MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens, hockey's greatest
franchise now mired in last place, fired their coach and general
manager Monday.
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Mon, Nov.
20
The Canadiens' move to fire
Rejean Houle and Alain Vigneault and hire Andre Savard and Michel Therrien
was more about clearing the air. The team needed to get rid of the
depression, change the feel. The Canadiens got
off to a decent start this season, but then Saku Koivu injured his knee, and
it's been downhill since.
The Canadiens' biggest problem has been injuries, although they haven't
occurred to the extent they did a year ago when they led the league in man
games lost. Vigneault came in second for the Adams Trophy last year because
he kept them in playoff contention until the very end.
They had major players out for weeks at a time. They struggled to score
goals last season, and the same thing is happening again this year.
In trying to keep the payroll down, Montreal gambled a bit. The
Canadiens banked on young players with a mix of veterans. They get great
leadership from their veterans -- Trevor Linden, Koivu, Jeff Hackett and
Eric Weinrich. The leadership core helped Vigneault an awful lot last season
and did everything it could during a desperate situation.
But now Shayne Corson, another excellent leader, is no longer in Montreal.
And overall, their roster is not exactly a who's who of the NHL. And the
Montreal fans are very, very impatient. They are used to generations of
having the best players. During my six years in Montreal, I played with nine
Hall of Famers. It's so different now. It will take time for the new
management to turn things around.
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Coach Alain Vigneault was replaced by Michel Therrien, and
general manager Rejean Houle was replaced by Andre Savard.
"As a result of our very poor results, we came to the
conclusion that we needed to move quickly and somewhat radically
with respect to our hockey administration," Canadiens president
Pierre Boivin told a news conference.
In other moves in the shake-up, former captain Guy Carbonneau
was appointed assistant coach while scout Martin Madden was made
the assistant GM.
Therrien was coach of Montreal's AHL affiliate, the Quebec
Citadelles. He takes over an injury-riddled team (5-13-2-0) that is
reeling from a 1-10-1-0 slump and facing the prospect of a third
consecutive year out of the playoffs.
"Michel is an excellent coach, he has proven his leadership and
his great determination to win throughout his career," Boivin
said.
Once the haughty lords of hockey with 24 Stanley Cup
championships, the Canadiens now have just 12 points after 20
games. Even the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild
are higher in the standings.
"The bottom line is this game is played with a lot of
passion," Therrien said. "This is one thing that myself and Guy
are going to try to bring to our players, our passion and emotion.
We're going to start with something, and this is what we're going
to start with."
The team was lambasted by the Montreal media on Sunday after a
6-1 loss to Toronto.
"Embarrassment Night in Canada", the Montreal Gazette said.
"Disgusting," read the headline in Le Journal de Montreal.
The team is up for sale and Boivin has said he expects the club
to be sold before the end of the year. But for now, he expects the
team to do better, noting the budget is not frozen.
"We are committed to doing whatever is required, of course
within reason, to strengthen the team if there are opportunities to
do so," he said.
Carbonneau and Savard were hired in September -- Carbonneau as
Montreal's head of prospect development and Savard, a former Ottawa
Senators scouting director and assistant coach, as Houle's
right-hand man.
Houle was in his sixth season as GM, succeeding Serge Savard in
1995. Now, with no great postseason success to show, Houle may well
be remembered as the man who traded goalie Patrick Roy.
Vigneault was nominated for the Jack Adams Trophy as coach of
the year last season. He took a team beset by injuries from last
place to within two points of a playoff spot.
"I'm confident that this new team will inspire our players, and
put our team back on the road to victory," Boivin said.
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