HF Habs: Montreal Canadiens Hockey Ops - Part 2

[Adam Michaels]

Executive VP of Hockey Ops: Jeff Gorton
General Manager: Kent Hughes
Assistant GM: John Sedgwick
Director of Player Personnel & Amateur Scouting: Martin Lapointe
C0-Director of Amateur Scouting: Nick Bobrov
Special Advisor to Hockey Ops: Vincent Lecavalier

Head Coach: Martin St. Louis
Assistant Coaches: Alex Burrows, Trevor Letowski & Stéphane Robidas
Goaltending Coach: Eric Raymond
Video Coach: Mario Leblanc

Director of Player Development: Rob Ramage
Coach & Player Development: Francis Bouillon

Director, Hockey Development: Adam Nicholas
Player Development Consultant: Marie-Philip Poulin

Director of Hockey Analytics: Christopher Boucher

Sports Science & Performance Director: Adam Douglas
Strength & Conditioning Coach: Dale Lablans

Director of Pro Scouting: Eric Crawford
Director of Minor League Affiliates & Pro Scout: Nick Carriere
Pro Scouts: David Mclean & Reid Simpson

Chief European Scout: Christer Rockstrom
International Crossover Scout: Serge Boisvert
European Scout & Finland Scout: Hannu Laine
Eastern European Scout: Michael Krupa
Sweden Scout: Tommy Lehman
Russia Scout: Artem Telepin
Goalie & Russia Scout: Vincent Riendeau
Canada Scout: Ben Shutron
USA Scout: Bobby Kinsella
Quebec Scout: Donald Audette
Ontario Scout: Matt Turek
Video Scout: Yannick St-Pierre

VP of Communications: Chantal Machabée​

Click to read more...

 

[Adam Michaels]

Previous thread reached over 1,000 posts: HF Habs: - Montreal Canadiens Hockey Ops (Kent Hughes, Jeff Gorton, etc.)

 

[Runner77]

Isn’t Lapointe an interim appointment? Should that not be reflected in the manner that his title is designated?

 

[Adam Michaels]

Isn’t Lapointe an interim appointment? Should that not be reflected in the manner that his title is designated?

It was never confirmed it's interim. We assume it is. And it is safe to assume so.

 

[Vachon23]

Isn’t Lapointe an interim appointment? Should that not be reflected in the manner that his title is designated?

He already head scout even when TT was here

 

[Archijerej]

Replying to @Runner77 from the previous thread.

If I was mean, I could summarize the article as follows:

1) Bergevin understood a rebuild as a full tear down, hence he would not commit to it and stubbornly called it a "retool".

2) Gorton and Hughes don't believe a rebuild involves a scorched earth policy, hence they're comfortable with using the actual word. The difference is pretty much in semantics.

3) Bergevin and Julien wanted to "play with pace" (and they did in 2018-19 and part of 2020-21). Gorton and Hughes want to be "exciting". In an "ideal world", of course.

Since I'm not mean, I'm just gonna say they are perfectly correct in rejecting a tear down, because that's the dumbest way to go about a rebuild. Bergevin was correct about that as well.

They might actually succeed, because contrary to Bergevin they start with a clean slate and won't feel compelled to rush everything as he did (especially prospects).

 

[Runner77]

It was never confirmed it's interim. We assume it is. And it is safe to assume so.

You mean, the Habs did not issue a nuanced communiqué to that effect?

Mainstream sources have been designating it that way since the point at which he was ascribed his head of scouting responsibilities:

“Actuellement, Martin Lapointe occupe le poste de la direction du recrutement amateur des Canadiens. Il est le recruteur en chef par intérim.”

«Le recruteur en chef est tout aussi important que le DG» -Martin McGuire

You already know why Lapointe was assigned head of scouting responsibilities and an interim title — that kind of position is near impossible to fill in-season.

Both Godin and Basu have confirmed that Lapointe is an interim appointment re scouting. You can see their reporting reprised by DLC, here: Martin Lapointe remplace (par intérim) Trevor Timmins

 

[Captain Mountain]

The Habs are rebuilding they are just not trading everyone for draft picks, which made sense anyways.

Like the Coyotes are trading Chychrun, that's just stupid.. then the Buffalo allusions are probably talking about how they moved Reinhart, ROR etc which is guys they probably woudl keep in Montreal.

Things will be different for Petry, Gallagher, Price and guys who are in their 30s.. but obviously someone like Anderson, Dvorak aren't going to be moved, they are part of the team.

