Ménard denies the recent rumors
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
RDS.ca (translated)
Jacques Ménard, BMO Capital Markets, has denied the information reported that the Canadiens and the Bell Centre is officially for sale.
In an interview with the website, ruefrontenac.com, Ménard said that George Gillett had not announced that the team was for sale.
The Canadian also argues that there is nothing new for two weeks while we learned that the owner of Canadian evaluated its options.
Ménard added that it is completely wrong to think that potential buyers have until the end of the week to submit a purchase offer.
Recall that the group of Serge Savard has shown its interest to acquire the Habs. The former General Manager and his partners are ready to take action.
For now, George Gillett has not yet made clear what his intentions are.
I’m thinking Gillet was a couple months off on this one. Usually, where there’s smoke – there’s fire. The Canadiens are at their peak value right now, and in a recession guys like Gillet need to count their assets and be ready to move. He’s probably got huge debt somewhere and a sale of the Habs could pay it off.
So no, the team is not officially for sale yet, but I bet it will be within the next couple months, after the season ends and once the draft has taken place.
If I’m right, and I’m not convinced that my timing is right, how would that affect free agency? While an ownership change was in effect, would Gainey be given the room to pursue free agents with his open cap space, or will he be told to hang on to it?
And if Savard is the buyer, will he be a meddling owner who interferes (if not outright calls the shots) on player decisions?
I see more rough waters ahead for our Habs.
Gainey will have a hard time hanging onto his position with or without a change of ownership. I think this is his 6th season at the job and the team isn’t much further ahead than when he took over.
Yeesh, I don’t know about that one. Take a look at the roster from when he took over. It was team led by guys like Andreas Dackell, Niklas Sundstrom, Yanic Perreault and Joe Juneau. The cupboard in Hamilton was also completely bare.
The team today is MUCH better than this one was (though it may not reflect in the standings). The farm system is also much better now than it was then, and amateur scouting is doing quite well. The one piece that needs fixing is pro scouting. Once that gets going, this team will be more consistent.
When Gainey took over the team, he had a defense consisting of Sheldon Souray, Andrei Markov, Francois Beauchemin, Craig Rivet, Mike Komisarek and Ron Hainsey. If he had that defense today, the team would be leading the league, and Carey Price would be a Vezina candidate. There is virtually nothing to show for it, aside from Max Pacioretty who should have been taken ahead of Ryan McDonagh in any case. I certainly had Pacioretty far ahead at the time. So really all Gainey has to show for Souray, Beauchemin, Rivet, Hainsey and Streit (all top two defensemen in the NHL) is Ryan McDonagh, who may never be an NHL regular by the looks of it. That is a waste of assets bordering on the criminal.
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