With the disappointment of a miserable centennial season lingering like a foul taste for the Montreal Canadiens, it's now time to move on to the traditional finger-pointing — and general manager Bob Gainey is extending a gnarled digit at the "disgraceful" Tampa Bay Lightning.
In analyzing his team's wretched performance, Gainey identified injuries to key players and the disruptions caused by furious trade speculation involving superstar Tampa centre Vincent Lecavalier as the main factors in a dismal second half.
Gainey lashed out at Lightning counterpart Brian Lawton and the team's ownership for leaking the names of the Habs players they were interested in during the midwinter trade talks involving Lecavalier.
"The second half of our season was when things started to go off course and I felt the first place was when we had discussions with Tampa Bay. We had an agreement with them that I got a call early in January with a list of names from their team that they wanted to talk about, and those players ended up public because they used those names to take them to other teams to see if they could create a different trade for Vincent Lecavalier," Gainey said at his end-of-season news conference following the Habs' elimination by the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.
"I think it was disgraceful that Josh Gorges and Tomas Plekanec and Chris Higgins have to read that stuff."
Lawton retorted in the St. Petersburg Times the accusations were "preposterous" and "absolutely false. The NHL is a very tight community, there's only 28 other GMs and I can assure you there's not one who will confirm it because it has never happened."
Considerable speculation has surrounded Gainey's future with the team — several pundits called for his head after the Habs' swift elimination — but he didn't look or sound like someone who has one foot out the door.
"I'm sitting here today with the idea that I have work to do," he said.
Though Gainey is clearly in the mind of settling his scores with Lawton, the explanation stands up as a partial one at best.
Injuries are a more persuasive argument, especially the season-ending Achilles tendon tear suffered by centre Robert Lang on Feb. 1, and the knee problem that took No. 1 defenceman Andrei Markov out of action for the final eight games, all losses.
The Habs lost 253 man-games to injuries this season, more than double the previous year's total, when the team finished at the top of the NHL's Eastern Conference.
Gainey said the injuries had a ripple effect on the roster, something repeated by several players, who said the cohesiveness of the team was hindered by a rotating cast of absentees.
To say nothing of the off-ice distractions, including reports of wild partying, the criminal acquaintances of a trio of players, sale rumours and the demands of the centennial celebrations.
"If feels like we've lived through three seasons of He Shoots, He Scores in one year," said winger Guillaume Latendresse, who is one of five restricted free agents on the Canadiens roster.
"You get to the rink and it's always something, you're thinking about what's going to happen tomorrow, is the coach going to be there, it's a tough situation. I think mentally we were hampered by all that … but we'll grow from it."
The team also suffered through the instability of having 10 unrestricted free agents on its roster, a situation Gainey agreed was "not optimal."
At the same time, he can look to next season with about $32-million (U.S.) in salary cap room in his back pocket.
Captain Saku Koivu will be out of contract on July 1, and though he said yesterday he's never considered wearing another team's sweater, he acknowledged he may have to now.
Koivu said his preference would be to stay and that a deal be done quickly, before the free agency period begins.
Leading scorer Alex Kovalev, another of the free-agents-to-be, said he wants to come back next year, but said "it's not really in my control."
Winger Alex Tanguay, who missed more than 30 games with a shoulder injury and will undergo surgery next week, said he would love to return, and would be keen to sign before July.
"I'm more interested in years than money," he said.
Lang also said he wants to return, although he said he's not keen to play for a rebuilding team and would like a multiyear contract.
Another factor was the regression of younger players such as franchise goaltender Carey Price, who won an all-star nod and then went 7-12-5 in the second half of the season, forwards Tomas Plekanec, Andrei Kostitsyn, and Sergei Kostitsyn and defencemen Mike Komisarek (another free agent) and Ryan O'Byrne.
History will recall that in 2008-09, the Canadiens roared out to a 25-10-6 mark after 41 games, the best start in team history, and looked to be in solid command of a playoff spot that would guarantee them home-ice advantage in the first round.
They'd had some fluky wins, but the Habs were about to send four players to the all-star game, and Gainey called the hiring of then-coach Guy Carbonneau his best move.
In the first half, the Canadiens gave up an average of 2.66 goals a game, in the second half, the average was 3.37. In the first half, they scored 23 more goals than they gave up; in the second 41 games, they gave up 21 more than they scored.
By the time Carbonneau was sacked on March 9, with his team in the midst of an 8-13-1 slide, all semblance of confidence was shot.
A disastrous trip and 3-9-1 losing slide after the all-star break (part of a sequence in which they won only three times in 15 games) was the blow from which they never really recovered.
