Patrice Brisebois

[cujo1117]

hello guys,

me and friend had a conversation about patrice brisebois. I started watching the habs in 1996 when koivu was first in points in the league before his injury (reason why hes my favorite player all time)

i have vivid memories about breezer. the guy won a cup in 1993 and was a good pmd in his prime. I know he should never been a 1-2 d in the line-up and was paid too much in the dark era of the habs, but why fans booed him so much and why they where in his case that much. I mean the guy off the ice his a likeable guy plus the fact hes francophone and won the cup. The fans redeem themselves on his last stint with the habs.... and his press conference was emotional.

my question his why was he the scapegoat? or just a easy target? Really liked how bob gainey stepped out for this guy

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[Spearmint Rhino]

We was the D version of DD

 

[Vachon23]

Because Habs fan are the worst of the league

 

[donghabs98]

It seemed like a mixture of many different factors

- Due to the lack of talent around him his defensive flaws were exposed and apparent
- He had a relative large contract
- Due to his long tenure and being a local player he was an easy target and reminder of the Habs decay from the early 90s

It was basically a perfect storm that led him to be treated so poorly by fans.

 

[Garbageyuk]

They didn't call him Breeze-by for nothing.

 

[BadHabit]

It seemed like a mixture of many different factors

- Due to the lack of talent around him his defensive flaws were exposed and apparent
- He had a relative large contract
- Due to his long tenure and being a local player he was an easy target and reminder of the Habs decay from the early 90s

It was basically a perfect storm that led him to be treated so poorly by fans.

QFT.

 

[Goldenhands]

number one reason IMO was his lack of commitment to get physically engaged, he was avoiding as many puck battles as he could and that was driving some fans crazy, me included.. In fact Brisebois has been a chicken for the most part of his carreer, I thought he had his best season as a Habs when he came back from Colorado, the year Gainey called (gutless bastards) the fans who were booing Brisbois during exhibition games while he was having a good camp.. There was a couple of other factors but when you start cheating to avoid physical contacts, it doesnt get unnoticed too long in a hockey market like Mtl.

 

[JianYang]

He was making 4 million bucks a year, I think the most lucrative contract for a dman in habs history at that time. With it, came expectations to be a #1 dman, which he was not.

He could move the puck, but there was nothing else really remarkable about his game, and actually, I think he got worse under those expectations.

It was really a case of the habs paying breezer to be something that he wasn't.

 

[TRG]

He was really soft. To be fair, he didn't play in the right era for his style of play.

I still remember him doing nothing after Zednik got destroyed by Kyle McLaren.

 

[Astormynight]

bottom line.. he was paid to be a top pairing defenseman and he was not... the team sucked... he was the overpaid player

 

[cujo1117]

desharnais, drouin never got that treatment from fans (i know drouin its too early).... plus hes a cup winner and was decent player

just to bame a few players

 

[Astormynight]

well Desharnais got that treatment online.. Drouin... a lot of peop,le are callling him lazy and are blaming him... so it will happen ...

 

[LaP]

well Desharnais got that treatment online.. Drouin... a lot of peop,le are callling him lazy and are blaming him... so it will happen ...

Not even close to Brisebois. People were attacking Brisebois on a personal level saying lot of *** about his personality, life and such.

 

[LeHab]

Sooooffffff as butter. Would not defend teammates. When sidelined with sickness went on a vacation to Paris instead of being with the team that was battling for a playoff spot.

The return of Patrice Brisebois to the Montreal Canadiens this season is uncertain after he flew to Paris for a five-day vacation without permission from the National Hockey League club.
A report in the Montreal newspaper La Presse yesterday said a witness saw Brisebois step off a plane that arrived from Paris on Sunday evening.
It was later confirmed that the defenceman left Montreal this past Wednesday, three days after he was released from a Toronto hospital, where he was recovering from an episode of heart arrhythmia.

Brisebois takes vacation without Habs' approval

 

[Tighthead]

The 1993 Habs D that won the Cup was very good at getting the puck out of the zone.

Desjardins, Brisebois, Schneider and even JJD had very good first passes. Odelein was okay at it, and when Kevin Haller was the 6 he was pretty good with the puck as well. Roy was awesome, but watching and attending the games that spring I remember being struck by how well the Habs transitioned.

Brisebois was a nice player at that time - he was the 3rd D in that lineup IMO, and suited to it. Once he moved up in the lineup and was less protected fans picked him apart. His demeanour didn’t make him easy to cheer for. Jack Todd led a vicious and petty campaign against him, flushing his last turds of credibility down the toilet in the process.

He was never going to be a star or a tough guy, but he could skate and was good with the puck. The 1994 Rangers - Canucks final was seen by many as the last gasp of fast attacking hockey. By 1995 teams like the Devils slowed it down and the game became more heavy and physical. That didn’t suit Patrice.

As an aside, I always like to mention that the great Jacques Laperrierre was a miracle worker when it came to developing D. Very few busts. Odelein, who we all loved, was stunningly raw as a kid. I think Brisebois cracked the team full time as a 19 or 20 year old and progressed quickly.

That 1993 team was full of gamers top to bottom, many of whom elevated their games for that playoff. I will always have a soft spot for every member of that team.

 

[Schwang]

They didn't call him Breeze-by for nothing.

