I have to admit that I was shocked when I heard Guy Carbonneau was let go as head coach of the Habs yesterday, simply because I had no idea what was wrong with the team. Unlike a lot of Habs fans I don’t engage in finger pointing, yours truly is under no delusions that she can identify and resolve potential problems before the management and coaching staff catches on. The only thing I was sure of was that the Habs haven’t played to their potential this season. I can count on my one hand how many decent games I’ve seen so far. I’ve kept waiting for them to break out but it just wasn’t happening. Is there anyone out there that thought based on what we’ve seen so far this season that the Habs could win the next ten out of fifteen remaining games required to get us into a playoff spot?
Missing the playoffs this year has never been an option and Gainey would need to make some kind of move to ensure that wouldn’t happen. When Bob stood pat at the trade deadline, he made it clear to his coaching staff that they would live or die by the team as it stands and it would be their responsibility to squeeze the most out of the players. They went on to lose the next two games but the clincher for me was in the first period of the Dallas game, it was by far the worst hockey I’ve seen them play this year. It looked deliberate and that’s when I started to wonder if they wanted rid of their coach. The players aren’t admitting to it, so whether or not that was the intention we’ll never know.
Make no mistake, Bob Gainey had no choice but to do what he did, the teams' success or failure is ultimately his responsibility. Hockey is a business; it’s all about winning and making money, if anyone thinks friendship or favoritism factors into it they just don’t get it. I get it and don’t be too worried about Guy, he gets it too.
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