Lafleur Criticizes Gainey and Carbo on the Kovalev Situation

Guy Lafleur comments on the Kovalev situation in this article in The Gazette written by Dave Stubbs. Flower says that if he was in Kovalev's shoes, he would've played his last game in Montreal. He believes that no one should be humiliated in such a way especially someone with that much talent like Alex Kovalev. Lafleur continues by saying that he doesn't know what Bob Gainey is trying to prove by doing this. He would've expected Bob to sit down with him and try to solve the problem. He also criticizes Guy Carbonneau for mixing the lines constantly and for rolling all four line equally. He says that if you pay a player $4 Million a year, you need to put him with the best players and give him as much ice time as possible. Lafleur believes that the Habs won't be able to make the playoffs because the players are not playing as a team and aren't ready to sacrifice themselves for their teammates.

I have to admit that I do agree with him on certain aspects. It is been a while that I don't like the way Guy Carbonneau changes his lines. It doesn't make sense to put the talented players in a losing situation. How do you want them to perform with fourth liners? I like Carbo when he was a player and I hope he could become a good coach. But the lines that he makes are just ridiculous. I know that he wants all his players to be well rested to prepare for the playoffs, but you need to make it first or everything will be pointless. If he wants to have a good coaching career, he needs to start changing his style. Where I disagree with flower is, you cannot entirely blame everything on the management staff, Kovalev also have to take his own responsibility as a professional hockey player. He is the one playing on the ice.