Stu Cowan: Canadians won’t budge for having a bilingual GM

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If Jeff Gorton spoke French, he would be the new general manager of the Canadiens.

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The 53-year-old Massachusetts native doesn’t, so for team president / owner Geoff Molson, Gorton is a better fit as the new executive vice president of hockey operations.

That was my conclusion from Molson’s one-hour press conference on Monday in Brossard.

While people in Quebec, in English and French, should understand why Molson wants a bilingual GM and head coach (even if some fans disagree with him), it’s probably harder to understand outside of the province. by La Belle.

So I asked Molson to explain why his CEO should be bilingual.

“We live in the province of Quebec and the province of Quebec is, I don’t know the percentage, but predominantly French-speaking,” Molson said. “And it is absolutely essential that the people who work in our organization who communicate with fans on a daily or regular basis be able to communicate with them. Bilingualism is also important. So the people who are in charge of coaching or general managers also have to speak English because we want to communicate with our fans around the world and that is one of the unique things about this market that we have to appreciate.

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“In our own market, we have to respect the language, both English and French, but we have a following all over the world,” added Molson. “That is why it is unique and it complicates it. Complications can be good at times and I am very excited about this one. We have two new people joining the organization, one of whom we know and the other is to be determined. “

What also makes it difficult is who will make the final hockey decisions. Molson said that will depend on the new general manager. Another complication is that there are no experienced bilingual GM candidates at the NHL level. Is an inexperienced DJ really going to overturn any decision Gorton wants to make?

“I hired Marc Bergevin in 2012 and he also had no general manager experience with the Montreal Canadiens, and he did a good job,” Molson said. “I come back to this concept that it is a lot for a person. If I could go back a few years and know what I know today, I would have supplemented him (Bergevin) with someone else. It’s such a big job in this market and I think it’s really important for that. “

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So, Gorton will begin his search for a bilingual general manager to help him fix what’s wrong with the Canadiens, and there are a lot of things to fix. At least the new general manager this time around will have someone to guide him with extensive hockey experience and previous NHL experience as a general manager with the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers rather than reporting directly to Molson. That is good.

“Now we turn the page,” Molson said. “A new beginning. I strongly believe that this organization needs a new beginning. At this stage, a new beginning is not so much at the team level, but at the management level. On the ice, we have a team that is much better than it is. results show. Many of the components that surprised us last summer (en route to the Stanley Cup final) will be back soon. But equally important, we’ve made 45 draft picks in the last five years since our reboot and we have 11 more in the pipeline. Montreal this year. It is critical that we structure our organization around the proper development of this talent pool. The new management team will be responsible for evaluating our current team and how we can improve. “

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Molson didn’t rule out the possibility of a rebuild if that’s what Gorton and the new general manager think will be for the best.

“I’m not afraid of that word and I think our fans won’t be afraid of it either,” Molson said.

When asked about the future of head coach Dominique Ducharme, Molson said he doesn’t make the coach decision, but added: “As far as I’m concerned, he’s the coach and he stays there.”

Molson still pays Claude Julien $ 5 million not to train this season and just signed Ducharme to a three-year, $ 5.1 million deal four months ago, so it would be surprising if the owner was willing. to eat a second coaching contract. in this point.

If or when there is a change of coach, you can be sure that the new one will be bilingual.

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I asked Molson why bilingualism was not a requirement for hiring Gorton.

“Because the general manager will be bilingual,” Molson said. “The general manager is the person who talks to the fans and that’s the most important thing to me. Will Jeff speak to fans? Sure, it will be from time to time. But the general manager will be the person who will ultimately communicate with the fans and it will be. “

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