Parlez vous Francais?

The man you see in the picture is one-time Montreal Canadiens captain and head coach Guy Carbonneau.  He is a part of the firestorm that is the decision to name Randy Cunneyworth as interim head coach of the Canadiens in the wake of the firing of Jacques Martin.  Why is Carbonneau being mentioned in this discussion? Well, Cunneyworth was named to the position for the rest of the year, but lacks the one thing that many a Canadiens coach has: the ability to speak even a modicum of French.  In Montreal, it is a big deal (so it seems) that a coach should be able to speak French, and you know it is a big deal when the Quebec government (!) is putting in their two cents.  In a recent article on Yahoo, Carbonneau mentioned that it would be in Cunneyworth's best interest to learn French.  The quote:

But there’s no doubt in my mind that the coach of the Montreal Canadiens has to speak both languages, at least to some extent.

Carbonneau should know a thing or two about Montreal media, as he has dealt with it as a player and more recently, as a coach.  However, it should be noted that Cunneyworth is the interim head coach, but even that seems to have caused the media to go into a frenzy.

Where do I stand?  I say let Cunneyworth coach and see where it goes from there.  He has stated that he is willing to learn French, but one way that he can ease some of this pressure is to win, something Montreal hasn't done lately.  Cunneyworth's every move will be scrutinized, and for every failure, those who clamor for a French-speaking coach will only grow louder.  If I'm the General Manager of any other team that could be looking for a new coach in the near future, I'd keep an eye on this situation just to see if he can handle the pressures of Montreal.