Among the week’s loose ends: Alexei Emelin was a key part of Russia’s undefeated march to the World Hockey Championship. Don’t count on seeing a Quebec-born player going on the first day of the NHL entry draft. The coaching speculation continues. Can Jacques Martin be considered to re-inherit the job?
The firing of Jacques Martin led to the firing of Pierre Gauthier. It just took a while. Max Pacioretty’s scoring drought is hard to explain. And the Canadiens faced with perhaps one option when it comes to the disposal of the Scott Gomez contract. Conversation for a Canadiens day off.
When a team has trouble putting back to back wins together, cannot protect third period leads and is bouncing in and out of contention for a playoff berth, it is a lead-pipe cinch the coach is going to be fired. Today, the Canadiens fired coach jacques Martin and replaced him with Randy Cunneyworth. Curnneyworth will be behind the Canadiens bench when the Canadiens host the New Jersey Devils in their final home game of 2011.
During his postgame news conference Canadiens coach Jacques Martin mentioned an improved Carey Price and special teams as the reason for his club’s turnaround the last twelve games. Among the other Sunday talking points, the impact of Erik Cole, Scott Gomez, 100 man-injury-days, the Hamilton Bulldogs and traffic jam on defence when Markov, Spacek, Gill and Campoli return..
Canadiens head coach Jacques Martin attempted to put his team’s three game winning streak in perspective following his team’s return to the ice following a two day layoff. Martin notes that the team is still below break-even and there is still a lot of work left to put the team in playoff postition by season’s end.
The Canadiens are off to their worst start in history and the cry on the streets is “fire Jacques Martin!” It’s not going to happen, certainly not at this early stage of the season. What is happening to the Canadiens is a repeat of the early season struggles of the Buffalo Sabres and their head coach Lindy Ruff last season.
Andrei Kostitsyn gave an interview in his Belarussian hometown yesterday in which he briefly wondered what his future held with the Montreal Canadiens. Kostitsyn felt he had little or no communication with head coach Jacques Martin as he was shuffled from first line to third line as he came in and out of prolonged scoring slumps.
Is it possible to be a Hart trophy winning goaltender without winning the Vezina Trophy? There are a number of goaltenders who have had outstanding seasons and are deserving of Vezina Trophy recognition, starting with Boston’s Tim Thomas, who’s likely to win it. But the Hart? Has there been a more important player for his team than Carey Price. Without him, no playoffs and all things considered, perhaps we’re looking at a lottery pick in this June’s draft.
Canadiens coach Jacques Martin will make changes to his third and fourth lines tonight for the game against the Los Angeles Kings. Mathieu Darche, who was a healthy scratch Monday night in favour of Yannick Weber, will return to the lineup to play with Lars Eller and Benoit Pouliot. Tom Pyatt will be joining Jeff Halpern and Maxim Lapierre on the Canadiens other secondary unit. (read more)
Eleven of the eighteen skaters on the ice for the Canadiens in Game three of the Eastern Final against Philadelphia were not with the team in last year’s playoffs. Jacques Martin paid tribute to Gainey’s continuing influence on the team during his news conference today.
