No doubt that not getting a top-flight centre is a gamble, and could be the ruin of our season.

But I actually don't think Gainey had a choice. I think he took a legitimate shot at the good ones out there (there weren't many), didn't get those, and realized that the likes of Mike Sillinger were not going to solve the problems. We actually have 4 or 5 legitimate centres, and Chipchura and Lapierre on the way.

The problem is just that we lack dominant guys. Koivu is the closest thing to that, and his health is a question mark, not to mention the fact that he clearly needs some support - he'd be a better centre as a #2. But there are only a few dominant guys out there. Arnott was available, but didn't want to come, and even he's a question mark in many ways (his attitude has often sucked), although I would have loved to see him in a Habs jersey.

Guys...what's the point of blaming specific people? Why don't we just admit that if the Habs fail, it's a collective failure as well as probably some bad luck? It's not just Gainey, or just Theo, or Koivu, or Julien, or whatever... It might be reassuring to blame one person, but that doesn't add up to a solid analysis of where the team has gone. Results are not the only criterion for deciding if a GM has done a good job, for example. There is luck involved (e.g. I think Gainey got lucky that Colorado bailed him out of the Theo debacle), there are so many factors. We can guess at some kind of root cause, but that's all we can do. Since when is it "realistic" to deem an entire team's success or failure the personal responsibility of the GM?

Think of your own experiences in sports...the one year my team won a cup we had some serious luck, where I think we were robbed by bad luck the year before, when we played better and deserved better. Sometimes life is unfair, and admitting that sometimes things come down to luck is not necessarily making excuses, but being realistic.