One Year From The Great Gainey Purge of '09, Who Would You Want Back?
by Robert L on Jul 29, 2010 2:02 AM EDT
29 comments
It's a about a year and change since the Great Gainey Purge of '09, wherein the former Habs GM cut loose a dozen or so unrestricted free agents and went on a spending binge unseen in Canadiens history.
See ya later's were handed to captain Saku Koivu, Alex Kovalev, Alex Tanguay, Mike Komisarek, Mathieu Dandenault, Mathieu Schneider, Tom Kostopoulos, Francis Bouillon, Robert Lang, Christopher Higgins, Patrice Brisebois, Marc Denis and Alex Henry.
Gainey then went on to acquire by trade or sign as free agents players that included Scott Gomez, Mike Cammalleri, Brian Gionta, Tom Pyatt, Hal Gill, Jaroslav Spacek, Travis Moen and Paul Mara in the '09 summer.
The net result was a deceptive one - a meandering regular season eighth place finish followed by a surprise playoff run deeper than any in the last 16 seasons.
Still, there remain some doubters in Skeptic City that the Canadiens today are an overall improved club from the one Gainey trashcanned twelve months ago. Perhaps because what was mentioned above hasn't been all in terms of turnover, as Gainey and new GM Pierre Gauthier continued to recycle the team. Of 34 players who dressed for Montreal in the 2008-09 season, only 11 remain today
Those players are Andrei Markov, Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Kostitsyn, Carey Price, Maxim Lapierre, Josh Gorges, Roman Hamrlik, Ryan O'Byrne, Yannick Weber, Max Pacioretty and Ben Maxwell.
Talk about a shakeup, considering only seven or eight of those eleven players are pencilled into the starting lineup on a regular basis for this coming. A look at the dearly departed since the 2008-09 season can be found here.
I spent a good slice of last season bitching about my team's lost identity, and I wasn't alone. Admittedly, I didn't like the moves at first because they were so wholesale. I also agonized over loss of potential tradeable assets. Individually, I understood the reasoning behind most of the moves, but one or two still really pierced the heart. Looking at it now, with one year's perspective in the rear view, it's hard to argue that Gainey was wrong, individually, or across the board. He replaced an eighth place team by an eighth place team - one that played an additional 15 playoff games. And playoffs is where we all want improvement, right? Today, of the 13 players shown the trap door, only six remain viable NHLers. Of those six, and considering salary cap contraints, would you wish any of the group back, versus what it would cost in cash terms to the upcoming season's lineup?
For a look at what each will be earning in 2010-11, click on the individual links for Koivu, Kovalev, Tanguay, Komisarek, Bouillon and Higgins. For the Habs cap structure, the Capgeek list for the team can be found here.
Personally - and you all know how much I love Koivu - my vote would go having Komisarek back rather than the Hamrlik contract at this point. Seeing the defensemen signed beyond this season is a big concern for me. Bouillon, as a sixth defender, was also given consideration.
As for Saku, could the Canadiens have brought him back into the fold at this point for less than what Anaheim are willing to pay him?
Kovalev's contract, based on his first Ottawa Senators season, is like charging a bald headed man $25 bucks for a haircut, nipping his ears with the scissors in the process.
Higgins seems no longer to be the Higgins we knew, a risk eh?
Tanguay, for that money, has a great future behind him.
Do you beg to differ, or would you say Gainey nailed it, in the case of a dozen player scenarios?
Mea culpa time, anyone?
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Robert,
I’ve been reading your blog for years. From the early days when Plekanec, Higgins and Perezhogin first made the squad, to this current article in hindsight of lost UFAs. I don’t know why I’ve never commented before, but I must admit, over all these years, you have provided the very best and meticulous habs coverage (although I do love fourhabsfans) across the web.
This is more of a thank you for all the years of great reads more than a comment on this particular article. Although to this day, I still hold grievances on how the Canadiens brass handled the Koivu situation. In my opinion, he’s a bargain for the price, but with all his heart, and for how he made all of his wingers over all those years, better players, he somehow was unable to inspire his entire team. I’d love to have him back. But as a captain? I’m not so sure. I think his silence spoke words to those who follow by example, but to the young, unsupervised, and easily late-night-influenced “kids” that Montreal has developed over the last few cap-era seasons, even his on-ice heroics were not comparable to a good dressing room scolding by a captain that grew tired of his teammates’ redundancy on the ice.
I miss him. I miss the idea of him as a Hab, and most of all, I miss reading articles of the charities that he provided to the city that I grew up in.
