Guy Carbonneau
posted by Dave Stubbs at 19h55 EST on Mar 17
posted by Dave Stubbs at 10h00 EST on Sep 16
posted by Mike Boone at 20h19 EST on May 3
No huge revelations during Guy Carbonneau's appearance on the popular Quebec talk show Tout le mond en parle.
Carbo was the first guest tonight. Wearing a black jacket, open-neck white shirt and a new gelled 'do, he entered to predictably enthusiastic chants of "Guy! Guy! Guy!" Carboneau reiterated that he was surprised to be fired and hopes to sit down with Bob Gainey some day to talk about things.
Asked if George Gillett had demanded his dismissal, Carbo said he didn't know.
As to the explosion of Carbomania that arose as the Canadiens stumbled down the stretch and quickly expired in the playoffs, Carbonneau said he'd "rather be a zero behind the bench than a hero away from it."
Continue reading "Carbo speaks" »
posted by Mike Boone at 15h01 EST on Mar 18
AUDIO: Carbo's press conference
Guy Carbonneau is 49 today.
Carbo joked, at the beginning odf his Bell Centre conference, that he'd scheduled the media meeting to ensure a good turnout at his birthday party.
He got one. The room was packed.
We got to see Guy Carbonneau as Edith Piaf.
The thrust of his remarks: Non je ne regrette rien.
Continue reading "Birthday boy meets the press" »
When I heard the news that
Guy Carbonneau had been fired, I was – I’m a little ashamed to admit – ecstatic. I’ve always been a fan of Carbonneau the Player, but skeptical of Carbonneau the Coach. I was willing to be extra patient with bench boss Carbonneau – because as a player, as a captain, and as a Jack Adams nominated coach – he’d earned the leeway.
As a fan, it was hard for
me to realize that Carbonneau had to go.
I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for GM
Bob Gainey to tell his good friend to go home.
But it was a decision that needed to be made – not just for the success of the team now, but next year and for years to come.
Continue reading "Good Decision, Sad Day" »
posted by Dave Stubbs at 17h00 EST on Feb 20
Much can happen in 24 hours.
Welcome back Mr. Schneider!
Sayonara Sergei!
Have a Kit Kat, Kovalev.
We all knew that the Canadiens needed a shake-up.
Badly.
This week GM
Bob Gainey has managed to put the Habs locker room through a spin cycle. Interestingly enough, this turnaround has been done without any permanent changes:
Kovy could be playing in Saturday’s matinee against the Senators; SK-74 can be re-called, as can Ryan O’Byrne; and Gregory Stewart should know his stay up in the big leagues is like a game of snakes and ladders. Schneider will see the season through, but Montreal didn’t give up any manpower that could have an immediate impact on the ice.
Gainey, a quiet and conservative man, made a bold statement to everyone in the Canadiens organization – both to the players on the ice and the personnel behind the bench.
Continue reading "More To Come From Bold Bob" »
posted by Chris Aung-Thwin at 15h28 EST on Nov 21
What's a coach to do?
As the Canadiens slump, letting games slide and slip away, the giant magnifying glass that gets passed around by anxious Habs fans is being focused on the l'entraîneur-chef.
Is he a great coach?
Is he a good coach?
I know that Jacques Demers stood behind the Habs head coach on Thursday night, vehemently defending Carbo but still, I have my reservations.
Does Guy Carbonneau have what it takes to guide Montreal to a Stanley Cup this year?
Continue reading "Guy! Guy! Guy!.... Guy? Guy? Guy?" »
posted by Dave Stubbs at 23h15 EST on Nov 9
Canadiens head coach Guy Carbonneau and his wife, Line, on the red carpet in Toronto, arriving at last June's NHL awards.
Bruce Bennett, Getty Images Sport
AUDIO: Carbo in his own words (25 minutes)
No one told Guy Carbonneau that it would be easy coaching the most successful hockey club in the world, in what arguably is the toughest, most demanding market.
But Carbo says he accepted all that when he agreed to become the Canadiens' 28th head coach 2 1/2 years ago, stepping behind the bench as the No. 1 guy at the beginning of the 2006-07 season.
It's been a remarkable learning experience for the former Montreal captain, who answered GM Bob Gainey's call to come back north from Dallas, where they had worked together in the Stars front office.
Running the Canadiens has its many challenges, obviously, and Carbonneau says he continues to learn day by day, growing into a job that he believes might have been his destiny.
The Gazette's Dave Stubbs sat alone with Carbo at the team's Toronto hotel on Saturday morning to discuss the impact this job has on every part of the coach's life. The feature story appears below. And click on the link above to listen to 25 minutes of their wide-ranging conversation.
Continue reading "On coaching the Canadiens: Carbo unplugged" »
posted by Dave Stubbs at 7h06 EST on Nov 9
Guy Carbonneau behind the bench during the Canadiens' 6-3 loss Saturday in Toronto.
