Whatever the reason, the fact remains that the Canadiens, except for one season, have made only marginal improvement under Gainey's tenure from where they were when he was hired. Here's hoping his eventual replacement can finally turn this club back into a Stanley Cup contender.
Sorry Lyle, I disagree with you wholheartedly. Marginal improvement is not fair to Bob. When he took over this franchise, they had almost zero decent prospects in the funnel, their scouting was atrocious and the entire franchise was a joke. Bob improved Montreal in all of the above mentioned areas and brought a whole lot of respectability back. Where he failed was progressing the team towards a championship. I question though if that was his main task to begin with in the first place. Of course every GM is hired to bring a title home but in order to do that you need a solid foundation. I think this is what Bob has given this franchise and now it will be upto the next GM to take it to the next level. Additionally, I think since Bob lost his daughter he has been "different" in many ways. I think that MR. Gainey needs a well deserved rest from the game in general. Take care Bob and best wishes to you!
I agree.
I think Gainey did a lot of good things for the organization.
But everyone will criticize him (and always point to) that he did not being the cup in 5 years - after all, what else is the point of a 5-year plan.
Sad.
Hey, Gainey did his best, but his best wasn't good enough. I was willing to be patient and was for several seasons and it appeared in 2007-08 and the first half of last season that patience had been rewarded. Then everything fell horribly apart, and Gainey saw he needed an overhaul. He rolled the dice big time this past summer. Some of the moves (Gionta and Cammalleri) were terrific, and while Gomez is overpaid it was acquiring him that was a factor in Gionta and Cammalleri agreeing to sign with Montreal last summer.
Still, the Habs are now pressed for cap space for next season with Plekanec and either Price or Halak to be re-signed, as well as Pouliot, Lapierre, Mara, Bergeron and Sergei Kostitsyn. They can't afford to keep everyone so barring a significant trade or two to bring in affordable talent -not easy to do in today's salary cap world - the Habs probably won't be much improved next season over this year's group.
The summer of 2011 will also be interesting as the team's best defenseman, Markov, is eligible for UFA status, and he'll probably decide to bolt elsewhere then. Hamrlik will also be up as well as Gill. Currently for that year they have over $24 million committed to six players. Obviously that number will grow in the coming months but at least they'll have more room to work with at that time.
I don't fault Gainey for trying but in the end the Canadiens are only slightly better now than they were when he took over.
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