Cam Neely and Raymond Bourque took in the applause in Boston. Luc Robitaille, Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri became poster boys for the glamorous in Los Angeles. Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne shed the ‘ Mickey Mouse ‘ tags in Anaheim. Doug Gilmour and Wendel Clarke made Toronto fans almost forget that they had not won a Cup since 1967.
The Rangers’ faithful watched Jaromir Jagr display his magic hands and placed Mark Messier in Ranger lore to the end of time. Chicago – ites gawked and almost fainted as Denis Savard spun his way into the hearts of the Windy City. Motown had more to sing about than the Jackson Five and Aretha Frankiln as Stevie ‘Y’ and Federov brought the once Pr ‘ Howe ‘ d organization to the echelons of hockey history. San Jose boasted Larionov and later Thornton. Buffalo had Mogilny and Turgeon. Vancouver ? Bure , Linden and Naslund. Edmonton had…well , everyone. What about Pittsburgh ? Lemieux, Jagr and Francis battled Philadelphia’s Lindros , Howe and Tocchet. All these star players , in all these cities since Guy Lafleur scored his final goal in a Montreal Canadien uniform back in 1984.
Sure the Canadiens have had their share of ‘ stars ‘. Defensive stars. Guy Carbonneau and Patrick Roy are the two most popular players to skate for the Habs in the past twenty years. The players that showed offensive capabilities such as Stephane Richer, Claude Lemieux and John Leclair were so overwhelmed by the organization’s fascination with defence that they needed to skate on a non – Francophone ice surface to excel. Richer and Lemieux won a Cup in New Jersey and Leclair became a perennial fifty goal scorer in Philadelphia. One by one the Canadiens tried in vain to import a star to jump start the anemic and forgotten offense. Mark Recchi, Pierre Turgeon, Trevor Linden, Doug Gilmour were all brought in. Things were so desperate Stephane Richer and Shane Corson were ‘ returned ‘ from their non – Hab excursions in hopes of rekindling a failed relationship . Chris Nilan was summoned to back in the twilight of his ‘ knucklehead ‘ career to do exactly what – it is not clear. Turgeon and Recchi were so ‘ bad ‘ that they were demoted to the third lines before being traded away for essentially nothing. Ironically , the pair are the last to come close to netting one hundred points in a bleu, blanc et rouge sweater. Turgeon went from being the last man to hold the torch in the final game at the Forum to a third line center. A fact that the biggest mistake in Habs history ( G.M Rejean Houle ) pointed out so profoundly in the press days before he traded the former Captain. A five year old child would not even let on that his Joe Dimaggio baseball card was dog – eared previous to a Dimaggio for Ruth swap.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Dallas , Mike Modano was lighting up the Texas skies and Joe Sakic was teaching English hockey 101 to the denizens in Quebec and later Colorado. Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier proved that the Stanley Cup does belong with the French Canadians as they brought the Holy Grail to the beaches in Tampa so all the Speedo – toting , Gitane – smoking misplaced Quebecois would feel at home in the absence of poutines. Brett Hull brought people to St. Louis for other reasons than the giant Arc and New Jersey ‘ Niedemeyered ‘ and ‘ Stevened ‘ their way into the pre – ‘ Snookie ‘hearts of the Shore. A ‘ situation ‘ that made ‘ Abs ‘ seem obsolete.
Richard Zednik was not a star, Martin Rucinski and Saku Koivu were not the Saints to lead the town into hockey martydom. Kovalev was a star only because the fans in Montreal had not seen magic hands for so long that a Geisha girl who was quick on her skates would have done the trick. Koivu did his best imitation of a European Lafleur yet the organization never gave him a ‘ Shutt ‘ or ‘ Lemaire ‘to play with. The opportunities that arose for the organization to actually trade for a star were blown faster than a tourist in Amsterdam. Patrick Roy demanded a trade in a non -polite fashion when he was the elite goaltender in the NHL. Houle and Ronald Corey had all the time in the world to make a deal that would have landed the Canadiens organization a bonafide star or maybe two. Instead they traded Roy faster than a Pavel Bure rush and settled for three players that have become answers to a very bad trivia question. To make matters worse , Houle et al threw their Captain, Mike Keane into Stanley Cup history . Keane went on to win a Cup in Dallas.
Coaches Get it Wrong
Pat Burns and Jacques Demers were the final two coaches to have an idea of how to balance the offense and defense. The pair also knew how to get the best out of their players. Since 1993 , the Canadiens have hired a barrage of coaches that believe that defence is the sole reason that championships are won.Tremblay, Therrien, Vigneault, Julien and on again off again Gainey. Guy Carbonneau had the team as the highest scoring team in the NHL four seasons ago yet unfortunately for Guy , the team was also the highest scoring team in the bars as well. Carbonneau had the right idea and for that reason he remains a very popular figure in Montreal. On and off the ice. In and out of the bars.
Jacques Martin is continuing the tradition of befuddling the offensive stars on the team. Brian Gionta is no longer the player that made Montreal realize how silly the town appeared cheering Kovalev. Cammalleri is not fist pumpin his way into the highlight reels and Plekanec is growing tired of being the only consistent forward on the team. P. K Subban has gone from being a breath of fresh air to a tornado of errors. At least with Andrei Kostisyn , everyone knows what to expect. Andrei joins Plekanec in consistency with a non – constistent effort game after game.
Season after season, game after game and shift after shift – the Canadiens in the past twenty years have fumbled and clawed their way into eighth place or missed the play – offs entirely. A new generation of fans shed the snow on their cars and head to the Bell Center to cheer on images of themselves on the Jumbotron and a rebirth of the team Mascot – Youppi. When Gionta, Cammalleri and the rare time that their highest paid player Gomez scores, the fans stand and cheer. They sing Ole, Ole , Ole at the top of their lungs. They scream and yell.
They do not realize that they are celebrating what the Canadiens once were. They cheer the greatest team in the history of hockey. They cheer Richard, Beliveau and Lafleur. Deep inside they dream of a superstar in Montreal. If they even know what that is anymore.
Happy New Year everyone.
Habs end the year in Florida ce soir facing another one of their outcasts in Tomas Vokoun. Pray that the New Year lands the Habs a star forward that can make us forget all the Leclairs in the world.