Jacques Martin Is The Habs New Head Coach

Wow! what a shock! First off, we never have thought that Bob Gainey would have hired a head coach so soon, especially after what he have said at the NHL Combine in Toronto. He told everyone that the main focus is the sale of the team and that the new owner might take a new direction. Normally, he should be waiting for the franchise to be sold before making any moves.

The second surprise is the new coach who is hired! No one could have predicted that Jacques Martin would become the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens. If you look back at all the potential candidates for the job, his name has never came up on the list. We have all led to believe that the next new head coach must be someone who is available and is currenly without a job. Well, Bob Gainey had someone else in mind. He decided to hire a current GM to become a head coach! Don't ask me how he was able to convince him to come to Montreal. It's already hard for me to believe that any GM would leave their job to become coach. Bob Gainey has everyone fooled.

By looking back at the criterias for the head coach position, we have to admit that he is the best fit person for the job. He is a very experienced coach in the NHL. He is bilingual and he is a very defensive system coach, just how Bob likes it.

This was one of the factors that I was the most worried about when I first heard the news. Are we going to have a defensive hockey club to watch for the next 2.5 years like the Florida Panthers? I hope not! For once we have an exciting offensive team in Montreal, pleast don't take that away from the fans.