NHL Playoffs: The Habs are in, so why am I not Excited?

I admit; it's a bit of a rhetorical question. There's a short, easy answer dealing with another season spent floundering in mediocrity and an impending early playoff exit. However, there's a much more complex reason, or root cause, behind that answer that has me lacking excitement for the team and organization. 

Most hockey analysts from across the continent will point to the Canadiens as the team with the best crop of young talent, both on the current team and in the pipeline. This should bring a sense of pride and optimism, but it only adds to the frustrating issue at hand. How can a team so loaded be so average? The answer came during a post-game conversation on the topic back in February. 

They're stuck in yesteryear, victims of their own glorious past. “They’re the Dallas Cowboys of the NHL- they’ll never change, because they don’t have to.” That one sentence pulled together all of the frustrating suspicions and observations I’ve formed over the past 15 years of so. 

In their defense, from my decades of watching it and brief time working in it, hockey more than any other sport is a good old boys network that loves to recycle its leaders. In the case of the Candiens, they seem to personify that one trait. Where the sport recycles leaders cast off by others, the Habs love to recycle their own. This leads to the issue at hand; what worked a generation ago, doesn’t work today. Sports, like the rest of society, changes rapidly. 

Before the retorts begin, let's address two elephants in the room.

Elephant #1: The current GM and Head Coach aren't from the Habs System. True, but they exemplify the same style of using their own dusty rolodex to try to fix today’s issues. Kent Hugues was a player agent who spent decades working deals for great players. Now that they're retired, he’s brought them and their familiarity with him to Montreal. Marty St-Louis and Vincent Lacavalier were brilliant players from a generation ago, but how does that translate to coaching and running a team today? It doesn't. 

Most people love Vincet Lacavalier, and his on ice success can’t be argued with. But what exactly is the function of “Special Advisor of Hockey Operations” and what is the criteria for success in the position? I can only see a mid six-figure salary spent on public relations and the hopes that some sort of on ice success will be achieved through locker room osmosis. 

Everyone loves Marty, including me. Especially since he took over the post Dominique Ducharme dumpster fire and won a few games. Here’s the reality, though: Marty has ZERO coaching experience. The universally known sports expression “The best players don’t make the best coaches” is on full display with this example. 

Elephant #2: Detractors love to blame Montreal’s woes on their criteria for a Francophone Head Coach. NONSENSE! The problem isn’t a francophone head coach- it’s the francophone coaches they recycle that’s the problem. I applaud the Habs Francophone coach criteria, and there are plenty of them out there. Just 90 miles North, Marc-Etienne Hubert is piling up awards and wins at the university level with UQ-Trois-Rivieres. 100 miles East, Gilles Bouchard, who holds experience as a juniors GM and  AHL assistant, just coached a young, starless team to the second round of the QMJHL finals. You want NHL coaches, no problem. Even the Phoenix Coyotes, arguably the most inept franchise in pro sports, could find Andre Tourigny who’s been able to limp an AHL roster through several NHL seasons (may Utah be his reward). With 12 QMJHL teams in the province and assistants floating around at every pro level, there are no excuses. 

So here we sit in today’s reality. The Habs past isn't just successful, it's mystical. It resulted in generations of Qubecers being born into fandom almost by law or religion. Like law and religion, however, there’s a past and a present. If you’re content with the past, that’s up to you. Me; I like living in the present. I just wish the Habs would.