Montreal Canadiens and the Karmic Curse of Irving Grundman

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

It was the summer of 1978 and the Montreal Canadiens were the greatest organization in hockey. Fresh from winning their third Stanley Cup in a row and their 21st Stanley Cup ever, they were arguably the best run organization in professional sports. Sitting at the helm guiding the team was the single best General Manager in Montreal Canadiens history, Sam Pollock. 

Sam was in his last of 14 years and was winning his ninth Stanley Cup as Les Habitants' GM. Behind the bench was the (even then) legendary Scotty Bowman. The team featured the Art Ross and Hart trophy winner Guy Lafleur. Ken Dryden and Michel "Bunny" Laroque had won the Vezina trophy as the leagues best goaltending tandem.

Bob Gainey had won the Frank J. Selke trophy as the leagues best defensive forward. Larry Robinson won the Conn Smythe trophy as the best player in the playoffs. Les Glorieux were unstoppable hockey titans with a history of teams, players and managers reaching back to before the first world war.

Then, on Aug. 4,1978, Molsons of Canada bought the team back from the Bronfmans for a reported $20 million. Three Molson cousins had sold the team to the Bronfmans back in 1971 and were apparently suffering from some sort of delayed sellers remorse. Molsons bought the team, the Habs moved from hard liquor to beer and the organization has never been the same.

The new ownership coincided with the "retirement" of Sam Pollock at the relatively young age of 53. Sam Pollock had picked up the general manager reins from the great Frank J Selke in 1964. Selke retired at the age of 71 after training his replacement Pollock for five years to succeed him.

The Montreal Canadiens slogan was and is "To you from failing hands we throw the torch. Be yours to hold it high."  The Canadiens tried to live up to this excerpt from the world war I poem "In Flanders Field" by John Macrae. The ideal was believed to hold for players and managers alike. 

It stressed a culture of stability,continuity and mentoring to insure a worthy successor for each individual on the team. Sam Pollocks groomed successor was Scotty Bowman but that was not to be.

Molson's upon Pollocks retirement brought in Irving Grundman to be the general manager of the Canadiens. He was not a hockey guy he was a businessmen. His claim to fame was that he built from scratch an empire of bowling lanes in Montreal Ottawa, and Kingston called Laurentian Lanes. He was certainly not Sam Pollocks hand-picked successor.

He didn't have the legendary knowledge that Pollock had accumulated in a life time in hockey. He was an owner and operator of bowling alley's who seemed to think it might be fun to run a hockey club. Molson's apparently agreed and the fun soon began.      

The next year Les Habitants won the cup again for the fourth year in a row. Irving Grundman has his name on the cup as the GM of a Stanley Cup winning team. This was of course Pollock's team, but that's how Grundman began his time in Montreal; at the top.

On June 11,1979 after winning that fourth Stanley Cup in a row Scotty Bowman announced he was leaving to become the general manager of the Buffalo Sabres. Does anyone wonder if the Montreal Canadien dynasty might have continued longer if Bowman succeeded Pollock and groomed his own replacement say by the year 2000.

At the very least the Canadiens would have faced the eighties with a general manager who knew hockey and not that witless wonder, Grundman. At his farewell press conference Bowman said "...there was no room for Irving Grundman and me on the same team." 

Who would you rather have? A hockey hall of famer or the bowling savant? Bowman said at the time he couldn't stand the way Grundman was running the team and had no respect for the mans hockey acumen.  It could be called sour grapes. Now it just seems prescient.    

Jacques Lemaire scored his last NHL goal in the playoffs that year. It was the Stanley Cup winning goal. At age 34 Lemaire had 55 points in 50 NHL games. He had 97 points in 76 games the year before. During the 1979 playoffs Jacques had 23 points in 16 playoff games. He and Cournoyer were the elder statesman on this great team.

He was the first line center with Lafleur and Cournoyer for a good deal of the time. He was an offensive player who was defensively responsible (go figure) good on the faceoff, with a huge shot. He had some good playing years left in him.

During the salary negotiations with Lemaire I still remember the defining quote that came from Irving Grundman.

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