News Article: Marchessault: “Franco or not, Montreal needs the best GM possible.”

[Milhouse40]

I don't know why you guys need to convince yourself that Gorton will be the GM or something... cause he may be involved in the day to day ops ? cause he might take someone with less experience under his wing ?

really ??


Molson had 0 experience in the NHL and (as Pres) it did not stop him from sharing his views and it did not stop him from talking to his GM almost every day... and I'm pretty sure in every org it works that way, Pres and GM talk to each other all the time, share opinions and everything.

So yeah! Gorton giving his opinion, sharing experience and al' is not some grand scheme to fool the medias and the teams fans, it's just Gorton doing his job as team pres.

Did you hear Lebrun or Dreger or anyone not only focus on Montreal talked about this or you only listen to the Montreal medias? Do you listen to NHL.com radio?

It's obvious to everyone in the hockey world, except.....for those you don't want to accept it a.k.a. the pro-french mob.

Gorton could have full power of an organization pretty much anywhere and he took a desk job with barely any power or a power that he'll have to share with a rookie with 0 experience? Come on, give your head a shake cause the entire hockey world, we just got Gorton to run the whole show.

 

[sandviper]

It would if Molson stayed with the same position. He's called the VP but we all know he's the GM in Molson mind's. the GM will probably be for a while just a french puppet so media will shut it up.

Just to bring up the Raptors, the team worked on Webster’s and Nurse’s extensions BEFORE Ujiri. Granted, the logic was a little different as Ujiri wanted to secure the ground-zero guys before himself.

I get the perception would be the new GM will be a “puppet”. I do hope this really isn’t the case and whoever Gorton hires will be a legit hockey mind. What I do like, so far, is the three main candidates discussed; Madden Jr., Darche and Briere all have degrees and some front office experience. I think more so for Darche and Briere, but they’ll definitely need guidance and be mentored for awhile, but hopefully one will be the Webster to Gorton’s Ujiri.

 

[tazsub3]

Just to bring up the Raptors, the team worked on Webster’s and Nurse’s extensions BEFORE Ujiri. Granted, the logic was a little different as Ujiri wanted to secure the ground-zero guys before himself.

I get the perception would be the new GM will be a “puppet”. I do hope this really isn’t the case and whoever Gorton hires will be a legit hockey mind. What I do like, so far, is the three main candidates discussed; Madden Jr., Darche and Briere all have degrees and some front office experience. I think more so for Darche and Briere, but they’ll definitely need guidance and be mentored for awhile, but hopefully one will be the Webster to Gorton’s Ujiri.

Perfect example. I have been beating to death how successful the raptors model is . And low and behold finally habs can replicate it .
Masai personality is bigger tben life yet he works to perfection with all his team and especially with Webster who has a ton of input .
Onky the insecure like some in the media would call the Gm the puppet.
Great leaders want top people with them and not yes men.
That’is something that has not been the case in Mtl for ages . Only been nepotism and yes men

 

[Adam Michaels]

Did you hear Lebrun or Dreger or anyone not only focus on Montreal talked about this or you only listen to the Montreal medias? Do you listen to NHL.com radio?

It's obvious to everyone in the hockey world, except.....for those you don't want to accept it a.k.a. the pro-french mob.

Gorton could have full power of an organization pretty much anywhere and he took a desk job with barely any power or a power that he'll have to share with a rookie with 0 experience? Come on, give your head a shake cause the entire hockey world, we just got Gorton to run the whole show.

It's crazy the difference between French and English media in all of this.

Most of the English media is saying that Gorton will really be the GM and the francophone GM they hire will be more a spokesperson (not that he won't have any say in the hockey team, of course). But Gorton will green light or veto every move.

And most of the French media is saying that Gorton will be involved but the francophone GM will be more hands on and have the final say.

For me, no matter whether Gorton has the final say or if the francophone GM will have it, having Gorton involved in all of this is a huge win.

 

[Colezuki]

Gainey was pretty solid until tragedy struck and then he wasn't in it anymore. Which is understandable.

And Gauthier was 243098428024098 times the GM that Bergevin was and got 1/5th of the time.

