Number of can dispute that Bob Gainey is one particular of the smartest hockey players to ever fit up and play in an NHL rink. His four Selke trophies and his five Stanley Cups as a player can attest to that. His intelligence, mixed with his leadership skills built him a normal fit as an NHL coach and/or GM. Therefore it was no surprise when Gainey ended up performing the two adhering to his days as a player. He speedily proved he could do the work too, managing the Dallas Stars to Stanley Cup glory in 1999.
Even so, like so a lot of former Habs Gainey eventually came back to the crew in which he starred for so several years, and has been attempting to form the staff, and return them to the perennial contenders their enthusiasts are so used to viewing. So far, he has been pretty unsuccessful, to say the least.
Adhering to a 2007-08 campaign that noticed the Habs complete very first in the Eastern Conference for the duration of the typical season, just before bowing out to the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, fans expectations were through the roof likely into the Habs 100th period in 2008-09. Nevertheless, things rapidly fell off the rails. Younger goalie Carey Price, so excellent the 12 months prior, out of the blue appeared to drop his self confidence, and the rest of the staff seemed to be suffering just as much, with numerous veteran gamers posting drastically lower amounts than the earlier period.
Late in the year the Habs have been flirting with catastrophe, battling a number of other clubs for the 8th and final playoff spot. Underneath enormous stress from enthusiasts, media, and ownership - they had to make the playoffs in the Centennial year, failure was not an option - Bob Gainey pressed the panic button and fired coach and friend Man Carbonneau, stepping behind the bench himself. He managed to help the Habs squeak into the playoffs in eighth spot, in which they ended up swiftly dispatched by the strong Boston Bruins.
The firing of Carbonneau was just the 1st of Gainey's blunders, and he has been compounding them this off-season with curious trades and signings that have noticed the Habs tie up far more than eighteen million bucks per annum above the up coming five decades in Scott Gomez, Mike Cammalleri, and Brian Gionta. Excellent gamers all, but surely not worth that much cash.
So will the Montreal Canadiens portion ways with Bob Gainey? By sport twenty of next year's schedule we ought to know. If the Habs stumble out of the gate you can bet that Gainey will be the initial casualty.