Bad Hab-its

The firing of Pierre Gauthier as GM of the Montreal Canadiens today should come as little surprise given the tumultuous season it's been in la belle province. The firing of his long time friend Jacques Martin, the hiring of uni-lingual coach Randy Cunningworth, who seems as likely to be behind the bench to start next year as I am, and the circus that came along with it, the Scott Gomez debacle and injuries to key players, including captain Brian Gionta and Andrei Markov, have lead to a lottery spot instead of a playoff one. This group isn't all that much different than the one who pushed the Bruins to seven games in the first round last year but now find themselves in the basement of the Eastern Conference. Gauthier's firing will undoubtedly lead to tons of rumors and speculation as to who will get the top job in Montreal come June's draft, and who even wants it. To be honest the franchise isn't in the state of disarray that many seem to feel it is, say like their long time rival Maple Leafs. The Habs have a good crop of young talent including Max Pacioretty, PK Suban and Carey Price on which to build and solid leaders like Gionta and Josh Georges to show them the way. Eric Cole was a pleasant surprise and the emergence of David Deharnais has helped as well. However, there is still plenty of work to be done and no quick fix. The good news is they will have a good draft pick and money to spend come free agent season if they can get rid of the albatross that is the Gomez contract. The fans and organization need to realize there are never going to be the dominant days of old, even if Patrick Roy should take over as GM, but success isn't impossible if they make a few shrewd moves this summer. And as per usual whatever moves they do make will be, scrutinized, talked about and argued over until they get it right, and even then...