MONTREAL – Here’s a simple question for Montreal Canadiens fans: Do you want a coach who can win or do you want a coach who can speak French?
In an ideal world you could have both, but the decision to replace Jacques Martin with unilingual anglophone Randy Cunneyworth has reignited the debate over whether the head coach of the Canadiens must speak French.
Cunneyworth has the word interim in front of his title, which means he will likely be replaced at the end of the season.
There have been suggestions it would be tough to dismiss Cunneyworth if he were to lead the Canadiens to their 25th Stanley Cup, but if you know your Habs history you might recall that Al MacNeil was exiled to his native Nova Scotia after winning the Stanley Cup in 1971.
Language was a major factor in the unilingual MacNeil’s dismissal. He had an uncomfortable relationship with some of the Canadiens’ francophone players and the situation boiled over in the playoffs when he benched Henri Richard and the future Hall of Famer responded by calling MacNeil incompetent.
With the exception of Bob Berry in the early 1980s, every Canadiens head coach since then has been fluent in French, and former team president Pierre Boivin went as far as to say it was an absolute requirement for the job.
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That opinion has been front and centre in some francophone media outlets since Cunneyworth replaced Martin and in the public debate, and a number of readers have questioned my assertion that the hiring of Cunneyworth opens the door for a candidate who is not fluent in French.
When you hire someone to do a job, you want the best person for that job and you want to cast the widest net.
Throw language out of the equation and you have scores of possible candidates. Limit the candidates to those who speak French and the pool is much smaller.
You have the retreads – Guy Carbonneau, Mario Tremblay, Michel Therrien, Bob Hartley and even Marc Crawford, whose passable French was good enough to coach the Quebec Nordiques.
You don’t have guys who are already employed – Guy Boucher and Claude Julien. Both of them were formerly in the Canadiens’ employ, but that ship has sailed.
Jacques Lemaire’s name has been mentioned, but if the former Canadien wanted to coach he would be behind the bench in New Jersey. Lemaire would be an excellent choice, but his previous experience behind the bench in Montreal was painful and he couldn’t wait to get out.
And then there’s a group of untested young coaches – Gatineau head coach Benoit Groulx, Winnipeg Jets assistant Pascal Vincent and, of course, Patrick Roy. The Hall of Fame goaltender dipped his toe in the water Monday when he said the Canadiens haven’t called, but he would listen if they did.
Ever the tease, Roy also said he would listen to another offer from the Colorado Avalanche.
The media would love to see Roy take the job in Montreal because he’s emotional and outspoken. But if you want a preview of what Roy might be like as a head coach look at Dale Hunter’s early struggles in Washington.
Hunter may turn out to be a great coach, but he’s learning that coaching millionaires isn’t the same as coaching teenagers in junior who are motivated to reach the next level.
The parallel is especially important here because Hunter and Roy had similar situations in the junior ranks.
In addition to being coaches, they were owners and had control over personnel decisions. Much of their success stems from the fact their junior teams are in major markets and have the financial wherewithal to recruit and sign players, divert players headed to U.S. colleges and manipulate the draft.
The NHL, with its salary cap, guaranteed contracts and pampered players – Roy should know all about being pampered – is a different game.
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