Scotty Bowman would not have won the Canadiens this season. Neither does Mike Babcock. Jon Cooper would leave without success a new rubber every five minutes behind the bench of this team which is not one. The CH is on the way to the worst season in its history. Literally.
How then to believe in the return of Dominique Ducharme next season? Hardly.
Coach’s inexperience
Let’s settle some business. The Canadian coach cannot be exonerated from all blame. He misjudged the “blues” that would affect his team at the start of the campaign. The effects of a short summer following the three-game losing streak of the Stanley Cup were brutal. The departure of respected veterans like Weber, Perry and Staal. The endless absences of Price and Edmundson. Everything was in place for a false start.
But Ducharme’s inexperience prevented him from foreseeing it and above all from believing it.
Badly supervised, he quickly pulled what was left of him under the bus. “They think they are better than they are” was probably a truth. But she wasn’t good at saying. Especially not this early in the season.
Ducharme has disaffected some veterans, Jeff Petry in the lead. He quickly found himself alone trying to weather the storm. The absence of an experienced coach by his side behind the bench was sorely missed. And when Dominique raised his head towards the second floor, Marc Bergevin was there in body, but not in spirit. He waited in vain for his boss Geoff Molson to deign to let him know his fate.
Reality
Coach Ducharme’s schematics aren’t that demanding. They are adapted to the reality of today’s hockey. This reality made Shea Weber pimples.
But she will be beautiful to see in the blades of Romanov, Guhle, Mailloux and hopefully Harris. Dominique Ducharme is a coach looking to the future, but alas, he no longer has one. Even if we reread the beginning of this text tirelessly to convince ourselves of the contrary. NO coach would have won this edition of the Canadian.
So why ruin the National League head coaching career of a talented young man? Because it’s in the nature of things. There is a new hockey direction.
Strong men with well-established ideas. They are going to want to name their man behind the bench. And surround it to their liking. And I insist: I deplore it. Dominique becomes an easy solution to a much more complex problem.
Who knows if the CH would not still be in the portrait of the playoffs if Carey Price and Joel Edmundson had played healthy the first half of the season.
The real question to ask is however: would it have served the overhaul plan that we have seen taking shape before our eyes since the end of November?
Cut of heart
AT Felix Auger-Aliassime. There is no longer any doubt in my mind that Felix will one day win a Grand Slam tournament. To those who challenge his progress and continue to doubt. Felix is a child’s heart in an adult body. He is only 21 years old. Every heartbreaking defeat is worth its weight. He learns in pain and progresses towards the light. It is for real!
kick mouth
Photo QMI Agency, Joël Lemay
To the government of Francois Legault. The waltz-hesitation surrounding the resumption of sport is embarrassing. We can squeeze 30 into a poorly ventilated classroom, but we can’t be 24 to play a game on a 200-by-80 foot ice? We can be 250 in a 500-seat place of worship, but we can’t be more than 500 at the Bell Centre? How can this be scientifically possible?
a little 2 on…
Wins for Kansas City and Los Angeles in the NFL Conference Finals. I was 6 in 6 after the first weekend, I’m 6 in 10 after the second. My performance is pathetic, nothing less. That’s not the point. The Chiefs will wash out the Bengals by at least 11 points. The Niners and Rams are going to play loser wins. In this game, LA will pass, by a kick.