Martin to Coach Habs

Today (June 1, 2009) Jacques Martin became the 8th head coach of the Montreal Canadiens since their last Stanley Cup win in 1992-1993 (if you count Bob Gainey twice). I think Martin is a fine coach, but I don't think he was the best choice.

First, some points in favour of Martin. Martin has a 517-406-119-56 regular season record as a head coach (W-L-T-OL) amassing 1209 points. That translates into a 0.551 point percentage (a measure of total points accumulated over total points possible). It is an impressive regular season record, 72nd all time according to hockey-reference.com and 13th among active coaches who have coached at least 1 full season.

He also has a 38-47 postseason record with a 0.447 winning percentage. That isn't too shabby either, ranking him 93rd all time (hockey-reference.com again) and 13th among active coaches who have coached at least 1 full season as well (weird).

He turned the Ottawa Senators franchise around. Martin brought stability and defensive responsibility to a talented team and took them to the playoffs for the first time in 1996-1997. The Senators would not miss the playoffs again during his tenure (and not until this past season), culminating in a heartbreaking game 7 loss against the Devils in the 2002-2003 Eastern Conference Finals (the Devils would go on to beat the Ducks and win The Cup).

Now some cons. Martin coaches a boring defensive system. The Sens won games under Martin but they weren't exactly exciting to watch (certainly not compared to Bryan Murray's style) playing a trapping style.

While Martin has a decent playoff winning percentage, 5 out of 7 of his visits to the playoffs with the Sens resulted in first round exits (mostly at the hands of the hated Leafs).

Finally, Martin's trapping style seems better suited for the clutch and grab era of the NHL rather than the current young and fast salary cap era.

So who would I choose? I'm glad you asked. Looking at the available coaches, I can come up with a list of 5 that would have been better choices than Martin based on statistics alone (ah, the magic of numbers) plus 1 that is better based on most statistics and is a fan favourite. Some are francophone and some are not. The following is a list of unemployed coaches who have:

• coached within the past 5 years;
• a better regular season points percentage (Pts%);
  
• a better post season winning percentage (PS%); and
  
• more Stanley Cup wins (and some other relevant info).
  

1. Bob Hartley (francophone) 0.579 Pts%, 0.583 PS%, 1 Cup (coached Tanguay).
   
2. Mike Keenan (assumed anglophone) 0.551 Pts%, 0.559 PS%, 1 Cup (coached Kovalev).
3. Peter Laviolette (american, assumed anglophone) 0.562 Pts%, 0.541 PS%, 1 Cup.
4. Jacques Lemaire (francophone, former Hab) 0.556 Pts%, 0.536 PS%, 1 Cup (legend in MTL).
5. Marc Crawford (bilingual) 0.555 Pts%, 0.518 PS%, 1 Cup (coached Nords and may have insight into hockey mad MTL media).

I'd also consider Larry Robinson, who has a better PS% than Martin and a cup but a worse Pts %. The fans and media would presumably love him (as they did Carbo at first), I believe he's bilingual, and it has been rumoured that he would be interested in the position.

5 + 1 coaches that I think are better choices than Jacques Martin. Let's take a closer look at each of them.

Hartley and Crawford won because of the team they were coaching (the Avs for the most part) and the best goalie EVER! (yes, the best EVER!). Keenan is a disciplinarian whose time has passed and won because of Messier (See Flames, Calgary). Laviolette may make a fine choice, but he's an anglophone and Pierre Boivin wanted a francophone. That leaves Lemaire, Robinson and Martin. I assume Lemaire is done with coaching. So that leaves Robinson and Martin. (I can't believe I just talked myself into Robinson or Martin, didn't see that coming).

So, is Martin a bad choice? After all that, I suppose not. While Martin's Habs won't be fun to watch, they'll likely win in the regular season. They'll be defensively responsible, they won't lose games because of the system, and he's French, so the media won't have a conniption fit. Let's just hope the Leafs don't scrape into the playoffs.