Guy! Guy! Guy!
Carbonneau returns home to work with young Habs


By Pat Hickey for The Montréal Gazette, 4 August, 2000

Guy Carbonneau is coming home.

The former Canadiens captain was introduced at a press conference yesterday as part of a six-man hockey committee headed by general manager Rejean Houle.

Carbonneau will have the title of supervisor of prospect development, although he and Houle are still working on the job description.

"My main responsibility will be to work with the players we've drafted, the 18- and 19-year-olds who are still playing junior or college hockey," Carbonneau said. "I'll be involved with the summer camp we'll be having for our younger players beginning next week, and if (coach Alain Vigneault) wants me to get down on the ice and work with some of the youngsters on faceoffs, I'll be happy to do whatever I can."

Carbonneau said he accepted the Canadiens' offer over one to become a pro scout for the Dallas Stars, the team he played with for the past five seasons.

"(General manager Bob Gainey) said he had a job for one year, and I thought Montreal offered a better future," said Carbonneau, a 40-year-old native of Sept-Iles. "I can remember coming to the Canadiens as a 19-year-old and I think I've always been a Canadien. Coming back here is a dream come true."

On paper, at least, Carbonneau is coming back as a key cog in what Houle described as a "transition period." Houle, Carbonneau and Vigneault are all part of the hockey committee, which also includes holdover pro scout Pierre Mondou and two newcomers, director of hockey personnel Andre Savard and amateur and pro scout Martin Madden.

Conspicuous by his absence from the list is chief scout Pierre Dorion Jr. While Houle insists that Dorion is still an important member of the organization, he has slipped at least one notch on the chain of command. Dorion has been responsible for overseeing the amateur draft selections and reported directly to Houle. He now reports to Savard.

Carbonneau, who was sporting one of the two Stanley Cup rings he won with the Canadiens, said he made the decision to end his 18-year playing career in January.

"I had five good years in Dallas, but I knew I didn't want to play another season," Carbonneau said. "I had a good run for a guy who was supposed to be finished (in 1994 when the Canadiens traded him to St. Louis). My heart wasn't in the game when I went to St. Louis, but after I was traded to Dallas and I was with Bob Gainey and Craig Ludwig, it became fun again."

It took more than a month for Carbonneau to decide to come back to Montreal. Part of the delay was sorting out personal concerns.

"We settled in Dallas and it's a very pleasant place to live," Carbonneau said. "There's no snow, we had a house in a great neighbourhood and my wife and my daughters liked living there."

His older daughter, Anne-Marie, will stay in Dallas. She begins her freshman year at Southern Methodist University in September and is currently going out with Carbonneau's former teammate, Brendan Morrow.

Said Carbonneau: "When your daughter is going out with one of your teammates, it's a sign that it's time to retire."

Carbonneau, who will take 10 days off in September to take his wife, Line, on a previously planned trip to France, said one concern was to find a good school for his younger daughter, Kristina.

Houle said Carbonneau will fit into what he described as a "three-year plan" to restore the Canadiens to a competitive position.

"Every successful team has a plan like we do," Houle explained. "Ask Glen Sather about how he rebuilt the Oilers after they lost all their top guys. I don't think we have to hit the bottom like they did, but we have to work on developing our young players. It usually takes three years from the time a player is drafted before he's ready for the NHL, and we want our players to be ready."

Carbonneau said one of the problems is that teams expect young players to be better than they are.

"Most of them need work on their skills," Carbonneau said. "The problem with the junior teams in Canada and the U.S. is that they play too many games and don't practice enough. That's why the young Europeans have an advantage."