I agree that these are not really the 86 Habs, but I don't think you can count Skrudland, Ludwig, McPhee, Corson (was he even there in 86?)...or I'd even add Chelios for 86 as "leaders" unless you consider Higgins, Begin, Ryder and other new players leaders right now.

Most of the players you listed had a lot of character, and became leaders later on, but I doubt they were really leaders back then. They sure learned from Carbonneau, Gainey, Robinson, Green though.

Right now we do have some character players who are veterans. I consider Rivet and Koivu to be solid leaders, for example. And I think guys like Bouillon, Souray and Begin are leaders by example. I know we have a lot of divas on this team, but we also had some pretty wacky players in 86 (Roy was maybe the biggest example, but does anyone remember Claude Lemieux? How about Kjell Dahlin?)

Also...the Theodore bashing. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't. Theodore's big playoff run was just as amazing as Roy's run in 86, but the difference was that the whole team was clicking in 86, where a few years ago we were getting outshot by huge margins and barely pulling out games.

I'd say that Theodore's technique is arguably already a lot better now than Roy's was at this stage in his development, although I don't think he has Roy's talent, sadly.

For a few seasons after 86, Roy was fairly average, frankly, behind an incredible defense (though he occasionally stepped it up and would go on a tear). He was inconsistent, sometimes even demoralizing (Theodore can't handle the puck, but Roy started out awful too and used to give the puck to opposing forwards on a regular basis), and there were a lot of people saying (from about 87-90ish) that he was a one-hit wonder. I followed the Habs even more religiously then, and I remember a lot of people doubting him too. Don't give up on Theodore just yet. I trust Gainey sees something there as well...and he was ON that 86 team.