Welcome (back) to Montreal: Francis Bouillon

Earlier this month we started looking at new Habs GM Marc Bergevin's work on Canada day 2012. We discussed free-agent prize Brandon Prust.


Bergevin also brought in Colby Armstrong, and brought back Francis Bouillon. There are many commonalities among the three players - the main being that they are hard workers who will bleed for the logo on their jersey. In the case of Bouillon and Armstrong however, they also have familiarity with Head Coach Michel Therrien.

Bringing Armstrong and Bouillon in to the Habs dressing room cements that the new relationship being forged between Head Coach and General Manager is one built on strong communication - both in the Press Box and in the dressing room.



The history between Bouillon and Therrien is long and strong. They first worked together in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. From 1992-1995 Therrien coached the rugged defenseman for 3 seasons with the Laval Titan before both moved to the Granby Predateurs for the 1995/1996 season. Therrien coached that Granby Predateurs team to it's first Memorial Cup victory in 25 years. As Captain of the team, Bouillon was the first player to parade around the Memorial Cup.

When Michel Therrien took over as Head Coach of the Canadiens (the first time) in November 2000, he was instrumental in getting Bouillon his first taste of NHL action. Bouillon played 74 games that season. 

In a 2005 interview with the Montral Gazette's Stu Cowan, Therrien (then coaching the Penguins' AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) said that his one big regret in leaving Montreal was "that I was not able to coach Francis Bouillon (more) when I was there.”

Bouillon is a hard working defensive defenseman. Last season with Nashville, he threw 103 hits in 66 games. Bouillon will always give you everything he has. "It was the biggest disappointment of my career to leave the Canadiens. It happened a little weirdly, but I do not blame anyone today and I'm looking towards the future" Bouillon told RDS after news of his signing broke. He received a 1 year, $1.5 million dollar contract from the Habs. 

When asked about reuniting with Michel Therrien, Bouillon was very candid, "Michel and I've had some great moments together during my career. I was very happy with his re-hiring by the Canadiens and I am very excited to return to his team."

"It's going to be team first," he said. "He's going to give a lot to the guys who work their ass off. He doesn't like the lazy guys or the guys who think they have good skill and they don't have to work. He like the rough game, and if you don't play rough or don't show up and want to win, he's going to play somebody else."

"He's pretty intense in everything he does....he wants to win," Bouillon added. "He was my pick (for Habs coach). He's got the character, and I think right now what they need to bring that team back on the right track  is  a coach who has character and who's going to put all the boys together and believe in his team."



The last time Bouillon played in Montreal was during the playoffs of the disastrous Centennial Season. Bouillon came back early from injury, didn't look great, and wasn't re-signed in the off-season.


Unless something has changed since he was last in Montreal, I see Bouillon as a capable bottom pairing defenseman. Probably a 6/7 on most teams, who may play more minutes with Montreal (if he's healthy) due to his work ethic and familiarity with the coach.

Admittedly, I have only seen Bouillon play a few games since leaving Montreal in 2009 so I reached out to some people who have seen much of "Le Pettite Geurrier" during his time in Nashville.

Amanda DiPaolo is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Political Science at Middle Tennessee State University - but her true passion lies in Hockey. DiPaolo runs Inside Smashville.com - a Nashville Predators blog, similar to the Breakdown. Inside Smashville is a great resource for reading Amanada's take on all things Predators.

In speaking with Amanda, I discovered that like the coach Amanda has a history with "The Cube" (as he was affectionately known in Nashville). "Since (Bouillon) spent most of his time in Montreal, I doubt there is anything that fans in Montreal don't know... and of course since coming to Nashville already a seasoned veteran, I don't think his style evolved any."

"I used to live in Fredericton, New Brunswick and so I've been familiar with Bouillon from his American Hockey League days!"

DiPaolo also spoke fondly of Bouillon's hard work, team play and leadership. "As fans in Montreal must know, Bouillon is not only an excellent defensive defenseman who is tough on the ice, but he is a real team player off the ice. During Nashville's recent playoff run, defenseman Kevin Klein started a trend in the locker room. He cut his hair into a mohawk. Other players followed suit, including former Habs Hal Gill and Bouillon. But the veteran defenseman who has recently rejoined the Canadiens took it one step further, Bouillon's young boys also started sporting mohawks in support of their dad."





Charlie Saunier hosts the Prednecknation  Radio show on prednecknation.com and has been covering the Nashville Predators for various outlets for over a decade. I went a little more in depth with Charlie on Bouillon starting with his health.

"Francis Bouillon recovered nicely from the injury he had when he first joined the Preds & stayed healthy over his tenure in Nashville, except for a concussion that cost him the end of the 2010-2011 season. While out during that stretch, he was missed quite a bit."

Bouillon, like in Montreal, was never a flashy player just a blue collar worker who "he answered the bell nightly and gave it his all every shift."

I asked Saunier if anything stuck out in particular about Bouillon during his tenure in Music city. "He never took a minute of his ice time for granted. He played so much bigger than his size and was willing to play the "Predator" way as Head Coach Barrt Trotz loves to say. He hit, fought, and chipped in on offense when he could. His defense was solid and made it very easy for his partners to take more offensive risks."

