OK guys..time to come clean

AB Habman · Guru

OK guys..time to come clean

Johab · Guru

Considering we HAVE improved slighly every year since he has taken over, i say he is around average myself. BUT, put into consideration he isnt working with a city like florida. It is hard to attract people to come to montreal and LIVE here. Taxes ARE expensive, the language is difficult the roads are brutal and the beer is too strong for people who are unfamiliar with real beer. But seriously now, considering what Gainey has to work through and how hes done it without leaking anything out to a VERY eager press. I think Gainey is doing a REALLY good job and if a cup is ours any time soon, it definately will be thanks to him! 7.85/10

Habtastic · Guru

Agreed Johab, but also add in the development of our management/scouting staff and the prospects we now have. Gainey knows that the new NHL is going to be won by building from within and we now have one of the deepest talent pools and deepest pools of talent finders.

Also, this club was in dissaray when he took over... no more. The organization again has class and the building is always full. The team we have now would demolish the team we had when he took over 2 NHL seasons ago (one was not a season).

Looking at one aspect of the organization is a very narrow view... it is like taking only part of a quote and forgetting the context so that you can use it for your own purposes. Gainey has restored the Habs to a model team that other organinzations can look up to. We have a great future that will keep us in the mix for a long time. We have the foundation to build on and we will only get better.

Gainey has made mistakes, but they have mostly been minor and some could not be predicted. There are other excellent GMs (Lou) who have made far worse errors. Taking all of it into account, including not landing us the top-center and top 4 D we need... yet... I give him a 9/10.

Habtastic

barry33 · Guru

If there is one area that BG has fallen short it in addressing our most pressing needs, center and mobile dman. He has spent the cap without filling those two spots. However made a nice addition in Samsonov and Johnson will prove useful. He has added stability in the organisation and overall drafting has been better (but still shake my head at Price as a number 5 pick). He has overspent in some areas (see Ribero) and probably did not handle the Ryder situation like he could have. I would have to say that all in all I give him a 7 out of 10. When he fills the holes we have left that rating goes up.

Caper_hab_fan · Veteran Member

I rate him as a over average GM. If were gonna go out and get our holes filled in Center and Defense, that means we have to give up more then the Ribeiro, the Dagenegis, the Bonk...and so on...what it means is were not giving up all of our future for some guy who has 2, 3 or 4 years left. Gainey has alot of confidence in our scouts and our farm system by giving all hab fans around the world a chance of hope with guys like Chipchura, Latendresse, etc. I think Gainey knows what he is doing, i'd rather see him in there then some blow joe like hmmmmmm....Garth Snow....have faith in him boys, and for all you saying BIG DEAL about giving up Zednik and Bulis for Johnson and Samsonov.....here's how it looks on paper

Bulis 20G 20A = 40P Johnson 16G 38A = 54P
Zednik 16G 14A = 30P Samsonov 23G 30A = 53P

TOTAL = 70 POINTS TOTAL = 107 POINTS +/- (+37 Points)

macneil · Guru

i feel bg has done a better than average job , he has rebuilt the franchise , restocked the shelves , with a.s. help. he has added some youth to the lineup , weeded out the malcontents and we are going in the right direction . he has made some mistakes and overpaid for a couple of players but not to the extent where he cant get rid of the players .

sarge · Member

Tough call. Bob is so laid back it is hard to get excited about anything he does because he projects little in the way of enthusiasm. He hasn't been overly active, but, has made strides to improve the overall quality of the club. Sometimes I wish he would do something major but end up thinking, maybe, his slow and steady wins the race, philosophy ain't so bad. They did make the playoffs and scared the crap out of Carolina. The team was highly regarded as the toughest opponent to face by a few rival GM's. So, tweaking was necessary but overhaul, not so much.

I only time will tell. So far, not bad.

AB Habman · Guru

sarge wrote:

Tough call. Bob is so laid back it is hard to get excited about anything he does because he projects little in the way of enthusiasm. He hasn't been overly active, but, has made strides to improve the overall quality of the club. Sometimes I wish he would do something major but end up thinking, maybe, his slow and steady wins the race, philosophy ain't so bad. They did make the playoffs and scared the crap out of Carolina. The team was highly regarded as the toughest opponent to face by a few rival GM's. So, tweaking was necessary but overhaul, not so much.

I only time will tell. So far, not bad.

Good post!

I find that he bores me with his robotic or emotionless personallity. He almost comes across as being apethetic. Maybe this is partly why his moves never really excite me as I never really expect much to happen. I relate his layed back very patient methodical demeaner to not being aggressive enough to make the proper changes or additions.

I could almost invision a conversation with lets say Arnott's agent......."Hi Bob, Jason is very much interested in playing for you, are you interested"?......."Well, I'm not too certain at this point what Jason would be worth to us and I firstly need to sign Ribiero and a few farm hands before I can get back to you on my decision but thank-you for the interest".

I really liked him as a player and he's doing a fine job as a GM but after Habs have been in a funk for so long, the last thing I want is to watch paint dry. I admit though, we are inching towards a successfull team but any average GM can accomplish this givin a long enough time frame.

plouf · Guru

Gainey's definitely a patient guy, and he projects that. Honestly, I think he's the only kind of guy who works in Montreal: he's got respect, and he refuses to get drawn into all the BS. A forthright, chatty, impulsive GM would be a disaster in a city with a press like Montreal has.

As for his moves...well I'm not totally sold on his drafting, or a few of his moves and signings, but overall I like the approach, the stability, the getting rid of most of the dead wood, the general attitude adjustment. I like our future.

