Savard, the next to go? Craziness...
Jan 19, 2003 9:14:16 GMT -5
Post by M. Beaux-Eaux on Jan 19, 2003 9:14:16 GMT -5
Mathias Brunet
La Presse
André Savard has received his share of criticisms for what happened on Friday.
Some say he dismissed Michel Therrien to save face, didn't give his coach enough ammunition to have a winning season. Some even whisper that Savard could undergo the same fate if the Canadiens don't take part in the playoffs this season. Which is crazy.
There is sometimes short memory in Montreal. For starters, let's repeat what has been repeated a thousand times: it is necessary to give at least five years to a general manager to rebuild a team.
We point out the arrival of Savard two years and two months ago. The Canadiens had a miserable team, in 30th and last place in the NHL. Craig Darby, Éric Landry, Andrei Bashkirov and company were still in the picture. The reserves in the American League had names like Matt Higgins, Miloslav Guren, Éric Houde and Gennady Razin.
Savard did some housecleaning and 18 short months later, with a club that some said was very ordinary, the Canadiens got within four periods of participating in the Stanley Cup semi-finals last spring.
Today, this roster is two points out of a second consecutive participation in the playoffs and some dare to call this team bad. Did they expect that Savard, starting from scratch, would build a championship club in two years?
We will see Savard's team in two or three years when Marcel Hossa, Ron Hainsey, Mike Komisarek, Tomas Plekanec, Duncan Milroy, Christopher Higgins, Tomas Linhart and Jozef Balej will have reached maturity (Hossa, Hainsey and Balej are draft choices of the old administration, but they developed within the organization under Savard). This group of promising young players will be grafted onto an interesting core composed of Saku Koivu, Richard Zednik, Andrei Markov, José Theodore and some others.
Do the Canadiens have a powerful club at this moment? No. Can the Canadiens do better than their record indicates? Without doubt. We will see that during the weeks to come.
If Therrien was sacrificed, it's because he was tuned out by many of his players. That does not negate Therrien's competence or his devotion to the team.
After the lamentable performances in the third period in Atlanta Wednesday, then in Philadelphia Thursday, Savard no longer had a choice. And don't imagine that he made his decision alone. The GM of the Canadiens had to answer to his owners and also his veterans.
A common criticism of Savard: he has a nose for unearthing young talent, but evaluates older players badly. Let us analyze the situation from a little distance. Doug Gilmour, in the absence of Koivu, made it possible for the Canadiens offense to function in second half of last season.
And didn't he recently form the team's best line with Yanic Perreault and Randy McKay before his back gave out? Perreault, since we've mentioned him, contributed 27 goals to his club last year and he already has 19 this season. Joé Juneau excelled in his role of defensive center last year. Who can say that Stéphane Quintal hasn't worked hard since his return to Montreal?
Donald Audette and Mariusz Czerkawski are making the GM look bad at present. But who could have predicted that these two snipers (Audette has six seasons of 20 goals or more in his career and Czerkawski, five) would have broken down simultaneously when they are in their prime?
However Savard didn't give up anything huge to acquire them (a UFA, Martin Rucinsky, and Arron Asham). They are expensive, certainly, but the future hopes of the team were not sacrificed.
Savard is not perfect. he agreed to very rich contracts for Patrice Brisebois and Craig Rivet, four and three million per season respectively. Do these defenders deserve so much money? The GM will answer yes because they were going to become free agents without compensation. That remains to be seen.
The Canadiens also have the best paid plumbers in the NHL. They are the only club in the league not to have any employee earning under $700,000US. Dykhuis (1,5 million), Kilger (1,1 million), Odjick ($750,000) and even Lindsay ($700,000) are expensive for what they bring to the team, and that becomes worse still when Audette (3,3 million) and Czerkawski (2,7 million) and McKay (2,1 million) do not live up to expectations.