Wow on that last point, that was just not true. Gauthier was almost instantly dispised the moment he joined the org, we had shit pro scouting at the time, the same pro scouting team that thought Gomez was worth a top prospect. Guess what Gauthier was responsible for before taking on the role.

 

[ECWHSWI]

Did you hear Lebrun or Dreger or anyone not only focus on Montreal talked about this or you only listen to the Montreal medias? Do you listen to NHL.com radio?

It's obvious to everyone in the hockey world, except.....for those you don't want to accept it a.k.a. the pro-french mob.

Gorton could have full power of an organization pretty much anywhere and he took a desk job with barely any power or a power that he'll have to share with a rookie with 0 experience? Come on, give your head a shake cause the entire hockey world, we just got Gorton to run the whole show.

So, what you're saying is, the guy who will accept the GM gig is 1. better off keeping his actual job (cause if the whole hockey world know, well this guy knows too) or 2. a dumbass who doesnt mind being a pencil pusher and is not really interested in being a GM (cause if the whole hockey world knows except this guy, well...).

 

[Milhouse40]

It's crazy the difference between French and English media in all of this.

Most of the English media is saying that Gorton will really be the GM and the francophone GM they hire will be more a spokesperson (not that he won't have any say in the hockey team, of course). But Gorton will green light or veto every move.

And most of the French media is saying that Gorton will be involved but the francophone GM will be more hands on and have the final say.

For me, no matter whether Gorton has the final say or if the francophone GM will have it, having Gorton involved in all of this is a huge win.

There's not one decision that doesn't go through many layers of discussion amongst the executive.
I'm sure the next GM, in the end, will be heavily included in every discussion and will be included in the final discussion too which might be a discussion between only him and Gorton.

But there's only one who has the final word and that's Gorton.

And I don't think it's the French medias versus Anglophone.....it's really a french medias that is different than everybody else in this case, and I mean everyone. But don't worry, if things go well....it will all be becausee of the GM, if it doesn't go well, then it will all be Gorton's fault. They should be happy about this.

 

[beowulf]

Good for him for telling the truth. Now he can expect attacks by some in the French media and some politicians...

 

[Milhouse40]

So, what you're saying is, the guy who will accept the GM gig is 1. better off keeping his actual job (cause if the whole hockey world know, well this guy knows too) or 2. a dumbass who doesnt mind being a pencil pusher and is not really interested in being a GM (cause if the whole hockey world knows except this guy, well...).

You think he's going to be a puppet since the beginning and I never even said something remotely close.
Assistant-GM are not puppets. Timmins had a huge influence on this team and he's not the GM.

The whole world will know that the next GM will get a tons of valuable experience, learning with a great mentor just like everyone knows Gorton learned a lot under Sather. The one who will accept that role will most likely become an NHL top candidates for any GM's job......not only one in Montreal and nowhere else.

Let's say for example....Gorton was the new GM of Buffalo and Darche or Briere was his main assistant-GM.....would you be pissed and saying that Darche\Briere are pencil pusher?

It would be a hell of a promotion for both of them.

Now Gorton ain't a pencil pusher either, he's deeply involve the game.

Knowing this as a fact, that he will be part of those decision and 100% of them cause that's what he did for so long and he's pretty much in his prime years for that role........do you think Gorton would be more like the assistant-gm under a Darche or Briere for those decision?

This is the part that the whole hockey world knows.
Gorton would have never take that job if it would be the case.

 

[WatchfulElm]

How can it bother me and I am french ?
What bothers me is how they hide behind it to bring du talent inférieur !
All guys you named sucked too and I had huge issues with them . But we are not talking about how shit mb. We are talking of them hiding behind getting french players and not getting the good ones .

I don't care which language you speak. If there's one thing we can conclude after 9 years of MB, it's that he didn't care about which language the players speak, despite what he said, since he never did a particular effort to bring them among the Habs.

The fact that it bothers you that much that one of our bad player speaks French is more telling about your own motivations.

 

[Doc McKenna]

FWIW, I live here and listen to sports radio. It isn’t discussed.

Coincidence? Maybe, but there are also simply a lot more Ontarians who’ve played at the NHL level. If those players choose to go into management, there you have it.

