Canadiens Rebuild Shows Progress Under Patient Front Office

The Montreal Canadiens are finally turning the corner, and fans have plenty to be excited about. The team’s rebuild, which once seemed endless, is now showing real promise under head coach Martin St. Louis.

It all started with a gutsy move by owner Geoff Molson. He brought in Jeff Gorton, who’d been let go by the Rangers, and Kent Hughes, a player-agent from Montreal’s West Island, to run the show.

The duo made it clear from day one: this wouldn’t be a quick fix. They were going to rebuild the Canadiens from scratch, no matter what anyone said.

And boy, did people talk.

But Gorton and Hughes stuck to their plan. They promised to make the Habs not just good, but great again – and not just for a season or two, but for the long haul. That’s pretty ambitious in today’s NHL, where the salary cap is designed to keep teams from dominating.

What’s happening now in Montreal is really something special. For about 25 years, the team was just hoping to get lucky with draft picks, trying to turn average players into stars.

Things are different now.

Take Zachary Bolduc, for example. A few years ago, landing a talented Quebec-born scorer like him would’ve been cause for massive celebration. Now? He’s just one piece of an impressive prospect puzzle that includes exciting talents like Michael Hage and Alexander Zharovsky.

The turning point was hiring St. Louis as coach. What looked like a risky move – bringing in a rookie coach with no experience – turned out to be brilliant. He’s been the perfect fit for a team that needed time to grow.

St. Louis has won over both the players and the fans with his energy and fresh approach. He’s even gotten the freedom to develop his own coaching style, one that other teams might copy in the future.

While St. Louis handles the day-to-day operations, Gorton and Hughes have been quietly building something special. They’ve been so methodical about it, they even let a TV crew document the whole process.

Sure, there are still rough patches – like Saturday’s game in Ottawa showed. But for the first time in years, the Montreal Canadiens look like they’re on their way back to being, well, the Montreal Canadiens.

The glory days might just be around the corner.