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Saturday, October 2, 1999
Storied to sorry: Demise of the Habs
What went wrong? 'Two words - Ron Corey'
The seat, purchased when the Forum closed in March 1996, has been converted into a bar stool and is just one piece of Habs memorabilia you will find at the Bloor West establishment, the unofficial haunt for Canadiens fanatics in Toronto.
Its owner, Peter Kilgour, wishes the chair could talk. Oh, what stories it could spin about Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau, Guy Lafleur, Bob Gainey and Patrick Roy and Stanley Cups.
For Kilgour, 42, the glory days of Les Canadiens seem so distant. As he prepares for the Habs' 83rd season, there isn't much reason for optimism.
So what happened to this storied franchise? Can it return to glory? Is there a 25th Stanley Cup in its future? Are the fans prepared to lower expectations because of the Canadiens' financial restraints? What is the future of the Montreal Canadiens?
"Two words -- Ron Corey," Kilgour said when asked what happened to the Habs.
"He is the No. 1 culprit. He didn't have a clue how to run a hockey team. He was deliberate right to the end to kill the team when he gave up a first-round pick to the Islanders for Trevor Linden, who has seen his best years.
"Harold Ballard didn't die, he went to Montreal in the form of Ronald Corey."
Ouch.
Like most Canadiens fans, Kilgour could go on and on, picking apart all the wrong moves the Habs made in the past 15 seasons. Habs fan refuse to look through rose-coloured glasses. The days of firewagon hockey in Montreal are over.
Yet, history indicates this will be a Stanley Cup season for Montreal. Since the Canadiens won the 1944 Stanley Cup, the city never has gone more than seven years without capturing hockey's top prize. Having last hoisted the famous trophy in 1993, this is the season the Canadiens need to scratch that seven-year itch.
"It doesn't look good," said Kilgour, whose establishment shows every Canadiens game on television. "Unless (goaltender) Jeff Hackett can pull off a Dominik Hasek."
A Hasek-like performance will be needed just to get the Canadiens into the playoffs, which the team missed last season. The previous time the Habs failed to qualify for the post-season in consecutive years is when they missed the playoffs in three seasons from 1920-22.
Since then, they have reeled off a NHL-record 78 seasons of never missing the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.
When you ask former Habs Bob Gainey and Ken Dryden what has gone wrong with their former club, you don't get an answer.
"You can ask, but I won't tell you," said Gainey, the general manager of the Stanley Cup-winning Dallas Stars. "I really don't feel comfortable because I'm running another team."
Ditto for Dryden.
Five years ago, however, Dryden wrote an interesting paragraph in his foreword for Hockey, Heroes and Me, a book written by Montreal Gazette hockey writer Red Fisher.
"I am often asked what made the Canadiens so good," wrote Dryden, who led Habs to six Stanley Cup titles in the 1970s. "An ownership which sought profits but whose goal seemed only to be the Stanley Cup certainly helped. So did having the best managers who hired the best scouts to find the best players to be prepared by the best coaches ..."
The Habs haven't had those good hockey men for two decades.
General manager Sam Pollock departed following the 1977-78 season. The next season, coach Scotty Bowman bolted Montreal for Buffalo. The Canadiens no longer had the league's best manager and best coach. Soon the scouting department would crumble.
The Canadiens' draft record from 1983, Corey's first draft as the club president, is abysmal. From 1985 to 1992, not one of Montreal's first-round picks made an impact. Where have you gone, Brent Bilodeau?
The trade also has not been to kind to the Habs.
Former Canadiens GM Serge Savard escaped harsh criticism because his teams won Stanley Cups in 1986 and again in 1993. But he traded Chris Chelios and John LeClair and Eric Desjardins. The three players are still big factors with their respective teams in the league.
The topper came on Dec. 6, 1995 when Corey gave in to Roy's wishes and traded him to Colorado after the goaltender's messy feud with then-coach Mario Tremblay.
Roy primarily was responsible for the Habs' championships in 1986 and 1993 and GM Rejean Houle also had to give up Mike Keane for Martin Rucinsky and two other players who are no longer in Montreal. Corey hired Tremblay and Houle, who still is the club's GM.
Roy went on to win the 1996 Stanley Cup with the Avalanche and still is among the game's elite. And anybody who watched what Hasek has done for an average team in Buffalo and what Curtis Joseph did for the Leafs last season knows what a standout goaltender can do for a team.