"He never dominated the stat sheet or made headlines, but was solid every time he came over the boards."

Saunier expanded that much like in Montreal Bouillion was noticed for what he brings to the table.
"You would hear a good bit of chatter about him throughout the stands. The Predator way is a huge thing here and when Bouillon bought in right away, it was easy to recognize and appreciate."




Hard worker. Willing to fight for teammates. Perfect team guy. Sounds like a good fit.

Saunier was puzzled as well why Nashville General Manager David Poile made no attempt to keep Bouillon - a popular figure in Nashville with the team. "This is an odd one for sure. Bouillon was a solid 2nd pair D-man and very affordable at this point in his career. With his level of experience, it was expected he would be brought back, but that was not to be and no word has been given by GM Poile as to why a contract was not offered. In my opinion, it was a depth issue on the prospect side of the ledger. Roman Josi had a great rookie campaign and is expected to make a run at the 1st pair with Shea Weber this season. Ryan Ellis is also expected to make the roster this season and could be a 3rd pair guy with Hal Gill and a Power Play specialist. Jon Blum spent much of last year in the AHL, but is expected to be back with Preds this year and if he's back to his form of 2 seasons ago, he will fill that 2nd D-pair slot with Kevin Klein. I know GM Poile has wanted these prospects to take over and it seems as if they will have the chance this training camp. Even with Ryan Suter leaving, the D-corps is still quite stocked."

Francis Bouillon typifies a depth defenseman. He'll put his hard hat and working boots on before every shift of every game and dig in for a long night's work. He's the type of gritty player Michel Therrien loves to have, he's the kind of guy teammates love, and he's the kind of guy who will bleed for the  logo in the front, not the name on the back.

Welcome back to Montreal Francis Bouillon.



For more from Stu Cowan, read him in the Montreal Gazette and follow him on Twitter @StuCowan1

For more from Amanda DiPaolo, read her on Inside Smashville.com and follow her on Twitter @adpreds

For more from Charlie Saunier tune in to the Prednecknation Radio show  and follow him on Twitter @crazycharlie615

Futures present: Scott Gomez

"Time. Patience. Faith."

That's what Brian Wilde of CTV sports wrote recently in his excellent blog posting of the same title.
In his article (which I encourage you to read here) Brian explains that with many contracts set to expire after the 2013-2014 season, timing will be ripe in September 2014 for many of the Habs young prospects to start venturing into the big leagues.

Players like Tinordi, Ellis, Beaulieu, Kristo, Collberg, and Bournival will be ripe. "What does that mean now"? you may ask."Does that mean we get Gallagher, Galchenyuck and Leblanc now?" no. No it doesn't mean you get them now.

Look at recent examples in L.A, Chicago, and Pittsburgh. Those teams became dominant by allowing their players to develop together. However, in all three cases there came much losing in the NHL together, and by the time those teams won the cup, they had to start shedding players who coming up on UFA or RFA status. What if I told you it didn't have to be that way? What if I told you there was a better way?

If I am Marc Bergevin, I let the players develop at the Junior level, or in the American hockey league. I let those players dominate at those levels - and then I bring them in to the NHL. I bring them in not when the fans want them, but when they are ready. That way I don't burn up their NHL time.

"Time. Patience. Faith."

Alex Galchenyuck was injured much of last year. His hockey development will not be hindered in the slightest by playing Junior hockey this year. After that he can spend 1 season in Hamilton, and then we get to Sept.2014.

Brendan Gallagher has yet to play at the American hockey league level. Why must we have him here now? We have Brian Gionta. Brian Gionta is still a top 6 forward at the NHL level. Do we need to see Brendan Gallagher get 4th line minutes at the NHL level? Let him get top 6 minutes in Hamilton and dominate there.

Rick Springhetti of McKeen's Hockey supports the theory that Bergevin is looking towards the future"(Bergevin) has a great amateur scouting staff and wants to give them more of an opportunity to do their thing."

Now that we've gone over idea of giving time to the youngsters, you're again going to ask:"What does that mean for the Habs now"? It means more of the same.

Yes. You read me right. That means, that for better or worse Scott Gomez, Rene Bourque, Tomas Kaberle and Andrei Markov will be in Montreal this season.

Following up on his Blog posting, Brian Wilde exclusively told "The breakdown" that fans can expect a lean season. "Not as lean as last year but lean. (Former General Manager) Pierre Gauthier acquired some awful assets." Wilde continued "Normally it would be wrong to ride it out with those crap assets and let them play out the string but nothing is happening now on this big transformation to greatness, so this season is always going to be limited."

Should Hab fans be worried? Maybe. Is it possible some of those awful assets will continue to be awful? or is it possible that they may be viable NHLers with bad contracts?

If I am Marc Bergevin, my attitude is simple. I am going to ride those assets till the end of their contracts. If they perform, and the team does well - fantastic, maybe they earn themselves a new deal. If they don't perform, then the team can end up with more high draft picks leading up 2014 - the beginning of the future.