Bruce Bennett, Getty Images
Being on the road with the Canadiens does afford certain advantages. Saturday, I wandered into the hotel restaurant at 8 a.m. and wound up enjoying a 90-minute breakfast with Habs legend Larry Robinson. No recorder, no notebook, just a terrific, casual visit with an icon of the game.
Then I spent a half-hour alone in the lobby with head coach Guy Carbonneau over a tall coffee to discuss, on the record, his two-plus seasons behind the bench.
We talked about how coaching in Montreal impacts pretty much every part of Carbonneau's life; the decision to return to the city where he starred as a player; what's harder, being captain or coach in Montreal, having done both, and how he views Saku Koivu in the role as the former; the advice he gets from fans (and there's plenty); the microscopic attention paid to every decision he makes, by fans and the city's famously fickle media; and the life lesson that coaching the Canadiens is proving to be.
(Carbo said he's able to leave behind a bad game to focus on the next one. Wondering how easily Saturday's disgrace against Toronto was to forget?)
The feature will be posted here late Sunday night, along with full audio of our conversation.
posted by at 18h11 EST on Oct 19
Here's Canadiens head coach Guy Carbonneau at the Bell Centre today, after Carbo's "in the gym or on the ice" workout day as his Canadiens prepare to face the Florida Panthers at home Monday night.
The Habs will then have four full days to prepare for their next game, Saturday at home against the Anaheim Ducks.
posted by at 20h37 EST on Oct 3
In his state of the team session with media this morning at St. Jovite Arena – outside in the windy cold so he could gauge how seriously we wanted to hear it – GM Bob Gainey revealed that head coach Guy Carbonneau has signed a new contract.
Gainey would not disclose duration of the deal nor its value, but in discussion later, Carbo let it slip that the deal is for three years. You'll hear that near the end of the English audio clip of the coach in the post below.
Gainey also said forward Max Pacioretty would likely begin his pro career in Hamilton, but said a decision wouldn't be made before the end of Saturday's final exhibition game against the Minnesota Wild.
posted by smyles at 15h09 EST on Sep 29
A few observations from the coach Monday.
There's some video below (shot by Steph; bear with her): a few observations on the plan for training camp - past, present and for the next week.
About keeping some players around:
"We still have three games. And there are still a few injuries, so some guys will still have a chance to play. ... The next three games will determine, pretty much, if those we kept can keep up. The intensity will increase the next three games, so we'll see."
About the effort by the veterans:
"The first six (exhibition) games, you'd think they’d be going at 80 percent. But that wasn’t the case. The veterans worked hard, and that made the young kids look good."
Continue reading "A few notes from Carbo" »
posted by Mike Boone at 13h41 EST on Sep 20
The Canadiens most potent line has been broken up – at least to start the exhibition season.
When the Canadiens take on the Boston Bruins Monday night in Halifax, Tomas Plekanec will still have Andrei Kostitsyn on his left wing. But coach Guy Carbonneau says Sergei Kostitsyn will play RW on the line.
Has Alex Kovalev been placed on waivers?
Of course not. Kovy will make his exhibition season debut Wednesday night in Detroit, Carbo said, with the linemates who joined him at this morning's practice: Robert Lang and Guillaume Latendresse.
Another new line that Carbonneau will try Monday: Prized acquisition Alex Tanguay with two rookies: Ben Maxwell and Max Pacioretty.
This is what training camp is for. Carbonneau, an inveterate line-tinkerer, can really go to town.
Continue reading "What's my line?" »
posted by Mike Boone at 6h41 EST on Sep 17
I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille .... but don't get in too tight on these scars.
Brendan Kelly of The Gazette writes about Pour Toujours, les Canadiens!, a feature film pegged to the centennial. It will star some of Quebec's top actors, including Céline Bonnier, Jean Lapointe, Denis Bernard, Claude Legault and Réal Bossé.
But the French-language film, which began shooting this week, will also feature some first-time thespians who also happen to be pretty famous. They include legendary Habs captain Jean Béliveau and current team captain Saku Koivu, along with a number of Koivu's team-mates. The first scenes were shot at the Ste. Justine Hospital Sept. 15, and several Habs were on-hand to appear in those scenes, including Koivu, Chris Higgins, Mike Komisarek, Francis Bouillon, and goalie Carey Price.
"The Habs players are all playing themselves but the one player you'll see more than any of the others is Saku Koivu," said director Sylvain Archambault.
Given Koivu's own history of grave illness -- he successfully battled non-Hodgkin's lymphoma during the 2001-2002 season -- Archambault said it was touching to see him interact in this scene with L'Écuyer playing an ailing kid at the hospital.
"Saku has some real baggage inside him that nourished him and I was really impressed by his performance," said Archambault.
Two legends at the film launch: photo of Jean Béliveau and Yvan Cournoyer by Phil Carpenter of The Gazette
• • •
Recommended reading, from the indefatigable Robert L:
The Myth of 1993
Assessing Latendresse whose goals-per-ice time ratio is among the highest on the team
• • •
When, Red Fisher asks, will Canadiens' general manager Bob Gainey sign his old pal Guy Carbonneau to a contract extension?
