Change on and behind the bench for the Millionaires

The Logan Couture and all-but-confirmed Sami Vatanen trades were big news in Montreal after a largely quiet season from the front office of the Montreal Millionaires. GM Kasim Husain was not done with moves, however, as he announced on Monday that founding head coach Denis Savard had been replaced by Gerard Gallant.

"We have acquired players who we think can help us make Fredericton's playoff spot a lot more insecure than Mark MacRae expected from an expansion franchise. I think we needed a different voice who has that capacity to motivate players to win now" commented the GM. Journalists questioning the wisdom of antagonizing the league commissioner were met with a reported scoff. "I'm here to talk about coach Gallant, who is an inspirational person, and someone we think he can help motivate our young players and take us to the next level." 

Gallant replaces the long-tenured Savard, who has shepherded a ragtag band of journeymen and young prospects since the franchise's first season. "We thank Denis for his contributions teaching our young talent how to become pros, but to be honest we'd expected more results than we've seen thus far this year." Questions about Couture playing his first game with the team on the fourth line factoring into the coaching change were met with a swift "no comment."

The GM remained bullish on his team's chances despite being several points back with less than 30 games remaining to catch Fredericton. The GM saw this weekend's moves as part of a pattern: "you know, we also acquired Dustin Byfuglien and Dmitri Orlov [from Seattle and Chicago, respectively]. We believe in our group but knew where our weaknesses are, and that's why we brought in Sami, who we feel gives us better puck skills on the back end without sacrificing our defensive structure." Going the other way to the Nova Scotia Schooners in the Vatanen deal are pint-sized scoring winger Viktor Arvidsson and veteran rearguard Daniel Girardi.

The key to the deal, the GM pointed out, was recouping the 1st round pick given up in the Couture deal with the Vancouver Vipers: "Getting a first round pick back, along with an extra third rounder in a draft we like, not to mention a fifth rounder for next year and a responsible veteran in Matt Moulson makes us feel we haven't compromised our young depth or our pro roster. We're so sad to see Arvie go because he's a fabulous story as an unheralded late pick making good, but I think everyone saw the writing on the wall. We have too much talent on the wings organizationally speaking, especially with Andrei Svechnikov knocking on the door, so someone was always going to have to make room."

As for the deal to trade for Couture, the GM clarified this was about bringing in a veteran centre with term who could help the team take the next step to the playoffs. "We kicked tires on a couple of other prominent Cs around the league, so we wish we'd been able to bring someone in sooner. In the end, we are very excited to have Couture here period. He brings instant credibility and will really help spread out the load that Eric Staal and Carl Soderberg have been carrying down the middle." Following the Millionaires 1st rounder to the Vipers in the Couture trade was young centre Pavel Zacha (previously acquired along with Orlov from the Chicago Tigers) and Frank Vatrano, another scoring winger who'd struggled to crack the lineup this year. "Zacha and Vatrano could certainly burn us in the future, but we wish them the best of luck on the west coast."

On whether these moves represented a change in philosophy for the seemingly perennial youth movement in Montreal, GM Husain said, "We like to think we've given coach Gallant the tools he needs to knock on the door this year, but also to challenge into the next year. We're still a team that believes in winning with homegrown talent, so you aren't going to see us move on from youth en masse. If we don't like where we are at the deadline, things may change - you know I'm always listening, but I gotta say, SICHL GMs are so conservative." Sounds like GMs should still come knocking in Montreal if they have creative offers.