Gazette - Cherry weighs in on Habs' season
 

http://www.montrealgazette.com/sport...887/story.html

Summary:

1) Gorges should wear the C, says he is not criticizing Gionta but that Gorges is unbelievable

2) Feels sorry for Cunneyworth - Says he is a very brave man

3) He would hire a GM and coach born in Quebec

Finaaaaaaaallyyyyyy

I was dying to know what that old irrelevant has been though of the team he hates.

Cherry has been baffled by the french media and mostly from people who don't even know what icing is and also low-brainers like Jean Perron and Michel Bergeron. He's not what I would call a great hockey mind but I don't think his commentary was really racist he probably never thinks before speaking.

As much as I dislike Cherry, he's right on just about every point he made.

..better than than telling kids not to wear visors, I guess.

So this interview happened yesterday, and here I read something about the Habs continuously getting players that are too small. Yeah, he has a finger on the pulse of our hockey club, no doubt. :shakehead

For that matter, I'm getting tired of Stubbs' articles, comments, and player-blowing too.

If you lived through his epic defeats at the hands of the 70's Habs, you'd be bitter too :)

I hate Cherry but I agree with basically everything he says here.

The "not tough to play against" comment is kind of stale, we've gotten more physical and willing to fight but hopefully we can combine that with a good, physical defense next year. All the smurf talk is old news, but the Habs need to be tough to play against in multiple ways.

Has anyone ever said why Gorges hasn't been wearing the C since Gionta went down? Kovalev did it a few years ago and no one had a problem with it. Do you think it's just because it might make people actually call Gionta's captaincy into question where as Koivu's was more secure? I have been wondering that for a little while.

What gave anyone the idea Gionta was the guy to be made captain in the first place? Brand new guy walking onto a team he never gave a **** about in the first place.

They had a chance to evaluate him for more than a year before naming him captain.

I'm sure UFAs don't give a **** about teams they commit to long term. Guy was names captain after a year, after his great 2010 playoffs. He was a good choice at the time. Gorges might not wear the C but he's still a leader. Captaincy is overrated anyway.

Well, I'm still waiting for the promised insight.

What he says is 100% predictable: rails on needing toughness, character, and makes poor Randy into a victim (nevermind his coaching was terrible). Apparently he still has this weird notion that the Habs didn't know Randy didn't speak French. There's nothing particularly clever or aware in any of it.

There's little in there that's worth considering except effusive and not-undeserved praise for Josh Gorges, and the point that even Cherry would hire French-speaking administrators.

:shakehead

visors are for europeans and sissy-pants. That's why I wear a full cage when I play.

It was an article for the Gazette. He pulled his punches. Also some convenient times to point out how HE changed PK. Fairly obvious point IMO, although once again, the fallacy that we are a small team. We're not. In fact we've lost more good skill, small size skill to mediocre skill with size. And then of course getting rid of someone who had both (AK). Did he not notice we got Geoffrion and Bourque. Say what you want about them, but he says that we keep going for smaller guys. Not since awhile.


All in all, not a lot said. I wish I was in the position of that Canucks fan who got to tell him off (I'm sooo sure he had no idea what she was saying). He should really have to defend being pro-bruins on CBC. Leafs, whatever, it's expected (although shouldn't be tolerated, but they'll never change). The whole Boston mob at CBC is total bs. Tax dollars back plz! Imagine a leafs-boston playoff series. Total station meltdown.

Lol

He says the same things every Saturday on HNIC

He would have signed long term with whatever team paid the extra dollar he didn't give a damn.

He wasn't a good choice, he was too new here and we should have promoted from within. The C means a lot to the guys, if you don't think it does you don't follow the sport.

Unless you know the guy personally you have no right to say "he doesn't give a damn". He's a solid player who is missed by his team this year due to injuries. Like Gorges, he's not the most flambloyant player on the ice but he works hard and gives it all. They're also both well spoken.

If you were to promote a guy from within you had to give Markov the C for sticking to this team for so long. Gorges is entering his prime, he'll get the C in due time. For now he's an alternate and does his job well.

No you don't just give it to the guy who has been here the longest. He has to be outspoken and command authority and while Markov is talented he is neither of those things.

Gionta came out himself and said he signed because we paid the most. That instills nothing in the guys, no one respects a mercenary that walks in and is suddenly the captain. You need to earn respect and while Gionta may have the C he is just a placeholder. If he lost the C tommorrow no one would care.

You're talking as if you know how they are in the room, how they interact with each other. You'd think Markov spends his time hiding in a corner... You need to remember that the team was changed, keeping some pieces. The remaining players were mainly still young, and you had Plekanec and Markov. You'd think after a full 82 games + playoffs you can pinpoint your leaders, regardless of what they said about their contract. Anyhow, I don't think anybody thought Gionta was going to be captain for the rest of his life.

It's not exactly false. Sure, Habs added players that are over 6'0 and that's great and all, but the problem still remains that this team does not play with enough nastiness. It was nice to see White get in there and protect his goalie, but how often does that happen? Not very and even less when the Habs are down by a goal or two. Too many times have I seen this team hang their heads down when a goal is scored on them. It's as if they stopped caring and don't even bother to take care of the little things, i.e. getting crushed in corners, having their goalie run at, etc...

By physical stature, the Habs are not small. They still play small though. There is nothing big about Bourque losing virtually every puck battle when he's on the ice. There is nothing tough about having opponents swarm your goaltender after a whistle and nothing is done about it.

That's where I agree with Cherry on his point of having a small team and taking a page out of the Bruins book.

Yea, all he did was come in to the team and score the most goals and become one of the hardest working players on the team. I love Gorges but bashing Gionta like this is ridiculous. He's a proven leader and Cup-winner who plays his heart out, is no doubt respected by the entire team and I'm glad he's captain.

I love Cherry and why is everyone ragging on our captain? Not a thing wrong with him.

Don't feel too bad for Randy Cunneyworth... The guy got to add NHL head coach to his resume, and he isn't gonna get fired for bad coaching, he will be let go for other reasons. Not many assistant/AHL coaches get that shot, it will help him land another NHL job.