Ten Things I HATE about the Habs

[Vapor 0]

Found this on the Blueshirt Bulliten...

10. The "Habs" -- what's up with that? Their proper name is so unoriginal that they had to come up with a second one, Les Habitants, which in and of itself is not unusual (e.g. the Broadway Blueshirts as a second Rangers' nickname), except that they went and put an "H" inside the "C" on their jerseys to confuse the heck out of everyone.

9. In order to understand what their local papers say about them, you need to take a Berlitz course -- and even so, even the French have a hard time understanding them.

8. They're such fair-weather fans, that every single Montreal native I know who moved to New York (and that's not a small number) immediately became a Ranger fan.

7. They pretend to be a small market team when in truth, in terms of hockey economics, they have one of the broadest and deepest fan bases in the NHL. They pretend to be a small market team in order to squeeze as much profit as they can out of their fan base.

6. It wasn't enough for them to be so good all those years, they had to be ridiculously lucky on top of that, like in 1979 when they made it to the Cup final because of Boston's idiotic too many men on the ice penalty and then in the final reversed the Rangers' early dominance because Bunny Larocque (or however the heck you spell his name) was conked in the head by a puck in practice (or whatever the heck happened to him), forcing the semi-injured Ken Dryden back into net to steal the remainder of the series.

5. They drafted Doug Wickenheiser instead of Denis Savard, passing up the Quebecois superstar during a disastrous string of top picks that lasted from 1974 until 2000 -- a quarter century of top picks that did not produce a single superstar, only a few good players in Saku Koivu, Mark Napier, and Andrew Cassells, a couple of decent defensemen and tough guys who should probably not have be drafted that high, and a whole lot of bona fide busts.

4. They foisted Jacques Lemaire and his neutral zone trap on the NHL -- some even claim they invented the neutral zone trap, although we believe Lemaire was the culprit, bastardizing the Habs' defensive approach to hockey during their firewagon days.

3. Claude Lemieux -- 'nuff said.

2. Needed anglos like Dick Irvin, Toe Blake, Sam Pollock, and Scotty Bowman to manage them to success. Did a francophone ever coach or manage them to a championship season? Perron, Ruel, Demers -- a couple, but not many, that's for sure.

1. They sit on all their Cup wins without seeming to understand that they never would have happened without the 50-mile rule -- or at least they do so without an ounce of humility. If the NHL had an 18- or 20-year-old entry draft based on reverse order of finish instead of exclusive rights to players within a 50-mile territorial radius, Rocket Richard, Henri Richard, Jean Beliveau, Jacques Plante, Yvan Cornoyer, and Jacques Lemaire, all among their top-ten all-time scoring leaders (except of course for Hall of Fame goalie Plante), would have been drafted by the Blackhawks, Rangers, Bruins, or New York Americans, the first three of those four teams being U.S.-based Original Six teams who had no hockey players within their 50-mile territories and won only three Cups between them from 1942 to 1972.

Or to look at it another way, would they have won only two Cups in the last quarter century-plus (after winning fifteen in the prior quarter century) had they gotten BOTH Guy Lafleur AND Marcel Dionne in 1971, had gotten Savard in addition to Wickenheiser in 1980 (erasing that mistake), and had gotten Mario Lemiuex in 1984? Without the 50-mile rule, Hab management suddenly looked a lot less smart than they used to, using their top draft picks on the likes of Dan Geoffrion, Mark Lee, Robin Sadler, Alain Heroux, Eric Charron, Lindsey Vallis, Terry Ryan, and David Wilkie. Amazing what a level playing field will do to a bunch of smart people who were accustomed to enjoying such an unfair advantage all those years. But rather than recognizing any of that, their fans whine about how unfair present-day NHL economics are to their team (see reason 7).

[Eazy_b97 1]

The H inside of the C is based on their stupid unoriginal name, not Habitants. Also I'm pretty sure the 50 mile rule only produced 1 player, who wasn't notable. The others were "drafted' by the Habs. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if others steered clear of alot of French players knowing the 50 mile rule.

[kosydar 0]

The H inside of the C is based on their stupid unoriginal name, not Habitants. Also I'm pretty sure the 50 mile rule only produced 1 player, who wasn't notable. The others were "drafted' by the Habs. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if others steered clear of alot of French players knowing the 50 mile rule.

I heard it stood for hockey club, but I could be wrong.

[Gongshow11 1]

h stands for hockey club

[RadioGaGa 162]

The H inside of the C is based on their stupid unoriginal name, not Habitants. Also I'm pretty sure the 50 mile rule only produced 1 player, who wasn't notable. The others were "drafted' by the Habs. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if others steered clear of alot of French players knowing the 50 mile rule.

I heard it stood for hockey club, but I could be wrong.

Club de Hockey au Montreal...I think.

[chippa13 1844]

5. They drafted Doug Wickenheiser instead of Denis Savard, passing up the Quebecois superstar during a disastrous string of top picks that lasted from 1974 until 2000 -- a quarter century of top picks that did not produce a single superstar, only a few good players in Saku Koivu, Mark Napier, and Andrew Cassells, a couple of decent defensemen and tough guys who should probably not have be drafted that high, and a whole lot of bona fide busts.

