Mike Brophy

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy writes Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday on Sportsnet.ca and appears regularly on Hockeycentral.

Scott Gomez has been a disappointment in Montreal.

It started out as a celebration with so much promise, and ended with a thud.

So much for the Montreal Canadiens’ 100th anniversary.

When last season began, many had the Canadiens pegged as a serious candidate to represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup final. And why not? The Habs, after all, were coming off a 104-point season in 2007-08 in which they won the Eastern title and had, it seemed, some of the brightest young talent in the league.

A 24th Stanley Cup was surely in the offing.

And yet today, as the Canadiens prepare to host the Boston Bruins Friday in a game that will conclude their 100th anniversary celebration year, the Canadiens sit 12th in the Eastern Conference and 24th overall. Quite sad, really. The chances of the Canadiens making the playoffs this season appear slim, so you just know the odds of them winning the Cup are off the scale.

It’s true their season was dealt a severe blow when the team’s best defenceman – best player, for that matter – Andrei Markov was injured in the opening game, but even with the Russian defenceman healthy, they really aren’t a very good team. Other injuries have conspired to cripple the Canadiens, but let’s be honest, even with a healthy roster, there was never any guarantee this was a playoff team.

Even worse, there is no indication this team can turn things around any time soon. The Habs spent a bomb to sign three free agents in the off-season, and made a deal to acquire Scott Gomez and his monster contract from the New York Rangers, but have not reaped the benefits of the makeover as of yet.

Michael Cammalleri has been okay with 12 goals and 22 points in 28 games, and Brian Gionta, currently injured, has shown signs of being a potential leader on the team. But Gomez, with three goals and 12 points in 28 games, has been a resounding dud. Sorry, but at $8 million a season three goals just ain’t cutting it.

Goaltender Carey Price has shown signs of snapping out of his early season funk, but he’s still not exactly money in the bank. A year ago he was projected as a serious candidate to be one of the three goaltenders who would be selected to play for Team Canada at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, but he’s nowhere close to being in that race now.

This once magical franchise has lost its lustre. The likes of Howie Morenz, Rocket Richard, Jean Beliveau, Doug Harvey and Guy Lafleur have been replaced by Glen Metropolit, Hal Gill, Tomas Plekanec, Sergei Kostitsyn and Josh Gorges. Yikes!

For some inexplicable reason GM Bob Gainey allowed three valuable assets – Sheldon Souray, Mark Streit and Mike Komisarek – walk as unrestricted free agents and got nothing in return. One might be understandable, but three? Think about where the Canadiens could be sitting today if Gainey had got market value in return for those three players!

Thankfully the Habs faithful have not abandoned ship. The Canadiens still draw 21,273 to the Bell Centre nightly, second only to the Chicago Blackhawks. It’s going to take a lot more than a couple of losing seasons to drive these hockey mad folks away.

But let’s be honest, the team these people watch doesn’t come close to matching the excitement of the glory days. Players don’t seem to respect the team’s rich history. How else do you explain the young players spending more time partying than playing last season? Make no mistake about it, the players on some of the championship teams knew how to have a good time, too, but they also showed up to the old Montreal Forum prepared to do battle.

The 100th anniversary year has been nothing more than a reminder of how far this organization has slipped. The highlight was the All-Star Game in which Alexei Kovalev of the Canadiens scored the winning goal and was named most valuable player. Now Kovalev plays for the Ottawa Senators.

I will watch with interest Friday night as the Canadiens pay tribute to the past. But, at the same time, I can’t help but feel concerned about the future. The Habs have locked a lot of players in with long-term contracts so it is hard to imagine things taking a turn for the better any time soon.

Pity.