There are few reporters I respect more than Renaud Lavoie when it comes to the Montreal Canadiens, so this must be the truth.
Michel Therrien will be back as the Montreal Canadiens head coach in 2016-17. Safe to say this is a bit surprising to already be known, but I guess the Habs are giving Therrien a mulligan and they believe Therrien would have performed much differently with Carey Price in the line-up...and without all the injuries suffered in this season lost for Montreal.
On one hand you can understand this sort of thinking. With Price early in the season Therrien coached this fabled franchise to their finest start in an NHL history that has seen some pretty fine teams play on St. Catherine Street. On the other hand....
I hate being classified as anti-Therrien, but as many of you know I am not his #1 supporter going back to his first stint with my second favorite team in Montreal, onto personally covering him as the Penguins coach to a Cup Final, up until the Canadiens unlikely Conference Final run of two years ago I questioned his line management abilities.
My theory on Therrien is he coaches through some methods that may work short term, but eventually are easily tuned out by NHL players. He tends to get his team mad at him in an attempt to build bonds, and he loves to take pot shots at his top players in a very calculated attempt to get his team to ramp up their play via their own anger.
I know quite a few popular players who have been NEVER been called out by a coach since they were a peewee that Therrien has publicly embarrassed in Pitt and Montreal. Right up to this year's ridiculousness surrounding PK Subban.
All of that aside, there are two parts of having him return I don't understand.
#1. Can they win without Price?
Yes losing Price would devastate any team Carey Price may be the NHL's most dominant player right now, and there isn't a team alive that wouldn't feel the hit. That is why the question mark over these Habs has always been, "Can they compete and win without Price, or is he the only story here?" When Price went down this was definitely the question that we were all waiting to hear answered..and unfortunately we got our answer...but I still don't buy that there isn't enough talent assembled by Bergevin for this Canadiens team to be a playoff team without Price, and if you agree with me then I think you can agree we were all asking the wrong question. The question should have been, "Is Michel Therrien only able to compete and win because of Carey Price?' And that is where I am at. Therrien hasn't been able to make much happen at all without the "get out of jail free card" that is his world class netminder...
#2 Since when do the Canadiens EVER give out Mulligans?
Honestly, I grew up believing that it is hot in the summer, it snows in the winter, and the Montreal Canadiens have the highest standards of excellence in all of sports. Other teams may be allowed to have a "lost season" but such a thing would never be possible or tolerated (even at this point) in Montreal.
What say you?
We will discuss all this and more on today's Buzzcast Live at 3pm ET.
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