Essay written by Michael King, Guest post to AllHabs.net
Is This Really Happening? – The Sad State of My Montreal Canadiens
Firstly, let me to introduce myself. I’m not a journalist (hopefully this will not become too painfully obvious as this essay progresses). I am merely a disheartened fan of the Montreal Canadiens. I have never before felt such an overwhelming desire to share my thoughts about how my beloved team is being managed. For this reason, I decided to write this essay. Why do I feel the need to express myself at this particular point in time? Simply put, it’s because this team has been, and continues to be, mismanaged to the point of embarrassment. I am continually asking myself “Is this really happening?”.
Since Pierre Gauthier has been General Manager, he has made a few admittedly very smart decisions (Price v. Halak, James Wisniewski, Eric Cole so far, etc.). But these have been overshadowed by too many monumental miscalculations, a few of which I choose to discuss below. I realize I’m not exactly breaking new ground here, but I wanted to give my take on these issues. So here goes…
The Markov Debacle
When his contract was coming up for negotiation last spring, there weren’t many amongst the media and Habs faithful who felt Markov shouldn’t have been offered a new contract. But the general opinion/expectation was that, given his recent history with serious injuries, he should have been retained at a discount – the key part of the equation being the discount. It’s common sense. Don’t think about it too much. Don’t over analyze it. All things being equal, you simply don’t pay an injured player as much as you would if he were healthy – that is, unless you are Pierre Gauthier.
Markov’s last contract was for $5.75 million per year. It was negotiated when he was a healthy and contributing member of the team. This time around, he was anything but and he hadn’t been for some time. You do the math. I’m not a General Manager and I never will be. But I don’t have to be a General Manager to realize that it would be basic logic that this player should have been resigned at a portion of his previous salary.
At most, he should have been signed at his current rate for one year, which would have minimized the risk but still have given “Mr. Markov” the benefit of the doubt that he could return to his pre-injury form. But nope. Didn’t happen. Andrei Markov was signed (and this still boggles my mind even as I’m typing it) at $5.75 million per year ….wait for it…..FOR THREE YEARS. He got money AND term! No discount! Way to go Pierre!
Fast forward to today. We are approaching Christmas and Markov hasn’t played a game. There are some supporters of this decision who will argue that hindsight is 20/20. Well, that is true, except the situation Pierre Gauthier currently finds himself in with Markov is hardly a surprise. I hated the contract the day it was announced. A lot of people did. And I hate it now. Everyone does. I’m not the least bit surprised as to how things turned out. Again, I’m no expert. Yet I and many others saw this coming a mile away. The question is: Why didn’t Pierre Gauthier?
So, at the end of the day, here we are, paying a player who predictably is not contributing to the team whatsoever. That’s $5.75 million per year wasted in cap space. And I’m still in the first section of this discussion. I bet you can guess where I’m going next…
The Gomez Debacle
Three years ago, the “experts” running the most storied franchise in professional sports thought it would be a good idea to trade a highly-touted prospect and a respectable roster player for the single most overpaid player in the NHL. Brilliant. This move has crippled this franchise and will continue to do so until Gomez is shown the door, one way or another. And don’t think for a second Pierre Gauthier wasn’t involved in this decision. He was Bob Gainey’s right-hand-man and professional scout when Gomez was acquired. His fingerprints are all over this trade.
Gomez is taking up almost $7.4 million a year in cap space. Just for fun, let’s look at the players that typically fetch this type of hit: Jason Spezza, Thomas Vanek, Jarome Iginla, Joe Thornton, Drew Doughty, Zdeno Chara, Patrick Marleau, Anze Kopitar, Pavel Datsyuk, Nicklas Backstrom, Brad Richards, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, the Sedin twins, Zach Parise, Mike Richards…need I go on? Depressing, isn’t it?
I’m not saying all of these players are living up to their contracts, but they’re all a hell of a lot better than Scott Gomez. It’s not even close. At this point, Gomez, as a center, cannot even crack the top 3 lines of this mediocre hockey team. I mean, he actually, legitimately can’t.
So, at the end of the day, here we are, paying another player who is not contributing to this team whatsoever. That’s another $7.4 million per year wasted in cap space. Way to go Pierre!
So between the above-noted individuals, the class of the NHL has completely wasted over $13 million per year in cap space. In a league with so much parity, how can you expect to be successful with that handicap? And it is completely unnecessary. It didn’t have to happen and it shouldn’t have happened.