It’s been 16 years since I moved to Brooklyn. I’m still a die hard Canadiens fan, and in someway, that love for this team may reside from my ability to receive updated info about the them from excellent blogs like this one.
Many thanks,
-Gino
Gino, I cannot help but agree with what you have to say about Saku. He may have been miscast as a number one NHL top line center in Montreal, but simply judging by what happened to the careers of players such as Higgins, Ryder and Zednik after they left Koivu’s side, such speaks volumes for his merit as a player.
He was all heart!
I miss the man, the player, tremendously, and I am not alone in suggesting that it is an unfulfilled desire of mine to witness Saku hoisting the Cup in the CH.
Thanks Gino, for the kind words about this site, and I appreciate your response to your years of reading. Your compliments come at a needy time, and they mean a great deal. Thanks for saying what you have, and speaking your thoughts.
Why is the following fact not apparent to everyone: Scott Gomez makes 7.3 million. Saku Koivu makes about half of that. Saku Koivu scored 8 more goals than Scott Gomez last season and matched him in points. To me it´s clear that assists are not as important as goals. Scott Gomez has only hit the 20 goal plateau once in his NHL career. But let´s assume for a minute that these players are roughly equal offensively….
If the Canadiens had kept Saku Koivu, they would have a center of roughly the same quality as Gomez PLUS an extra 4 million or so to play with. 4 million buys you a QUALITY scoring forward. Maybe not a first liner but a good second liner. Or it buys you a top 2 or top 3 defenseman
And one more important little thing…uh, by the way, Saku Koivu was the captain of the team and exemplified what it means to wear a Canadiens jersey.
The only way that move will ever make any sense if it´s true that neither Cammalleri nor Gionta would have signed without the addition of Scott Gomez. Cammelleri has professed his love for the Canadiens, so I doubt that was a factor. Gionta…maybe. But I think it´s a safe bet that at least ONE of them would have signed. I´m also fairly confident that even if Gionta doesn´t sign and Kovalev stays, Kovy would have had a better season playing with the team he really wanted to play for than the team he ended up playing for. And even if that right winger issue isn´t resolved in 2009/2010, we have roughly 3 million less available to us on the cap for the next 4 YEARS, because Gomez is severely overpaid.
I have nothing against Gomez, I think he is a decent hockey player. But someone please show me how in G*d´s name trading Koivu and replacing him with Gomez DID NOT deteriorate the team? Personally, I am a fan of Bob Gainey. I believe he brought a team which was in trouble back to respectability. Most of the players he discarded a year ago went on to have subpar seasons elsewhere. But this is one move that didn´t have to be done, despite what some might say. If there were any “character” problems with the team of 2 years ago, it sure had nothing to do with Koivu. If you look at the subpar seasons of other players that left the club you can guess who they may have been. As pointed out above, Koivu made players around him better, and that does speak volumes.
Spot on, Rhino. And the argument that Gomez was brought on board so that Gionta would sign (supposedly because Gionta’s best days came while playing with Gomez) doesn’t seem to agree with the chronology. Gainey went after Kovy with the same contract he later offered to Gionta. And, if my memory is correct, this was right around the same time (if not right after) he traded for Gomez. Gionta was plan B for first line right winger.
And granted we did get Tom Pyatt out of the deal. But the Habs could easily have fit Higgins under the cap by re-signing Koivu and avoiding Gomez. Higgins was also overpaid, but he is bigger and more experienced version of Pyatt (ie, checking line left winger). And I’d rather have his and Koivu’s contracts than Gomez’s. Plus, Higgins’ contract expired this year. We still have Gomez’s on the books, and probably will until his salary goes down in a few years and we can trade him to some team way under the cap.
The Gomez trade aside, Gainey has done a decent job with the Habs’ salary structure. Heck, we could be the Bruins.
Definitely Koivu and Bouillon. Hands down, Koivu was a great leader and and the heart and inspiration of the team; I think letting him go was one of the biggest mistakes Bob Gainey made. As for Bouillon, I know he was small and far from being flashy, but he was a good, relatively inexpensive, smart, and solid defenseman who could definitely put in some minutes every night, so i think he’s a keeper too. Also, don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved Alex Kovalev as a Canadien (especially now that he’s a Senator), but I think he tried to wait out the organization come contract time, and that was a big mistake on his part. As for the others: I don’t think Tanguay panned-out the way he was intended to for the team, we all see how far Chris Higgins has fallen due to his inconsistency, Komisarek is definitely not worth the money he’s being paid in Toronto, Brisebois (also known affectionately by the media as “Breeze-by”) probably wouldn’t have stayed anyway due to his age, and for Marc Denis….well, let’s not get started on goalies again…
Habs defence older and worse this year with Spacek and Hamrlik. But Subban is a possible up and comer. Not as sure fire solid as most Canadiens fans seem to think he is.
