by Spencer Ross, Special to AllHabs.net
AMHERST, MA. — Jacques Martin, world famous as a magician, a defier of locks and sealed chests and an exposer of spiritualist frauds, died here this afternoon after a week’s struggle for life, in which he underwent two operations.*
I apologise, I thought this was for Harry Houdini, not Jacques Martin.
If I may start over…
Jacques Martin, the outsized comedian who brought a manic bonhomie to his starring roles in some of Hollywood’s most successful comedies, including “Splash,” “Uncle Buck”…**
Oops, not for John Candy either.
Well, what can I say about Jacques Martin, a defensive coach, whose unflappable calm and inconsistent and incompetent coaching strategies led him to his dismissal this morning.
Mr. Martin assumed head coaching responsibilities of the Montreal Canadiens on June 2, 2009, replacing Guy Carbonneau to head the Canadiens’ 100th season. Three weeks later, Geoff, Andrew, and Eric Molson re-acquired George Gillette’s majority stake in the Club de Hockey Canadien, bringing complete ownership back to the Molson Family. By the beginning of July 2009, then-Canadiens General Manager Bob Gainey led the charge of a new Montreal Canadiens roster for Mr Martin, potting Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta, Michael Cammalleri, Travis Moen, Jaroslav Halak, Paul Mara, and recent Stanley Cup-winner Hal Gill. At the same time, the Canadiens’ beloved Captain, Saku Koivu, sorrily left the team for greener pastures with the Anaheim Ducks. On February 8, 2010, Mr Gainey “retired” as GM of the club under quite dubious circumstances, with speculation that he was “pushed out” of the GM position by Mr Martin in favour of Mr Martin’s associate, Assistant GM Pierre Gauthier.
Mr Martin was hailed by some as a “defensive coach” (http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2009/06/01/sp-f-martin-canadiens.html ); his two-year tenure in St. Louis brought a first-round and a second-round playoff berth, while his 8 1/2 year tenure in Ottawa culminated in a conference final loss and a first-round loss. This was followed by a three-year tenure in Florida where Mr Martin coached three consecutive years of playoff misses. Some people (your fellow eulogist, particularly) were sceptical of Mr Martin’s arrival in Montreal due to his dismal record and a habitual status quo by the Canadiens organisation to strategize around defence rather than offence.
In 2009-2010, in his first season as Montreal Canadiens head coach, Mr Martin led the Canadiens to a conference final loss. A bag skate early in the season (http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/ray_ferraro/?id=294636 ) left many wondering how Mr Martin would deal with his younger players, as Mr Martin was known to favour veterans. Despite picking up from the season’s early slump, the team nearly missed the playoffs however, going 3-4-3 in their last 10 regular season games, and losing the final three games of the season to finish in 8th place in the East. Following a dismal regular season showing, the appearance in the conference finals was surprising and seemed to give Mr Gauthier ammunition for retaining Mr Martin’s services.
However, after losing three straight games in the first round, the Team 990 caller who affectionately became known as “Angry Sal” took to the airwaves, lambasting both Mr Martin and Mr Gauthier for poor coaching and demanding that if Mr Gauthier couldn’t fire ‘his friend, ‘upper management should fire Mr Gauthier and get competent people behind the bench.’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D6JMg1e4DM ). Although the message rippled through Montreal media, Angry Sal’s call for Mr Martin to be fired by the end of the season went unheeded. (Your fellow eulogist continued to lead his initial charge in favour of Mr Martin’s dismissal.)
With the exception of a June 2010 trade that sent “backup” goalie Jaroslav Halak to St. Louis for Lars Eller and Ian Schultz, Mr Martin’s roster — based around the July 2009 acquisitions — was held constant. Some significant injuries sidelined the Canadiens’ roster in the 2010-2011 season; Andrei Markov, James Wisniewski, and Jaroslav Spacek all found ways to miss games due to injury. Once again, the team narrowly edged into the playoffs, going 5-4-1 in their last 10 regular season games. Mr Martin again brought the Canadiens the playoffs that season, but resulted in a first round exit, after leading the Boston Bruins in the series, 2-0. Under both years of Mr Martin’s tenure, the Canadiens barely managed to get into the playoffs; with 16 spots open for the postseason, that is a coin flip gamble.