"One very significant fact (with the Leafs) is they had a first-string goalie," Pierre Boivin, the Canadiens' new president, said. "And they had intensity, a desire to win you could almost smell. But that comes with confidence."
Boivin is the man Molson Inc. hired four weeks ago to replace the retired Corey, a former brewery executive. Boivin, a 46-year-old native of Montreal, is a former executive of Canstar, the sporting goods company that produces Bauer hockey equipment.
Canadiens fanatics were disappointed Molson didn't make a stronger pitch for Gainey, a hockey man. What can they expect out of Boivin? Well, he wants to turn the Canadiens back into a contender in three years.
He preaches patience and he doesn't care whether a player is French Canadian.
When Boivin was hired Sept. 2, Molson also announced it wanted to sell the $250-million Cdn Molson Centre, but was committed to keeping the team. Otherwise Boivin would not have taken the job.
"Molson realizes that if you're going to own a hockey team for business reasons, that team must be at the very least a contender -- if not a winner," Boivin said.
Fans would like to see Molson spend some money on talent to prove this point. While Molson most recent commitment was too late to save the dumping of free agents Vincent Damphousse, Mark Recchi and Stephane Quintal, the owners better spend some money during the free-agent season next summer.
Will Molson be able to sell its arena? This could depend on whether the Canadiens resolve their tax dispute with the city of Montreal. The Habs pay an $11-million city tax on their arena.
On top of the club's tax woes, for the first time in memory, the Habs appear to be having trouble selling tickets. The club has even been advertising tonight's season opener against the Leafs, something that never had to be done in the past.
Boivin believes this year's team will be competitive. Well, it better get off to a decent start because if the Habs stumble out of the gate, the wolves will be waiting.
"When I was traded from Calgary to Montreal (18 months ago) I felt quite honoured to be a member of that club and all that tradition," said Leafs winger Jonas Hoglund, who left the Canadiens to sign as a free agent with Toronto during the summer. "We made the playoffs my first season in Montreal and everything was pretty good.
"Last year wasn't so good. We missed the playoffs and there was a lot of negativity in Montreal among the fans and media in that city. It made for a tough place to play."
But that's part of what has made the Montreal Canadiens stand out.
3 KILLER DEALS
1 - June 29, 1990 -- Traded Chris Chelios and 1991 second-round choice (Michael Pomichter) to Blackhawks for Denis Savard.
2- Feb. 9, 1995 -- Traded John LeClair, Eric Desjardins and Gilbert Dionne to Philadelphia for Mark Recchi and 1995 third-round choice (Martin Hohenberger).
3 - Dec. 6, 1995 -- Traded Patrick Roy and Mike Keane to the Avalanche for Andrei Kovalenko, Martin Rucinsky and Jocelyn Thibault.
DODGY DRAFTS
Is it a coincidence that since Ronald Corey took over the Habs in November 1982, Montreal's draft record has been poor? Here's a look at the first two picks from each draft during Corey's tenure and how many games each played for the Habs. (Bold face on current roster):
1983 - 17. Alfie Turcotte - 86
- 26. Claude Lemieux - 281
1984 - 5. Petr Svoboda - 534
- 8. Shayne Corson - 593
1985 - 12. Jose Charbonneau - 25
- 16. Tom Chorske - 71
1986 - 15. Mark Pederson - 56
- 27. Benoit Brunet - 393
1987 - 17. Andrew Cassels - 60
- 33. John LeClair - 224
1988 - 20. Eric Charron - 3
- 34. Martin St-Amour - 0
1989 - 13. Lindsay Vallis - 1
- 30. Patrice Brisebois - 445
1990 - 12. Turner Stevenson - 321 -
- 39. Ryan Kuwabara - 0
1991 - 17. Brent Bilodeau - 0
- 28. Jim Campbell - 0
1992 - 20. David Wilkie - 91
- 33. Valeri Bure - 215
1993 - 21. Saku Koivu - 266
- 47. Rory Fitzpatrick - 48
1994 - 18. Brad Brown - 13
- 44. Jose Theodore - 35
1995 - 8. Terry Ryan - 8
- 60. Miroslav Guren - 12
1996 - 18. Matt Higgins - 26
- 44. Mathieu Garon - 0
1997 - 18. Jason Ward - 0
- 37. Gregor Baumgartner - 0
1998 - 16. Eric Chouinard - 0
- 45. Mike Ribiero - 0
1999 - 39. Alexander Buturlin - 0
- 58. Matt Carkner - 0
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