(Terrebonne) In May, on the sidelines of a charity event at the Bell Centre, Geoff Molson openly spoke about reconstruction.
This loaded word, which no leader of the Canadian has ever wanted to pronounce before (from memory, at least), has been heard by just about everyone … including Serge Savard, who understands this new reality very well.
“I can’t blame the leaders of the Canadiens when they talk about reconstruction,” noted the former defender and general manager of the club, Tuesday in Terrebonne, during the golf tournament that bears his name. The Canadiens drafted first overall a year ago, so when you finish last, you’re talking about rebuilding. It’s normal. »
Serge Savard admits it: he has, in the past, wanted to send “messages” to the management, because he did not like the paths taken. But the new leaders in place give him hope for the immediate future of the team.
“It’s a new administration, so you have to give the runner a chance,” he added. This is the second year, and we are still making plans for three or five years. Me, I have confidence in these people, I think that the organization is much stronger than it was in the past.
“The last thing I want to do is text…I’ve texted a lot in the past, and it was mostly because I wasn’t happy with the situation, like a lot of people. »
The first thing that Serge Savard names on this subject is the absence of Canadian scouts in the stands of Quebec junior hockey. To this end, only two players from the QMJHL were chosen by the current management during the last two drafts.
“In the past, he continues, I was very disappointed to see how much the organization had neglected the QMJHL. I was disappointed because we are talking about local talent, but also because historically, the NHL has always seen the QMJHL as a weaker league than the others, and that gave us an advantage.
“For example, there are players who ended up being drafted later than expected, like Patrick Roy, who was drafted in the third round, or Claude Lemieux, who was drafted in the second round. If he had played in the Toronto area, I am convinced that Claude Lemieux would have been chosen in the first round. So this situation favored us, and unfortunately, after my departure, we neglected recruiting in the QMJHL a lot, as I have often said. But I am very confident for the years to come. »
“I didn’t experience the salary cap, and today it’s a reality. Me, the worst decision I had to make was to call a player I had just traded… but today is different. You’re letting a player go because you need to free up $1 million on your sledgehammer…the human side is less present. »
Serge Savard’s fourth golf tournament was presented Tuesday at the Le Mirage club in Terrebonne. The annual event, which serves to raise funds for student-athletes at the University of Sherbrooke, has become a source of pride for the former CH.
“I started the Sports Studies Corporation 23 years ago,” he noted. There are about 300 student-athletes at the University of Sherbrooke, who need 20 or 30 hours of training per week, which sometimes prevents them from having a temporary job to pay for their studies. It was mainly in support of them that we started this […] I chose the University of Sherbrooke because it is a very progressive university; there is a medical unit in Moncton, in Chicoutimi, in Longueuil. There is a unit in Moncton because the French-speaking villages of New Brunswick did not have medical schools. Students had to go to study medicine in Montreal, and most did not return, so there were no French-speaking doctors in the villages of New Brunswick. It made a difference. »