Marc Bergevin

[blocker]

After the pressie, there are more questions than there were before.  Is Price going to be OK in the long term?  Why was Therrien allowed to blame Subban for a team loss?  Why did Bergevin guaranty Therrien's job in the midst of disaster?  Why did Jeff Molson give Bergevin such a long term deal?  Isn't it obvious that Therrien is still the same stupid mutt that he proved to be in Pittsburgh?  His mishandling of Galchenyuk glares in the light of the kid's performance in the last few games.   Bergevins whiny "poor, poor pitiful me" defense should have been reason enough Molson to fire his sorry butt.

 

Montreal Canadiens used to be a class act.  But, these clowns are sucking the dignity and pride out of this organization.

[BluPuk]

There really isn't much to defend these guys (management) is there? Really low class stuff coming out of Montreal these days, and it will definitely affect the players' play on the ice.

 

It's just a gut feeling I have, but I think Price is VERY unhappy in Montreal and I think it's a culture thing. As I understand it, he has refused to learn the French language. That will not go over well in habland. The Quebec language laws make Montreal an unfriendly place for a unilingual anglophone. So if you happen to be one and you're a very good player, you will likely try to avoid the place. Quebec's "french only" anglophobia will cost them in the end as a hockey power.

 

Remember Eric Lindros???

[WordsOfWisdom]

10 minutes ago, BluPuk said:

It's just a gut feeling I have, but I think Price is VERY unhappy in Montreal and I think it's a culture thing. As I understand it, he has refused to learn the French language. That will not go over well in habland. The Quebec language laws make Montreal an unfriendly place for a unilingual anglophone. So if you happen to be one and you're a very good player, you will likely try to avoid the place. Quebec's "french only" anglophobia will cost them in the end as a hockey power.

 

This is probably the reason why the Habs have had such a dearth of elite level players in recent decades. Nobody wants to put up with the French language BS. It's enough to focus on hockey, conditioning, and coaching without saddling yourself with the baggage of having another language to learn. 

 

I live in Ontario and I'm tired of the French language crap myself. We should have one official language: English.  

[AJgoal]

20 minutes ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

 

This is probably the reason why the Habs have had such a dearth of elite level players in recent decades. Nobody wants to put up with the French language BS. It's enough to focus on hockey, conditioning, and coaching without saddling yourself with the baggage of having another language to learn. 

 

You know what though? It's expected of every other NHL player that they learn to speak English. French Canadian, Russian, Swedish, Czech... If you're going to live and work in an area, it's not unreasonable to expect one to speak the language spoken by the residents. How would folks in Toronto react if their star player from backwoods Quebec refused to learn English?

[WordsOfWisdom]

7 hours ago, AJgoal said:

 

You know what though? It's expected of every other NHL player that they learn to speak English. French Canadian, Russian, Swedish, Czech... If you're going to live and work in an area, it's not unreasonable to expect one to speak the language spoken by the residents. How would folks in Toronto react if their star player from backwoods Quebec refused to learn English?

 

I hear what you're saying but many of them already have to learn English to play in North America. Then the Montreal Canadiens (being the only Quebec team) expect them to also learn French? It's one language too many. That's the issue.

 

2/3 of Canada speaks English. Imagine if your entire country had to learn Spanish, and Spanish became a second official language, because one state in your country was comprised of mostly Spanish speaking people.  

 

 

[blocker]

7 hours ago, AJgoal said:

 

You know what though? It's expected of every other NHL player that they learn to speak English. French Canadian, Russian, Swedish, Czech... If you're going to live and work in an area, it's not unreasonable to expect one to speak the language spoken by the residents. How would folks in Toronto react if their star player from backwoods Quebec refused to learn English?

That's a fair point.  

 

But, sometimes, the French language advocates go pretty far.

 

Many years ago, I was on the board of directors for the Richelieu-Yamaska hockey league.  Most of the business conducted in our meetings was in French.  I was able to follow almost everything, but sometimes I needed clarification.  At one meeting, this guy made a motion in French.  The gist of which was that if I didn't understand what was going on,  to hell with me.  I sat there while the others voted whether or not I was to be included.  I took the insult, because in the end our children were exposed to better hockey than was available in the US.   If my shame was the price I paid for that opportunity, so be it.

 

I've enjoyed the friendship of many in Quebec hockey.  But, I've always been way more comfortable with people from Ontario and the maritimes.