I also don’t know how’s education in general going in QC, but higher education in Ontario is very competitive (my son is in grade 12 and is applying now). Hence, Ontario churns out a lot of university graduates. Assuming clubs are seeking university grads for office jobs, there’s a large pool there. I am not saying we got more grads or smarter people than Quebec, but maybe QC students (or ex-players) don’t have an interest in hockey management.

Its decades late, but at least your premier started the review process of hockey Quebec. I won’t get into the politics of it, but from a hockey standpoint, QC simply NEEDS more people, more kids interested or given the access to play (hockey is $$$).

As for the Leafs, I’ve talked this over with friends here, hypothetically if the Leafs are dumped again in the first round and Dubas is fired… if a guy like Brisebois were available and wanted to come, the Leafs would not hesitate to hire him.

It’s all about resources and the pool of candidates. The Raptors have a visionary running their team, who is an allophone… he is worshipped here. I’ve said it before, you have yahoos in Toronto also who play the language card, but they are very much a minority and not particularly vocal.

Agreed. I live near Detroit and about the biggest thing is you might hear on a broadcast such and such grew up in the UP(upper peninsula) or went to the U of M etc. They aren't very concerned where their candidates come from otherwise. Only in passing. But hockey is low on the list. They have more highschool football highlights than NHL ones. So its not the sole focus. T.O. has the jays, raptors and probably the Bills to a degree. Multisports helps to dilute the concentration of media toward one single area unlike Montreal.

The only Yahoo you heard about was the big loudmouth on the CBC who decades late got canned for his bigoted and racist remarks. But at least they finally canned Cherry's ass. Hell they have an Indian broadcast because they are trying to be inclusive for non native speakers. I would imagine Calgary or Edmonton might be a better cdn city to ask about should the GM be regional, Alberta 'pride' and all that.

 

[MXD]

You think he's going to be a puppet since the beginning and I never even said something remotely close.
Assistant-GM are not puppets. Timmins had a huge influence on this team and he's not the GM.

The whole world will know that the next GM will get a tons of valuable experience, learning with a great mentor just like everyone knows Gorton learned a lot under Sather. The one who will accept that role will most likely become an NHL top candidates for any GM's job......not only one in Montreal and nowhere else.

Let's say for example....Gorton was the new GM of Buffalo and Darche or Briere was his main assistant-GM.....would you be pissed and saying that Darche\Briere are pencil pusher?

It would be a hell of a promotion for both of them.

Now Gorton ain't a pencil pusher either, he's deeply involve the game.

Knowing this as a fact, that he will be part of those decision and 100% of them cause that's what he did for so long and he's pretty much in his prime years for that role........do you think Gorton would be more like the assistant-gm under a Darche or Briere for those decision?

This is the part that the whole hockey world knows.
Gorton would have never take that job if it would be the case.

I'm not saying your right or wrong or anything (I'm probably somewhere in between - I see Gorton as a Chief of Staff who writes the Strategic Plan; the GM will ultimately chose which player to trade or trade for, but in the parameters set by Gorton, and will also be accountable to Gorton in the end, which is a pretty good incentive to not go against his will unless you're to prove him wrong), but...

Try picturing the clusterf*** when the GM goes to the media after being dismissed/fired if he indeed was only a puppet with no decisionnal power, when everyone has been saying the contrary.

 

[MXD]

Good for him for telling the truth. Now he can expect attacks by some in the French media and some politicians...

...So you want Patrick Roy as the Canadiens GM?

 

[Lshap]

Good for him for telling the truth. Now he can expect attacks by some in the French media and some politicians...

Nobody's happier about Gorton than media antiques like Rejean Tremblay. Thanks to Gorton, Tremblay's linguistic paranoid crap has a target. That said, there's only so much froth the media can churn out of this. After a few weeks and as many articles as possible, the subject will die out, people will see this for the non-issue it is. Nothing changes, nothing is threatened, the Habs and their history continue on, and none of it costs anyone a dime. It's always been an existential crisis – fun to debate but ultimately irrelevant to our daily lives.

 

[ECWHSWI]

There's not one decision that doesn't go through many layers of discussion amongst the executive.
I'm sure the next GM, in the end, will be heavily included in every discussion and will be included in the final discussion too which might be a discussion between only him and Gorton.