So a 6 or 7 out of 10 seems about right, for now. But it's obviously not only about now with BG, but about the long-term. So he's also a 9 out of 10 for turning this organization back into something solid.

AB Habman · Guru

plouf wrote:

Gainey's definitely a patient guy, and he projects that. Honestly, I think he's the only kind of guy who works in Montreal: he's got respect, and he refuses to get drawn into all the BS. A forthright, chatty, impulsive GM would be a disaster in a city with a press like Montreal has. As for his moves...well I'm not totally sold on his drafting, or a few of his moves and signings, but overall I like the approach, the stability, the getting rid of most of the dead wood, the general attitude adjustment. I like our future. So a 6 or 7 out of 10 seems about right, for now. But it's obviously not only about now with BG, but about the long-term. So he's also a 9 out of 10 for turning this organization back into something solid.

I honestly think Savard was correcting the ship and would of continued to do so even if Boivin didn't hire Gainey although it would of caused Savard great stress to continue the position.

Still though, I'm not denying that Gainey isn't taking us on the right path but just the time frame may be as long and drawn out as his patients. Also agree that an impulsive GM would not bold well in Habville but a GM somewhere in between would be great.

Savard has the smarts to build a great team but not the patients to deal with the media and politics of Montreal. That's where I give Gainey credit. He can handle the stress and pressure while still maintaining good PR with the local fans and media but does not have the administrative capabilities of a Brian Burke.

Figaro · Guru

I'd have to go with the old saying - when given lemons, make lemonade. Seriously, he's not Jesus. We can't expect miracles, now can we.

Hkydude_77 · Member

I think Gainey has done a solid job as the GM to date.

He certainly won the 3 biggest trades he's made:

Garon for Huet & Bonk.

Garon isn't the #1 goalie everybody thought he was, and Huet led the NHL in save % and is a legitimate #1 NHL goalie.

Theo for Abby

Getting a team to take Theo's contract while he was hurt and playing terrible hockey. Theo has proved again this offseason (a night in Paris), that his focus isn't on hockey, and he is no longer a top flight goalie in the NHL.

Kovalev for Josef Balej

Gainey could have lost Plekanec, but instead offered up Hamilton's leading scorerer at the time Balej for Kovy, and Balej turned into nothing, while Kovy has been a great fit.

You can't fault him for not overpaying for 2nd tier centres like Jason Arnott (who only plays when he wants to), and he did attempt to sign Arnott, Elias & Shanahan but they chose not to play here, so you can't fault Gainey.

I think BG has done a great job in the trades he's made, and handling salary cap.

barry33 · Guru

Hkydude_77 wrote:

I think Gainey has done a solid job as the GM to date.

He certainly won the 3 biggest trades he's made:

Garon for Huet & Bonk.

Garon isn't the #1 goalie everybody thought he was, and Huet led the NHL in save % and is a legitimate #1 NHL goalie.

Theo for Abby

Getting a team to take Theo's contract while he was hurt and playing terrible hockey. Theo has proved again this offseason (a night in Paris), that his focus isn't on hockey, and he is no longer a top flight goalie in the NHL.

Kovalev for Josef Balej

Gainey could have lost Plekanec, but instead offered up Hamilton's leading scorerer at the time Balej for Kovy, and Balej turned into nothing, while Kovy has been a great fit.

You can't fault him for not overpaying for 2nd tier centres like Jason Arnott (who only plays when he wants to), and he did attempt to sign Arnott, Elias & Shanahan but they chose not to play here, so you can't fault Gainey.

I think BG has done a great job in the trades he's made, and handling salary cap.

Out of the 3 trades I will only give you the Kovalev one as being good (although I do recall many posters on here questioning why he would trade Balej who was very promising at the time), the other two were simply lucky. But sometimes you need to be good to be lucky too. THere is no way that he knew Huet would turn out like he did. That trade was made for Bonk who has, lets face it, been a bust. The fact that Huet turned into a diamond in the rough was a bonus and saved him. The Theo trade I attribute to a total brain fart on the part of the Avs GM. I am not sure what Gainey has on him, or what favors are owed, but that trade was just plain ludicrous. I would think that Gainey probably took a lear jet to Denver to sign that deal before the Avs sobered up.

But whatever the methodology, it is the result that matters. And the results were good. Like Dave Andrechyck used to say "It does not matter how, just how many"

doodie · Veteran Member

I find he's an "expect the unexpected" GM .Doesn't go after the LINDROS type of players which is good,as far as the Ribiero,ABBY, etc. signing's, these guys are on THIN ICE,and I believe that Gainey is working out packages as we speak ,to ship them off somewhere,he's pretty cagey in his quiet laid back manor.He did it with DALLAS (turned them into a winner) and he'll do it for THE HABS .I can see it already in the short time he's been here."GO HABS GO".

barry33 · Guru

doodie wrote:

I find he's an "expect the unexpected" GM .Doesn't go after the LINDROS type of players which is good,as far as the Ribiero,ABBY, etc. signing's, these guys are on THIN ICE,and I believe that Gainey is working out packages as we speak ,to ship them off somewhere,he's pretty cagey in his quiet laid back manor.He did it with DALLAS (turned them into a winner) and he'll do it for THE HABS .I can see it already in the short time he's been here."GO HABS GO".

As critical as I have been of some of BG's moves, I think that it i sjust too early to judge him totally. If he has a plan in place, and I think he does, then the prooof will be in the pudding in the 2007-2008 season. If the habs are not significantly better then (ie contending in the top 4 of the league) then I can say he has been a bust.