Springhetti believes that in the short term "the plan for Bergevin was to sign a few players that can begin to shape a new identity for Montreal as a team that will have some bite to their play and will have the courage to impose their system instead of passively reacting to what their opponents are doing." 

"Time. Patience. Faith".

Today we will begin looking at some of the "awful assets" and discuss what we can expect. Today, we discuss Scott Gomez.

Scott Gomez is overpaid. There's no nice way to say it. There were two teams however - New York and Montreal - that saw some value in him. New York gave him the contract to start, and later the Habs picked it up. Whether Canadiens' brass at the time felt he was overpaid or not could be up for debate. What cannot be debated however, is that Canadiens brass felt that Scott Gomez could be their number 1 Center to replace Saku Koivu.

Scott Gomez came to the National Hockey league just in time for the 1999-2000 season. With 19 goals and 51 assists, Gomez was named an all-star and eventually won the Rookie of the year. His numbers tailed off in the playoffs that season where he notched 10 points en route to his first of two Stanley Cups with the Devils. In 2003-2004, Gomez tied for the league lead in assists with 56.



After the NHL lockout in 04-05, Gomez came back to the Devils in 05-06 and had a career year. 

Things started pretty well for Gomez in NJ. Rookie of the year, 2 stanley cups, and a career year in 05/06. He scored 33 goals and had 51 assists, that led to an arbitrator awarding him a $5 Million salary for the 06/07 season before he went on to become a UFA following that season.

As an Unrestricted free agent, Gomez was offered a 32% increase in salary (based on AAV cap hit of $7,357,143) to jump ship to the Rangers. A lucrative offer, but not a crazy increase for a player who has 2 Stanley Cups, a rookie of the year, and at only 27 years of age and entering his prime is already considered to be one of the elite passers of the game. At the time most lauded the deal.



"It's pretty exciting." Rangers General Manager Glen Sather said at the time. "We ranked them both (Gomez & Chris Drury) as number ones, and we never expected to get both of them."

When  Canadiens General Manager Bob Gainey acquired Gomez 2 years later in Montreal he described Gomez as "an outstanding playmaker and an excellent skater. Having won the Stanley Cup twice with the New Jersey Devils, he brings our team a lot of playoff experience. Scott is an elite player who will certainly contribute to the success of our team for years to come."

So, what happened?

Colin Stephenson has been a reporter at the New Jersey Star-Ledger since December, 1997. He covered Scott Gomez during his tenure with both the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers. "(Gomez) had great vision, and soft hands, and he was clever. He really was an elite playmaker. He could find people and get the puck to them. He always seemed to have a chemistry with Brian Gionta -- they were linemates on Team USA junior teams before they were on the Devils.But when he was on the Devils, it didn't seem like a strictly Gomez and Gionta thing. He made plays for everyone he played with."

"(With the Rangers) they paid him big money and put him with Jagr on the top line and that never worked, for whatever reason." 

Former Canadien Hal Gill discussed Scott Gomez with the Montreal Gazette's Dave Stubbs shortly after this past season. "The message (from the coaching staff) was we need to play as a team with their system. I tried to preach it but the hard part was we didn't play to guys’ strengths. With Gomez, you don’t expect him to chip it up the boards, you want him to come back and pick it up. If he can’t do that, he can’t be effective."

Stephenson seems to think that Gill's assessment is a reasonable one, echoing what the hulking defenseman had to say. "With the Devils, other guys chipped the puck out, but he was the guy who skated with it."

McKeen's Rick Springhetti believes the issues that have plagued Gomez in recent years are mental. "I think things went downhill after he signed that huge deal with the Rangers. It's as if he knew that he just couldn't justify his huge deal and started to run around the ice trying to do everything at once."

Stephenson and Springhetti's views on Gomez over an interesting contrast on Gomez the Player. When describing Gomez at his best in New Jersey, Stephenson says that Gomez "carried the puck through the neutral zone and dished off. He actually slowed the game down and found holes in the defense."



Springhetti however counters that since signing his deal with the Rangers, "everything seems rushed when he gains possession of the puck. He complicates his game by running around the ice and  with little actual results. If anything, he too often loses control of the puck especially near the opposing blue line because he is not slowing the play down looking for passing options. Also, he has become very hesitant defensively."

Springhetti's evaluation sides with the idea that under the right situation, Gomez could once again be an effective player. Stephenson agrees feeling that the Rangers gave up on him too early "when it didn't work with Jagr."

Springhetti feels that the approach with Gomez for the coming season is a simple one. "(Gomez) should simplify his game, play very good defensively and work his way up from there." He feels that playing a more simple game should allow Gomez to regain confidence, alleviate the mental pressure of his contract and allow him the freedom to get back to his greatest asset. An asset that had 3 NHL General Mangers dub him as a first line center.

As far as being a disruption in the locker room, Stephenson is pretty clear "(Gomez is) a happy guy who loves to laugh and rarely seems to take anything seriously. Most of his teammates like that."

For more from Colin Stephenson, follow him on Twitter @Ledger_Nets
For more from Rick Springhetti, follow him on Twitter @Rick1042
For more from Brian Wilde, follow him on twitter @BWildeCTV