Toffoli-Suzuki-Caufield
XXX-XXX-Anderson
Pitlick-Dvorak-XXX
XXX-Evans-Poehling

Romanov-XXX
Edmundson-XXX
XXX-XXX

Price or Allen
Montembeault

Looks like what will be left of the team after 2 years of the current group. That's not a full tear down but it's a pretty big rebuild.

The Sabres comment is probably more when they tanked for McDavid.

And I think the gist of it is that Hughes and Gorton don't want to stick themselves in corner with anoyone. They're going to trade guys for futures (picks or prospects), create more cap flexibility, adjust expectations, fix the team culture and work on getting elite talent. I don't think they're thinking they're going to trade these guys and keep these guys. For instance, I'm not sure they end up trading Price or Gallagher and I'm not sure they end up keeping Anderson or Toffoli. They're going to keep options open so that they can take advantage of the market and get the best return.

We already know that Hughes and Gorton will not decide if there is a rebuild and what kind (if you can even call it that).

What’s Geoffy saying these days? Will he go back to the same kind of mandate that the ownership group gave Bergevin? Or maybe assort it with a little more time?

Geoffy has a crumbled network audience share to cater to, new loges to sell and pandemic related losses to recoup. Is he going to want his management to roster an assortment that won’t be able to be competitive quickly?

“Rebuilding a sense of pride and … direction”. What does that even mean?

I mean, obviously Molson will need to ok a rebuild, I see a lot of claims on here of a mandate he set without any real evidence that he set it.

And the “Rebuilding a sense of pride and … direction” thing is probably about everyone in the organization being miserable and the Canadiens for years just making moves to tinker. Its about managing expectations and people enjoying going to work every day.

 

[Runner77]

He already head scout even when TT was here

Lapointe was not head of scouting, Timmins was. He was merely handed temporary responsibilities as head of scouting for the reasons and per the sources already provided in my prior message, above.

 

[Vachon23]

Lapointe was not head of scouting, Timmins was. He was merely handed temporary responsibilities as head of scouting for the reasons and per the sources already provided in my prior message, above.

Canadiens : Martin Lapointe obtient une promotion

 

[Runner77]

The Sabres comment is probably more when they tanked for McDavid.

And I think the gist of it is that Hughes and Gorton don't want to stick themselves in corner with anoyone. They're going to trade guys for futures (picks or prospects), create more cap flexibility, adjust expectations, fix the team culture and work on getting elite talent. I don't think they're thinking they're going to trade these guys and keep these guys. For instance, I'm not sure they end up trading Price or Gallagher and I'm not sure they end up keeping Anderson or Toffoli. They're going to keep options open so that they can take advantage of the market and get the best return.



I mean, obviously Molson will need to ok a rebuild, I see a lot of claims on here of a mandate he set without any real evidence that he set it.

And the “Rebuilding a sense of pride and … direction” thing is probably about everyone in the organization being miserable and the Canadiens for years just making moves to tinker. Its about managing expectations and people enjoying going to work every day.

Are you seriously going back to questioning that Molson gave Bergevin a mandate for the team to be competitive year in and year out?

I don’t do research for others as I’m not paid to be a reporter and fact checker, but you can choose not to believe what I read about the mandate that Molson gave Bergevin. I know what I read and if that’s not good enough for you, then there is no point trying to satisfy your time-consuming standards which as a simple contributor on this forum, I have no time to engage in.

 

[Runner77]

Canadiens : Martin Lapointe obtient une promotion

Context is absent. I saw that link before.

 

[Vachon23]

Context is absent. I saw that link before.

He signed a 3 years contract as Director of amateur scouting and Player Personnel (Job he already had) replacing Shane Churla I don’t know what is not clear there.

 

[Runner77]

He signed a 3 years contract as Director of amateur scouting and Player Personnel (Job he already had) replacing Shane Churla I don’t know what is not clear there.

Lapointe is temporarily assuming Timmins’ responsibilities. I don’t know what is not clear here.

 

[Vachon23]

Lapointe is temporarily assuming Timmins’ responsibilities. I don’t know what is not clear here.

I know but the title that Lapointe have on the Hockey Op depth chart is not an interim one, it's the title he had when he resign. Timmins successor will be name Assistant Gm + Director of Scouting and Lapointe will keep the same title.

 

[Captain Mountain]

Are you seriously going back to questioning that Molson gave Bergevin a mandate for the team to be competitive year in and year out?

I don’t do research for others as I’m not paid to be a reporter and fact checker, but you can choose not to believe what I read about the mandate that Molson gave Bergevin. I know what I read and if that’s not good enough for you, then there is no point trying to satisfy your time-consuming standards which as a simple contributor on this forum, I have no time to engage in.