So, what's the holdup about locking in coach Carbo?
There isn't one, he says. There's no fear that he's going into the season as a lame-duck coach.
"We've had discussions," Carbonneau said. "Bob (GM Gainey) and I have talked. It's going to happen sooner rather than later."
• Dave Stubbs on 6-foot-8 goaltender Jason Miissiaen, "the world's largest sponge."
• Mike Boone on the Canadiens' relaunch of ticket sales.
Continue reading "Action!" »
posted by Dave Stubbs at 13h38 EST on Sep 15
Canadiens head coach Guy Carbonneau has a good word for the rookies clustered around him on Bell Centre ice. More camp photos here.
Marcos Townsend, Gazette
Hockey is back... and the smiles around the Bell Centre this morning showed the joy that goes with it.
There was no shortage of folks to talk to on the first day of the Canadiens' rookie camp. And it wasn't just the young guns and newcomers we chatted with, the main team using the availability of ice after the rookie session to work out on their own.
Following is nearly an hour of audio. You'll hear from:
• Trevor Timmins, the Canadiens' director of recruitment, who discusses the fine points of the rookie camp and some of the athletes who figure largely in the team's plans in the near and mid-term future. Clip runs 15:40.
• Head coach Guy Carbonneau, who was on the ice today and ready to get to work with his NHL squad as of Friday. French clip runs 7:28; English clip runs 4:22.
• Highly touted prospect Max Pacioretty, 19, who passed up his sophomore-year eligibility at Michigan to turn pro with the Canadiens organization in mid-July. First clip runs 1:53, second clip runs 8:17.
• Canadiens centreman Robert Lang, acquired Friday from the Chicago Blackhawks. Lang drove in from Chicago on Sunday, making the 12-hour trip with a trunkful of equipment and luggage, and says he's eager to resume his career with a team that has the history of the Canadiens. Bright, engaging and funny, he's already a welcome voice in the dressing room (or just outside its door, which is where he met us). Clip runs 14:14
posted by Mike Boone at 12h52 EST on Aug 14
Want to impress the girls?
Being listed in the Canadiens' media guide adds two inches ... to your height.
The team has Josh Gorges at 6'1". That's an exaggeration, but you can't overstate the size of his heart.
Gorges, who turns 24 today, won a starting job last season by working his butt off from training camp on. The native of Kelowna has a nice skill set for the new NHL: good skater, makes a smart first pass, does not panic, despite taking a pretty good pounding, decent point shot.
Gorges played junior in the Dub and is the former captain of a Memorial Cup team. He does not shy away from heavy traffic and is right there to back up teammates if things get hairy.
No, Gorges is not your d-man to contain Alexander Ovechkin. But he teamed with Francis Bouillon to give Guy Carbonneau 15 to 18 minutes of solid hockey per game.
The media ignored Gorges until December last season before he became a go-to guy for honest and intelligent game analysis.
Canadiens got Gorges and the draft pick they used to select Max
Pacioretty in the trade that sent Craig Rivet to San Jose. It was one of
Bob Gainey's better deals, and Gorges was rewarded with a three-year
contract this summer.
Continue reading "Happy birthday, Josh Gorges" »
posted by Mike Boone at 15h13 EST on May 6
Toward the end of their 50-minute season review/look ahead, Bob Gainey and Guy Carbonneau were asked whether two goaltenders could be kept happy next season.
"Happiness," Gainey replied, his habitual sly smile playing at the corner of his lips, "is an unattainable state."
Well, how about contentment?
Gainey was too diplomatic to reveal the degrees to which he was satisfied or dissatisfied with his hockey club. But the Canadiens GM bristled when it was suggested that some deemed the team too soft for the playoffs.
"A lot of people think alot of things," Gainey said, his tone leaving little doubt what he thought of the general expertise level of vox populi. The Canadiens, he added, are built on "speed, quickness, intelligence and opportunism."
"We want to play a fast game," Gainey said. " We're quick, we're exciting. We're going to play to score, and we're going to play to beat you, within the rules."
Continue reading "Was that Bob Gainey or Leonard Cohen?" »
posted by Mike Boone at 17h56 EST on Apr 11
It's an Hermès.
Guy Carbonneau's wife bought it for him in Dallas.
Its won-lost record is 2-0.
Carbo says he'll wear it a couple more times then sell it on eBay or put it up for auction at a charity golf tournament.
Then he plans to buy one or two more.
In the hockey portion of his press conference, Carbonneau said he could gauge Roman Hamrlik's effectiveness by the degree to which you don't notice him:
No mistakes; simple, effective passes, rather than trying to squeeze the puck through three opponents.
Share the agony and ecstasy of Habs fandom and read live blogs from every game with Gazette columnist Mike Boone.
