I don't know if it's irony or what, but it's funny that as soon as I write a piece about the state of the Habs, the team holds a press conference today to announce the firing of the GM, Pierre Gauthier and the "mutual" parting of the ways with long-time advisor, Bob Gainey.
I was alerted of the happenings by one of my beer reps early this morning, and thanks to my trusty iPhone, I was able to listen to Montreal Sports Radio TSN990 and get all of the scuttlebutt as well as listen in to the actual press conference by Habs team owner, Geoff Molson. Now when it was announced that he would be handling the press conference on his own, I thought to myself, "Uh-oh.. this could be disastrous". The Montreal press is pretty tough when it comes to their beloved Canadiens and any misstep could be damaging beyond repair. In essence, this was going to be Molson's one chance to, (as it was elegantly put in the film "Gladiator"), "Win the crowd". And for all intent and purpose, I thought Mr. Molson did just that.
He was straight-forward with the status of the team. What worked, what didn't work. What was needed to move on and what he was looking to do for the betterment of the team and the fans of Montreal. He addressed the firing of the GM and the departure of Gainey in a succinct and respectful way and then he stuck around and fielded questions for almost an hour. Again, all solo, with no PR lackey to intervene. In essence, he faced the firing squad head on and handled himself well. At the end of the presser, you got a sense that while there were things that still needed to be done, the team was going to do its best to right the ship and bring the Habs back to its former glory.
Here's the press conference:
At this point, I'll take that. Well done, Mr. Molson. Time to write the next chapter.
Cheers.
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