And don’t give me the old, “it’s not the GM’s fault this team has been stifled with injuries” argument. Andrei Markov was already injured when the damn contract was offered to him. This was not an unforeseen, unlucky injury. Scott Gomez was already crappy (for a $7.4 million dollar player) when the damn trade was made. The fact that he’s since been injured has not detracted from this team whatsoever. That should tell you all you need to know about his contributions thus far. As for the rest of the injuries, yes, I can even blame that on Pierre Gauthier. Here’s how…
Size Does Matter
For some reason, this team has consistently been amongst the most injured in the NHL. And I’m not talking about brief, minor injuries to 3rd and 4th liners. I’m not talking about mere quantity. I’m talking about injuries to key players. Yes, you can say that all teams have to deal with injuries. Pittsburgh had to deal with the loss of Crosby and Malkin, Philadelphia is dealing with the loss of Pronger and Giroux. But these teams have not been plagued with repeated significant injuries for years. Montreal has.
The situation in Montreal is such that you can’t even look forward to a player returning from injury because you just know that before that player gets back, there’ll be another on the sidelines. It’s like we’re running in quicksand. A few weeks back, a friend and fellow Habs fan was expressing to me his excitement about the then-imminent return of Andrei Markov. I wasn’t the least bit excited. Why? Because I just knew another player or players would go down before Markov ever returned (again, at the time it was assumed Markov’s return was imminent. Of course things didn’t pan out that way). Sure enough, Brian Gionta went down shortly thereafter and the timeline for his return remains uncertain.
Before he comes back, we can be assured someone else will go down. We are not even at the halfway point of the season and the team has already had to deal with injuries to Andrea Kostitsyn, Mike Cammalleri, Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, Chris Campoli, Travis Moen and Ryan White, among others. It has been this way for years now and there’s no end in sight. Is this a coincidence? I don’t think so. It’s not natural and I’m sick of it.
So what does this have to do with Pierre Gauthier? My theory is that the players are soft. I’m not saying all of them. Travis Moen is not soft. Ryan White is not soft. Nor am I necessarily commenting on the players’ willingness to withstand punishment. I’m referring to the fact that, physically, they just don’t measure up. They are constantly on the wrong side of physical mismatches. As a hockey player, that wears on you.
Don’t you think the Canadiens’ consistent “bad luck” with injuries might have something to do with this? I think it does. And who is to blame? The person who put together this small and soft team – you guessed it….Pierre Gauthier. This GM, despite the clear need to do so, has failed to acquire the size needed to be a legitimate contender in the NHL. One need look no further than the Stanley Cup champs (it still pains me to say that) to see what physicality will get you in this league.
…and in conclusion
These are just a few examples of how Pierre Gauthier has made a complete mess of this team. I haven’t even touched on the fact that he, for some reason, feels the need to run this team like the CIA. So you screw up once in a while. Admit it, own up to it, talk about it and move on. Generally, people are reasonable and they realize nobody’s perfect. What people don’t appreciate is when you screw up and try to cover your ass by either lying or refusing to acknowledge it. It’s insulting and shouldn’t be tolerated. I don’t know where Gauthier gets the idea that secrecy helps this organization. It is in fact doing the opposite. It magnifies his errors exponentially.
I also haven’t even touched on the fact that Mr. Gauthier failed to lock up the leader of this team to a longterm deal. He opted instead to give Josh Gorges’ money to a player who probably won’t play another game. I’ve already covered that. Then he trades for Tomas Kaberle with a price tag of $4.25 million a year for 2 more years after this one. In doing so, Gauthier further cemented his disadvantaged position in negotiating a new deal with Gorges. Way to go Pierre!
Then there’s Carey Price. I guess Gauthier hasn’t yet made up his mind that number 31 is the future of the franchise. I mean, if he had, surely he would have locked the young star up long term already. But wait, that’s Blasphemy! Of course there can be no negotiations during the season. Silly me. What was I thinking?
Ask yourself this: Do you think for a second Josh Gorges and Carey Price are one bit pleased about this situation. I’d be willing to bet they are incredibly frustrated. If you don’t think so, you’re only kidding yourself.
Well, at least we only have to worry about Gorges and Price. It’s not like there’s another young key component to the team’s future waiting for a new contract. Wait a minute….ah crap.