Patrick Roy #33 Retired

Tonight, Patrick Roy will have his #33 raised to the rafters forever.

Whatever your opinion of Patrick Roy is, and there are many, the fact remains he is one of the best goaltenders to have ever played the game.

He is the last goaltender to ~~lead~~ carry the Canadiens to a Stanley Cup.

And since the night he left Montreal, the Canadiens began a descent into total and complete mediocrity as a hockey team. One of the darkest periods of Habs history followed and haunted the team up until (arguably) very recently.

Would it have been the same if Patrick Roy was a Hab until retirement?

We’ll never know. All we know is it’s been a long 15 years since a Canadiens goalie hoisted the Cup.

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6 Comments

#1 PACTUM SERVA says:
November 22, 2008 at 8:27 pm

Maybe this will finally take the stanley cup drought off of us now. This needed to be done. Growing up patrick was one of my favorite players and you always knew the team had a chance to win when he was in nets. The team was never the same since he left and now maybe our fortunes will change now that number 33 in hanging in the bell. Lets hope the bad karma has been lifted and we once again will compete for number 25

#2 Mats Naslund says:
November 22, 2008 at 9:29 pm

I was 12 in 93 and have never forgotten through all of the drama of 95 just how much Patrick meant to all Canadiens fans during his decade in Montreal. A great celebration for those of us who idolized the man when he wore the bleu, blanc et rouge. Good first period too!

#3 Joseph says:
November 23, 2008 at 1:15 pm

Tuned in last night to check the Habs’ pulse. A nice celebration for Roy no doubt, but unfortunately, this team is still broken.

I sure hope that they’re fixed by the time the real season begins in January/February.

Incidentally, I’ve never said a single negative word about Carbonneau to this point but I’m not so sure that he knows what the hell he’s doing let alone how to fix this team. An uninspired, disinterested and dismal Alexei Kovalev gets rewarded with not only ice time in overtime but with a shot in the shootout as well? What exactly were the expectations there?

Oh, and Laraque? You can’t just have a conversation with your target and give him a slap on the wrist, you have to put him through the ice as well. :-/

#4 Mats Naslund says:
November 24, 2008 at 3:23 pm

I thought the team played “better” against the Bruins, but they have zero offensive confidence right now. I liked 33 shots, although I can’t understand why Montreal has strayed away from what made them successful last year on the PP. Getting a big blast from Markov is useless unless he hits the net or makes a pass to someone in front of the net. Secondly, where is the backdoor pass that was so effective last season? Montreal’s offensive passing has been reduced to blindly throwing the puck at a teammate regardless of whether or not he is covered. The Habs need to simplify their PP, and throw pucks at the net with guys going in for cheap rebounds.. Its the only way that they’ll be able to snap out of their offensive funk. Way too early to lose sleep over their play though.

#5 Joseph says:
November 24, 2008 at 4:08 pm

They had 33 shots on goal but they probably could have had 53. Far too many times did I witness a Montreal player in excellent shooting position looking for the pass. It’s well documented now – ’100% of the time that you don’t shoot the puck it won’t go in’ – Gretzky et al.

Far more concerning though, did the cancer which plagued Ottawa’s locker room last season somehow become airborne and find its way to Montreal? It certainly seems that way right now.

Meanwhile, they’re 11-5-3 and I’m complaining. Things could be a lot worse. After all, if they were to win as few as three games in a row, they’d again be sitting amongst the league’s best, or rather amongst the league’s second best as the Sharks are in a league of their own this season.

#6 mike morin says:
January 4, 2009 at 11:15 pm

I was 16 when i got to see patrick and the canadiens play the pittsburgh penguins and to this day Patrick will without a doubt be the most interesting and active goaltenders to play the game. Watching the canadiens today they do not seem to have the passion they did from 1986 !

