EOTP on CJAD this aft, and other Habs links

MM:

I will not attempt to disuade you from your delusion as you have shown in the past and currently to be a devotee of a man who is a complete disaster, bereft of the nuance of the deal and simply a man who is frankly a joke as a GM across the league.

let me give you some major examples of where I derive my opinion of his uselessness in building a team and I’ll start back in July 2003 when he was first brought on as Director of Pro Scouting and Assistant GM up to today where he holds the title of GM as of Feb 2010. Gainey titled Gauthier “the man I trust the most to take over” in the press conference when BG stepped down and as the Director of Pro Scouting and AGM Gauthier was clearly Bob’s go to guy on all matters related to pro players. Bob may have pulled the trigger but Gauthier loaded the gun and had been loading it since 2003. in fact I would say where the CH finds itself today on the Pro side is more the doing of Gauthier, his player evaluations and recommendations to Gainey than Gainey’s own input. there are many examples of Gauthier ineptness but I will stick to the highlights

1. trading Ribeiro in 2006 for Niinimaa who effectively still had a broken ankle. Mikey Ribs was clearly a highly skilled player and shit disturber in the dressing room but the CH did Doug Armstrong a major favour by giving a 2nd line centre for a broken ankle

2. signing Sergei Samsonov as a UFA in 2006 only to learn he hated playing in MTL for Carbo then traded him the next summer

3. claimed Leighton from Philly in 2007 again to trade him the following summer

4. claimed Traverse in 2006 to trade him the same year for Biron

5. made the miscalculation of keeping both Souray (who clearly wasn’t coming back to MTL) and Streit (whom they thought was only a poor d man) after the deadline and got no asset for either player

6. in 2008 traded a gifted centre Grabovski to Toronto for a D prospect Greg Pateryn who has yet to raise his head in the show

7. gave up a 1st and 2nd round choices for Tanguay who played for 52 games and then let him walk at the deadline.

8. in 2008 signed Laraque to a 3 year $4.5 million contract only to find out after the signing that George had major back issues and had turned pacifist. members of MTL media with connections in Edmonton knew of Georges unwillingness to protect his players but Gauthier didn’t. George’s unwillingness to engage was also a significant reason in Komisarek deciding to leave given that Mike had to fight the Beast Lucic on his own without intervention by BGL

9. did not offer Saku Koivu a contract because they thought he no longer had the on ice ability. unfortunately for the CH headshed Koivu has matched Gomez’s points over the last 2 years for $9 million less in cap hit

10. decided that signing Spacek at 35 years of age (making cap hit permanent except for trade) for 3 years at $3.83 per was better than signing Beauchemin or other younger D men. they passed on Beauchemin because Gauthier thought he had back issues which clearly he didn’t

11. advised Gainey to make what will clearly be the 3rd worst trade in CH history while claiming that they were getting a “top 5 skater in the NHL” in acquiring Gomez and his remaining 5 year $7.357 million per year cap hit. Gomez had been put on the block for the entire 2008 season by NY but no one was stupid enough to bite. not only did they gift wrap cap relief for Sather they then turned around and traded their #1 D prospect (McDonagh); Higgins, who was an excellent skater/ effective PK guy able to play part time on top 2 lines and a rock hard nasty D man in Valentenko. McDonagh is a top 4 D man in his rookie year, Higgins after bouncing around has become an effective 3rd liner in vancouver and Valentenko will join McDonagh in NY next year. this signing also also forced them into trading Halak since they could not afford his new contract due to Gomez cap hit. Wisneiwski may see the same fate . only the trading of Roy and Chelios will prove to be moves more debilitating to building that Cup contender than acquiring Gomez .

-those are the major deals (and a minor 1 or 2 acquisitions) that show me that Gauthier has no clue in terms of pro player evaluation as the Director of Pro Scouting and AGM. for the most part his evaluations as above have been proved to be incorrect in terms of whom they acquired, released or traded and the CH basically came out on the short end of all deals except for; Kovalev for Balej (2004) and Rivet for Gorges and 1st round pick with which Timmins took Pacioretty. now for his GM moves

1. in the summer of 2009 it was suggested to Dominic Moore that he call the CH because as he and his agent were advised the Martin system fit Mooore perfectly. the CH said no thanks. Moore signs with FLA. in January 2010 the CH trade for Moore surrendering a 2nd round choice and paying the remaining $1.1 million in salary. in the summer of 2010 (Gauthier now the GM since feb) Moore wanting the same salary was allowed to leave as a UFA. at the same time they give Pouliot a $500K raise for essentially no reason as his in season and post season effectiveness did not warrant the raise…(will come back to this)

2. they then sign Halpern for $650K to replace Moore. Moore is younger, faster, more creative and similiar in faceoff efficiency as was Halpern. now the $650 for Halpern and the $500K raise to Pouliot was the $1.1 Moore got from Tampa…from this move they rewarded a player that didn’t earn it, they got older and slower with Halpern and lost a 2nd round pick for 1/2 season for Moore…that’s Gauthier and the nuance of his dealings

3. they dump Boucher because he was a clear threat to Martin and his defense first system. we can argue who is the better coach, who has the better system but Tampa is in the second round w a 41 yr old goalie and every player from Drummondville to McGill to Hamilton to tampa love this no nonsense coach who is simply a thinker in the new NHL were Jacques is a pre-lock out dino

4. Larry Robinson via his agent calls the CH and says he wants to coach in MTL. CH says we’ll call you after playoffs. they don’t because HoF Larry is clearly a threat to Pearn who is a friend of Martin and Gauthier. must be all the Cups Pearn has won and his stellar pro career and his HoF position ? I’d rather have Larry mentoring PK than Pearn

5. dumping Sergei for nothing, dumping D’Agostini for nothing, dumping O’Bryne for a prospect 3-4 years away all the while these guys flourish with their new teams while they could not play for Martin….even if I agree they had to be traded and I do not Gauthier got zero value or value less than he gave away

6. Gauthier did pick the right goalie to trade. one wonders how he managed to get that right but he did. but he created no market for Jaro and only dealt w 1 team St Louis. from whom he picked a prospect who may pan out to be a 2nd line centre. unfortunately the CH already have 2, 2nd line centres under contract in Gomez and Plekanec and neither seems to be going anywhere. what about TJ Oshie what about Berglund what about opening up the bidding to those that needed a goalie…you trade the hottest goalie on the planet to the first caller….what would have Philly surrendered last summer to cure their goalie issues. certainly not Giroux, perhaps Carter but more than likely a slumping slower developing Van Riemsdyk with whom they were losing patience…we’ll never know. but what Gauthier did was dereliction of duty

-seems to me where we talk about 2003-feb 2010 as Gainey’s main advisor on pro deals or feb 2010 to now as GM Gauthier is worthy of being fired. you think he’s shrewed perhaps your CH coloured glasses need a prescription update…then again maybe you’re a front for Donnie Beauchamps and the CH PR department….either way the facts speak for themselves and no advanced nor micro view will change that

as for the Wis for a 2nd well unless they sign him it’s another overpayment given that Snow only paid a 3rd to get him from Anaheim

Gauthier most overrated GM who slice by slice is killing this team. his tenure is a fucking onion —-the more you peel back his involvement the more you cry at the results