Just Win, Baby! And Speak French...

The Montreal Canadiens have named former Senators' captain Randy Cunneyworth as their new head coach.  He replaces Jacques Martin who was fired over the weekend.  Predictably, there is an uproar in some French-Quebec circles over Cunneyworth's inability to speak French. 


Can't We All Just Get Along?

Canadiens owner Geoff Molson says Cunneyworth is “a qualified and experienced coach” who had earned respect.  However, Molson does say the Habs will conduct a “carefully planned” coaching search after the season.

“Although our main priority remains to win hockey games and to keep improving as a team, it is obvious that the ability of the head coach to express himself in both French and English will be a very important factor in the selection of a permanent head coach,” Molson said.

Barring a remarkable turnaround and finish, it sure sounds like Cunneyworth is a temp.  If he does get the job full time, Cunneyworth strikes me as the kind of guy who would take some French lessons, just to be courteous to the media.  But it's clear that Molson would demand he do it to appease his French, beer buying public.  I love that beer unites us as Canadians.

Impératif Français, a nationalist group based in Gatineau, has called for a boycott of Molson products to protest the hiring.  Another group, Mouvement Québec Français, has piped in as well.  The reality is, groups like these don’t have hockey in mind when they say and do this stuff.  They’re thinking only of protecting French culture and identity which, to a degree, I admire.  But it always seems to go overboard.

Don't forget, this was a move made by a proud French Canadian - GM Pierre Gauthier - who obviously knows this team's history and wants the best for this team and its fan base.  The French protesters don't think like that.  In fact, they think it would be terrific if the Habs hired a French-only coach. 

That would be a real problem.  Like it or not, a French-only coach would be unqualified because most of the players wouldn't understand what he was saying.  That's not discrimination.  If the NHL's universal language were French, I wouldn't hire a coach who didn't speak fluent French.  Coach-to-player communication is everything and this is a Habs' roster with only 2 or 3 Quebec-born, Francophone players.  Cunneyworth speaks English, the language that is spoken in every NHL dressing room - including Montreal's. 

Sure, French sound bites are nice.  The French media really appreciates it and maybe they don't write that "fire the coach" column quite so quickly.  But speaking French has no real bearing on a coach's on-ice success.  In the 50's?  Yes.  But not now.  Thankfully, I think most Montreal Canadien fans get that.