The only thing that is important is the fact that the players are proud when they put on the jersey of the CH and they go out there and win the Cup. If they can accomplish that, I dare anyone to say that it's too bad there's no francophones on the team. I'll tear them a new one myself.
I understand the mind-set of francophones out there. I'm married to one that has that mind-set and I don't hate it. However, if the Cup comes back to Montreal, nobody can say anything.
Funny. I am always amazed at how many non-francophone players marvel at the opportunity to play for such an iconic franchise. It's like they are getting a chance to play where hockey really matters. To be part of the history. The crowd. The passion.
I'm not being a smart ass. Do francophone players often say the same thing? If it happens I don't recall hearing much about it. At least not recently
Unfortunately, the franco kids probably don't want the pressure...the expectations put on the Habs draft picks, no matter french or english seem somewhat unrealistic at times.......the media and the fans can create alot of stress for young players...
Funny. I am always amazed at how many non-francophone players marvel at the opportunity to play for such an iconic franchise. It's like they are getting a chance to play where hockey really matters. To be part of the history. The crowd. The passion.
I'm not being a smart ass. Do francophone players often say the same thing? If it happens I don't recall hearing much about it. At least not recently
I remember Tanguay lifting his no trade clause to come to play here
Funny. I am always amazed at how many non-francophone players marvel at the opportunity to play for such an iconic franchise. It's like they are getting a chance to play where hockey really matters. To be part of the history. The crowd. The passion.
I'm not being a smart ass. Do francophone players often say the same thing? If it happens I don't recall hearing much about it. At least not recently
Guillaume Latendresse was damn happy being part of the organisation.... now he's happy somewhere else...
i'm guessing for a francophone kid, being drafted by the Habs is a dream, but after you've started living the dream, it turns into a nightmare... Benoit Pouliot was more then happy to come last year, and after a strong beginning it was still good, but when the playoff ended... i'm sure he started to wish he was somewhere else...
David Perron has mention on numerous occasion that he'd love to play with the Habs some day...
The pressure for a talented francophone player in Montreal is crazy and unreal... Some exceptions like Patrick Roy thrive on that... It's not the same with all players...
but if the expectations are much lower, your salary is decent, and you have limited talent to begin with (see Lapierre, Begin, Bouillon) it's not perfect, but liveable
Guillaume Latendresse was damn happy being part of the organisation.... now he's happy somewhere else...
i'm guessing for a francophone kid, being drafted by the Habs is a dream, but after you've started living the dream, it turns into a nightmare... Benoit Pouliot was more then happy to come last year, and after a strong beginning it was still good, but when the playoff ended... i'm sure he started to wish he was somewhere else...
David Perron has mention on numerous occasion that he'd love to play with the Habs some day...
The pressure for a talented francophone player in Montreal is crazy and unreal... Some exceptions like Patrick Roy thrive on that... It's not the same with all players...
but if the expectations are much lower, your salary is decent, and you have limited talent to begin with (see Lapierre, Begin, Bouillon) it's not perfect, but liveable
So has Sidney Crosby, a non franco player who's better than any franco player in the league. If he expresses interest in playing for the habs, then that should count as something, no ? Russian players express how much it means to play for the habs. Hell, Marcus Nilsson would have loved to play for the habs.
The same expectation aren't just placed on francophone players. They're placed on all players of the habs. Look at Price and ask people how they think Subban will do. Avitsin, as well.
This article also talks about the culture picks, which only produced one decent player. The team did so well in the 70's because of a genius in Sam Pollock.
Hey, Daniel Briere from Gatineau, Quebec who grew up loving the habs, want more money to play for them ? No ? But, but, but.... All French players want to play for the habs and would never say "No thanks" and choose to sign with a different team.
Too bad Couturier will be at least a top 3 pick and the habs won't finish that low.
What dumb comments.
It doesn't matter who plays for your team, all that matters is you win. Though, if some of you prefer losing, but having tons of disgruntled French players, then so be it.
Remember, though. M.J. O'brien founded this team and the town of Renfrew deserves at least 2 players on the team from Renfrew.
Not many people will like this article, but it's the truth. Although, I still think Mr. Dionne is right and Trevor Timmins should be fired. I hate the guy, it's incredible how he drafts. The whole Montreal management is so passive and just see how Yzerman shook things up in Tampa. Fire Timmins, change GM. I remember Eric Desjardins wanting the job of director of scouting in Montreal. He's still working for the Flyers with their prospects and scouting team and he does a pretty good job with guys like Giroux and James van Riemsdyk.
