Old Hab-its die hard for Guy Carbonneau
Veteran jumped at chance when Montreal called, looking for help

by Mark Spector for The Edmonton Journal, 11/29/00

Guy Carbonneau’s wife wasn’t wild about leaving sunny Dallas to return to the snowy winter streets of Montreal.

And now 19-year-old daughter Anne-Marie is in a Lone Star state, firmly entrenched in school at Southern Methodist University and a live-in relationship with Dallas Stars winger Brenden Morrow.

But when Les Habitants called, the freshly retired Carbonneau felt the pull of the team he had grown up with as a child and as a player. The Montreal Canadiens don’t have much any more, but somehow they still have a grip on the heartstrings of guys like Carbonneau, likely the No. 1 commodity this gutted organization has these days.

He was thrilled to come home -- even if the Habs did trade Carbonneau away in 1994, a straight swap for one Jim Montgomery, if you can believe that.

"I had a great career in Montreal for 12 years and I didn’t want to leave there," Carbonneau said Tuesday. "I had built a house there and expected to finish my career there. But I kept the house, always came back in the summer and always kept in contact with the people. I really like the city."

He took a job this summer working with draft picks and young players, but quickly moved behind the bench as an assistant coach when the Canadiens cleaned out the old maison after hitting rock bottom in the NHL standings.

Today, no NHL assistant coach has been closer to assuming the general manager’s chair since Kevin Lowe held his first coaching gig in Edmonton.

Back then, Glen Sather said publicly that Lowe would be his perfect replacement in Edmonton. In Montreal, the succession is not quite so simple -- which comes as no surprise to anyone who has watched the Habs operate the last few years.

Right now, Carbonneau is situated beneath head coach Michel Therrien and GM Andre Savard on the Canadiens’ food chain. But the chances of the latter two affecting a marked change in Montreal’s fortunes before Carbonneau accrues the necessary management experience are slim.

Eventually Carbonneau will find himself attempting to install in a down-trodden Canadiens organization the winning tradition that exists in Dallas. Which is mighty ironic, when you consider how Stars GM and former Hab Bob Gainey dug deep into Canadiens lore, employing players like Carbonneau, Craig Ludwig, Brian Skrudland and Mike Keane to implant the Canadiens’ character into a previously faceless Stars team.

"Dallas did it the right way, but you also have to be down in the basement for a few years to be able to go there," Carbonneau said. "Minnesota was able to draft Mike Modano, Derian Hatcher, Richard Matvichuk, Jere Lehtinen. The pressure we have in Montreal is to perform every year and in that regard you can’t allow yourself to finish last at all to pick those guys."

The Canadiens will get a nice draft pick this summer, don’t worry. But with that will come another season out of the playoffs -- that would be three and counting -- an odd sensation for Carbonneau, who is coming off back to back trips to the Stanley Cup final with Dallas.

"The situation in Montreal hasn’t been easy and the attitude is tough to change. We’re not winning as much as we did in the past and it’s hard to have a positive attitude on the ice. It will take some time," he said.

"It’s the will to win. We have to bring some of that back here. But there are some things you can do to change it and that’s what we’re going to work at."

How did it get this bad in Montreal? Ask a future NHL Hall-of-Famer who was dealt away for career minor-leaguer Jim Montgomery and the answer is obvious.

"Obviously, trading," Carbonneau assessed. "It’s tough to trade all that character in three or four years. Chris Chelios, Patrick Roy, John LeClair, Shayne Corson -- they are not the kind of guys you pick up off the street every day. And obviously, the drafting has to be there."

If it were only about teaching the art of competition or winning the odd faceoff, Carbonneau might have the Habs in the Stanley Cup this season. He was always a factor in the annual Stars-Oilers series, sifting home that 40-foot wrist shot to win Game 4 last spring, a goal that turned the series Dallas’s way.

"We always went at it hard and shook hands at the end. I’ve got a lot of respect for Guy," said Oiler Doug Weight. "Looking from the outside, I would say absolutely he’ll be a GM some time. I don’t know Guy as well as Kevin, but from where I sit I would definitely say that’s his destiny."

Will it be in Montreal?

The Canadiens should be so lucky.