1977 - Rod Langway

1979 - Mats Naslund, Guy Carbonneau

1980 - Craig Ludwig

1981 - Chris Chelios

1983 - Claude Lemieux (I hate him too but he was a great playoff performer)

1984 - a little known goalie named Patrick Roy, Corson, Richer

1986 - Lumme, Odelein

1987 - Leclair, Desjardin, Schneider

1990 - Craig Conroy

1992 - Craig Rivet

1993 - Darcy Tucker

1994 - Tomas Vokoun

1995 - Stephane Robidas

1996 - Matt Higgins

1998 - Mike Ribiero, Francois Beauchemin, Michael Ryder

2000 - Ron Hainsey

Gee, there's just a few household names that were called by the Habs at the draft podium.

[DarkStar50 679]

The Habs enjoyed exclusive rights beyond 50 miles to all hockey players. Until the first draft in 1963, they had exclusive rights to the entire province of Quebec.

[RadioGaGa 162]

5. They drafted Doug Wickenheiser instead of Denis Savard, passing up the Quebecois superstar during a disastrous string of top picks that lasted from 1974 until 2000 -- a quarter century of top picks that did not produce a single superstar, only a few good players in Saku Koivu, Mark Napier, and Andrew Cassells, a couple of decent defensemen and tough guys who should probably not have be drafted that high, and a whole lot of bona fide busts.

1996 - Matt Higgins

Gee, there's just a few household names that were called by the Habs at the draft podium.

I think you are confusing Matt with Christopher Higgins. Matt was never a household name...in his own house!!!. Chris was drafted in 2002.

Otherwise, that is a pretty good looking list.

[chippa13 1844]

5. They drafted Doug Wickenheiser instead of Denis Savard, passing up the Quebecois superstar during a disastrous string of top picks that lasted from 1974 until 2000 -- a quarter century of top picks that did not produce a single superstar, only a few good players in Saku Koivu, Mark Napier, and Andrew Cassells, a couple of decent defensemen and tough guys who should probably not have be drafted that high, and a whole lot of bona fide busts.

1996 - Matt Higgins

Gee, there's just a few household names that were called by the Habs at the draft podium.

I think you are confusing Matt with Christopher Higgins. Matt was never a household name...in his own house!!!. Chris was drafted in 2002.

Otherwise, that is a pretty good looking list.

Matt would argue otherwise, everyone in his house knows his name.

[willy0314 0]

:Things I hate about Ranger fans:

1)Threads like this one.

NYR fans = just as brutal as Leaf / Habs fans.

And I'll save you the reply..."sabres fans are nothing but bandwagon jumpers"

haha just kidding buddy.

[louis 0]

If you look closely at the logo there is 2 "C" and a "H"

And it stands for " Club de Hockey Canadiens"

When you listen to the legends they alway refer to the team that way !

[Adam91 0]

Number 7 and 8 are ridiculous

[RadioGaGa 162]

Number 7 and 9 are ridiculous

I laughed at how #8 calls them/us the most fairweather fans in the League...and #7 says Montreal has the "deepest fan base" in the League...

Can you really be both?

[trevor13478 1]

I laughed at how #8 calls them/us the most fairweather fans in the League...and #7 says Montreal has the "deepest fan base" in the League...

Can you really be both?

if the team is winning

[maverick 0]

they drafted " Terry Ryan" and passed on Iginla wrong choice they could have had a potential superstar. but insted they ended up with someone who now delivers red bull

[RadioGaGa 162]

You guys make it sound like Montreal is the only team to ever miss on a draft pick...or pass on a future star.

[Adam91 0]

You guys make it sound like Montreal is the only team to ever miss on a draft pick...or pass on a future star.

QUOTE(RadioGaGa @ Sep 7 2007, 06:32 PM)

I laughed at how #8 calls them/us the most fairweather fans in the League...and #7 says Montreal has the "deepest fan base" in the League...

Can you really be both?

Exactly what I was thinking Radio

[Vapor 0]

If you look closely at the logo there is 2 "C" and a "H"

And it stands for " Club de Hockey Canadiens"

When you listen to the legends they alway refer to the team that way !

Where is that second C?

[mack 44]

I think our Francophonic friend meant "There are 2 (logos): C and H."

[D3nZ 0]

There is only one C and it stands for Canadiens, there is one H that stands for Hockey. They used to be named the Club Athletique Canadien (when the team was born in 1909. After the team was bought, the new owner in the 1910's changed the name to Club de Hockey Canadiens, so that was when the H replaced the A. The colors were mostly because of the french flag and they wanted the Canadiens to be the French Canadian team and the Wanderers and the Maroons where the English team of Montreal.

[chakal 0]

If you look closely at the logo there is 2 "C" and a "H"

And it stands for " Club de Hockey Canadiens"

When you listen to the legends they alway refer to the team that way !

Where is that second C?

Back when the logo was first drawn and sewed on the jersey, the Red C wasn't fully outlined by white. So you had a big Red C with a smaller white C in it. Then you had the H in White too. So, Club de Hockey Canadien.

Also, the name Habs comes from the english media and fans of Montreal because Club de Hockey Canadiens was too difficult to pronounce. So Habs comes from Habitants, probably a word used in the 30's that was cool, like Homies.

Well, no french fan calls them the Habs anyway, it's only the english ones who call them this way, so, only 20-25% of the Province of Québec.

Little fact, when you refer to the team on the ice, the players you say Les Canadiens de Montréal, but the organisation's name is still Le Club de Hockey Canadien. On the Stanley Cup, it says Club de Hockey Canadien.

[Vapor 0]

It looks more like a drop shadow than a second C. They should have made it like the logo, would have made things a lot clearer-er

[mack 44]

Go figure you use a logo like that.