I like how you bash what Timmins has done in Montreal but praise Desjardins' work in Philadelphia when beside the two guys you've mentionned their upcoming prospects are pretty average.
Waiting to hear from Rejeaune. What's taking so long?
Great words from Dionne, so true, yet the truth will fall on flat ears when it comes to morons like Rejeaune (I will not give him the satisfaction of spelling his name right, even if he won't read this ) and Labbe.
Not many people will like this article, but it's the truth. Although, I still think Mr. Dionne is right and Trevor Timmins should be fired. I hate the guy, it's incredible how he drafts. The whole Montreal management is so passive and just see how Yzerman shook things up in Tampa. Fire Timmins, change GM. I remember Eric Desjardins wanting the job of director of scouting in Montreal. He's still working for the Flyers with their prospects and scouting team and he does a pretty good job with guys like Giroux and James van Riemsdyk.
What did Yzerman do ? Ooo he brought in Simon Gagné who has 1 year left and Montréal couldn't fit him under the cap. However, he'll be a FA next year when we'll have room. We can get Gagné for free. On top of that, why would Philadelphia help us out ? Exactly.
He signed a great AHL coach, but can he be a great NHL coach ? We'll see. Then he signed a bunch of crappy players, acquired a 3rd string goalie with no NHL experience, extended St. Louis (good move) and drafted a guy who's known to have injury problems.
Oh boy, he did well. Mean while, Trevor Timmins has helped the habs place 2nd for most players drafted by the team and still playing in the NHL.
Oh yes, Trevor Timmins, you suck. Sure, he's not as aggressive and taking a chance with players with high ceiling, but a high chance to fail, but he still gets the job done.
Hey, everyone, let's give a round of applause to Yzerman. He's added a new coach, re-signed a great player, added a top 6 forward and still have crappy depth, defense and goaltending.
Also, having a top 3 pick kind of makes it easier to choose someone who will be decent. That's what JVR was, but I guess you don't remember and just want to throw names out there and hope no one calls you on it.
Il faut se rappeler que pendant longtemps, le Canadien avait un monopole sur les joueurs francophones. C'est pour ça que l'équipe a gagné plusieurs fois la Coupe Stanley. Mais la LNH a mis fin à ça parce que ça n'avait plus de bon sens.
Quote:
We must remember that for a long time, the habs had a monopoly on francophone players. That's why the team won many stanley cups. But the NHL put a stop to that because it made no sense.
Then he goes on to say :
Quote:
Dionne croit que le Canadien pourrait faire des efforts («à talent égal, le joueur francophone devrait passer en premier», dit-il), mais il reconnaît du même souffle que pour le club montréalais, il est de plus en plus difficile de repêcher des joueurs québécois de premier plan.
«Le Canadien ne termine jamais parmi les derniers, alors c'est sûr que s'il y a un bon jeune espoir du Québec, il ne pourra pas le repêcher. »
Quote:
At equal talent, locals should be favored. But he recognizes it's harder to draft first grade local talent now.
The habs never finish amongst the last in the standings, so whenever there's a good young quebecer, they won't be able to draft him.
But what he fails to consider is that we did have some pretty good local talent on this team. We had Ribeiro, Beauchemin, Latendresse, Robidas and Bouillon. Now those guys weren't perfect, and maybe they all didn't fit here. But certainly we could have gotten more for all of them than Benoit Pouliot.
We also could have drafted the following players : Bergeron, Perron, Giroux (yes I know, but he did play in the Q and speaks french).
And there are certain guys that have been available that we could have tried to get.
I guess what I'm saying is that the habs could make a bit more of an effort to acquire and keep some local talent on this team. And in many cases, those efforts could have made the team a lot better.
What did Yzerman do ? Ooo he brought in Simon Gagné who has 1 year left and Montréal couldn't fit him under the cap. However, he'll be a FA next year when we'll have room. We can get Gagné for free. On top of that, why would Philadelphia help us out ? Exactly.
He signed a great AHL coach, but can he be a great NHL coach ? We'll see. Then he signed a bunch of crappy players, acquired a 3rd string goalie with no NHL experience, extended St. Louis (good move) and drafted a guy who's known to have injury problems.
Oh boy, he did well. Mean while, Trevor Timmins has helped the habs place 2nd for most players drafted by the team and still playing in the NHL.
Oh yes, Trevor Timmins, you suck. Sure, he's not as aggressive and taking a chance with players with high ceiling, but a high chance to fail, but he still gets the job done.
Hey, everyone, let's give a round of applause to Yzerman. He's added a new coach, re-signed a great player, added a top 6 forward and still have crappy depth, defense and goaltending.
