How can you give a coach a contract that awards a bonus for being fired? Who was the brains that signed off on that bright idea? There is no way this is standard practice around the league. This type of bonus presents a clear and present conflict of interest. During coach Jacques Martin’s most recent contract his Brossard office had two doors. Behind one of the doors laid 1 million dollars. Behind the other door was the Montreal Canadiens’ dressing room. Every day Jacques Martin had to decide through which door to walk. With our team as it was, as it is, it was only a matter of time before Martin walked through the money door. This was not a question of morality, of honour, this was just a question of time. Professional coaching jobs are relatively well paid but extremely unstable. One day you are contracted to coach one of the most famous teams in sports and the next you are one of hundreds vying for a handful of vacant or soon to be vacant NHL head coaching assignments. Not an ideal market to be working in. Any reasonable man would have walked through the money door. Or maybe Geoff Molson caught him with a toe on the other side and gave him a preemptive push.

Geoff Molson you ask? I am convinced the Habs’ ownership have given up on your beloved team. They replaced the coach with an interim coach for the remainder of the year. The absence of forethought on a permanent replacement would reflect badly on Gauthier if it were his decision. But clearly it was not his decision. Geoff Molson has given himself time to recruit a new GM who will in turn recruit his own permanent head coach in the off season. In the meantime Randy Cunneyworth and his sad troop of UFA’s, coasters, and professionals are just one insignificant petri dish experiment. Insignificant in that they will most definitely not win the Stanley Cup.

So the question isn’t who will be the permanent head coach but who will be the next GM. The answer should be Patrick Roy. The guy won Stanley Cups (plural) in Montreal with surprising rosters, then Stanley Cups (plural) in Colorado. After retiring he bought a part of the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Juniors, where as co-owner, general manager and coach they won the Memorial Cup his first year there. They have been contenders every year since. He knows what it takes to win, the type of rosters that win, the coaches that inspire winning, the atmosphere of a winning dressing room, the players that win, he knows the attitude that wins, the strategies that win and he knows how to adapt to win. Patrick Roy wins. Patrick Roy exists to win, he demands it. » Read more: State Of Affairs For The Montreal Canadiens