I've never stopped questioning it, since most of the stuff in favour of it was regular Montreal rumour-mongering. My understanding is the Molson didn't want to rebuild and that Bergevin didn't want to rebuild either.

I don't really care about you not being a reporter or fact checker, but its pretty ****ing clear the Habs are rebuilding, but that its not a tear it down rebuild.

 

[Runner77]

I've never stopped questioning it, since most of the stuff in favour of it was regular Montreal rumour-mongering. My understanding is the Molson didn't want to rebuild and that Bergevin didn't want to rebuild either.

I don't really care about you not being a reporter or fact checker, but its pretty ****ing clear the Habs are rebuilding, but that its not a tear it down rebuild.

Well, I don’t care about you questioning it anymore than acting like a reporter, so moving on. I never said that they were or weren’t rebuilding, so I don’t get the expletive-laced assertion. Save it for someone who is really saying what you’re imputing.

I was just commenting on a poorly written excerpt. That’s it, that’s all.

 

[Captain Mountain]

Well, I don’t care about you questioning it anymore than acting like a reporter, so moving on. I never said that they were or weren’t rebuilding, so I don’t get the expletive-laced assertion. Save it for someone who is really saying what you’re imputing.

I was just commenting on a poorly written excerpt. That’s it, that’s all.

It wasn't that poorly written, it was relevant conclusion which matched the thematic framing (what does rebuilding actually mean?) used in the article. The excerpt lacked context.

 

[MrNasty]

I don't see any huge difference in philosophy between Hughes and MB. The main difference is that Hughes is more willing to pay term for older players when it makes sense and more willing to move up in the draft. I don't take the 'drafting is like throwing darts' in the same context that Basu said it. Hughes said it is indeed like that in the later rounds but not early on in a draft. History has shown that even the 1st round has many misjudgment of player evaluation for all teams...i see that comment more for his scouts to say he believes in them and if they really want a guy he will do what it takes to get him.
Hughes himself said he is more into bargain shopping after the first few days of free agency.
I am however pleased that he wants to invest more in scouting and player development.

I hear from many media sites that the best time to reshape your team is at the draft...well ok but there has been very little player movement from any NHL team at the last few drafts. More buyouts than anything.

 

[Runner77]

It wasn't that poorly written, it was relevant conclusion which matched the thematic framing (what does rebuilding actually mean?) used in the article. The excerpt lacked context.

It was poorly written. You’re entitled to your standards, let me have mine. Thanks.

 

[Adam Michaels]

You mean, the Habs did not issue a nuanced communiqué to that effect?

Mainstream sources have been designating it that way since the point at which he was ascribed his head of scouting responsibilities:

“Actuellement, Martin Lapointe occupe le poste de la direction du recrutement amateur des Canadiens. Il est le recruteur en chef par intérim.”

«Le recruteur en chef est tout aussi important que le DG» -Martin McGuire

You already know why Lapointe was assigned head of scouting responsibilities and an interim title — that kind of position is near impossible to fill in-season.

Both Godin and Basu have confirmed that Lapointe is an interim appointment re scouting. You can see their reporting reprised by DLC, here: Martin Lapointe remplace (par intérim) Trevor Timmins

When his extension was announced a year ago, he was also named Director of Amateur Scouting. Not interim.

So he was working alongside Timmins.

Basically, Lapointe was given the title that was Churla's before. Churla was Director of Amateur Scouting. We know Timmins was the head honcho of that department.

And now that Timmins is gone, Lapointe is now running it (as would Churla if he was still here).

By interim, the media is saying he's the one running it. But he was Director of Amateur Scouting long before MB and TT got canned.

 

[montreal]

It doesn't matter what they say but only what they do. I like what the Yotes are doing, we'll see if it works but that's only the 1st step of many that you need to get right. You need good scouts, good coaching, development team, you need a smart GM that can add the right mixture of vets to go with the youth and you need luck, 1st at the lottery table and then for it to be the right year to have that top pick.

Lots of things need to go right when so many things can go wrong but that's why there's no such thing as do this and win cup. What works for one team won't work for another and vice versa. We'll see what moves the Habs pull and what it leads to. So far I can say i've been overly impressed with things but it's very early so we'll see how things go and it would be impossible to get every move right or to have moves that fans won't agree with at the time.

 

[SwiftyHab]

I would really like to see them execute their first trade already.

 

[Vachon23]

 

[Adam Michaels]

Was just coming to post this.

Next step: Madden chooses to leave Anaheim and Habs bring him in as AGM and running amateur scouting.