by Coach K, AllHabs.net
SAINT-LAZARE, QC — The year was 1995. That summer, the Quebec Nordiques, provincial rival of our beloved Montreal Canadiens were moved to Denver, and renamed the Colorado Avalanche. As Habs fans, we rejoiced. No more Nords. No more stiffs from Quebec City coming to Montreal, trying to convince us that their team was better. No more fleur-de-lis. According to everyone, the infamous “Battle of Quebec” was won. Or was it?
From that day forward, things would never be the same in Habs’ country again. We would struggle to make the playoffs every year. We would be unable to attract high-priced free agents for nearly fifteen years. We couldn’t even fathom getting close to a Stanley Cup, until last season’s magical run.
So what changed? What could have possibly made it so difficult for the National Hockey League’s most fabled franchise to achieve any measure of success?
Part of it was the immediate migration of ALL of Quebec City’s sports journalists to Montreal, in search of employment. Some of these once reputable journalists and radio personalities, whose opinions were revered by most, suddenly drew their attention to the lack of francophony on the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge. They would interview politicians, who in their infinite wisdom and craving for attention, would vilify the Canadiens’ organization, saying that they needed to have a more French presence on their team. Funny, they never said things like that when they were writing about the Stasny brothers, Mats Sundin, Brent Ashton, Mike Ricci or Joe Sakic, did they? When Marc Crawford was the coach, did they make fun of him because he spoke broken French in the provincial capital? Did they point out their lack of francophones on their team?
While the Nord-alanche were busy taking the spotlight, with Saint Patrick in goal, and Peter Forsberg becoming a perennial all-star, we languished. The Canadiens slipped further and further into the basement of the league. This organization, who in it’s history had great hockey minds like Dick Irvin, Hector “Toe” Blake and Scotty Bowman lead them to glory, suddenly needed to have bilingual coaches. They restricted themselves to Quebec-born instructors, who for the most part, had little or no experience coaching at the professional level. Coaches like Michel Therrien, Alain Vigneault and Claude Julien passed through Montreal, building valuable experience that would get them employment with other organizations. Even they, Quebec’s finest coaches, didn’t remain in Montreal. While the decision to leave was not theirs to make, I’m sure they are grateful to the Canadiens for letting them go.
All this to say, we didn’t win the “Battle of Quebec”. The Quebec Nordiques ultimately did.
And what if the Nordiques were to return to the NHL? After so many years of linguistic decision-making by the Habs, would the reigns finally be loosened to allow this team to seek out the best administrative and coaching talent out there? Would the talking-heads at “La Capitale Nationale” now have their attention diverted to the local team for which they helped fund a new arena complex? And would the same rules apply? Would the new and improved Nordiques need a fundamental French core? Would the fans really care?
Either way, the future of the Montreal Canadiens has been put back in the hands of Quebec City.