Habs North vs Habs South; A Statement Game
It may be extremely early into the season, but tonight's home opener for the Montreal Canadiens has quite a few side-stories that make this more than just the first game of the year between these two Eastern Conference squads.
As we all know, over the course of the summer the Canadiens and Lightning were often tied together due to many of their respective personnel moves.
Montreal had a few decisions to make in the off-season, of which - at the top of that list - was what to do with their dynamic coaching duo in Hamilton.
Thanks to an unforeseen playoff run, the general consensus was that the current coaching staff did more than what they needed to in order to retain their jobs. Obviously, as the summer progressed that statement proved true as the Molson's, the Canadiens owners of old and now new, kept each component of their coaching staff in place.
Due to this decision to retain Martin and company, the team was also forced to do the right thing in letting Guy Boucher explore other employment opportunities, most notably finding his first coaching job in the NHL.
Boucher interviewed for the job in Columbus and had otherwise practically decided to ply his trade in Ohio until the opportunity to work alongside Steve Yzerman in Tampa Bay reared its head.
Yzerman, the Hall of Fame player turned manager, was also entering his first year as a general manager, deciding to take the job in Tampa Bay after it became clear that the job he was truly interested in, that of GM of the Montreal Canadiens, was clearly not up for grabs.
Stevie Y expressed discrete interest in joining the Habs, but as the outcome of the prior season had secured most everyones jobs, Yzerman was unfortunately out of luck.
Call it timing, call it a forced decision, but the reality is that once Yzerman turned his attention to the Lightning, the Canadiens became an indirect area of focus.
It's safe to assume that, thanks to Yzerman's interest in Montreal that he had also familiarized himself with the roster and staff, both in the NHL and the AHL. So, once he had been entrenched in Tampa, he quickly set about putting in place the staff that, we could all assume, he likely would have hired in Montreal.
Of course, those "pieces" were Guy Boucher and his assistant coach, Martin Raymond.
With a dynamic offensive coaching style in place, Yzerman set about trimming the fat off the roster and re-affirming his faith in certain key players, namely a long talk with captain Vincent Lecavalier and by extending both Steven Stamkos and Martin St.Louis.
Interestingly enough, that's not where the Habs-Lightning connection ends as Yzerman promptly signed Dan Ellis to a two year deal once the Canadiens, who had acquired Ellis along with Dustin Boyd from the Predators for Sergei Kostitsyn, could not strike a deal with the netminder.
Yzerman also apparently liked what he saw out of Dominic Moore during his stint with the Canadiens last spring as the new GM convinced the UFA centerman, that many Habs fans hoped would return to Montreal, to agree to a very affordable two year deal.
In lieu of all the defectors who went south from Montreal to Tampa Bay, the Canadiens weren't the victim in all of this as they signed former Bolt, Jeff Halpern, to a 1 year deal, basically replacing Moore with Halpern.
So, to put all of the summer's activity between the Canadiens and Lightning into perspective, there's alot more to tonight's home opener in Montreal than just a game between two teams in the same conference.
But who has more to prove?
The guys who weren't kept or brought into the fold in Montreal?
Or the guys that the Canadiens decided to keep?
Losing Boucher, Martin and others was not a pleasant situation for many Habs fans this summer, but it's the reality of the game and as the young coaching tandem had turned themselves into a valuable commodity, it was only inevitable that they wound up in the NHL.
Expect both sides to come out with a bang as Tampa undoubtedly wants to show-up the Canadiens in front of their home fans while the Habs will be geared up to prove to their fans they made the right choice.
Price vs Smith. Should be a fun one!
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Go Habs!!!!!
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