The Official "I Will Miss" Bob Gainey Thread...hijacked.

[WeHaveMoreCupsThanYou]

Since when does XPOFAN get to make the rules about anything? Did he become a mod while no one was looking?

I come to bury Gainey, not to praise him.

[worm]

bang on bob cole

[worm]

I will miss bob gainey!

Exit will too...who else will he rant about?

[TheLeftCoast]

Good call!

I think Bob was a good GM who ran into the quagmire that is Montreal. Other guys with the great pedigree (the Lamarellos and Hollands) would/will hit that wall as well.

[Exit716]

Gainey completely ruined the development of Carey Price.
It's obvious the kid is being traded. I gave up on Gainey last year after his press conference where he ripped the fans, the media and Brian Lawton for his failures.

[Isaac25]

The fans that take cheap shots at Bob have no respect for the CH. It's one thing to critique his performance and quite another to hit low with cheap shots and personal jabs...

[CH1]

Whatttt? Everybody loves Gainey the player, most admire the person, but many found his performance as a GM underwhelming.

I didn't see anything insulting. Anyway, I doubt Bob reads forumice so he will neither be personally hurt or positively touched by our ramblings.

[ToanVu]

Haha.. he'll always find someone. No worries about that.

[rouah]

Of couse, only Gainey is responsible for all the bads of the world. He's also responsible of the Haitian quake...

[Mr Ding]

When Gainey was hired, I was beyond ecstatic. While we toiled under the likes of the disastrous Houle and the overrated Andre Savard (who was somehow forever martyred by his Zednik/Bulis trade) I used to pine for the Habs to get ‘someone like Bob Gainey’.

It would kill me to see him making headlines with Dallas…bringing to the Stars organization the class, intelligence and success that seemed like it only rightfully belonged in Montreal.

Then, one glorious day, the news came that Bob Gainey was indeed being hired to lead the Habs. It felt like the return of the Prodigal Son.

Bob began his tenure as one would expect…quietly, slowly and patiently. After only a short while, he pulled the trigger on the kind of deal Habs fans had been yearning for since the 93 Cup, and he brought us Alex Kovalev as a rental player. That summer, he pulled off the improbable, and signed Kovy to a long-term deal. Players of Kovalev’s caliber had become the stuff of pipe dreams for Habs fans. (Again, remember our delight at landing Richard Zednik). The best part was, Bob got him for Jozef Balej and a 2nd-round pick...at a time when everybody else was throwing around 1st-round picks like confetti.

Bob had other successes, such as locking up Andrei Markov to a reasonable, long-term contract, finding Huet, then finding a taker for Theodore’s ridiculous contract…and many more.

The pinnacle of his tenure came a couple of years ago, when the Habs finished first in the East. It looked as though FINALLY, a GM’s rebuilding plan was coming to fruition. Everything seemed to be lining up perfectly for a glorious centennial, featuring the Habs at the top of the league.

…and that’s when it all began to unravel. Bob’s allegiance to Carey Price was the downfall of that great season, and beyond. Bob began making mistake after mistake…including some that reeked of the most anti-Gainey quality possible: panic. All of this culminating with this past offseason, in which he essentially abandoned his own rebuild, and completely gutted the team. This massive overhaul was so uncharacteristic of Gainey, and seemed to stem from the ridiculously inflated importance of the 2008-09 season.

Perhaps the game passed Gainey by, with the introductions of the salary cap, new rules, etc. Perhaps the death of his daughter took a greater toll than we’ll ever know…or perhaps Bob’s mistakes finally caught up to him, to the point where he was left clueless as to how to fix them.

Whatever the reason, the time finally came for Bob to go…and here we now are again, with no prodigal son on the horizon, and no 25th Stanley Cup on our mantle.

The good news is, Bob is leaving the team in much better shape than it was when he took over. That is not usually the case when a GM steps down. For that, thank you Bob.

And thanks also for restoring class, guts and honour to the office of the Canadiens’ General Manager. I just wish this chapter could have ended with the Stanley Cup you deserved.

I’m just glad that now I can go back to cherishing Bob Gainey the player, the executive, the man…the consummate Montreal Canadien.

Thanks Bob. Best of luck to you, wherever you go.

[daspin]

"Time to Move on"

So sayeth the Saku fans..

Bob's time was done a long time ago. Piss Poor asset management and Poor vision to create a team identity. No plan! This summer summed it up..Like he threw a bunch of shit against the wall and took whatever stuck. Unless his plan was to be a small, soft overpaid, underinspired and unentertaining team, then it is obvious he had no plan at all.

Later Bob..

Bring on the next candidate who speaks french but is not the best man for the job, but at least bring someone in who has a plan, and is proactive and aggressive.

[TheLeftCoast]

Don't get your hopes up.

[DonKay]

Bob should have been gone after last year.

[Krustchev]

Bingo! Sure his replacement may end being worse but you have to try and get better. THAT IS WHY THEY REPLACED SAVARD WITH GAINEY seven years ago, in case some of you forgot. Just didn't work out that well.

[DonKay]

The dumbest excuse people used for Gainey is "he tried" .

Trying means shit, its results.

[rouah]

Since Serge Savard, Bob Gainey was the best GM hands down. We missed playoffs only once with Gainey... talk about a sh*tty GM...

[Exit716]

Good article by an outsider. Eric Duhatschek from the Globe.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs...rticle1460356/

[CH1]

I agree. It also implies that some of the other GMs in the league don't try which is nonsense.

[Sal_Butera]

Let's just remember Peter "The GOD" Chiarelli is on the verge of missing the playoffs 2 of his 4 seasons as GM of the Bruins, just like the other GOD, one & only Mr. Pro-Active himself, Paul Holmgren, who for all his moves may miss the playoffs 2 of 4 tries. Both of these "new age" SUPERSTARS pulled this off in markets where hockey is an afterthought, UFA's flock to, & bottom of the league finishes resulting in top-3 picks. Very impressive indeed!!

[Krustchev]

His job is to build a Cup champion, or a least a real contender, not just make the playoffs. After seven years, are we a contender? He failed. End of story.