Rocket:
Guy Carbonneau, the player, had a tough rookie year playing for Canadiens coach Bob Berry. Carbonneau wasn’t happy with his icetime nor his role on the 4th line. He had been a star in junior, winning a scoring championship as a member of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens. He felt that he had put in his time (2 years) with the Nova Scotia Voyagers and he expected more when he got called up to the Canadiens. Even his stint with the Voyagers wasn’t harmonious. Carbonneau was perceived by other players as cocky and arrogant.
It seems that Carbonneau had a sense of entitlement before he had truly earned anything during his rookie year.
Fast forward to the 2008 playoffs. Just before the puck drop of the first game, I noticed coach Carbonneau looking quite nervous standing in the tunnel during the anthems. Yet that same afternoon during a news conference Carbonneau claimed that he would be calm on game night. He said: “I’ve played 231 playoff games. That’s probably more than both teams combined”. A confident thing to say? Or was the coach being cocky given the fact that he had not yet coached a single playoff game in his career?
Canadiens fans recall the tumultuous rookie season of coach Carbonneau. His handling of certain players on the team, particularly the Russians, was a source of discontent on and off the ice. Whether Carbonneau had an epiphany or a few stern meetings with Gainey, Carbo has come to a new understanding with his players and their performance improved significantly. Again, it was a few personality traits that seemed to hamper Carbonneau’s success in his first year.
So what are these characteristics? “He’s stubborn,” said Ken Hitchcock, who coached Carbonneau for five seasons with the Dallas Stars. “He’s determined and stubborn, and those are good traits to have as a coach.” (At least Hitchcock thinks they are good traits. Yet, Hitchcock was fired by Bob Gainey when he was with the Stars with some saying it was because of his stubbornness and his inability to get along with certain players including Modano, Hull and Belfour.)
So it would appear that Guy Carbonneau is stubborn, arrogant and has a sense of entitlement. Could this be the reason why the Canadiens have been so ill-prepared to take on the Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs?
Guy Carbonneau is a decent coach…no more, no less. In the typical Montreal media bubble, he has been mentioned as a candidate for the Jack Adams award. This consideration, however, comes more from supporting factors. Carbo benefits from a terrific group of assistant coaches and has one of the best general managers in the game. It should be said that Guy has learned to listen better and made some improvements on his first year. But, he is not yet in that elite group of coaches that includes Mike Babcock and Joel Quenneville.
Claude Julien is not in that group either. He would never be described as a master tactician. However, he is a scrappy coach who works hard to get the most out of his players. Right now, he is schooling Carbonneau. Evaluating the coaching matchup, it’s not even close. Julien is winning this by a landslide.
Coach Julien has found a way to have his players clog the passing lanes to stifle the league’s most potent power play. The Bruins penalty killing was near the bottom of the league all year. Julien has also found a way to motivate his players to score and win with a goaltender who battles but has little skill or technique.
On the other side, coach Carbonneau has not made any pre-game or in-game adjustments that have been successful in allowing his power play to flourish. In addition Carbo’s playoff line-up choices have been baffling. Patrice Brisebois and Mathieu Dandenault who spent a good portion of the year in the press box, have starting roles in the playoffs with Brisebois playing up to 20 minutes per game. Conversely players like Ryan O’Byrne and Michael Ryder, who played well, especially down the stretch when Montreal climbed in to first place in the conference, find themselves watching the action from above. O’Byrne was the #4 defenseman for a good portion of the year, and led the team in hits and blocked shots on most nights while Mike Komisarek was injured.
The results have been predictable. The Habs have looked unprepared for the Bruins this series. The single man forecheck The Canadiens have also had poor defensive zone coverage. Patrice Brisebois has been horrendous in his own zone. In game #2 alone, he had 7 giveaways. Yet coach Carbonneau stubbornly keeps him in his playoff line-up.
Carbonneau’s inflexible approach, even when it is apparent that his strategy is not working, suggests that he believes that he knows better than everyone else. In fact just before the playoffs began, Carbonneau said “I don’t deny I take a lot of pride in proving people wrong.” It is time for Carbo to swallow his pride and focus on what it will take to win.
It is unknown whether the Bruins used Carbonneau’s arrogant statement about his 231 games of playoff experience as bulletin board material. What is clear is that they don’t believe that Carbo has any reason to be entitled to a playoff series victory just because he shows up wearing his rings won as a player.
Some Canadiens players have been receiving criticism for their inconsistent play so far in the playoffs. There is one member of the team who has consistently underperformed. That is rookie playoff coach Carbonneau. Here’s hoping that he spends more time on his line-up and game plan preparation than his tie selection for game #7.