Feb 16 Bravo Bob ! Gainey Making the Moves and Taking The Decisions That Need to be Made

In the last couple of days Bob Gainey has traded for Mathieu Schneider, sent Ryan O'Byrne and Sergei Kostitsyn down to the Hamilton Bulldogs organization and in what has sent shockwaves across the island of Montreal, ordered Alex Kovalev, arguably the team's most talented player, to stay home. Can anyone who has been criticising Gainey for his lack of movement dispute these latest moves? I, for the record, applaud and approve of all said moves.

It has been a dreadful last couple of weeks for the Montreal Canadiens, having lost 10 of their last 13 games. It was not so much that they were losing, but rather how they were losing. Uninspired games, certain players mailing it in on some nights, not one player sticking up for a wronged teammate, the list goes on. Despite all denials, something was wrong in that room.

The players had a 30 minute "players only" meeting while in the midst of their western road trip and the results in the subsequent games proved that perhaps the fingers that were being pointed had little or no effect on the pointees. They were actually extremely lucky that they won a game against an equally struggling Colorado Avalanche team and had it not been for a Jaroslav Halak who used up approximately 7 of his 9 lives in that game, would have been 0-for the west as we speak. Something had to give.

Well, give, it did. After Bob Gainey had seen enough as he was with the team during this recent road swing, he pulled the trigger yesterday on a trade that would have former Hab Mathieu Schneider return to Montreal in exchange for a 2nd round pick next year and a 3rd in 2010. The Habs also get a conditional pick, depending on if and how far they go in the playoffs this year.

Some readers may recall, I for one, had called upon the Canadiens to pursue Mathieu Schneider from pre-season. The Habs needed a quarterback on the power-play with the loss of Mark Streit and the power-play, first place last year, was a dismal season high 23rd thus far this year. Schneider is an experienced defenseman who has amassed a +63 during his past 22 professional seasons. The only question I have is : what took so long?

The Habs had mentioned that in order to make room in the salary cap, they placed Robert Lang on the IR and subsequently placed Ryan O'Byrne in Hamilton. For those following the Montreal Canadiens all year, O'Byrne did not live up to the team's expectations of filling into the 4th D spot and never quite recovered from the goal he put into his own net on that fateful night and has been battling for consistency ever since. Bob decided to send him down and barring any injuries to our ample defensive core, we have seen the last of O'Byrne for this season. Find that confidence Ryan, see you next year.

Now, no sooner had the ink dried on the Schneider acquisition, than the Montreal bubble had burst on the Kovalev love affair. Noticeably absent at today's practise were both Alex Kovalev and Sergei Kostitsyn. It was later learned in an impromptu press conference, that Bob Gainey had exchanged Kostitsyn for Gregory Stewart of the Hamilton Bulldogs and simultaneously ordered Alex to stay home.

The Sergei Kostitsyn move seemed to be a no brainer. I believe all had given Sergei more than a lion's share of chances. Coach Carbonneau even made him a healthy scratch on occasion to try and awaken the fire inside, but that fire seemed to fizzle rather than roar whenever Kostitsyn was given the chance. Not only had his play deteriorated, but many of his sloppy play of late resulted in own zone turnovers and costly goals on the ensuing interceptions. Gainey had seen enough and made the call to allow Sergei to inhale bus fumes as opposed to jet fuel and give a grittier, in your face Stewart a chance at the grownups table. I expect a jump in Andrei's step following this move.

Kovalev, however was a body blow that knocked the wind out of the city this afternoon. Many wished it could be done, some hinted that it should be done, but never in anyone's wildest dreams had anyone thought that the great Alexei Kovalev would  be asked to stay home as the team headed off to face Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby during phase two of the road trip. Hell, it was generally thought unthinkable to even sit Kovalev out as a healthy scratch for one game, you know, to send a message to the rest of the team... not Kovalev.

Well Bravo Mr Gainey. Of all of the moves recently made, this was the one that will most surely get the biggest reaction. This was surely also the most difficult, but the man hadn't scored in 10 games, wasn't producing points for his linemates and heaven forbid he should backcheck while his defence had been struggling in their own right. Gainey had to take this decision for the good of the team.

This move sends a message to the team that NO ONE is untouchable, while at the same time, shows the players that the team comes first and if you are not all for one, then you are one for the pressbox. The team will now have to respond and even if the camp may have been split in their opinion of Kovalev, the haters should be motivated now that the elephant in the room is gone and the supporters need only follow in Kovalev's work ethic before they find themselves on the outside looking in. In either case, with players like Schneider, Stewart, and Chipchura joining the likes of aptly named "workers" such as D'agostini, Pacioretty, Kostopoulos, Bégin, Lapierre and Koivu (and there are more) the team will need to retool and regroup. But perhaps with all these recent Gainey induced changes, they can start to do it as a team all pulling in the same direction. That would be a pleasant change.

Tags: : Alex Kovalev \ bob gainey \ Gregory Stewart \ habs \ Mathieu Schneider \ Montreal Canadiens \ NHL \ Sergei Kostitsyn