Friday, February 19, 2016

Stupid is as Stupid Does

Michel Therrien is a stupid man.

That is the only conclusion one can draw after his post-loss comments on Wednesday. To watch a team lose its twenty-third game in the last thirty-two, then decide the latest defeat was the fault of the team's only All-Star was dumb. To then decide it would be a good idea to bench him when the team desperately needed a goal, then call him out publicly and blame him for the loss was the work of an imbecile.

P.K.Subban can be frustrating to watch. Any Habs fan who regularly sees him play has, at some point, yelled for him to just shoot, dammit! However, it's safe to say there have been many, many more times when his brilliant outlet pass led to an important goal or his fantastic skating helped him move the puck out of trouble. With Subban, you know there will be thrills and sometimes, he'll make a mistake. To say he, above anyone else, cost his team the game is pure garbage.

Subban is on the ice nearly half the game and is his team's leading scorer. Ninety-five percent of the time, the play he makes is the right one. In Wednesday's game, the guy fell down. He didn't make a dumb pass like most of his blueline colleagues are wont to do. He didn't take a stupid penalty. He just fell down. When he dropped out of the play, there were still three Canadiens facing three Colorado players. They failed to cover Jarome Iginla when he scored the go-ahead goal. Yet, Therrien didn't mention any of them.

This wasn't a one-off for the coach, either. Right from the start of his tenure, he announced his intention to make Subban a better player and a better person. Yes, the guy who gave ten million bucks to a children's hospital had to learn class and generosity from Michel Therrien, who is not exactly known for his contributions to the community. Therrien has benched Subban for making mistakes and at one time, refused to play him at the ends of games, demonstrating a lack of trust in him. This coach kept his best defenceman off the penalty kill for an entire season. He wouldn't answer when asked whether Subban deserved to make the Olympic team. He banned Subban's "low-five" win celebration with Carey Price. He scratched him for two games after his holdout four years ago because "he had to learn the system." It's safe to say Therrien doesn't like Subban.

At this point though, Therrien's treatment of Subban is ridiculous. The player is fun-loving, kind, generous, talented and classy. He's not perfect, but neither is David Desharnais, who can do no wrong in Therrien's eyes. He's a crappy coach and a petty man who's treating one of the best hockey players around like a mistake-prone rookie. The fact that Subban hasn't punched him out literally or verbally demonstrates the class and patience of the player.

That Marc Bergevin has promised Therrien's job is safe raises questions about the competence of the GM as well. If he can't see that a rotten coach calling out an All-Star for a simple mistake is laughable, well, perhaps he's dumb too. But not as dumb as Therrien, because the coach is a truly stupid man.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Preach! Couldn't agree more.

dra58 said...

This is a form of prejudice only this time it is francaphone vs english speaking black superstar. We are kidding ourselves if we do not believe that Subban is treated differently from other stars who have had personalities in the past a la Jeremy Roenick. He was outspoken more than PK has ever been and was almost as flamboyant in a different way as well but he was never judged as harshly as Subban is by too many people. I am not versed or literate enough to speak of racism so I speak in general terms as prejudice which may come from the above mentioned topic but if people could only watch the game for what it is and what he brings they could see the truth. He is one of 2 superstars on this team and this year the other is missing due to circumstances beyond his control. The vitrol with which MT uses when trying to motivate PK is way over the top and out of bounds. I realize not all players can be motivated the same way but this is surely not the way to do it. Forrest Gump used your title for this story first and it is so spot on in defining MT and is cluelessness. PK will take the high road during this and MB who I believe sees there are issues with this team without Price will hopefully have a plan going forward this Summer and we will finally be done with MT forever. Hopefully smarter heads will prevail and realize the majority of our cups were won with coaches who may have spoken french but were not primarily francaphones as the GM's were not as well. We limit our pool of quality candidates and as a result it appears we cater to a small mass as opposed to the fans desire to win. Molson knows PK is a star so is not leaving and he should also realize he can only sell snake oil so long with out real results so he should encourage his GM to do what's best going forward for the team and not necessarily profit driven so much and hopefully be able to do it from the sidelines.
For people to speculate that MT said what he said with MB's blessing I hope they are wrong and that it is instead the ravings of the same coach who lost it in Pittsburgh years ago. MT must go and we need a coach who coaches and understands the new NHL regardless of where they are from.
I have ranted and raved enough for now.

moeman said...

I agree 100%. I'd add that PK is also very erudite/loquacious and doesn't spew clichés.

UK3X said...

Wow! Nicely said JT...nicely said!

Scott in Montreal said...

Yes, stupid ...with an agenda?

Steve said...

eMTY is in Tank mode. And after this year is a Finn. Fisnish

juce said...

Thank you, JT. Once again you are bang on!

Young HF29 said...

Amen JT!

Ian said...

Leigh Anne, I have vented about MT on your blog a number of times since he got hired for Round 2. This particular blog of yours has captured my feelings in a way I could never express, and I thank you for putting it in print. It's exactly what I would like to say if only I had the professional expertise that you have.

I particularly appreciated your mention of how MT kept him out of the line-up for a couple of games after his hold out so that PK could 'learn' his system. That no-class move has always peeved me to an extreme, as it seems that traded-for players are able to make the line-up right away. I guess MT has an immersion video he shows them before their 1st game. No, MT was showing PK that he was the boss. What a way to start! I disliked him as a coach before, but that was the moment that I started to hate him (for the record, I am personally bothered to use the word 'hate' here, but I tried to come up with a different word and just couldn't).

From before MT got hired, he apparently was a huge critic of PK on the French programs (as I can't speak French, alas, I have to take the word of people who have documented this many, many times in their columns or broadcasts).

MT has to be stupid to treat his only superstar skater like he does. There is no other explanation!

I look forward to next season when he is finally gone, back to his French language programs where he will chirp away about PK. He does not deserve a NHL coaching job anywhere!

Dr. Stephen Ogden said...

"What oft was thought / But ne'er so well express'd"

Alexander Pope originally; me now, reading your post.