Laurentide
Registered User
Reading through these posts makes me feel fortunate to be old enough to remember when this team was actually elite. Some of you youngsters have some pretty mediocre "best moments". Vegas fans already have better memories than some of you have had in your entire lives. It's a damning indictment of this franchise that some of the best things that have happened in the last quarter century is the night that a guy came back from cancer, or the time when they came back from 5 goals down in a meaningless regular season game or all those times they put on a Hollywood-caliber pre-game show in which the glorious past was celebrated in order to distract people from the horrendous present or when they managed to squeak into the third round because their goalie stood on his head and spit nickels through two rounds.
I'm old enough to remember the last 7 or 8 Cups we've won. I've seen them win a Cup finals game in double overtime in person. I went to the Good Friday game. As a kid living in the Toronto area I got to go to school the day after yet another Habs Cup victory and make all my Leafs-loving classmates eat s*** sandwiches. I got to watch them eliminate the Leafs in four straight games two years running. I was 22 years old before I had to see the Habs lose to Boston in a playoff series. 23 years old before I had to see them lose a Finals series. I weep for some of you younger fans. You've got next to nothing to hang your hats on.
For me, and compared to the great memories I already had prior to 1993, anything positive that has happened since barely moves the needle for me. Small accomplishments are quickly forgotten when your season ends with quietly cleaning out lockers with garbage bags instead of with a victory parade. But there have been plenty of low points....
The re-acquisition of Corson (for Turgeon, one more example of the Habs trading offensive talent for grit and "character")
The re-acquisition of Richer (we gave up Odelein to get him back. Then when we traded him again to Tampa we tossed in Tucker)
The Ron Corey panic moves (firing Savard and Demers, hiring Houle and Tremblay, trading Carbonneau, trading Chelios, trading Roy, all for essentially non-hockey reasons)
The hiring of Michel Therrien
The re-hiring of Michel Therrien
The drafting of Brad Brown 18th overall in 1994
The drafting of Terry Ryan 8th overall in 1995
The drafting of Matt Higgins 18th overall in 1996
The drafting of Jason Ward (McCagg's BFF) 11th overall in 1997
The drafting of Eric Chouinard 16th overall in 1998
The drafting of Kyle Chipchura 18th overall in 2004
The drafting of David Fischer 20th overall in 2006
The drafting of Louis Leblanc 18th overall in 2009
Rejean Houle's tenure as GM
Pierre Gauthier's tenure as GM
Bergevin's tenure as GM
Trevor Timmins' tenure as head scout
JJ Daigneault as an assistant coach instead of Robinson, because Therrien was too insecure to have someone better than him standing next to him behind the bench
Geoff Molson buying the team from Gillett
Delaying the retirement of Robinson's jersey #19 until after Robinson's father had passed away, even though said jersey retirement was never in doubt and should have been done years sooner
Not retiring Steve Shutt's #22 when he would have been a shoe-in had his name been "Fermer"
The t-shirt cannon
The Loco Locass goal song
The relocation of statues and fan-financed commemorative bricks in order to accommodate the construction of Molson's new condo tower
I could probably go on, but you get the picture.
I'm old enough to remember the last 7 or 8 Cups we've won. I've seen them win a Cup finals game in double overtime in person. I went to the Good Friday game. As a kid living in the Toronto area I got to go to school the day after yet another Habs Cup victory and make all my Leafs-loving classmates eat s*** sandwiches. I got to watch them eliminate the Leafs in four straight games two years running. I was 22 years old before I had to see the Habs lose to Boston in a playoff series. 23 years old before I had to see them lose a Finals series. I weep for some of you younger fans. You've got next to nothing to hang your hats on.
For me, and compared to the great memories I already had prior to 1993, anything positive that has happened since barely moves the needle for me. Small accomplishments are quickly forgotten when your season ends with quietly cleaning out lockers with garbage bags instead of with a victory parade. But there have been plenty of low points....
The re-acquisition of Corson (for Turgeon, one more example of the Habs trading offensive talent for grit and "character")
The re-acquisition of Richer (we gave up Odelein to get him back. Then when we traded him again to Tampa we tossed in Tucker)
The Ron Corey panic moves (firing Savard and Demers, hiring Houle and Tremblay, trading Carbonneau, trading Chelios, trading Roy, all for essentially non-hockey reasons)
The hiring of Michel Therrien
The re-hiring of Michel Therrien
The drafting of Brad Brown 18th overall in 1994
The drafting of Terry Ryan 8th overall in 1995
The drafting of Matt Higgins 18th overall in 1996
The drafting of Jason Ward (McCagg's BFF) 11th overall in 1997
The drafting of Eric Chouinard 16th overall in 1998
The drafting of Kyle Chipchura 18th overall in 2004
The drafting of David Fischer 20th overall in 2006
The drafting of Louis Leblanc 18th overall in 2009
Rejean Houle's tenure as GM
Pierre Gauthier's tenure as GM
Bergevin's tenure as GM
Trevor Timmins' tenure as head scout
JJ Daigneault as an assistant coach instead of Robinson, because Therrien was too insecure to have someone better than him standing next to him behind the bench
Geoff Molson buying the team from Gillett
Delaying the retirement of Robinson's jersey #19 until after Robinson's father had passed away, even though said jersey retirement was never in doubt and should have been done years sooner
Not retiring Steve Shutt's #22 when he would have been a shoe-in had his name been "Fermer"
The t-shirt cannon
The Loco Locass goal song
The relocation of statues and fan-financed commemorative bricks in order to accommodate the construction of Molson's new condo tower
I could probably go on, but you get the picture.
