Guy Carbonneau: The Weakest Link, The Final Chapter

AllHabs.blogspot.com

This is the third and final article in the weakest link series.

The first appeared last April as Guy Carbonneau stumbled through his rookie playoff appearance as a coach.

Without rehashing everything from the two previous articles, it was for some, the first time that Guy Carbonneau's coaching deficiencies set off alarm bells.

After coasting through a season under the radar and benefiting from a roster relatively free of injuries, Carbonneau's coaching abilities were tested.

The rookie playoff coach failed miserably.

When opposition coaches dissected and defended Carbonneau's feared power-play, the coach did not respond. When his pet fourth line center bobbled an exchange, he threw his rookie goaltender to the media wolves.

Carbonneau who had been successful coaching from the gut was left exposed as he had nothing to draw upon.

Old wounds were re-opened and exploited: his feud with Kovalev; his disappointment when Huet was traded.

As the Canadiens floundered, Carbonneau scuttled the ship but made sure that the media sights were set on Kovalev and Price as the scapegoats.

In truth, the Canadiens were unprepared—Carbonneau went golfing before the Canadiens final playoff game.

The Habs were outcoached in every playoff game. When other teams countered their system, the Canadiens' coaches were slow to make any pre-game or in-game adjustments.

During the playoffs, we did not see the coach as a tactician, someone who came well-prepared or someone with the coaching experience to draw upon.

Carbonneau isn't a motivator or a coach who could communicate with his players. Instead, we saw his well documented traits of bitterness and stubbornness.

This season has been a huge disappointment.

Carbonneau was given a roster that was significantly better than last year, but, by November, it was already clear that he had lost the team. The team, as a whole, has been under performing.

The Canadiens have lost more man-games to injury this season. Injuries require the coach to make decisions.

The “how-to-defend-the-Canadiens-power-play” manual used by Boston and Philadelphia during the playoffs last spring was copied throughout the league.

Devising a new power-play strategy requires coaching skill.

Given their performance last year and publicity of the centennial celebrations, the Canadiens could no longer fly under the radar this season.

The team needed to be well prepared for each game with focused practices. An intelligent game plan was required from the coaching staff.

As the team struggled, the players needed a good communicator and motivator. They needed their coach to be a leader who inspired confidence and stability.

Guy Carbonneau did not have the skill, aptitude, experience or interest to be effective in any of those areas. Motivation, communication, preparation were all areas of weakness.

Carbonneau's team was unprepared for games because he was unprepared to be a head coach.

When communication with his players was required, Carbonneau painted a bullseye on his players to focus media attention.

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