Team Owner Geoff Molson explained his choice of naming such a young man to such a demanding position. "Antony really impressed us by his poise and by his knowledge of the game. He his a passionate young man who will surround himself with people of experience to help him out in some areas. As the ownership, it is our role to provide Antony with all the tools he needs to lead us back to the Stanley Cup."
Mr. Caouette was aware of the circumstances that preceded his arrival as the new GM of the Habs. "I know what happened before I arrive, but I won't comment on that. What I can say however is that I give a lot of importance in life values such as respect, integrity and hard work. I know that this hockey club means a lot to Quebeckers and I am very thankful to Mr. Molson for the confidence he has in me and Mr. Burke for this great opportunity."
That being said, Mr. Caouette talked a little bit about the team he has and what is coming up for him. "Well, the first thing I realized, is that I have only one draft pick in the next two drafts. I think that Mr. Evans had a philosophy of winning at all cost, he made a ton of trades and liked to go get veterans players for his playoff runs. However, that is not my philosophy. I believe that the best way to build a serious contender is through development and drafting. Now, I will have a lot of work to do in that regard because, as I said earlier, he threw away almost all the picks we had."
Speaking of trades, the Journal de Montréal made a special graphic showing all the trades Brad Evans made in his tenure with the Habs. You can see it here:
"It's not that the results have been bad, said Caouette. It's just that his strategy needed a spectacular amount of movement in order to succeed. And you keep trading assets year in and year out to continue having success because you traded young players for veterans with experience but these veterans need to be replaced and so on and so on."
Mr. Molson said that he was looking for a new philosophy and found it with Caouette. "On a marketing point of view, the strategy we used for the past 4-5 years was horrible. People in Montreal need and want to create a bond with their team, their players. It was absolutely impossible to do that with such a high number of trades." For that matter, the Carey Price trade was the last straw for many fans.
"I'm not gonna discuss trades Mr. Evans made or didn't make. My job is to move on from the present. I disagreed with some of the trades he made but that won't make us move forward. Again, he had a strategy that required some difficult actions, but it is not a philospohy that I share", said Caouette.
We will see what will happen. One thing is sure, the new GM has a ton of things to do in order to get his full fingerprint on that team.
