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It was most easily explained as a case of being
able to replace one impact guy (the coach) rather than 21 guys (the
players), an as such, the dismissal of
Michel Therrien can be justified. But does anyone else think that the
Habs have the personnel to be better than a .500 team, close to where they
are now (18-19-5-5)? Granted,
Jose Theodore had a brutal start to 2002-03 season, but
Jeff Hackett more than filled in while Jose found his game. The
Canadiens of today just do not have the fire-power of the Stanley Cup teams
of the 70's, and unfortunately, when you coach in hockey's most storied
franchise - the pressure to win is like no other. The acquisitions over the
past two year of free agent
Randy McKay,
Mariusz Czerkawski and
Donald Audette were supposed to help Montreal in the goal scoring
department - but that has not happened. In fact, two of the three have foudn
themselves to be regular occupants of the Montréal doghouse. Couple that
with the Habs less than average defense, and well...you get the picture. The
issue was likely not the number of losses, although 2 wins in 2003 aren't
great, but it was how they were losing...badly.
Fantasy Impact: What Julien brings to the
team is a players accountability that may have been lacking with Therrien.
He'll institute a system that takes advantage of Montreal's speedy forwards,
and tries to take some of the pressure off the Habs defence. Yup, you
guessed it - a modified trap. As such, we wouldn't dump guys like Koivu and
Zednik just yet. They will still see plenty of PP time. Don't be surprised
if the Canadiens attempt to pry
Luc Robitaille from the Red Wings - but they will only make the deal if
Detroit takes Czerkawski as part of the swap. And given how snake bit Lucky
Luc is these days, don't expect any such trade to be the tonic for the Habs
offensive woes. |
