Bob Gainey era finally over

[FlavorFlav]

Throughout that whole ordeal, what I found most distressing was that he never re-signed Tanguay and Lang - both cheap, both consistent, both effective. I will never for the life of me understand why they were never returned to the lineup. Baffling...

 

[bsl]

Your first line is perfect for the rest of this mess of a post. Just a massive write off and blatant attempt to save face for the "5 year" clown.

I'd appreciate it if you did not call Bob Gainey a clown. He won the Smythe in 79 when Habs won the cup. Have some respect.

 

[mikeg]

You guys are all forgetting about this:

2006-Sep-30 - Janne Niinimaa traded from Dallas Stars with round 5 pick in the 2007 draft (Andrew Conboy) to Montreal Canadiens for Mike Ribeiro and round 6 pick in the 2008 draft (Matt Tassone)

Worst handling ever... all it took was time and patience and we shipped the kid off for nothing... that trade alone should have been an indication of his pro scout evaluation talent...

Edit:

Conboy & Tassone - Yet to play in NHL
Niinimaa - Played 41 games with the habs, had 3 assists and a -13 and was off to Europe after that
Ribeiro - Has averaged about 70 points/seasons since then.

Great trade Bob!

 

[habaholic]

Gainey made some questionable trades but overall his legacy is a good one. To say his era is over is silly and under stating his tenure as GM. Just a few names left over from his era, who are btw, the cornerstones of our franchise:

Price
Subban
Pacioretty
Desharnais
Tinordi
...

The drafting under Gainey was very good as there was a switch from the talent only philosophy of Savard (André) to talent and character!

Big picture everyone. Sure there were misses along the way but, but name me a GM with a perfect record ...?

Waiting for the haters to give credit to Timmins only....

Also, I like MB and support him 100%

 

[mikeg]

Gainey made some questionable trades but overall his legacy is a good one. To say his era is over is silly and under stating his tenure as GM. Just a few names left over from his era, who are btw, the cornerstones of our franchise:

Price
Subban
Pacioretty
Desharnais
Tinordi
...

The drafting under Gainey was very good as there was a switch from the talent only philosophy of Savard (André) to talent and character!

Big picture everyone. Sure there were misses along the way but, but name me a GM with a perfect record ...?

Waiting for the haters to give credit to Timmins only....

Also, I like MB and support him 100%

Hid drafting was always pretty good, but we know who to thank for that... it was his pro player evaluations that was ****... and we know who to blame for that.

 

[Sorinth]

I still maintain that the Gainey era was an essential building block. I think his impact went well beyond his on ice player decisions. He brought respectability back to a very backwards organization. He updated many of the "behind the scenes" things that fans don't think about, but players do (most obvious being the sports complex in Brossard). Gainey made sure the players in Montreal were treated well and had all the facilities that they would expect in an NHL club.

Don't forget before Gainey took over no UFA's wanted to play in Montreal, the Club was sold for peanuts and players used to get bused in wearing their equipment! The club was a disaster. Not to mention idiots were boooing our own players to the point of humiliation. Not exactly the type of franchise that would be #1 on the list of most UFA's.

No doubt he made some mistakes with his player decisions (and some bad ones!) by trying to make the team a winner too quickly.....but there may have been some pressure from the boss also. He was trying to sell the team after all.

Agreed, Gainey turned the team around. We went from missing the playoffs in 4 of the previous 5 years to making the playoffs in 4 of the next 5 years. Some ground work was done by Andre Savard but Gainey presided over us becoming a respected franchise again.

Also it's rarely brought up but one of the big reasons he blew up the team was he felt that players stopped developing once they reached the NHL. So he went out and got a bunch of SC winning players who could form a leadership group to help the young players reach their potential. In hindsight it's hard to say that it didn't work out.

Just look at the roster/prospect pool Gainey inherited and the one Bergevin inherited. It's night and day.

 

[Blind Gardien]

Worst part for me is that it tarnished my feelings for one of my all-time favourite players. I try not to let it, know it shouldn't really. But can't seem to help it. He was so bad.

 

[rockjngo]

If we can resign Vanek, I can forgive the team for drafting Kostitsyn over a had full of superstars in the 2003 draft.

If we land Callahan, I can maybe forgive for Mcdonagh.

 

[Habs 4 Life]

If we can resign Vanek, I can forgive the team for drafting Kostitsyn over a had full of superstars in the 2003 draft.

If we land Callahan, I can maybe forgive for Mcdonagh.

God please no, you're willing to give a player like Callahan 6+ million a year for 6-7 years?

 

[Nicko999]

For all the key pieces of this team, all the credit goes to Timmins. Anyway, probably because of this trade we didn't made the playoff, finishing 9th. Either, your a buyer or your a seller, Gainey been to undecided. Yes, he got great value for Rivet. But, we could have had also an incredible value for Souray who had terrific season. ... and left at the end of the season. This is an other case that was mishandle by Gainey.

I agree but let's not forget Gainey was able to get a 1st rounder for Rivet.

 

[Teufelsdreck]

Getting rid of Cammeleri was a knee jerk reaction by Gauthier, the guy was money in the playoffs.

What playoffs? And what makes you think he could have contributed if the Habs make the playoffs? He's done nothing for Calgary.

I applaud what Gauthier did. I'd rather have a second rounder than Cammalleri. If you still want him you must be living in the past.

 

[Nom de Guerre]

I wouldn't be surprised if the Gainey era continued with MB re-signing Gionta.

 

[JusticeBeaver]

What playoffs? And what makes you think he could have contributed if the Habs make the playoffs? He's done nothing for Calgary.

