walsy37
Registered User
- Jul 12, 2006
- 1,259
- 81
For those who are a little younger, the start of the dark years was the firing of Serge Savard and Jaques Demers. Molson Breweries had owned the Habs since 1957 and had seen some amazing years. But now, they made the single greatest mistake. They hired Rejean Houle, a person who had served them faithfully, first as a player then as a business manager, as the GM of the greatest hockey franchise ever. Mario Tremblay, a friend, teammate and collegue of Houls was brought in as coach. Neither of them had a lick of experience and the results speak for themselves. At the same time, hockey's economics were hell as free agency was forcing teams to spend more than they could just to compete. The Canadian dollar was very low and seemed to have no bottom.
Despite recently opening the Molson Centre, the leagues largest venue, and playing to full crowds, the Habs started letting their better players go for economic reasons. Players like Mark Recchi, Vincent Damphouse were traded because they were going to cost to much in FA. Players like Pierre Turgeon and Vlad Malkhov were traded for "hockey reasons" but in their contract year. Some players were just not re-signed in free agency. Fans kept hearing about the greatest hockey organization not being able to afford players. Despite the absolute incompetence in getting talent and seemingly trading the better player and getting nothing in return, Molson's friend, the one who is trading the expensive players away, keeps his job despite missing the playoffs twice in a row for the first time since 1921. Finally, a savior, George Gillet comes in and buys the Habs from Molson Brewery, Houle is fired (replaced by Andre Savard) and the first light at the end of the tunnel starts. There are bumps in the road and the Habs have yet to return to the Cup - but the absolute low depths sunk are no longer.
Fast forward to today, Molson (this time not the brewery but a family member) owns the team again. The Canadian dollar is sinking, the Habs are playing poorly to historic levels. The GM refuses to put talented scoring forwards on the ice. Instead, he spends his time and the money accumulating a dozen interchangeable spare bottom six players. The Habs are spending to the salary cap - but clear change is needed and nothing is being done, while Molson counts his profits from a sold out Bell Centre.
The question is - how much of this is Molson's fault? Is it pure coincidence that the organization seems to be falling to the depths of the late 90s - no scoring, boring hockey, people like Sylvain Lebfevre "developing" our prospects - while trying to keep the owners pockets lined? Or does the fact that the Molson's are back in charge directly correlate to what we see on the ice and in the organization?
Despite recently opening the Molson Centre, the leagues largest venue, and playing to full crowds, the Habs started letting their better players go for economic reasons. Players like Mark Recchi, Vincent Damphouse were traded because they were going to cost to much in FA. Players like Pierre Turgeon and Vlad Malkhov were traded for "hockey reasons" but in their contract year. Some players were just not re-signed in free agency. Fans kept hearing about the greatest hockey organization not being able to afford players. Despite the absolute incompetence in getting talent and seemingly trading the better player and getting nothing in return, Molson's friend, the one who is trading the expensive players away, keeps his job despite missing the playoffs twice in a row for the first time since 1921. Finally, a savior, George Gillet comes in and buys the Habs from Molson Brewery, Houle is fired (replaced by Andre Savard) and the first light at the end of the tunnel starts. There are bumps in the road and the Habs have yet to return to the Cup - but the absolute low depths sunk are no longer.
Fast forward to today, Molson (this time not the brewery but a family member) owns the team again. The Canadian dollar is sinking, the Habs are playing poorly to historic levels. The GM refuses to put talented scoring forwards on the ice. Instead, he spends his time and the money accumulating a dozen interchangeable spare bottom six players. The Habs are spending to the salary cap - but clear change is needed and nothing is being done, while Molson counts his profits from a sold out Bell Centre.
The question is - how much of this is Molson's fault? Is it pure coincidence that the organization seems to be falling to the depths of the late 90s - no scoring, boring hockey, people like Sylvain Lebfevre "developing" our prospects - while trying to keep the owners pockets lined? Or does the fact that the Molson's are back in charge directly correlate to what we see on the ice and in the organization?
