In praise of Bob Gainey

My apologies Mr.Stubbs, I'll endeavour to stick to the topic at hand from now on...consider the message recieved.

Go Habs Go

Just one of the many benefits a veteran can bring you. Bob Gainey understands this.

Erat credited playing with Kariya for two seasons and with Forsberg at the end of the 2006-07 season for helping him improve and push himself as a professional.

"Every day Paul, when I came in like 9 o'clock, he was there before me. I came 8:30, he was there," Erat said.

hey Zepfan, do you realize that you repeat everything thats said here..
do you realize that you repeat everything thats said here..

First you kept confusing me with someone else that used to come on here, and now these 2 latest replies...Its becoming apparent that you're not that bright zepfan.

Of course Bob Gainey has made few mistake, its hard to make mistakes when you hardly try anything. Never did I say to go after the big money players, just a few tweaks that cost next to nothing couldve made all the difference. Come on lets be honest, the man stuck his neck out in a big way once (huet trade) and how well did that work out? Don't get me wrong I got nothing against the guy. I fancy myself a pretty knowledgeable hockey guy -unlike some members here who are merely habs fans and dont really know the game that well- and I call 'em as I see 'em, I cant just have blind faith in the home team. Please refrain from insulting me, its quite childish.

Patience has never been a virtue for a lot of Canadiens fans. For an indication of what Gainey is doing with the Canadiens, look no further than what he did in Dallas with the Stars. Not only did he build a cup winning team, but he also built a team that has now been at or near the top of the Western Conference for the the last decade.

It's easy for people to second guess his decisions without taking stock of the bigger picture. In recent years we have seen many teams make deals as the deadline where they mortgage a part of their future for this year.

Clearly, Gainey didn't feel that the Habs were close enough to the Cup for him to make that deal. And for those of us who watched the Habs play Dallas or Detroit this year it's hard to argue. Don't think that Gainey wouldn't do that type of deal if he had to. After all he did trade Jarome Iginla to Calgary. In return he got Joe Nieuwendyk and a Stanley Cup.

I also find it funny how people fault Gainey for the Cristobal Huet trade.

Playoff series' won by Carey Price: 1
Playoff series' won by Cristobal Huet: 0

I also get a kick out of these people who expect a Stanley Cup every year. Stop living in the 1970's and come join the rest of us in reality. If you were alive during that time you saw the greatest team ever. You will never see it again. Those days are long gone as we now live in a salary cap era.

Only in Montreal, would a surprise first place finish, followed by winning a playoff round, all done by one of the youngest teams in hockey, with a boatload of future prospects, be seen as a reason to panic.

T.C.
tc.denault@habsworld.net

The problems with both of you (cat and pat s) is that you are short sighted, narrow minded, and lack patience.

Short sighted:
Bob has dealt from a position of weakness in his first few years running the Habs and has done an admirable job. If you could get past your win now attitude you would see that BG is taking a more methodical approach to building long term success for the team than either of you seem to be able to comprehend. Missing pieces will be added in good time when the deal is right, not at the wrong time like the deal for Shayne Corson that sent Pierre Turgeon packing.

Narrow minded:
This one is quite simple, you both endlessly harp about BGs mistakes (Which are few) and conveniently ignore or simply fail to recognize his good moves, like not mortgaging the future for Hossa, or getting the Habs Kovalev for basically nothing.

Patience:
As they say patience is a virtue, the both of you might want to look into that. As the team gets stronger BG will finally be dealing from a position of strength and you will see him making the moves you go on and on about without giving up too much. Not too far in the future we will see GMs who failed to conduct themselves prudently get their pockets picked by those who did. BG did not shell out millions for over priced players and thus he will be one of those in the latter group. Free agents will sign more willingly, meat and potatoes players will be added without giving up future stars.

Finally at the risk of sounding like a broken record adressing a broken record, if you want to criticize him, can you at least come up with something new instead of regurgitating the same old garbage.

I'm not whining, I just find the groupie-like, man-love some of you have for Gainey to be a bit weird quite frankly. Like he should be beyond criticism or something. Yes the habs had a good year, but I think it was somewhat lucky for reasons Ive mentioned before that I wont get into again. All year, it was said the habs needed muscle and not a serious attempt/effort was made to get it. Many times I scratched my head at some of the decisions that were made by the organization but I kept thinking they must know something I don't. I just expect more from the habs. Just like new yorkers expect more from the yankees, and texans expect more from the cowboys.

I agree with -and have on occasion said the same as well- most everything you say pat s. Im amazed at how much Gainey is considered to be doing a great job, I dont get it. He is doing a decent job, as decent as any other GM in the NHL. And I too fear for the habs next year, this year everything went right, no injuries etc. This year's offence was driven by Kovalev and the powerplay mostly, habs played subpar 5 on 5. Which Kovalev will show up next year? Boston, Philly, Washington, Tampa Bay to name a few will all be better than they were this year.