Good Decision, Sad Day

Carbonneau was a bad communicator. As a coach in the National Hockey League, one can’t avoid talking to players because of a fear of confrontation.
Gainey might say that he was “working with” the coaching staff when he intervened with Alex Kovalev, but he only had to step in because Guy Carbonneau wasn’t getting the job done. Gainey benched Kovalev and told him what to think about.
You can’t bench veterans and not tell them why. If you do, you lose good role players like Craig Rivet and Steve Bégin.
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Carbonneau didn’t have a good system. He praised – and rewarded – hard work, but you can’t have an effective system if line combinations are being changed every game. Chemistry is an important part of succeeding in sports, and Carbonneau drained it out of that locker room.
Guy Carbonneau over-used Tom Kostopolous. TK has routinely been getting more ice-time than guys like Andrei Kostitsyn, Alex Tanguay, Chris Higgins, and your captain, Saku Koivu. I don’t even want to talk about using Glen Metropolit on a 5-on-3. Give first-line guys more ice-time and they’ll produce. Give guys like TK more ice-time and they’ll work hard some more.
Hard work is important, but a win is measured in goals.
If Gainey had let this continue – who in their right mind would come to Montreal and sign as a free agent this summer? Who, in the current roster, would stay? Every agent in the league is staring at Kostopolous and company out in the final minute of a close game and simultaneously calling their clients, telling them that even as a first-line All-Star, you’ll get less ice-time than the fourth-line muckers and you won’t get a chance to shine in the dying minutes of an important game.
You might not even get much time on the powerplay and you probably won’t have the same linemates from game to game, or even shift to shift.
People complain that Gainey wasn’t making Carbonneau’s job any easier, but Carbonneau was making Gainey’s job nearly impossible.
Gainey has done good things since becoming GM. He’s moved us out of the Dark Ages and into better times.
A few things he’s worked on since taking over:

• After last year’s playoffs, everyone complained the Habs lacked toughness. GM Gainey went out and got the heavyweight champion of the league.
• Gainey’s managed to get rid of toxic players like Mike Ribeiro and flame-outs like Jose Theodore.
• He brought in fan-fav Kovy! Kovy! Kovy! for almost nothing.
• He promoted Carey Price, an All-Star, to the NHL.
• In the off-season, he gave the coach with the East’s best record an extension.
• This year he made moves before the deadline to bolster his team and avoided over-paying on trade deadline day and he also avoided exploding the roster in order to make the necessary cap space.
• After Carbonneau kicked Michael (23 goals and counting) Ryderout of town, Gainey managed to bring in Alex Tanguay.
• Gainey has gone after UFAs like Brendan Shanahan, Daniel Brière, Mats Sundin, and Ryan Smyth but has either been shunned or wise enough not to overpay. In the 2010-2011 season, will we want Brière’s contract on the books? Will anyone?

Gainey has done a good job. He’s made tough decisions. None harder than firing his friend. It was the right move, a hard move, a sad move. Guy Carbonneau will always be a Glorieux.
He was a warrior who's determination and stubbornness cost him his job.
But his departure may mean that players will want to play here again. Let’s hope starting with the current roster. …
Good luck Guy. Get some sleep. Spend time with your family. Try and get some of your money back for those ties.