Hi, this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire “,….. proudly sponsored by Pete’s Auto Body.
Pete’s Auto Body; because we care about our community….
The plight of the Montreal Canadiens in the National Hockey League breaks my heart.
Actually it doesn’t.
It’s just that having gone to high school in the late 70’s during the Canadiens last dynasty, I would truly enjoy encountering those former students who bled bleu-blanc et rouge.
But the dynamic Canadiens of the 1970s are a thing of the distant past and the current edition, albeit after getting to the Stanley Cup last year, looks like a ramshackle operation at the moment.
What’s utterly perplexing to me is the Canadiens insistence of having a French speaking General Manager.
Oh, I get it.
The province of Quebec, the Habs home base, is predominantly French speaking and the organization believes it’s absolutely essential that they communicate to their fans on a daily basis, especially in French
But hockey has no mother tongue when it comes to success and it shouldn’t matter whether you speak English, French or Swahili. Your command of a language bears no relation to your ability to operate an NHL team.
Sure, the Tampa Bay Lightning are the 2 time defending Stanley Cup Champions and their GM is native Quebecker, Julien BriseBois.
But let’s no discount the groundwork in Tampa Bay laid before BriseBois by Steve Yzerman.
It bears noting that the Montreal Canadiens haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1993 when French speaking Serge Savard was the GM and Jacques Demers was the coach
Since then Réjean Houle, André Savard, Bob Gainey, Pierre Gauthier & Marc Bergevin have all held the GM spot, with only Bergevin’s miracle run last Spring standing out
The next French speaking GM of the Montreal Canadiens may be ultimately successful. But I doubt any success is connected to the language they speak.
For Pete’s Auto Body, I’m Fred Wallace.