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goalie : I can't type.... what a faux pas on my behalf...
goalie : I just realized what I said adn didn't say yesterday. What a fayx as on my behalf. Regarding coaching Randy Cunnyworth MUSDT stay as an assistant- he deserves at least that after the tremendous job he did in the latter part of this past season. I'd still mlike to have Robinson, Carbo adn Allard on the staff also.
Avatar37 : I agree Senet, my choice if we can't have Cunneyworth would be Crawford, Robinson on defense, Cunneyworth for offense, and Carbo as offense/faceoffs .
Senet1 : I think if I had my choice it would be Crawford and see if he could get Carbo and Robinson as assistants. That would be my idea coaching team.
goalie : I witnesed Marc Crawford MANY times when the Avs, etc. played against Oilers and let me tell you - he is constantly on the referees asses virtually game after game. He is the complete OPPOSITE of J. Martin. Crawford is calm on TSN but he is one excited coach behind the bench. A friend of mine who was an NHL linesman for 26 years said they dreaded Crawford he was so tough on the officials!
goalie : You know, I've bee thinking about the coaching situation. I'd be really excited if the Habs had Hartley as head coach and Carbo adn Robinson as his assistants. I also read it somewhere about a month ago that Toronto's goalie coach Allard (?) wants to relocate back to Montreal where he has his goaltending school/business. Add him to the mix and I'd say the Habs would be in great shape coaching wise.
Avatar37 : Well, from what I recall, Hartley didn't do all that well with the Thrashers. But, I don't know enough about him to judge one way or the other. Crawford I do know, and he always seemed to be a good, level headed coach to me.
Senet1 : even Pacioretty two years ago did not impress any of us. Younger players have to play and make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. If they sit in the press box they are learning nothing.
Senet1 : Of course if he have some good assistants like a Larry Robinson to teach the young defence and someone like Carbo to teach faceoffs etc. then your coach does not have to be as good at teaching. If Hartley fits the bill you get no argument from me. My only previous point is that if he is impatient with your younger players to the point that he does not play them, then we are right back where we were with Martin. Martin was a good coach too, but how he handled Emelin, PK and even Pacioretty two
goalie : I would like to see the Habs sign a coach who realizes that our team isn't tough enough (we need to get bigger and somewhat more nastier),the coach needs t be a great TEACHER and be a coach who can get the players to understand and buy into his system. Other than that I couldn't care what lingo he speaks. I wnat to see our team become a ligitimate contender fast!
HabsLoseAgain : Well we dont know if he is or is not a teaching coach. I woukd just hate to paint Hartley something that he is not. There will always be questions but if Hartley was hired as the habs new bench boss i for one would not be overly upset.
Senet1 : My thoughts are not that he is or is not a good coach but rather that when he won the cup he had an experience team of superstars on that team. Where as we have a group of young inexperienced players, is he a teaching coach or a tactical coach or both? I am not question whether he is a good coach, but my question therefore is he the coach for us at this point in the deveopment of our team?? Not sure we are all purely speculating at the moment?
Senet1 : Something happened to my first post. I will try again.
Senet1 : That is why I said I am not sure he is the coach for us at this time? Right now we are all speculating including yourself, because non of us know for sure?
HabsLoseAgain : Crawford also won a cup with Patrick Roy so would you say he is a good coach or did he just have great players and one of the best goaltenders of alltime?
HabsLoseAgain : Senrt so please give me some reasons why you think Hartley is not the coach the habs need right now. What is it that you do not like about him or his coaching style?
HabsLoseAgain : Well all great coaches had great players playing for them so i guess you you add a a pile of other coaches to that list including Bowan......
Senet1 : Hartley, was he a good coach or did he just have great players and one of the best altime goaltenders of all time. I am not sure that he is the type of coach that this organization needs right now. Unless of course we sign a ton of free agents.
Avatar37 : However, my feelings may completely be wrong, Hartley may turn out to be a good fit.
Avatar37 : I didn't say Hartley was unknown, I said we demoted a good coach in Cunneyworth and now have an unknown quantity because we don't have a coach. I don't have that great a feeling about Hartley, I'd be much more comfortable with Crawford.
HabsLoseAgain : In my opinion i think he might be a good fit in montreal. Oh and he also likes to have a tough team.
HabsLoseAgain : Also this year he coached the ZSC Lions to the swiss championship title.
HabsLoseAgain : lol the so called "unknown" won a cup in 2000-2001 with the colarado avalanch.
HabsLoseAgain : lol Bob Hartley is not an unknown lol.....sheesh.
Senet1 : I think he has until the trading deadline to show us that he deserves to be on this team. If he does not get back on track then he could be simply a 2nd round draft pick to whoever we can trade him to.
Avatar37 : Bourque reminds me of Pouliot, size, skill, and invisible. He needs to get back to playing a physical game and bang people around and maybe he'll start getting some of those garbage goals again. Need to get to the front of the net. I hope he can find his game again.
Avatar37 : We had a good coach in Randy Cunneyworth. Now we have an unknown, with Bob Hartley rumoured to be the front runner. I'd rather have Cunneyworth.
goalie : A player like Rene Bourwue has al the physical attributes of what would be a beter than average player. Hwever, he certainly didn't play that well especially after being in Montreal about three weeks. We NEED players like Rene to play hard AND produce points on a REGULAR BASIS in order for us to be competitive.
Senet1 : MONTREAL – Rene Bourque had a rocky start to his career as a Hab, but he’s planning on using the next four years to make up for it. After arriving in Montreal under less-than-ideal circumstances in January, Bourque spent the following 38 games hoping to find the spark he needed to rekindle his offensive production. Despite flanking Tomas Plekanec on the team’s second line to close out the season, the 30-year-old sniper suddenly found himself firing blanks in his new NHL home.
Senet1 : I think we have to be patient and not expect too much too soon. Let's get a strong management team in place, make a good choices in the draft get a good coach and then see what we need at the free agent market. I will not be too disapointed if we miss the playoffs again next year if it means a long term team success. We have the opportunity to make some major strides over the next two years at the draft table. Then we fill in the holes.
goalie : I certainly agree that we need to get some impact forwards who will sign for 5 years, not for a season then walk away. That's not going to help us.
goalie : I wouldn't trade PK for Ovetchkin no matter what. He is a coach's NIGHTMARE and a poor team player.
Senet1 : I believe he will as we graducally put better players around him and build this team.
Senet1 : Goalie I agree with Avatar. PK is the present and future of this teams defence. I would not even take Staal from Pittsburg unless I had him tied up in a long term contract of a Minimum of 5 years. Also once has to consider the salary difference. Pk is on the move up probably 3M plus for his next contract and then eventually 4-5M if he keeps on improving. He has moved his game up two gears since he came into the league 2 years ago. He now has to move to the next level and I believe he will as w
Avatar37 : pressure playing in Montreal, since he has problems with the expectations in Washington and Montreal isn't any easier. Then again, the media were very easy on Kovalev, so maybe it's a Russian thing? No idea. Anyway, yeah, it would have to be an established star that gives us an immediate drastic upgrade at forward, that's the only way I'd trade PK, because we'd be giving up a potential QB on our blueline for the next decade.