Also, having a top 3 pick kind of makes it easier to choose someone who will be decent. That's what JVR was, but I guess you don't remember and just want to throw names out there and hope no one calls you on it.
Yzerman replaced the whole management and he was smart enough to sign Al Murray as director of scouting. If you know who Al Murray is, you know he would make a better director than Timmins. On HFboards there are a lot of anti-francophones. The thing is, it's not with Gauthier nor the roster we have that we will ever get near the Cup again. We have a good core, but all we do each year is the same thing...trying to get into the playoffs by the back door than hope for some miracle. Last year, we faced 2 teams that were all offensive and no defense. Yes, the Penguins don't have any defense at all. We had Halak who mesmerized everybody but when it was time to face a more grittier and physical team like the Flyers, we got killed. The team needs to change their philosophy, and it should start with the scouting team. Don't try to make fun of me with the prospects because maybe the person you're trying to make fun knows more than you. At least, Yzerman did something this summer. All Gauthier did was signing Plekanec and he still isn't done with Price. The past is the past, although in the past we won with Quebecois, and even if people always say that it doesn't matter if they're french, americains or chinese, the Montreal Canadien has a strong history of french winners and we should give the chance to kids from our own province. Seeing David Perron, Letang, and upcoming guys like Caron shows that we missed on great players. Where's Pacioretty and Mcdonagh compared to Perron now?? We can include Claude Giroux..french-ontarian playing in the Q..too small? From the Q?
Not many people will like this article, but it's the truth. Although, I still think Mr. Dionne is right and Trevor Timmins should be fired. I hate the guy, it's incredible how he drafts. The whole Montreal management is so passive and just see how Yzerman shook things up in Tampa. Fire Timmins, change GM. I remember Eric Desjardins wanting the job of director of scouting in Montreal. He's still working for the Flyers with their prospects and scouting team and he does a pretty good job with guys like Giroux and James van Riemsdyk.
Yzerman had the green light to completely rebuild in TB. We still have no idea just how good his moves are. Sure, they might look good for now especially considering the mess they were in before, but things could end up looking just as bleek as they were.
Boucher is a rookie coach, it'll be interesting to see how he transitions to NHL. Even Vinny and Gagné are question marks. Gagné often gets injured and Vinny has underperformed the past two years.
Only St-Louis and Stamkos are the safe bets.
I don't think they can be any worse than before personally, but to praise Yzerman like he's some genius without having seen his team play once is very foolish.
We completely revamped our roster last year and made it to the ECF, I'll bet you anything TB doesn't go that far.
We will again have a chance to change a big part of our roster next season as we will only have Subban, Spacek, Gomez, Gionta, Cammy, Plek, Eller and Moen under contract (likely Price as well). A lot of cap room will be free to us and we'll see what Gauthier can do with it.
Yzerman replaced the whole management and he was smart enough to sign Al Murray as director of scouting. If you know who Al Murray is, you know he would make a better director than Timmins. On HFboards there are a lot of anti-francophones. The thing is, it's not with Gauthier nor the roster we have that we will ever get near the Cup again. We have a good core, but all we do each year is the same thing...trying to get into the playoffs by the back door than hope for some miracle. Last year, we faced 2 teams that were all offensive and no defense. Yes, the Penguins don't have any defense at all. We had Halak who mesmerized everybody but when it was time to face a more grittier and physical team like the Flyers, we got killed. The team needs to change their philosophy, and it should start with the scouting team. Don't try to make fun of me with the prospects because maybe the person you're trying to make fun knows more than you. At least, Yzerman did something this summer. All Gauthier did was signing Plekanec and he still isn't done with Price. The past is the past, although in the past we won with Quebecois, and even if people always say that it doesn't matter if they're french, americains or chinese, the Montreal Canadien has a strong history of french winners and we should give the chance to kids from our own province. Seeing David Perron, Letang, and upcoming guys like Caron shows that we missed on great players. Where's Pacioretty and Mcdonagh compared to Perron now?? We can include Claude Giroux..french-ontarian playing in the Q..too small? From the Q?
You realize the Habs weren't the only team not to pick those players, right? It's easy to say what they should or shouldn't have done now, but at the time they had to make what they thought was the best move for the team. I'm all for drafting french players, but not if it means not picking a guy who they feel is a better fit for the team. Letang for example was only selected in the 3rd round, but you only criticize the Habs for not picking him. Now that he's established player in the league, it's much easier to say the Habs should have picked him. Yeah we missed out on good players, but so does every other team. A bunch of teams missed out on guys like Subban and Plekanec, but you don't applaud the team for those good picks.