Should have kept Bouillon for sure. Huge mistake. Played solidly with the Preds last year, and that says a lot that he could crack Trotz’s lineup with Weber, Hamhuis etc…. on their blueline. Ridiculous he was let go.
Komisarek also should have been re-signed at the right price. Gainey/Gauthier will miss them this year unless great things happen with HMS Hal Gill again like in the playoffs, the continued amazing play of Josh Gorges and the emergence of Pernell Karl Subban. Markov out for the first two months. Yikes!~
And why is Carey Price not signed? I read he is looking for a three year deal, but Gauthier only wants to give him two years. And they are a million dollars apart. Price earned $2.2 million last year so I am guessing he wants ’Halakian" money at $4 mill a year.
Anybody know what the delay is in getting Price signed?
You missed one
I miss Koivu so much, and I also can’t understand why they dumped Robert Lang. I know he’s 38-39 years old and got injured, but he was the best player on the team before his injury, the leader in points. He wasn’t expensive a great team player and veteran to whom the up-coming kids can look up to. He was a great off-ice guy ( and remember his f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c smile!!!). Other than these two proven players, no other of the others tempt me to bring them back. Gainy did a great job. Another thing that I couldn’t understand is how Sergei K. hung around till he did, I thought he’d be gone last summer for sure. Gainy/Gauthier now have a TEAM of such character players, players who are serious, respectable and talented. After Sergei K. was chucked, no bozo boneheads are left. No trouble makers. and no distactions. I hope from this past super playoff run this club jelled into a nice tight group that is hungry for even more success
As a fellow Long Islander I would have to say Komisarek. Hands down. The Habs could use his youth, size and toughness.
The handling of the Koivu situation was poor… The man was the captain. You just don’t discard him like that…
by Montcalm's Revenge on Jul 29, 2010 11:54 AM EDT reply actions
Totally agree with what a lot of people, including Robert, have said about Koivu.
I like Robert Lang too. Yeah, he’s around 40, but if he can play, so what?
Also, as a fellow (former) Long Islander… regarding Komisarek? No way! Let him stay in Toronto. He is an incredibly stupid player, driven too much by ego, which he cannot back up. Bouillion is a much better choice for the money.
Good point. After Markov the Habs really don’t have a good “quarterback” on the powerplay. Streit gave the second unit some teeth…
by Montcalm's Revenge on Jul 29, 2010 11:56 AM EDT up reply actions
Awwww..man!!!! You and me both! Streit was a GREAT defenseman for the Habs and great on the PP/PK too. I still can’t see why he was let go….what a bonehead move! Look at the Swiss Olympic teams: the key to Swiss hockey is defense, and the key to the defense is Streit.
by Alex Blosser on Jul 29, 2010 1:58 PM EDT up reply actions
Streit never once took a PK shift on defense during his Habs tenure. Forward maybe, but he departed the team without a top six spot on D if everyone recalls.
at least he did contribute some on the PK. That’s a lot more than can be said for MAB. And MAB does not have anywhere near the mobility of Streit.
Of course, Streit’s salary is high now, so signing him would be out of the question now.
But, perhaps we could have gotten him to re-sign if we had made an offer mid-season versus waiting until the end of the season to let him slip away, while we tried to save money to sign Sundin.
That's true..
That’s true…he did seem to like it in Habland.
by Alex Blosser on Jul 30, 2010 11:16 AM EDT up reply actions
As much as I want to say that I miss Saku the most and I do. I paid attention to the Canadiens as a child in the 80’s and then got lost in work and school and came back in the mid 2000’s so Saku is always going to be my Captain because of that. In spite of that I have to say that I miss Guy Carbonneau more. As a child watching them as I grew up I loved Guy and was very disappointed that Guy was let go. However, Hockey Night in Canada is a lot more exciting now then it was a year ago and when does he get a call to go into the Hall?
20/20
At the time, it looked right to get rid of ALL of these guys, although I thought Kovy and/or Komi might stay for about $4MM per … and I think that’s what they were offered, more or less. Hindsight 20/20, it now appears that those “Hab haters” were right and Komi is fairly over-rated – for $4.5MM per, a guy has to do more than just block shots and hit occassionally.
The FA pick ups were risky, but Gainey got winners with character, and (besides Koivu), none of the guys who disappeared had those qualities. So good riddance. Turn the page.
