People have been calling for Julien firing for awhile now... but why the Muller firing?
What was he in charge of?
Side note:
Muller was one of my favourite players growing up
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People have been calling for Julien firing for awhile now... but why the Muller firing?
What was he in charge of?
Side note:
Muller was one of my favourite players growing up
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In any field of expertise, let's say you live in a small isolated area and you have a bunch of guys who work for years, building their CV to get the top job in the only big company of the area. This company is by far the biggest and the only one everybody talks about. Every local guy who is interested by a given top job in this company gave it all for year and would do the job well and with all their hearth. Then this big company, in the local area, who cares about their public image and care about the population who suport them better then almost any other compagny in the country, hire an outsider for this top job...
You might have the opinion that it was the right move because the outsider is so much better for the job that the hire was justified. But to say that you don't understand why people from this local area would complain about the fact that a local guy didn't get the job is just being not grounded on reality of a human being. That's just a normal reaction, in general, if their was good people for the job in your area.
In this instance, you add that this outsider doesn't speak the language of the local area. You add that 90% of the sport talks is about the Canadiens, not about hockey, about and only about the Canadiens. So in addition to answer for your loss after a game, you'll have to justify day after day why you took the guy who doesn't speak french, because you still loss anyway. You're hiring will rise the bad talk about your team by a large margin on a daily basis in the medias and in your fan base.
You can have the opinion that a given non French speaking coach is so much better that he should be the chosen one. But not understanding that the French speaking factor has to be considered is a very limited understanding of the situation.
I think the very small chance of a non francophone as a coach is Gallant because of his success and he left a very good impression in Montreal and in the Montreal medias. But I would bet on someone else (Ducharme will keep the job if he does well this year).
I dont see Molson spending the money on another head coach for this year. I think his is Ducharme's tryout until the end of the season then they will make the decision what to do at that point. If they make the playoffs, Ducharme probably gets the interim label removed. If they miss the playoffs, I see Bergevin fired and the new GM can decide if they want to stick with Ducharme or bring in his own guy.
Thats my best guess.
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It's a lot of hypothetical coming here but...
If Julien was fired and Muller was promoted to Interim HC. Would MTL be mad? He played for MTL as a player, been the assistant since 2016, replaced Julien when he was recovering, but he's from Kingston. He was promoted to "HC" when Julien went down over Ducharme in the bubble, so he was in the HC role for a hot minute.
I did say are they hiring based on that "work your way up" position, or just because they are Francophone, or because they speak french. What if that Anglophone had worked his way up and someone from "outside your area" was hired in because he was Francophone?
If it's giving back to the French community, ok whatever, that's a culture thing. But then what confuses me is their Director of Scouting is from Belleville, their Director of Player Development is from Byron ON, an assistant coach is from Ottawa, the VP of Hockey Operations is from Toronto, their Assistant GM is from Almonte ON.
Are they only worried about leadership, "face-to-media" roles as Francophones?
BTW, am I the only one that thinks Ducharme looks like discount Ray Liota
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Apron Basu has had a couple of really good articles on Julien's issues lately. I think the dissatisfaction with him goes back a ways but Basu had come good arguments for why Julien was not working. He wasn't calling for him to be fired, but the info was not complimentary.
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Muller was fired bc of the PP.
Let’s be very careful about the language debate, which comes up every time a Habs coach is fired.
It is a sensitive subject and can easily, deeply offend some francophones. The Habs are more than just a hockey team to many French Canadians, inside and outside Quebec. I always thought an interpreter could be fine, but the Habs making francophone hires is a business decision more than a hockey one and it matters to a large segment of their fan base.
Also I find it fun that historically the Habs are actually the English language team in Montreal... after all this lol.
Also the best coach in NHL history spoke great French and coached the Habs to many victories (and other teams to victories after that).
Two thoughts to add to this.
Agentzero is absolutely correct it being a business decision. As fans, we're looking solely at the on-ice product. But the GM and the coach (more so the GM) have to sell the business side. They need to be in the communities, talking to business leaders, convincing them to continue to put more money into the team. They need to speak to the French media, give soundbites on the radio, and be able to communicate effectively. They have dinners and business meetings with politicians. It's a lot easier when the coach and GM speak the language of the people.
If you don't think it's a big deal, think back to 2011 when the Habs promoted Randy Cunneyworth as interim head coach. There was so much backlash from politicians and calls for boycotts from many fans that Molson had to put out a statement that said "It is obvious that the ability for the head coach to express himself in both French and English will be a very important factor in the selection of the permanent head coach."
So on that side, I get it. But as a Habs fan, it's frustrating. We continuously pass up better coaches simply because they speak only one language. And this is where we're stuck spinning our wheels.
The second point I have to make is contradictory. Scotty Bowman was a great coach, but he would have been a great coach even if he didn't speak French. You don't need your coach to speak French to win. But in Montreal, you do need him to do so if you don't want a firestorm and extra pressure from fans, media, politicians and business people.
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I would like them to live with an interpreter if they really thought the best candidate was a non-francophone.. Would be cool.
I also pointed out to some friends today that in large part, the Habs have always been owned by English families or English businessmen. Yet the francophone coach policy lives on. Which means it is always a balancing act of fulfilling the business side and giving yourself the best chance on the ice while doing that. Sometimes the best candidate available was a francophone, sometimes it wasn't.. and the Habs have to toe that line.. hiring the best coach they think they can find, who happens to also speak some French at least.
It's life for the Habs. It's their market reality. It makes sense, even if it's not perfect, and believe me, the Habs ownership and management all know that.
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My experiences in dealing with businesses around Quebec, and especially traveling in Quebec City make me realize that the residents will most likely want a Francophone head coach and GM. It's about media interaction. I wonder how much of the local fanbase would be fine with a coach who spoke only French, but that's going to have issues as well.
It's also about history as the 2 European nations that fought for control of the land that is currently Canada didn't get along back in the day, and the language situation has been testy at times.
The lower staff don't need to speak French really well, as they are mostly dealing with internal things and players, and we know the vast majority of Francophone players can understand English, especially as it might relate to hockey.
I'm not sure if Quebec still had a team that it would be so strongly desired, possibly less so, as they aren't the Habs and wouldn't have the same level of magnitude of scrutiny.
Edit: That's a great picture of Julien on the story, with a Remembrance Day poppy in his lapel.
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Sorry, I was unclear. I meant "Would the fans of a Quebec City team demand a Francophone GM & HC"? I think that if they get a team due to relocation, there will be a honeymoon period where they have a team and all is fine. If Florida relocated there with Quenneville, who I don't think speaks French, I think they would be okay with him.
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They would want a francophone more than Montreal would. That team would represent the Province. No no, they'd be voracious. They'd obviously live with an incumbent (which might help change the tune...) but I tell ya, I think they'd want one more than Montreal. Montreal has an English history. Not so for the Nordiques.
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