Petry has had his Breeze-by moments, although maybe not as numerous.

 

[McGuires Corndog]

We was the D version of DD

This may be the best explanation I’ve ever seen, it’s so true.

Big difference is that the Habs didn’t have better options at D at the time though, where as we did have better options with DD. Point is still valid though!

 

[Tyson]

hello guys,

me and friend had a conversation about patrice brisebois. I started watching the habs in 1996 when koivu was first in points in the league before his injury (reason why hes my favorite player all time)

i have vivid memories about breezer. the guy won a cup in 1993 and was a good pmd in his prime. I know he should never been a 1-2 d in the line-up and was paid too much in the dark era of the habs, but why fans booed him so much and why they where in his case that much. I mean the guy off the ice his a likeable guy plus the fact hes francophone and won the cup. The fans redeem themselves on his last stint with the habs.... and his press conference was emotional.

my question his why was he the scapegoat? or just a easy target? Really liked how bob gainey stepped out for this guy

He was set up for failure by being played as a #1 or #2 D and the mistakes he made because of the wrong role he was put in. Nicest guy. Fans back then were wrong.

 

[Goodbahd]

Because Brisebois was a coward, and seemed to only care about money. Like others have said, he never got physical, and this was an indirect display of him not really caring about winning or losing, but more about being paid.

Also, not sure if this is true, but many fans have said that he was full of himself off the ice. Judging by his lack of emotion as a player and the unwillingness to sacrifice his body a little, I tend to believe the public opinion about him.

On a side note though, Jack Todd is a garbage journalist who has no skill with regards to being factual, rational or logical - the only thing he can do is write about his emotional opinions which are often lame and unsound. It's ironic that Todd disliked Breezer so much, because if Todd was a player, he'd probably be a cowardly type like the Breezer. Maybe Todd saw his own reflection in the Breezer, and obviously despised what he saw.

 

[habsfan909]

He played the game with the same physicality as Max does today.

 

[BlackStar]

I didn't hate him nearly as much as I hated Desharnais. In fact, I didn't hate him at all. I was a young fan, I admired every Hab from that awful era.

Nevertheless, Brisebois was awful defensively and not nearly good enough offensively to make that tolerable. He wasn't anywhere near a number 1 defensemen, but that's exactly where he was slotted on the team in that pathetic era. So naturally, he was quite overpaid. There were a number of other things that contributed to him being so hated, which has been mentioned by others already.

The main reason, however, is that Brisebois isn't unlike many of the French players who've received roles they don't quite deserve (DD, Droin). The difference, however, is that Brisebois just happened to be the scapegoat in the worst era in Habs history (though this Bergevin era makes its own argument). People placed all their frustrations on him, especially since his personality, poor play, and French name made him an easy target.

For the record, I dislike we Habs fans booing our own players on the ice. It's counter-productive. I'm perfectly okay with booing our coaches, GM, and owners at every opportunity, though.

 

[yianik]

Breezer was in ability a 2nd pair D man who would have been alright there if paired with a fast skating defensive and physical partner.

Completely miscast and misused by the team, which seems to be a constant theme for this team. Guy was not a top pair D but that is how he was played.

I felt bad for the guy back then. But no denying the fact that as the pucks came back to him as he stood at the point on the blue line there was just too much excitement on whether that puck was going to be mishandled by him and we would see the opponent BREEZEBY Breezer on his way to a breakaway.

 

[Mike8]

Yeah, pretty much as mentioned already: he was incredibly weak; made glaring mistakes with and without the puck; played in a very physical era which amplified his being physically weak; seemed mentally fragile; took an (unauthorized trip?) to France during the season because of stress; was the highest paid Canadians defenseman and objectively overpaid in the NHL.

I don't think any player deserves a ton of hate. But Brisebois getting huge amounts of hate made complete sense.

 

[G0bias]

 

[Laurentide]

IMO they didn't boo him enough. He was hot garbage from Day One of his career. He had all the physical skills required to be a great player. But he had no heart and no guts. I loathe any defenseman who pushes and shoves but doesn't hit people. Brisebois couldn't hit his way out of a wet paper sack. There was no menace to his game at all. He intimidated no one other than nervous Habs fans who held their breath waiting for the worst to happen whenever he was on the ice. He had a hockey IQ of below room temperature. He was making the same dumb mistakes with and without the puck in his last game as he was in his first game. He never learned a damn thing. If his name was Smith he'd have been shipped out of town years before he was and he would never have been re-acquired.

And while he was not obliged to be an enforcer, there were some occasions where he needed to take one for the team and he always balked. When Kyle McLaren of the Bruins nearly decapitated Richard Zednik Brisebois was on the ice and nearby McLaren. He cowered like a biotch when he should have tried to take McLaren's head off. Retribution was called for in that instance and he was perfectly positioned to deliver it. He was 6'2" and over 200lbs. He could have done something. Anything. But no. He tried to avoid eye contact with any Bruins player instead like the waste of space he was. If there's a Habs player in history who played that many games who was more useless than Brisebois I don't know who it is and I pray I never see him.

Brisebois is the physical embodiment of everything that's wrong with this franchise in the past quarter century. This is the useless hump that they held up on a pedestal as the example of what a Canadiens player should be. Really? Well no wonder they haven't won jack squat for 25 years.