The Montreal Gazette’s plucky columnist, Jack Todd, wrote another doozy today. In an open letter to Canadiens president Geoff Molson, Todd candidly called for the firing of the team’s general manager, Pierre Gauthier.
Todd’s reasoning had little to do with the Habs’ win-loss record; it was chiefly related to Gauthier’s handling of the coaching change that saw unilingual Randy Cunneyworth replace bilingual Jacques Martin on an interim basis.
Let’s get the most obvious part of this out of the way now: the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens has to speak French. There simply is no other way. Imagine the Toronto Maple Leafs with a unilingual francophone behind the bench: it would never happen.
True, the Canadiens had unilingual anglo coaches in the past, but that was the past – before the 24-hour news cycle, before live video streaming of the coach’s press conference, before every word was parsed in the Twitterverse almost before they could be uttered.
Pierre Gauthier should have known this. He’s a francophone and a Montrealer. Understanding this market should be atop his list of job qualifications: That he plainly does not understand this market is one more indication, if any were needed, that he is simply not up to the job.
Todd goes on to suggest the new coach should be former coach Guy Carbonneau, who Todd suggests was “unjustly fired” in 2009 by former general manager Bob Gainey.
Agree or disagree, it’s a strong opinion that’s sure to sway some Habs fans. And he didn’t even have to mention the Tomas Kaberle trade.