But what he fails to consider is that we did have some pretty good local talent on this team. We had Ribeiro, Beauchemin, Latendresse, Robidas and Bouillon. Now those guys weren't perfect, and maybe they all didn't fit here. But certainly we could have gotten more for all of them than Benoit Pouliot.
We also could have drafted the following players : Bergeron, Perron, Giroux (yes I know, but he did play in the Q and speaks french).
And there are certain guys that have been available that we could have tried to get.
I guess what I'm saying is that the habs could make a bit more of an effort to acquire and keep some local talent on this team. And in many cases, those efforts could have made the team a lot better.
I think anyone can recognize this is true. Heck, I’m an Anglo ex-Pat Montrealer, but I know the importance of having local talent on the team. That being said, it becomes dangerous (in a sense) when you actively try to ensure a certain amount of local flavour on the team as well. For every example of a local guy who should have been kept/drafted, there is probably an equal # of examples of local guys who should not be kept/drafted. I think you would agree it is a difficult balance to try and have.
I doubt any rational person could claim the Habs are actively trying to remove local talent from the team simply because they are local. Where I do agree is the Habs should have by far the best scouting in the league in the Q, and should make every effort to acquire local talent that makes sense for the team. For course, you have to be careful with that as well, because if everyone else knows that is the goal of the Habs, teams will take advantage of it in trade negotiations, and agents will take advantage of it in contract negotiations.
It is a difficult job, and I also think everyone would agree that winning, would remove pretty much all the pressure for local talent. Unfortunately, this hasn’t occurred, so the reality is where we sit today, people debating a trade of a 3rd/4th sting goalie far too much.
Yzerman replaced the whole management and he was smart enough to sign Al Murray as director of scouting. If you know who Al Murray is, you know he would make a better director than Timmins. On HFboards there are a lot of anti-francophones. The thing is, it's not with Gauthier nor the roster we have that we will ever get near the Cup again. We have a good core, but all we do each year is the same thing...trying to get into the playoffs by the back door than hope for some miracle. Last year, we faced 2 teams that were all offensive and no defense. Yes, the Penguins don't have any defense at all. We had Halak who mesmerized everybody but when it was time to face a more grittier and physical team like the Flyers, we got killed. The team needs to change their philosophy, and it should start with the scouting team. Don't try to make fun of me with the prospects because maybe the person you're trying to make fun knows more than you. At least, Yzerman did something this summer. All Gauthier did was signing Plekanec and he still isn't done with Price. The past is the past, although in the past we won with Quebecois, and even if people always say that it doesn't matter if they're french, americains or chinese, the Montreal Canadien has a strong history of french winners and we should give the chance to kids from our own province. Seeing David Perron, Letang, and upcoming guys like Caron shows that we missed on great players. Where's Pacioretty and Mcdonagh compared to Perron now?? We can include Claude Giroux..french-ontarian playing in the Q..too small? From the Q?
Yea, we should give a chance to francophones. And when we win we should all go to chucky cheeze.
Get real buddy, times have changed. All people like to do is whine about this issue, but when you use your head for just a minute you realize why it's simply not that possible anymore. Drafting has changed significantly than from the ''Flying Frenchmen Era''. There are a lot more teams. There's a lot more pressure on the players. There's EUROPEANS and a lot more good players coming from North America outside Quebec.
It's quite easy to whine about draft picks once they're up in the NHL. Hard part is to do it at the draft table.
But we changed most of our scouting team and the replacements are good.
This french debate is beyond ridiculous. At this point I just can't wait for a Qc team to reappear just to see how well they stock up on Qc born players.
Next opening game at the Bell in October, there will be only ONE French-speaking Quebecer in the line up: Maxim Lapierre, a borderline 3rd-4th line NHL player,
Hurray !!!
Good job Gainey, Gauthier and Timmins.
If Lapierre could be traded or injured, that would be just perfect.
And we would have that jerk from RDS trying to make interviews in English between periods. What a blast !
100 Years of Les Canadiens de Montréal is enough.
Let's now really switch to the Montreal Canadians !
I'm sorry, but in this day and age....francophone players aren't the best players in the league anymore so it doesn't matter what country the players are from, as long as they are good and come play hockey in Montreal to win.....thats all that matters.
If the Habs signed 20 players from Russia, United States or China because they are the best players in the league, then thats fine by me.....I could care less if there is 1 french player on the Habs....just as long as the team plays hard on the ice and wants to win.
Having rotten french players on the team just to say we have french players is a poor way to run a business. Management should be signing players based on their skill and desire to win....not what language they speak.
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Wikipedia says he was born in Phoenix and then moved to Bathurst, New ****ing Brunswick!
