is very easy now to tell the media "Yes, it is the MOST important thing. But let's just say for argument sake that this moved happened at the end of the season five weeks after the Devils fired Lou Lamoriello, do you really think they'd say they wouldn't talk to him? Come on guys, that's the kind of decision the owners would be contacted and I don'T see Mr Molson (forgot his first name) to refuse for unilinguality.
Personally I am fine with the choice of Gauthier for a simple reason: He was already twice GM. Who else could we have with that kind of experience that would be interested in investing the next five to ten years to leading the Canadiens?
Thanks as always for your thoughtful comments Kyle.
Similarly I've used the phrase dumb-luck as the only way the tandem of Gauthier and Martin bring a winner to Montreal. There should be no question now that Martin's job is secure. Gauthier was the guy who lobbied to bring him here. While Gainey often gets blamed for decisions he made about the coach, trades or free agent signings, in many cases it was on the advice of Gauthier.
Some very good points, Nathan. I think you are dead-on about Montreal/Quebec being slow to embrace a more progressive view. In many respects and certainly in the case of Boivin, his policies are out of date by 50 years or more. A firewall mentality is no longer relevant in a modern, connected world.
Thanks for the compliment Peter! Good to see you here.
Nice to see you back Big Brother. I have missed our discussions. Just two points. Boivin made the case publicly for a bilingual head coach (actually he used the term francophone) in advance of hiring Jacques Martin. So, it appears the same criteria was used up front for GM. I don't think it's a way of explaining the decision afterward.
Secondly, experience is good, but good experience is better. Gauthier's record as GM is just not that solid. His failures are epic. In most cases, his successes can be attributed to being at the right place to reap the rewards of work done by those before him. He has zero experience managing a team in a cap world.
Excellent points smalrus! I always enjoy your insightful comments. Glad to continue the discussion here.
Regarding marketing abroad, it is astounding to me that the NHL is doing backflips to try to engineer a market for their product in Europe (6 games to start next season announced today) while the Canadiens don't even recognize the existence of a passionate international fanbase.
Since you mentioned Arsenal, they also offer an interesting comparison. Who can argue that they aren't beloved, part of the culture and supported by extremely passionate fans? Yet, they have somehow managed to hire a non-British football manager in Arsene Wenger. Granted, he is multi-lingual, but I don't believe that Boivin's directives are solely about language.
Boivin and Gauthier both talked about having a francophone presence at every level of the organization..not just French-speaking.
If this was simply a language issue then translation could take care of any communication issues for the handful of news conferences per year.
If the Canadiens truly wanted to communicate with their majority fanbase (and if they acknowledged it) they would authorize an English-language broadcaster for their games as a companion to RDS. There's another revenue-generating vehicle for Molson who would be able to directly reach Habs fans in all parts of North America, and beyond.
Just a short note to Randy Tieman at the Team990.
Mr Tieman, with all due respect, you should really give your ideas some thought before they spill out on the radio.
Arguing that the Canadiens hiring a bilingual GM makes good business sense because he will bring out the locals to a fund-raiser in Chicoutimi is beyond silly. Just stop and think about that for a moment.
Firstly, the Canadiens are not in the situation where the GM has to take a bus trip through the Saguenay, passing the hat to stay afloat. Not yet, anyway.
But, for a minute, I'll join your delusion and imagine that trip. Sir, I regret to tell you but the fine citizens of Chicoutimi won't show up in droves to see the GM of the Montreal Canadiens, regardless of what language he speaks.
However, they will certainly be there to see Lapierre, Bergeron and Darche. But, I imagine to your surprise, they will also be thrilled to see Cammalleri, Markov and Plekanec.
Its not about language, its about winning.
And you know what, the entire city will turn out if the Habs arrive with the Stanley Cup in tow. That's made more likely by hiring one of the best GMs in the league, not one who happens to have particular language skills or birthplace.
The product will always be diluted when you mix sports with politics.
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