A few Random Thoughts About Habs Past, Present and Future...

[Matteus]

Past
Guy Lapointe: I can't comprehend why his jersey isn't up there in the rafters with the rest of them. IMO Pointu was every bit as good as Ray Bourque and yet, he doesn't seem to enjoy the same notoriety.
Main difference is Pointu had to share the spotlight with Big Bird and Savard whereas Bourque was always the only star D-man on his team during his career - Kluzak could have been a star but injuries got the better of him.
Lapointe had it all and although his star faded at a rather youg age due to injuries, he was second only to Orr in the early to mid-seventies in some people's opinion.

Gil Perreault
Had Perreault spent his career with the Habs, he'd have as much notoriety as Flower still enjoys years after he hung them up.
Big, strong, a multiple-gear skater with gold hands, Perreault would have been great in just about any era thanks to the unique set of skills he had.

Present
Although things are going pretty good right now, Pierre Gauthier has his work cut out for him.
He'll have to rebuild the D over the next couple of years: only P.K and Gorges are known quantities.
Markov's health is in question, the jury is still out on Weber and Tinordi remains a project.
If you still have to rely on the likes of Spacek, Hammer and Gill two years from now you're not in a good position.
Question: How much longer can we carry the Gomez contract while bringing up younger forwards as they're ready to move up in the ranks in the coming years (Eller, maybe Patch, maybe Pouliot and then the next wave)? And if the maybe's don't turn into players, you're in real trouble with very high salaries still to pay.

Future
I'd like the Habs to hire some young blood to start working with PG and prepare him to become GM a few years down the road. If this guy was J. Brisebois we have to look for an alternative now. One guy I'd like to see there is Vince Damphousse. He's a cool cat, he's quiet and discreet and he seems to have the smarts the job requires.

And I don't think Jacques Martin's heir behind the bench is in the organization yet

Thoughts anyone?

[clarke19]

I'll comment on the present and future.

The Habs definitely have to rebuild their D. We have a few guys coming up the pipe but we need to grab a few guys in their prime and keep them long term. I'd love to see the team pick up a couple guys like Bieksa or Liles and dump Hammer, Gill, and Markov. Our D as it stands is not mobile enough or strong enough as a core to take the top lines of teams. Guys like Eric Staal kill us every time because we can't contain them. Thornton, Heatley and Marleau did a great job controlling our zone last game, and guys like Hammer and Spacek can't keep up. We need to get younger and more mobile on the backend while maintaining some veteran leadership.

For the future part, that's a real cool idea. I like the idea of Damphousse. I'd even like to see a guy like Pierre Turgeon. I also think our organization isn't quite done with Guy Carbonneau yet. You also have to look at the possible option of Patrick Roy. He may not be the calm, cool, discrete personality Montreal is used to having in their management, but he seems to have the "get things done" mentality I'd love to see in our front office.