But still, this problem looks only at the owner's pocketbook. Not sure that the Canadiens would have attracted Bill Guerin, Philippe Boucher, Bobby Holik and company to Montreal, even with a fantastic offer.
La Presse
André Savard has received his share of criticisms for what happened on Friday.
Some say he dismissed Michel Therrien to save face, didn't give his coach enough ammunition to have a winning season. Some even whisper that Savard could undergo the same fate if the Canadiens don't take part in the playoffs this season. Which is crazy.
There is sometimes short memory in Montreal. For starters, let's repeat what has been repeated a thousand times: it is necessary to give at least five years to a general manager to rebuild a team.
We point out the arrival of Savard two years and two months ago. The Canadiens had a miserable team, in 30th and last place in the NHL. Craig Darby, Éric Landry, Andrei Bashkirov and company were still in the picture. The reserves in the American League had names like Matt Higgins, Miloslav Guren, Éric Houde and Gennady Razin.
Savard did some housecleaning and 18 short months later, with a club that some said was very ordinary, the Canadiens got within four periods of participating in the Stanley Cup semi-finals last spring.
Today, this roster is two points out of a second consecutive participation in the playoffs and some dare to call this team bad. Did they expect that Savard, starting from scratch, would build a championship club in two years?
We will see Savard's team in two or three years when Marcel Hossa, Ron Hainsey, Mike Komisarek, Tomas Plekanec, Duncan Milroy, Christopher Higgins, Tomas Linhart and Jozef Balej will have reached maturity (Hossa, Hainsey and Balej are draft choices of the old administration, but they developed within the organization under Savard). This group of promising young players will be grafted onto an interesting core composed of Saku Koivu, Richard Zednik, Andrei Markov, José Theodore and some others.
Do the Canadiens have a powerful club at this moment? No. Can the Canadiens do better than their record indicates? Without doubt. We will see that during the weeks to come.
If Therrien was sacrificed, it's because he was tuned out by many of his players. That does not negate Therrien's competence or his devotion to the team.
After the lamentable performances in the third period in Atlanta Wednesday, then in Philadelphia Thursday, Savard no longer had a choice. And don't imagine that he made his decision alone. The GM of the Canadiens had to answer to his owners and also his veterans.
A common criticism of Savard: he has a nose for unearthing young talent, but evaluates older players badly. Let us analyze the situation from a little distance. Doug Gilmour, in the absence of Koivu, made it possible for the Canadiens offense to function in second half of last season.
And didn't he recently form the team's best line with Yanic Perreault and Randy McKay before his back gave out? Perreault, since we've mentioned him, contributed 27 goals to his club last year and he already has 19 this season. Joé Juneau excelled in his role of defensive center last year. Who can say that Stéphane Quintal hasn't worked hard since his return to Montreal?
Donald Audette and Mariusz Czerkawski are making the GM look bad at present. But who could have predicted that these two snipers (Audette has six seasons of 20 goals or more in his career and Czerkawski, five) would have broken down simultaneously when they are in their prime?
However Savard didn't give up anything huge to acquire them (a UFA, Martin Rucinsky, and Arron Asham). They are expensive, certainly, but the future hopes of the team were not sacrificed.
Savard is not perfect. he agreed to very rich contracts for Patrice Brisebois and Craig Rivet, four and three million per season respectively. Do these defenders deserve so much money? The GM will answer yes because they were going to become free agents without compensation. That remains to be seen.
The Canadiens also have the best paid plumbers in the NHL. They are the only club in the league not to have any employee earning under $700,000US. Dykhuis (1,5 million), Kilger (1,1 million), Odjick ($750,000) and even Lindsay ($700,000) are expensive for what they bring to the team, and that becomes worse still when Audette (3,3 million) and Czerkawski (2,7 million) and McKay (2,1 million) do not live up to expectations.
But still, this problem looks only at the owner's pocketbook. Not sure that the Canadiens would have attracted Bill Guerin, Philippe Boucher, Bobby Holik and company to Montreal, even with a fantastic offer.