Jacques Demers Gives The Habs an Extreme Makeover

Few hockey analysts know the Montreal Canadiens as well as Jacques Demers. What hockey fans may not know is that, among other accomplishments, Demers coached the WHA All-Stars who included Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe, in an tournament against the USSR's leading team Moscow Dynamo.

Demers' opinions are often controversial, but there is no arguing his coaching pedigree. The superstars he has coached include Patrick Roy, Steve Yzerman and Vincent Lecavalier. From Wiki:

While in the NHL, he coached for the St. Louis Blues, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning. He has won two consecutive Jack Adams Awards for NHL Coach of the Year with Detroit in 1987 and 1988, the only person to do this in consecutive years. In 1993, he led Montreal to its most recent Stanley Cup. He is currently working as a commentator for the Canadian sports network RDS.

Demers believes the time has come for Le Canadien to give itself an extreme makeover.

In his RDS.com column today, Demers outlines his perspectives and suggestions. The link to the article "Mes Pistes de Solution" here:

http://www.rds.ca/canadien/chroniques/273868.html

In the article, Demers expresses his belief, among other things, that Saku Koivu should move on; Komisarek will be looking elsewhere, but should be retained if possible; Kovalev should stay; and the Habs must trade for Lecavalier and St. Louis.

He suggests Montreal moving Halak, Plekanec, the Kostitsyns, and Gorges to Tampa; and his free agent signings include Francois Beauchemin, Niclas Havelid, Jordan Leopold, Nik Antropov, Ian Laperriere and Chris Neil.

He believes Mathieu Schneider and Patrice Brisebois, and possibly Robert Lang, will retire; and that Francois Bouillon and Mathieu Dandenault will move on.

Demers' proposed starting lineup for 2009-10:

Goal:

Price - Denis

Forwards:

Tanguay – Lecavalier – Kovalev
D’Agostini – Antropov – St-Louis
Latendresse – Lapierre - Neil
Laraque – Metropolit – Laperrière

Defense:

Markov – Komisarek
Hamrlik – Beauchemin
Havelid – Leopold

Reserves : Weber, Stewart, O’Byrne

Finally, Demers recommends Bob Hartley as the man to step behind the bench in Montreal.

No doubt our esteemed GM Hockey Members will, as always, given their strong feelings about Le BleuBlancRouge, have some equally strong comments and opinions...

While I am far too lazy to do the math, I am pretty confident that there is no way this team could come anywhere close to being under the salary cap.

Not even remotely enough for Lecavalier and St. Louis.

Before you get to the cap issues, you'd have to try to implement all the trades/signings/moves.

I think he's right about them needing to let Koivu go, though. Not so sure about keeping Kovalev....

And if Komisarek is looking for a new home, I'm sure we could find space for him.

(Imagine being a smaller forward coming into the zone, and looking up to see Volchenkov on one side, Komisarek on the other... that'll be a dump and change, thank you very much...)

What a god-awful blog to post...

...pipe-dreams, pipe-dreams, and, yep, more pipe-dreams.

I'm sure Tampa Bay would just love to fork over Lecavalier AND St Louis in the same package for a return that wouldn't be enough for Lecavalier alone, let alone for both of them.

PKC wrote:What a god-awful blog to post...

...pipe-dreams, pipe-dreams, and, yep, more pipe-dreams.

I'm sure Tampa Bay would just love to fork over Lecavalier AND St Louis in the same package for a return that wouldn't be enough for Lecavalier alone, let alone for both of them.

Well, excuuuuuuuuse me.

I thought this was a place to discuss hockey...and look at a variety of points of view...whether you agree with them or not.

This is what Demers thinks.

You may think he's full of crap, but this is what is being discussed among hockey people in Montreal.

I took the time to post this because IMHO it is a subject of interest to our esteemed forum members.

If you have something to contribute to this discussion besides a snarky comment, please do so.

My worrries is what they will do with all their free agents.

I guess they're stuck to sign them now, or just looose them out right.

If so, they shoulda traded them before ... I mean a 2nd pick is better than nothin' for koivu ...

So, who's gonna do the math to figure out if Demers' brain fart can fit under the cap?

Oh really eh Shabbs? loooooool!

In any case, they will never get lecavalier/stlouis combo .....

HowieMorenz wrote:Oh really eh Shabbs? loooooool!

In any case, they will never get lecavalier/stlouis combo .....

Agreed... I'm just curious if it can even be done under the cap.

Price(0.850M) - Denis(0.600M)
Tanguay(5M) – Lecavalier(10M) – Kovalev(5M)
D’Agostini(0.5M) – Antropov(3M) – St-Louis(4M)
Latendresse(1.5M) – Lapierre(0.8M) - Neil(2M)
Laraque(1.5M) – Metropolit(1M) – Laperrière(1M)

Markov(5.75M) – Komisarek(4M)
Hamrlik(5.5) – Beauchemin(3M)
Havelid(2M) – Leopold(1.5)

Reserves : Weber(0.613M), Stewart(0.5M), O’Byrne(0.725M)


According to me giving the UFA and approximate salary of what I believe they migth make wich is in no way accurate the Montreal Canadiens would have a team salary of 60.338 million.