So as the 2011-2012 season started off, Mr Martin found his team in a 1-5-2 opening record. Consistent with the “defensive coaching” style that failed to break post-lockout success, Mr Martin decided to change lines on every other shift. In spite of few significant changes to the July 2009 team’s roster (namely, the additions of Erik Cole in July 2011 and an early-season injured Chris Campoli in September 2011), the line changes disrupted chemistry among a mostly static roster. Additionally, Mr Martin seemed to collapse in game-time communication, invariably leading to unwarranted “Too Many Men on the Ice” penalties. As a last ditch effort to save Mr Martin from the rising populist tide of anger against Mr Martin, Mr Gauthier traded Brock Trotter and a seventh round draft pick to Phoenix for Petteri Nokelainen and minor-leaguer Garrett Stafford.
However neither that, nor the firing of defensive coach Perry Pearn, nor the trade of Jaroslav Spacek for Tomas Kaberle would duly stop the hemhorraging of points the Canadiens would go through before the end of 2011. Some blamed the perennial list of injuries on the roster, however even the debut shine of Habs prospect Louis Leblanc couldn’t save more than a few points from a mediocre New Jersey Devils and a perennially crummy New York Islanders team. At the time of Martin’s firing, the team was 13-12-7, a win percentage of .406.
Some may say that neither Mr Gainey, nor Mr Gauthier, gave Mr Martin the superstar power needed to win the Stanley Cup — the Manchester United, or New York Yankees strategy, if you will. However the rational-minded have recognized that in the post-lockout era, superstars don’t win Cups, teams do (Cup-less Alexander Ovechkin is a lead example). Some Ottawa Senators supporters cried that these were the same excuses Mr Martin gave during his failed tenure in Ottawa. Yet Mr Gainey left several solid, cohesive guys on Mr Martin’s roster: Plekanec, Gionta, Gorges, Subban, Cammalleri, Gill, Darche, Pacioretty… even the perennially injured Markov. Yes, there were injuries to be had, but a good coach adjusts around those. Mr Martin never found a solid footing coaching in Montreal, despite his inclinations toward the defensive and the experienced.
Many fans may also argue that good coaching should be able to work around setbacks; the coach leads, inspires, and strategises, then lets his players execute and shine. However, for nearly two years and five months, Mr Martin repeatedly conceded defeat with the same failed system that worked in opposition to these principles. Young stars seemed to lack adequate development directly under Mr Martin (although Bulldogs coach Guy Boucher had enough positive success, warranting a head coaching position at Tampa Bay, while former Assistant Coach Kirk Muller was run out of town to an AHL head coaching job in Milwaukee); veterans seemed to be put on inconsistent lines with special teams units that often lacked players with necessary special teams skills. During games and in press conferences, Mr Martin never showed much emotion — passion, especially.
Some had bandied about the name of the legendary Patrick Roy as a successor, arguing that a Montreal Canadiens head coach must be bilingual. Yet despite some of the nearsighted provincial politics that are levelled at a global franchise, gone are the days where the makeup of the Habs roster is majority French. Bilingue is irrelevant insofar as players are concerned (point #3 http://www.allhabs.net/guest-article/guest-article-musings-of-a-concerned-habs-fan/ ). Insofar as the media and fans are concerned, that never stopped, say Toe Blake or Scotty Bowman, from winning a combined 13 Cups (more than 50% of the 24). Zero people had a problem with that.
Perhaps it was the sheer numbers game, perhaps it was the potential lack of playoff revenues, or perhaps it was the impending realignment of the 2012-2013 season, but it was time for Mr Martin to go. After two and a half years, Mr Gauthier finally made the right move. Randy Cunneyworth, anglophone coach of the Hamilton Bulldogs was named replacement head coach in Martin’s dismissal.