However, ....
the thing that keeps the Habs from rising out of 8th is that they need 1 or 2 or 3 of their young players to actually develop into TOP players, not 3rd / 4th line roster fillers … they keep missing (McDonagh, Chipchura, Latendresse, Komisarek, Higgins, S Kostitysn, etc.)
They need Price, Pouliot, Eller, Subban (!!), Pacioretty, Leblanc, Tinordi to step up like young stars have done for other teams (look at Black Hawks) and become top players within 3 years, rather than after 5 years (Komisarek) or never (most others). Subban could be the start, let’s hope he keeps it up.
Bob should have let them go at the trade deadline
While Bob may have been right in his evaluation of the players and decision to let everyone go, I think you can argue he still mishandled the situation and did not maximize his return on assets. Getting rid of these guys at the trading deadline could have brought in draft picks and prospects (plus trading Koivu to a cup contender would have been a classy move) instead of that embarrassing 4 game sweep at the hands of the Bruins.
Also, Watty4ever, the Habs have had players rise through the ranks to become stars, unfortunately they’re playing for St Louis and the Islanders this season.
What you suggest is only possible with skewered hindsight. While I’ve long maintained that Gainey could have auctioned off an asset or two (not wholesale) at the trade deadline, the fact remains that the team was then in fifth place, sliding fast. Gainey could never have subjected Canadiens fans to a tanking at that point, which is exactly what a large number of trades would have appeared to be.
While it would have been drastic, I’m not sure if you required hindsight to see the team was falling off the rails. After all, Gainey ended up turfing his head coach only a few days later (surely not an experiment which usually leads to a long playoff run). Taken in the context of the 2008-2009 season where Kovy was asked to stay home, the mobster stories, the disastrous western road trip, etc, etc it was a pretty good opportunity to do something courageous that would have benefitted the team long term.
All that you say is very true, and it would have been “something courageous” had Gainey opted for drastic moves at the deadline. The story we will never know, is whether there were talks with other teams about certain players moving or not. We can speculate, that’s all.
Perhaps Gainey felt, that one year removed from a first pace finish, it was a little soon to dismantle and that it was time he put faith in his lineup. After a playoff sweep, he saw firsthand, and changed his tune.
Oddly, if injuries are part of the storyline, 2008-09 was mirrored by the season that followed, with the obvious difference that come playoff time, the exact opposite occurred.
You’re right, Bob could have been working on things that didn’t pan out. He may also have been under some pressure to bring in a few playoff gates to help with ownership’s money woes. There’s all sorts of scenarios that we might not be aware of. As a fan though, it’s frustrating to see the number of UFAs that left without any return throughout his tenure.
Blair, you have to have been raised in the same Pollock era as I have. We believe that every player is an asset that should return something. I myself still have a lot of trouble with things no longer being this way in sum.
Last year, I did an article precisely on the lack of return acquisition from that lost free agent pool, and the best way it was explained back to me by a reader (I’m thinking it was Chris Boyle) was that any players returned from trades would have taken up spending money from July 1. In other words, the diminishing return was negated by the reality of the salary cap era. Gainey likely looked at it as being better off with 30 million to spend instead of 20, with the playoffs being a potential redeemer for certain players.
As you point out succinctly, ownership may have played a part. There were many strange goings on in 2008-09.
In sum, the landscape of the era’s have changed so dramatically in 25 years, there is almost no more basis for comparision anymore. For many people, myself included at times, that fact continues to take its time sinking in.
And here I thought I was being new school and Bob was being old school ;)
I think there’s still value to thinking of players as assets as long as you remember cap space is also an asset when doing your transactions (you could argue Sutter did ok on the Phaneuf trade by freeing up much needed cap space until he resigned Stajan to a ridiculous deal)
One of the keys to success in the salary cap era is having your younger and cheaper players play pivotal roles on your team. If you can turn your UFA’s into picks and prospects (who might not even impact on your cap for a few years if they’re seasoning in the minors), you’re in a better position then just letting the players walk at the end of the season. Basically, turning Rivet into Gorges and MaxPac. Your competitiveness might suffer for the rest of the season, but you can retool for next season on July 1 + have a better stocked farm system.
Anyway, thanks very much for the discussion. Have enjoyed it.
Well, you could look at it as flexibility. Markov is a no brainer to keep but I certainly don’t want Hammer back (he was plain simply awful the 2nd half of the season and worse in the playoffs) and Gill was awesome in the playoffs but he is getting older and slower. Gorges is a RFA as is OB.
Komi at 4.25 the way he played his last year in Mtl and last year in TO is a waste of money that I want no part of.
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