I say once again, this is in no way accurate. I used the salary's on nhlnumbers.com wich i believe is correct for the cap hit's not sure once again. If someone would double check that would be great. If my # are around true then the Hab's would be over.

I found a comment in the article that did the math as well, here it is:

Tanguay (4.5) - Lecavalier (6.875)- Kovalev (4.5)
D'agostini (.750) - Antropov (4) - St. Louis (5.250)
Latendresse (1.5) - Lapierre (.750) - Neil (2.5)
Laraque (1.5) - Metropolit (1) - Laperriere (1.5)

Markov (5.750) - Komisarek (4.5)
Hamrlik (5.5) - Beauchemin (4)
Havelid (2.5) - Leopold (2.5)

Price (2.2)
Denis (.750)

Total: 62M

I didn't check his math or numbers... he gave Neil 2.5M which we know now is too high.

shabbs wrote:I found a comment in the article that did the math as well, here it is:

Tanguay (4.5) - Lecavalier (6.875)- Kovalev (4.5)
D'agostini (.750) - Antropov (4) - St. Louis (5.250)
Latendresse (1.5) - Lapierre (.750) - Neil (2.5)
Laraque (1.5) - Metropolit (1) - Laperriere (1.5)

Markov (5.750) - Komisarek (4.5)
Hamrlik (5.5) - Beauchemin (4)
Havelid (2.5) - Leopold (2.5)

Price (2.2)
Denis (.750)

Total: 62M

I didn't check his math or numbers... he gave Neil 2.5M which we know now is too high.

Lecavalier's is too low.

So I guess we can agree that it would be too much.... So there ya go.

Well, now, at least we have all of you talking.



By the way, Mr Demers invites you to respond to his propositions, and being the avid and astute hockey observers you are, this is IMHO a golden opportunity. Link here:

http://www.rds.ca/canadien/chroniques/273868.html#talkbacks

As for me, I find all of your thoughts very intriguing...and want to do some math of my own in response.

Something that DOES disappoint me though, is that NONE of you have looked at Demers' hypothesis for what it is...or shall we say, what it very logically might be.

Demers, being a consultant to RDS (who have the exclusive/primary TV broadcast rights to Canadiens games) also has very good lines of communication with the Montreal Canadiens organization.

Does it not occur to you that Demers might be floating some 'trial balloons' to get a feel from the public for the moves the Canadiens might considering going forward?

This kind of Internet community-based 'marketing research' is common practice nowadays.

After all, the Canadiens are a sports and entertainment product being sold to a consumer base.

What better way to them to get a feel from the public for changes that may be coming to the product?

I watched a very good interview with Georges Laraque last night on RDS' 'L'Antichambre'. He was grilled for the better part of an hour by the top francophone hockey journalists/commentators in Montreal, including Francois Gagnon, Alain Crete and former Nordiques coach Michel Bergeron...none of whom by the way, are Habcentrists...they are some of the BleuBlancRouge's harshest critics.

Under some relentless questioning, Laraque finally admitted one of the reasons Carbonneau got fired was because he refused to utilize Steve Begin--one of the most effective agitators on the roster--finally lobliging Gainey to trade Begin for a pittance.

Laraque also suggested the team would be remodeled heavily next year to place a higher emphasis on GRIT.

Now, take a look at the roster Demers proposes again.

It resembles more closely a Demers team, or more precisely a Gainey team of the mid-late 80s...than the collection of divas who suited up for Carbonneau.

One 'skill line', the #1 line as it were.

2nd line, mixture of skill, size and toughness.

3rd and 4th lines, heavy on toughness and grind.

And Chris Neil AND Ian Laperriere on the same team with BGL? That's a Gang Of Ouch.

Defense...workmanlike AND physical. Beauchemin, Leopold and Havelid are very reliable defensemen. Beauchemin would probably become the Number Two assuming Markov is Number One.

Goal, assumes Carey Price is more like Steve Penney than Patrick Roy...who were part of the 1985-86 team with Bob Gainey...and who won the Stanley Cup.

Now, it is possible to assemble these players under the salary cap?

Remember that right off the bat, Bob Gainey has but $23MM committed for 2009-10, giving him AT LEAST $27MM to spend.

His committment, given the current situation, goes down to $18MM in 2010-11.

So Gainey--or whoever the GM might be--has enormous flexibility.

But that's for another post.

Finally, NO comments about Demers' choice of the bilingual Stanley Cup winnig coach and fabled disciplinarian Bob Hartley--who also now happens to be a commentator for RDS?

Put aside your anti-Hab bias for a moment...and consider this a challenge for your excellent hockey minds...after all, isn't this the site where "The Fans Are GM"?



Thanks everyone, and looking forward to another exciting thread.

GM Hockey members are the best!