Pierre Gauthier

From the HabsHq.com Archive

The man the Ottawa media used to call ”The Ghost” or ”Monsieur Monsieur” will not be publicly commenting on the Canadiens losing streak today.

Did you see it coming?

Actually, as we’ve come to expect, Pierre Gauthier conferences are as common as Vietnamese Javan Rhinos (and those have recently gone extinct). But then again do you expect Pierre Gauthier to really give you the 411 on what he’s doing and how he’ll do it?

”In this league you keep your cards close to your chest”, Gauthier said to the Canadian Press last week

The problem Gauthier is facing of course, could be summarized when the end result of the Canadiens encounter with the cantankerous Bruins, who’ve started the season in what the media has called ”A belligerent streak” and will arrive in to town this week to face a team who has to add Max Pacioretty to the long and winding list of infirmary occupants.

Win, and all is forgiven. Lose and this could be the official beginning of the end. Mr. Molson’s faith and patience could be seriously tried and the fans short fuse could take an explosive turn.

But don’t underestimate Gauthier.

My first encounter with Pierre McGuire’s man crush (a man he says he profoundly hates), the man Canadiens fans have surnamed ”The Goat” was in  the spring of 2010. Pierre Gauthier was a newly minted GM and you could not spend 5 minutes with this man without the overwhelming feeling you are speaking to one of the NHL’s most intriguing intellect. Gauthier is one of the rare general managers to actively monitor every single aspect of a team’s functioning; from personnel appointments, scouting all the way to the ice surface. He’s hands on, smart, well spoken and respected among other GMs.

The main critic of all his tenures though, is that he is often slow to react when his teams need help. A critic he’s dismissed as Gauthier firmly believes that a healthy team’s farm system should have all the answers, and per what we’ve seen so far with the call-ups of Blunden, Palushaj and Co, Gauthier is true to his doctrine.

Could Gauthier lose his job if his team fails to show up this week? I’ll say this about Pierre Gauthier, when he moves, he moves fast per a quote he gave in 1995.

”I’m one of these guys who thinks a lot, but it doesn’t mean a thing until it’s in my heart.”

”All of a sudden it clicks, and I make a decision”

24 hours.

Going back to a cold January day in 1995, 24 hours was all Gauthier needed.

He wiped out his coaching staff in Ottawa, traded 5 players, fired Dave Allison (along with assistant Pierre Mcguire) two months after he had replaced Rick Bowness. The Sens were firmly entrenched in last place in the east and at that moment, Gauthier dialled up the Colorado Avalanche to ask for the availability of assistant Jacques Martin.

Martin’s first quote would be ”It’s a team that needs leadership and direction, I was hired to provide that.”

It’ll take that and more for the Canadiens to survive the week ahead.