HC @ Noon: The trouble in Montreal
Posted January 3, 2012 4:35 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Montreal Canadiens coach Randy Cunneyworth has had a hard enough time winning over French fans and media and it’s doubtful the comments from his GM yesterday have made him feel any more at home.
Since being hired as Canadiens interim head coach on Dec. 17, the anglophone-speaking Cunneyworth has come under a firestorm from fans and media in La Belle Province for his inability to speak French.
On Monday Canadiens general manager Pierre Gauthier took the unusual step of issuing a public apology to the fans, barely two weeks into the reign of Cunneyworth.
On Tuesday’s HOCKEY CENTRAL at Noon, Sportsnet’s Mike Brophy said despite the finger-pointing at Cunneyworth, it’s Gauthier who is more deserving of the criticism.
“The general manager who made this whole thing happen, doesn’t stand up and support his coach,” Brophy said. “(Gauthier) is skating on the thinnest of thin ice.
“It’s a very sad chapter in the Montreal Canadiens’ history.”
Sportsnet’s Louis Jean also weighed in on the effect of the apology and whether Gauthier could have issued it without “burying” the coach.
“I don’t think so, I mean, I’m not sure but that’s definitely what he did,” Jean said. “It sends all the wrong signals and all the wrong messages to everybody.”
Cunneyworth spent the 2010-11 season as the head coach of the Habs’ AHL affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs. The Bulldogs clinched the North Division with a 44-27-2 record and made it to the Conference Finals of the Calder Cup, falling to the Houston Aeros.
“Randy Cunneyworth is not only a very capable coach, he’s a qualified coach but he’s just been dealt a very bad hand here,” Jean added.
