New coach Vigneault takes the helm of a leaky Canadiens ship The paint is peeling. The decks cleared. The bosun and his mates cast overboard. The good ship Canadiens sails forth to uncharted waters. The natty captain, Corey, at the helm. Earnest first mate Houle at his side. Poised to apply a fresh patina to the rickety vessel--buckets and mops at the ready--stand Alain Vigneault and Dave King. Anybody got a compass? Vigneault's challenge is daunting. Winning the hearts and mind of his charges is imperative. Satisfying the ravenous appetite of the local press corps inescapable. Last--and certainly far from least--Vigneault must find the means to convince his superiors to come to grips with modern NHL warfare. Vigneault says he's ready. Are the Canadiens? The new coach is reputed to be tough-minded, a man who knows his Xs and Os. Unlike his predecessor, he won't carry the baggage of being viewed in the dressing room as a second-floor guy. There will be distance from the brass this time. He can serve as a buffer. Still, the players will test him early. From all accounts he is capable of victory. As for ink-stained sharks who spit out coaches' corpses for breakfast? Vigneault, a personable guy, speaks both of Canada's official languages fluently. And so far, those who count appear to be on side. That, of course, could be very short-lived. Where will they be on the tails of the first three-game losing streak? Another battle that appears winnable. Gaining the third leg up on his trifecta of challenges may prove the toughest of all. Canadiens management has had trouble recently distinguishing between the tired and the true, all too content to people its bureaucracy with too many who qualified for their positions by donning the old-school tie. Like too many places gone to fat, an air of self-preservation pervades the halls of power. Respect for tradition is fine. Honouring it is laudable. Being hogtied by it is quite another matter. The Canadiens--like zealots in the Vatican, like mandarins in a government bureaucracy--remain deeply set in their ways. New blood and new ideas are seldom welcomed with open arms. Alain Vigneault, come on down! * * * The question on the table: Will Canadiens president Ronald Corey and general manager Réjean Houle be prepared to embrace real change or are they simply paying lip service to it? We don't know, and neither does Vigneault. Scotty Bowman was passed over, a rookie chosen to save the franchise's bacon. Why? The answer may be supplied by what happens when Vigneault goes in to convince the brass to put their money where their mouths are by signing free agents--something the Canadiens have long been loath to do. There are at least three out there right now who could help the team immediately: goalie Ed Balfour, defenceman Luke Richardson and forward Mike Keane. All are unrestricted, meaning no players need be surrendered to sign them. All are strong personalities. Will this fact work for or against their signing? Canadiens fans await the answer. Canadiens officials are fond of pledging allegiance to the hallowed bleu, blanc, rouge. The reality is that too many remain committed to corporate grey. If the leaky steamer is to become once again the sleek destroyer of dreams past, this is the battle Vigneault must win or face being cast ignominiously overboard like those who have gone before. Prepare for choppy waters. SAY HAIG! Of course, I would have preferred Donovan Bailey to have been more magnanimous in victory, but it was the other guy who did all the talking going in. Meanwhile, it was the good old CBC that scored a TKO over CBS in the coverage of the race... Anybody out there still think Russian hockey players have no guts?... Just where is Jim Speros these days?... It was buried on the agate page so you likely missed it. The Cleveland Indians recalled Casey Candaele from Buffalo last week... Nobody's taken much notice, but Rondell White is quietly starting to live up to all that promise everyone's always talked about... Mike Lansing is a terrific ballplayer, but I cringe every time he hits a home run 'cause I know that for the next week he's going to want another one pronto. The result: too many fly balls to medium left field. Come on, Laser. I know it's intoxicating, but you're a second baseman, for Pete's sake... I keep pulling for Ron Hextall to break that jinx he keeps in the knapsack on his back and then bang--right through the five-hole... He's-no-pussy department: this comes courtesy of Bert Raymond in Le Journal de Montréal, quoting Alain Vigneault's former midget coach, Charlie Henry: "When he was 16, I chose him to face Russia's national midget team. Before the match I asked the players if someone was going to take care of their captain, who was also their best player. The game had barely started and Vigneault had broken his stick on the Russian's leg." May the spirit of Bobby Clarke in '72 live forever.