But there's only one who has the final word and that's Gorton.

And I don't think it's the French medias versus Anglophone.....it's really a french medias that is different than everybody else in this case, and I mean everyone. But don't worry, if things go well....it will all be becausee of the GM, if it doesn't go well, then it will all be Gorton's fault. They should be happy about this.

So... in the end, the Habs GM will be french speaking like the ones before him, the next GM will be in touch with the pres pretty much every every day like it happened between Molson and MB and on every team where GM and pres are not the same person, and the GM will discuss his major moves with the pres and other exec like MB and other Habs GM before were doing.

Now what, the experienced pres will help his less experienced employee along the way while said employee is learning ? the kind of stuff expected from any boss in any field ?

that's it ? the french medias are being played out because of this ? or the "french mob" ?


I'm trying to see where's the victory for the pro-Anglo crowd here ? cause I see a lot of "hourra!", and I honestly don't see why...

 

[beowulf]

...So you want Patrick Roy as the Canadiens GM?

Not sure I get what you mean.

 

[beowulf]

Nobody's happier about Gorton than media antiques like Rejean Tremblay. Thanks to Gorton, Tremblay's linguistic paranoid crap has a target. That said, there's only so much froth the media can churn out of this. After a few weeks and as many articles as possible, the subject will die out, people will see this for the non-issue it is. Nothing changes, nothing is threatened, the Habs and their history continue on, and none of it costs anyone a dime. It's always been an existential crisis – fun to debate but ultimately irrelevant to our daily lives.

I hope it does die out. This day and age people should worry less about language and more about getting the best. Not only for the Habs but business in general. I am half french quebecois who went to french elementary and high school and english CEGEP and University and I have never understood the crazy need to try and crush english at the expense of business prospects, etc. Companies out there don't want to do business in Quebec at times because of the language requirements.

 

[GrandmaCookie]

that way french speaking fans have what they want with their french speaking GM, and english speaking fans get what they want with their new GM being the best available.

A lot of french speaking fans want their new GM to be the best available and don't care if he speaks french, there is no correlation between language spoken and desire to win..

31 ? are you sure ? do you really think TML hiring Ontario people at key position 99% of the time, it's just coincidence ?

Toronto Maple leafs don't hire ontario people 99% at key positions. Lamoriallo , Nonis, Burke their last 3 GMs before Dubas weren't from Ontario.

 

[JoelWarlord]

I get the perception would be the new GM will be a “puppet”. I do hope this really isn’t the case and whoever Gorton hires will be a legit hockey mind. What I do like, so far, is the three main candidates discussed; Madden Jr., Darche and Briere all have degrees and some front office experience. I think more so for Darche and Briere, but they’ll definitely need guidance and be mentored for awhile, but hopefully one will be the Webster to Gorton’s Ujiri.

Yeah I agree, I don't really get the idea that we're hiring Darche or Luongo or Briere to be a puppet. We're hiring them to be an AGM with a GM title but typical AGM responsibilities, and have them be mentored to gradually take over the main job in 3-5 seasons after learning from an experienced GM in Gorton. They're not being hired just to fetch coffee and do press conferences lol.

That doesn't change the fact that Gorton is the de facto GM and will be for at least 3 seasons, he's not going to come to Montreal with the Anaheim and Chicago jobs open, Vancouver job weeks away from being open, and likely another few teams making changes in the next year or so. He's coming here to be the guy and that's obvious, but that doesn't mean he's just going to hire a Francophone dancing monkey to put in front of the camera.

 

[Milhouse40]

I'm not saying your right or wrong or anything (I'm probably somewhere in between - I see Gorton as a Chief of Staff who writes the Strategic Plan; the GM will ultimately chose which player to trade or trade for, but in the parameters set by Gorton, and will also be accountable to Gorton in the end, which is a pretty good incentive to not go against his will unless you're to prove him wrong), but...

Try picturing the clusterf*** when the GM goes to the media after being dismissed/fired if he indeed was only a puppet with no decisionnal power, when everyone has been saying the contrary.

That would be call....a contract

 

[Le Tricolore]

new thread: Speculation: - The Official "Who Will Be The Habs' Next GM?" Post