The trade of McDonagh to the Rangers to get Scott Gomez came on Bob Gainey’s watch when he was the GM. This should tarnish Gainey’s reputation for knowing who can play in the NHL and who can’t, but several sources say Gauthier’s fingerprints were really all over this one.
“Bob’s daughter had died (swept overboard at sea while working on a training ship) before this and he was letting Pierre (his confidant) do a lot of the work. Pierre didn’t like McDonagh, for some reason. Saw him play in the world juniors and didn’t like him. The scouts loved McDonagh, though. When he was traded, they couldn’t believe it,” said a source close to the scene.
“At least make up your mind on McDonagh after he’s played a few seasons.”
This makes me happy. I always liked Gainey and I think he didn't treated fairly, and now it shows that Gauthier had a big impact on the Gomez trade, the trade that most people hate Gainey for.
I guess it's been well documented that Gainey's biggest downfall was his inability to surround himself well. With the exception of Timmins, I don't think he had one person in the front office that was worthy of their position. Since Gainey was strong on delegating responsibility, it's this that has ruined the team's chances over the last few years.
Whether this article is true or not, PG was a horrible talent evaluator - proved by countless bad trades.
I never liked him. I never wanted him. Glad he's gone.
The timing of this coming out seems ironic, doesn't it? A few days after we hire a new GM? I wonder who was the leak.
The explanation in the article as to how such a travesty of a deal could even be considered does make some sense though. McDonagh definitely did not set that WJC on fire, he was somewhere between decent to good.
Last edited by Marc the Habs Fan: 05-06-2012 at 11:21 AM.
This was obvious even without confirmation. Gauthier was Gainey's chief pro scout. If we could acquire a decent Director of Player Personnel I could really see Timmins gaining a promotion to AGM.
can we move on from every 2nd thread being about Gomez and/or McDonagh? Yeah we hate the trade but it's in the past and we have a ton of promising young d-men.
Kinda easy to pin it on the guy who everybody hates and is no longer here. I don't buy it.
Well, I do buy that Gauthier had a big hand in that awful trade but it takes more than one person being blind to what the team had for that trade to go through. Everybody on this board knew that it was a God awful trade the moment it went down, so why didn't the people who signed off on it know that as well? Boivin had the final say on any and all trades, Gainey while he may have been grieving should have been told of any transactions (and it didn't take a lot of deep analysis to realize this was a stinker), Brisebois should have vetoed any trade for Gomez as our 'cap expert', the amateur staff should have fought harder for McDonagh... It was a screw up from the top down.
The Gomez trade is probably the defining franchise event of the past 5 years. This tidbit re. McDo is quite telling and certainly speaks to the current state of the team
And this information gets reported by a newpaper in Edmonton, while the supposedly rabid and ultra knowledgeable Montreal media is off the in corner trying to vilify the Kostistiyns for reasons known only to themsleves, or making sure we all know that Jeff Loria is a zero. Can it be that nobody in the Habs press corps knew about this?
I don't think this is a surprise. BG took a leave of absence after his daughter's death and PG was left in charge of things. The trade happened that summer. BG only hung around for the 100th anniversary celebrations and then left. I think if not for the 100th he probably would've left after his daughter died.
As a parent, you don't recover from that. People forget that Brian Burke is going through the same thing. His son died. I thought Burke looked horrible at the lottery draft selection.
PG was a horrible GM who didn't even bother offering Cammy around the league because he was too worried the press was going to find out about it, even though most people thought Cammy should be on the trade block anyway.
Mathias Brunet wrote on his blog a couple of days ago that Timmins was only informed of it after it was a done deal.
boy that sounds like who?I traded you but i can't tell you to who?
Gauthier will forever be a scar on this franchise...
he trades away McDounagh because he don't like him ,scouts Nimimmmmmmmmnia for Ribero ...
Sk for Boyd......"isn't that right SERGEI?" Cammy for Bourque.....Spacman for Kab
I have never said it on this board (mostly because I don't know how reliable the information was) but I had heard this from a source with at least some inside knowledge on our club. The fact that this is now being reported does not surprise me.
And it really underscores what I've believed for a long time... Gainey wasn't a terrible GM. He handed the reigns over when he suffered a personal tragedy and Gauthier ran the club into the ground. Gainey's first half tenure with us is quite good, it's only after that tragedy that moves started to get made that just didn't make any sense.
I think Gauthier is probably the guy who ran us into the ground. Just my opinion.
I never liked Gauthier but mainly because I don't trust vegetarians. Any man who who doesn't enjoy charred animal flesh occasionally seems suspect to me.
Well this doesn't look good on Gainey either. Surrounding himself by incompetent people. Rubber stamping franchise altering disasters.
As an NHL GM, you must have a clue who Gomez was and the details of his contract which were the talk of the NHL. As a GM, you must be vaguely familiar with a recent First-Rounder and Top-3 prospect in your organization. If he didn't, what exactly was Bob Gainey's job?
I never liked Gauthier but mainly because I don't trust vegetarians. Any man who who doesn't enjoy charred animal flesh occasionally seems suspect to me.
Chris Nilan was on the radio the other day, said Gauthier banned cheese on Habs flights..lol no joke.
There's no wonder the team was out of wack.
I bet if you could talk off record to players, there be story's to tell how they felt toward JM and PG...
Kinda easy to pin it on the guy who everybody hates and is no longer here. I don't buy it.
Well, I do buy that Gauthier had a big hand in that awful trade but it takes more than one person being blind to what the team had for that trade to go through. Everybody on this board knew that it was a God awful trade the moment it went down, so why didn't the people who signed off on it know that as well? Boivin had the final say on any and all trades, Gainey while he may have been grieving should have been told of any transactions (and it didn't take a lot of deep analysis to realize this was a stinker), Brisebois should have vetoed any trade for Gomez as our 'cap expert', the amateur staff should have fought harder for McDonagh... It was a screw up from the top down.
All that being said, people need to get over it.
It is kind of weird that this just comes out like that, but on the flip side, I don't get why some uninterested party would just come up and try to put another one in Gauthier for the sake of it.
It's kind of suspicious overall, but it's possible.