I applaud what Gauthier did. I'd rather have a second rounder than Cammalleri. If you still want him you must be living in the past.

2010-11 Montreal NHL 7GP 3G 7A 10
2009-10 Montreal NHL 19GP 13G 6A 19P

Those playoffs? Like it or not, he is a finisher, and I'd welcome him back any day of the week.

 

[PricerStopDaPuck]

What playoffs? And what makes you think he could have contributed if the Habs make the playoffs? He's done nothing for Calgary.

I applaud what Gauthier did. I'd rather have a second rounder than Cammalleri. If you still want him you must be living in the past.

We got Rene fricken Bourque in return, I like DeLaRose/Fucale but it was still a brutal trade. And by playoffs I mean when he was a point per game on our run aswell as over a point per game when we got beat by Boston.

 

[CheldishGamibno]

When one looks at the history of his tenure one quickly realizes that there were actually two Bob Gaineys. The first - the one that took over in 2003 - was much better than his successor. Gainey(03) took a team that had finished with a paltry 77 points the season before and turned them into a 93 point team - that's 10% more wins. He picked up Begin for nothing. He acquired Kovalev for next to nothing. He acquired Huet and Bonk for a backup goaltender and a third. He signed Samsonov (who, while an utter flop, was the first notable UFA ever to sign in Montreal). He traded Rivet to San Jose for Gorges and the pick that would become Max Pac.

However sometime around here - around the time of that Rivet trade - Bob began to lose his touch. I don't know if it was because of the death of his daughter on the Picton Castle (the timing is about right), or if he just began to get anxious about his place in Montreal. The trades he began making were problematic. Ribiero for nothing. Samsonov for nothing. Letting Ryder and Streit walk. Trading Grabovski. The Tanguay trade. And then the fiasco that was the summer of 2009.

To me Gainey(03) was the GM we all wanted. Calm and savvy. Able to come out at least marginally the winner on almost all his deals. However Gainey(07) was a nightmare. He made moves almost for the sake of making them - a mistake all to familiar for those of us who remember Houle.

Exactly what I think. Great post.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

The Gainey era won't be over until some time because of:

- Price
- Pac
- Subban
- Markov (stayed here through all the years)
- Plekanec (same as above)
- Gorges
- Emelin
- Timmins (same as Markov)

 

[thom]

One will never Know how much Bob Gainey wife sickness and death took from him plus the death of his daughter.One will never know for sure and to what degree it took from Bob-ability to give 100 prercent to his job

 

[Treb]

Keeping Koivu and Tanguay would have been a good move.

 

[Bryson]

One will never Know how much Bob Gainey wife sickness and death took from him plus the death of his daughter.One will never know for sure and to what degree it took from Bob-ability to give 100 prercent to his job

Keeping Koivu and Tanguay would have been a good move.

Koivu > Gomez, no question.

People often say that the owner of the team has the power to veto any trade so I'm curious do trades get screened by the owner before they are signed? Could Gillett have vetoed this trade afterwards under guise of insanity. Basically what recourse does an owner have over these types of lopsided trades and has an owner ever stepped in, in recent NHL history? Curious.

Also people saying that Gainey resigning after his daughter died would have brought in Gauthier sooner. Personally I don't think that Gauthier makes the Gomez deal if he is GM.

 

[Andrei79]

The only bright spot under Gainey's tenure was the drafting, which he had no part of. It was all Timmins, who was an Andre Savard signing. Anyone with an once of sense would've kept Timmins and key players like Markov and Plekanec.

 

[Andrei79]

Gainey made some questionable trades but overall his legacy is a good one. To say his era is over is silly and under stating his tenure as GM. Just a few names left over from his era, who are btw, the cornerstones of our franchise:

Price
Subban
Pacioretty
Desharnais
Tinordi
...

The drafting under Gainey was very good as there was a switch from the talent only philosophy of Savard (André) to talent and character!

Big picture everyone. Sure there were misses along the way but, but name me a GM with a perfect record ...?

Waiting for the haters to give credit to Timmins only....

Also, I like MB and support him 100%

Are you saing you believe Higgins and Komisarek were the result of a talent only drafting philosophy?

The Timmins picks were a result of a BPA philosophy, which was started under Savard, who hired Timmins for that very reason.

 

[the]

I always liked uncle Bob and never really questioned any of his decision thinking that uncle Bob always knew best.

Until he betrayed me and traded all my childhood hero's in that summer of 2009!

 

[CanadienShark]

Galchenyuk says hi.

And Collberg who just recently returned Vanek.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

Its an unpopular opinion, but we instantly became a better team with those acquisitions. Now, even at the time it was obvious we overpaid, but this crap about how we could have kept Higgins really pisses me off. Higgins was basically the worst player in the NHL and played for like 5 teams in 2 years at that period. We only traded one player with actual value in that deal and I think people forget that. It is also forgotten that from the beginning of the 09/10 season to the unjustified Martin firing in December 2011 we were at our most consistently competitive in almost 20 years.

Should he have traded less for Gomez? Absolutely, but let's not forget we were the short term winners in that trade.

 

[Treb]

Koivu > Gomez, no question.

People often say that the owner of the team has the power to veto any trade so I'm curious do trades get screened by the owner before they are signed? Could Gillett have vetoed this trade afterwards under guise of insanity. Basically what recourse does an owner have over these types of lopsided trades and has an owner ever stepped in, in recent NHL history? Curious.

Also people saying that Gainey resigning after his daughter died would have brought in Gauthier sooner. Personally I don't think that Gauthier makes the Gomez deal if he is GM.

Even then, having Saku as a 1/2/3 C would have been better than what we had. A Gomez/Koivu/Plekanec punch wouldn't have been bad.