FanHouse Jacques Martin

Various media outlets are reporting this afternoon that the Montreal Canadiens have been sold to the Molson family, pending league approval (which, according to TSN, could take until mid-summer). The price tag for the NHL's most storied franchise? Depending on which report you listen to, it's somewhere between $500 million and $550 million ... or more.

How are Canadiens fans reacting to the news?

After serving as the Florida Panthers general manager for the past four seasons (and head coach for three of those seasons) Jacques Martin will be named the new head coach of the Montreal Canadiens on Monday. During his four-year stint in charge of the Panthers, the team failed to make the playoffs each season, while he brings 14 years of head coaching experience to the Canadiens.

After a brief two-year tenure with the St. Louis Blues in the late 1980s, Martin took over the Ottawa Senators in 1995, leading the team to the playoffs eight times in nine years, while also winning three division titles and the Jack Adams award as coach of the year in 1999.

Since the season began, it's pretty much been assumed that Florida Panthers defenseman Jay Bouwmeester would be the ultimate prize at this year's trade deadline. A 25-year-old defenseman just beginning to hit his prime, Bouwmeester is playing out the final year of his contract on a team that's been a perenial bottom-feeder in the Eastern Conference.

As it turns out, the Panthers are a pretty good hockey team, currently in a four-way battle for the final two playoff spots in the conference. It's unlikely that Bouwmeester is going to re-sign in Florida, leaving general manager Jacques Martin with quite a dilemma: does he keep Bouwmeester in an effort to make the playoffs, knowing he's probably going to lose him after the season? Or does he attempt to cash in his chips and deal his most marketable player? It should be a no-brainer.

Every week there are minor moves and stories around the National Hockey League that tend to fall through the cracks. Consider this our weekly roundup of those stories from the previous week, all wrapped up in one neat little package.

It didn't take Steve Downie long to leave his mark on his new team, as the feisty forward earned his first suspension as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization. It probably won't be his last suspension, either.

Downie, a former first-round pick of the Flyers, was sent to Tampa Bay a couple of weeks ago, along with Steve Eminger, in exchange for Matt Carle. After playing in just six games in Norfolk, Downie was suspended for three games this past week by the American Hockey League for checking Kyle McLaren from behind.

New team. Same player.

Downie could be a useful asset to some team if he would simply use his head a little more often, and avoid taking dirty runs at players. As long as he's good for two suspensions a year (especially if they happen to be 20-game suspensions) and is a 5-minute major waiting to happen every time he steps on the ice, he's not going to be of any real use to any team, regardless of how talented he may be.

Since I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon, I'd say the Flyers made themselves a fantastic trade, regardless of whether or not Carle fulfills expectations.

The Florida Panthers have been treading water under the playoff line for many seasons, hoping that their star players and high draft picks would carry them the way Crosby and Malkin carried Pittsburgh. Uber-stud defenseman Jay Bouwmeester has always been a key part of their plans to actually have a winning season.

The problem? The Florida Panthers have had a habit of pissing off their superstar players (just ask Olli Jokinen or Roberto Luongo), and Jay Bouwmeester is no exception to this rule.

The Panthers DID manage to avoid a bitter arbitration battle by signing Jay to a 1-year deal worth $4.9M, but at what price?

Really, this contract can't be seen as anything but a bad omen to success-starved Panthers fans. Yes, the Panthers saved a bit of coin by not having an arbitrator give the NHL's ice time leader a big one-year deal, but Bouwmeester will now be an unrestricted free agent next summer, instead of a Florida Panther for many seasons down the road. Is that really worth saving $800,000?

I'd have to think that Bouwmeester is quite tired of the Panthers' headless-chicken style of management and poor treatment of their star players, not to mention the bitter feelings left over from his 2006 arbitration hearing with the club.

After this latest contract fallout, you can pretty much safely bet money that Bouwmeester won't be in a Panthers uniform to start the 2009-10 season, and he'll tell Martin to "Shovel it!" when the Panthers try to re-open talks.

When Mike Keenan resigned his GM position as a member of the Florida Panthers' organization, it was rumored that Jacques Martin, his so-called 'friend', cozied up to the owner and had Iron Mike shoved out the door.

Given Martin's close relationship with Panthers' owner Alan Cohen, it isn't too surprising that the Panthers decided to give Jacques a lucrative extension through 2012.

Martin, who also was the team's coach the past three seasons, was asked by Cohen last week to vacate the post after Florida missed the playoffs for the seventh consecutive campaign. Cohen did, however, offer Martin the opportunity to keep his job as GM.

"I put considerable thought into (the decision to stay)," Martin told the Sun-Sentinel. "I did really enjoy coaching, but I did feel this year, with all the different issues, it made it difficult. It was clear (the dual role) was too much for one person.

I could never understand why owners would allow anyone to have both the roles of GM and coach, given how much time and dedication is needed to do just one of the jobs at a satisfactory level. It's just silly, and reeks of egotism.

So is the new trend in the NHL using season-ticket holder meetings to break huge news? First Ted Leonsis unveils Ovechkin's elephantine contract to the loyal customers; now, Florida Panthers owner Alan Cohen reveals there will not be a dual GM/coach next season, and later explained that he meant Jacques Martin's days behind the bench are numbered but that he will remain the team's general manager.

A change had to be made, because Martin had been an ineffective coach for the Panthers and was alienating their star player. Yes, it's rather silly that a guy who couldn't coach a winner in Florida will be tasked with selecting a coach that will turn the Panthers into winners. But Cohen said, "Jacques has done a good job as GM. That's the bottom line." And I don't think he's necessarily wrong. In the last two years, Martin-as-general-manager has:

• Traded Todd Bertuzzi to Detroit for impressive young center Shawn Matthias.
• Radek Dvorak, Brett McLean and Richard Zednik as free agents last off-season; while Dvorak was an offensive flop, McLean and Zednik contributed until the latter's grizzly injury.
• Traded three picks for Tomas Vokoun, who helped solidify the Panthers' crease for the first time since Luongo was traded.
• Flipped Ruslan Salei for Karlis Skrastins at the deadline, getting a pro and saving some coin; didn't pull the trigger on what would have been a regrettable Olli Jokinen deal.

Besides a coach, Martin's first priority should be a puck-moving defenseman -- and UFA John-Michael Liles played with Skrastins in Colorado. Looking at a franchise that's made the postseason once since 1998, it might make sense to just clean house, hit reset and send Martin packing to whatever franchise recycles him next. But his record warrants him at least another off-season in the front office. As a coach, Jacques Martin is a pretty decent general manager.