A few weeks ago while in Montreal I did a tour of the Bell Center with Mrs. KBF. Impressive building! We even were given access to the dressing room, which I actually found kind of under-whelming. Hard wooden seats and no stalls. Not sure if that's the new NHL style. Anyway, I got into a couple of arguments with our guide over the course of the tour, one being over Pacioretty - I said that he wasn't happy and was soon going to be traded and the guide claimed that everyone dreams of playing for Montreal so of course he was happy and wouldn't be traded (I won that one!!).
The big argument we got into though was about the French language issue in Montreal. I said that because the coaches, and management apparently, have to be fluent in French, and apparently also Francophone, that this was a huge handicap as the Canadiens are really limited in who they can hire for their coaches and management team. The guide gave me this look and then said "there's lots of French Canadian coaches" to which I said "Fine, name four". Working together, we were able to come up with Guy Boucher, Alain Vigneault, Claude Julien and Michel Terrien (wherever he is now). This is a pretty limited selection. Should the Quebec Nordiques ever come back, they'd be handi-capped by the same issue, as the press and fans would demand the same thing. The guide was not happy about my hypothesis. But it is something I think that bears discussion.
If Montreal can't hire the best people available for coaching and management, but only the best people who can speak French, is this an issue that will seriously hurt Montreal's chances of winning a Cup ever again? Discuss.
A few weeks ago while in Montreal I did a tour of the Bell Center with Mrs. KBF. Impressive building! We even were given access to the dressing room, which I actually found kind of under-whelming. Hard wooden seats and no stalls. Not sure if that's the new NHL style. Anyway, I got into a couple of arguments with our guide over the course of the tour, one being over Pacioretty - I said that he wasn't happy and was soon going to be traded and the guide claimed that everyone dreams of playing for Montreal so of course he was happy and wouldn't be traded (I won that one!!).
The big argument we got into though was about the French language issue in Montreal. I said that because the coaches, and management apparently, have to be fluent in French, and apparently also Francophone, that this was a huge handicap as the Canadiens are really limited in who they can hire for their coaches and management team. The guide gave me this look and then said "there's lots of French Canadian coaches" to which I said "Fine, name four". Working together, we were able to come up with Guy Boucher, Alain Vigneault, Claude Julien and Michel Terrien (wherever he is now). This is a pretty limited selection. Should the Quebec Nordiques ever come back, they'd be handi-capped by the same issue, as the press and fans would demand the same thing. The guide was not happy about my hypothesis. But it is something I think that bears discussion.
If Montreal can't hire the best people available for coaching and management, but only the best people who can speak French, is this an issue that will seriously hurt Montreal's chances of winning a Cup ever again? Discuss.
Edited by kelownabomberfan