The guessing games have begun over who the next president of the Habs will be and Serge Savard is the lickely candidate to replace the man who fired him as GM over 4 years ago. That is assuming Savard wants the job. Savard has many other business interests and you have to wonder if he has the time for the chores that come with being president of the Montreal Canadiens. The media has also been mentioning some big names such as Glenn Sather, Pierre Lacroix and Bob Gainey. The problem there is that Lacroix's Avalanche and Gainey's Stars faced off in the Western Conference finals and it's hard to imagine that they'd want to leave their respective powerhouses for the floundering Canadiens. Glenn Sather has also been mentioned since he is upset over his budget in Edmonton. It can be imagine that if any of those three took over the presidency, they'd replace Rejean Houle as GM as well but Montreal would have to provide a lot of compensation to their former clubs.

Montreal also released the financial parts of Trevor Linden and Jeff Hackett's contract extensions. Linden's deal will pay him 14 million over 4 years and Hackett's extension will pay him 12.8 million over 4 years. Both players could have been unrestricted free agents after next season.


Linden a Hab

Rejean Houle appears to be a very confused GM. A few months after gutting his team of veterans in an attempt to rebuild, Houle dealt away some of the Habs future for an agging veteran, Trevor Linden.

After trading Vincent Damphouse and Mark Recchi in deadline deals for youth and draft picks, Houle traded away the Habs first round pick, no.10 overall for Linden. Looks like a bad deal to me from the outset since Montreal has got to completely rebuild if they want to avoid years and years of torture and missery. Montreal missed the playoffs last year and it if this is Houle's sole off-season move, Montreal will probably miss the playoffs again and this deal may just be the difference between a Top 5 pick and another no.10 in the draft.

After dealing for the 29 year old Linden, Houle signed him to a 4 year deal. Linden who would have been a free agent after the season made 2.5 million last season and since his production has fallen off of late, this extension should be worth around 2 million annualy.

He played all 82 games for the Islanders last season but put up a disappointing 47 points on 18 goals and 29 assists. He was minus-14 in his 11th NHL season.


Get out the golf clubs

As the playoffs begin, the Montreal Canadiens, with 24 Stanley Cups to their name will be on the outside looking for only the second time in 29 years. That's right, as strange as it sounds Montreal has missed the playoffs.

Despite a small rejuvinalization after Jeff Hackett and Eric Weinrich came aboard, the Habs could not make the playoffs and now all that is left to be decided is who will hang for this.

Ronald Corey has been under the bubbles lately but Molsons still likes him since he got them the Molson Centre and has run the Habs as a descent business, the way Molsons like to see their team run. As well, Corey managed to get the Richard Trophy into the league which has raised his public profile a bit and Molsons may be reluctant to fire him. If he does meet the axe, Serge Savard could return to replace him.

Rejean Houle, who has floundered along as GM will probably survive as well, if only because Jacques Lemaire, his assistant GM has no want to become the no.1 GM in Montreal. Houle also slashed payroll at the deadline and made a steal on the Hackett trade so he will survive the axe as well.

The coaching staff will likely break up although head coach Alain Vigneault will likely remain behind the bench. Dave King may leave for a head coaching job somewhere and a few other assistants will become sacrifical lambs. Larry Robinson may come abboard to replace King as the top assistant in Montreal.

In the end, the players will be blamed. No one is untouchable and many deals will be made as Montreal prepares to undergo a COMPLETE rebuilding process. Vladimir Malakhov, Jeff Hackett and Eric Weinrich, who all become unrestricted free agents after next season will either sign or be traded in the off season. Expect Hackett and Weinrich to sign long term deals while Malakhov is dealt. Montreal will also look to move some other veterans such as Shane Corson and Patrice Brisebois although they may sign a free agent.

No matter who takes the blame, the fans will suffer because this year will not be the last year where the Habs miss the playoffs in the comming future.