CONTRACTS OF DGS AND COACHES
Why do GMs and coaches have fixed term contracts? Why not open contracts as in other fields? We would avoid being in “the last year of Marc Bergevin’s contract”, with all the associated problems. We would also avoid paying Claude Julien after his dismissal.
George McIsaac
Response from Guillaume Lefrançois:
Agreements with general managers or coaches are processes of which little is known about the details. So let’s turn to François Giguère, former GM of the Colorado Avalanche, who now represents coaches and leaders in the NHL. “There is a lot of insecurity in these positions. You can get fired quickly, recalls Giguère on the phone. There are a limited number of individuals who have the talent to do it, and there are 32 teams. If you start to refuse to give long-term contracts, you will not have quality candidates. ”
Giguère notes, however, a new trend: the leaders who, like Marc Bergevin precisely, are entering a final year of contract without an extension for the future. “Before, it was an unwritten law, the person was seen as a blade duck. Giguère knows what he’s talking about. In Colorado, he let his head coach, Joel Quenneville, run out of his last year of contract in 2007-2008. In the summer, Quenneville had taken advantage of his autonomy to accept the post of coach the Blackhawks, with whom he won the Stanley Cup three times. “My biggest mistake was letting him finish his contract. For him, the risk of letting his contract expire was minimal, because he would find himself working elsewhere. ”
WHERE ARE THE QUEBEC GUARDIANS?
How is it that we hardly have any Quebec goaltenders in the NHL? Is it because of the arrival of the Finnish, Swedish, Russian, Latvian and American goalkeepers? And does the size of the goalkeepers still matter?
Jacques Letourneau
Response from Simon-Olivier Lorange:
The question is complex, and the explanations, numerous. You raise two: improving the development systems for goalkeepers outside Quebec as well as the issue of the template. Quebec hockey discriminates little (or not) against small goaltenders, which the NHL teams are crazy about today. There are also other factors, like the draft rules, which only give teams two years to award a contract to a Canadian player. And there is finally a harsh reality, that of a loss of Quebec expertise that has been observed over the past decade. This is even rather ironic, since Quebec goalkeeper coaches have played a decisive role in the development of other national programs. All these issues, roughly summarized here, have been addressed by Press in a file of rare rigor at the beginning of the year 2021. I invite you to read it or reread it.
DOPING IN MONTREAL
What was the place of doping at the Olympic Games in Montreal? Were there countries ahead? Canadian doctors who encouraged this practice?
Guillaume Dallaire-Tremblay
Response from Alexandre Pratt:
There were 11 confirmed cases of doping at the Montreal Games. Almost all weightlifters, who had abused anabolic steroids. A Monegasque gunman was caught with amphetamines, and a Canadian registered in veil, Lorne Liebel, had used a nasal decongestant. On the other hand, there was spectacular cheating in modern pentathlon, which had nothing to do with doping. The Soviet Boris Onishchenko had installed a small device under the hilt of his sword. The equivalent of a switch. When it activated, it automatically scored a point. He got caught after scoring a point without even touching his opponent.
THE DESERT NET
the [27 novembre dernier], Josh Anderson scored two goals in an empty net. Has there ever been a player who scored a hat trick in the NHL in an empty net?
Serge Trudeau
Response from Katherine Harvey-Pinard:
No, it never happened. Josh Anderson is on 19e player in history to have managed to register two in a single match. Others who have done so include Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Marcel Dionne. One player, however, came very close to achieving a hat trick: on October 26, 1984, Danny Gare had two goals and an assist, all in empty nets, in a 7-3 win for the Detroit Red Wings over the Sabers. from Buffalo.
By the way, while you’re at it: the record for goals scored in an empty net in a single game was set on April 5, 1970. The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Montreal Canadiens by a score of 10-2 . They scored, hold on… five goals in an empty net! The Habs, then tied for the standings with the New York Rangers, had to score at least five goals in the game to advance to the playoffs, which is why they continued to withdraw their goalkeeper despite the widening gap.