from Brenda Kelly of the Montreal Gazette,

If management spent half as much time on hockey operations as they do managing the media, the Habs really would be contenders. There was a lot of talk about the team’s off-seasons moves — bringing in mighty nine-goal scorer Max Domi and Vegas playoff bench-warmer Tomas Tatar — but I maintain that the biggest move since that miserable last season was Geoff Molson’s decision to hire Paul Wilson as head of PR.

Molson, who heads the Habs ownership group, promised full transparency at the post-season press conference but it’s been just the opposite since Wilson replaced longtime communications chief Donald Beauchamp (who was, in passing, thrown under the bus in unceremonious fashion). They fudged the truth on Shea Weber’s knee injury, waiting ’til it was convenient for them to announce it. They insinuated that Max Pacioretty lied about wanting to stay with the Canadiens.

And the spin has been in overdrive in the past few weeks as Molson, Marc Bergevin and Wilson do everything possible to make fans forget that the team that is set to kick off the season Wednesday at the Air Canada Centre against the Toronto Maple Leafs is at best only as good as the team that finished 28th overall last season. And credit to ’em — they have most everyone from the media cheerleaders to the rose-coloured-glasses fans all feeling warm and fuzzy about a mediocre team.

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