2013 Post-Mortem - Bergevin's Best/Worst Moves

[Lafleurs Guy]

He didn't do anything. We clearly lacked depth and I've screamed and screamed about this on HF and people told me "why do you want to change the chemistry, we are clearly a good team." Now THE SAME people tell me "it's good he didn't get anybody, we weren't close to the cup" ...WHICH ONE IS IT???? We had great chemistry and don't need anybody to win or we aren't good enough and we needed help! He could have EASILY GOT Jagr and Torres ....EASILY

No time to learn from your mistakes as the GM of the habs! You learn from this as an assistant GM or something else.

another mistake:

Subban bridge contract.

Don't care about no deals at the deadline. He got Halpern and Ryder who were both good moves.

Jagr... who cares?

Would've been stupid to give up picks. MB played it right and over time the proof will be in the picks.

 

[Traitor8]

Well DD stinks but he had a good season last year - and he is not expensive, so I can let it go

Moen I totally agree with you - noticed that his first season here; he looked though in Anaheim because he had 2 tough dudes on his line

DD doesn't make sense because of this:

-He had 1 good year
-He sucked in playoffs before
-He starts bad this year ...
-He's small
- He's soft!

Subban plays well for well over a year ..you must prove yourself!

Desharnais ..you only had 1 good year and ur playing bad ..but hey here's a 4 yr contract extension at 300% your current salary ...

doesn't make sense!

 

[Traitor8]

Don't care about no deals at the deadline. He got Halpern and Ryder who were both good moves.

Jagr... who cares?

Would've been stupid to give up picks. MB played it right and over time the proof will be in the picks.

Jagr? who cares ...your right. Can't wait to see Mike Blunden, Dumont and Armstrong in the playoffs again!

 

[hersky77]

This upcoming summer is the time to see if bergevin has the guts to take this team to the next level ]

1) six draft picks in the first three rounds
2) what he does with players like gionta, kabrle,webber ryder
3) will the desharnais signing become justifiable ( I will give him to the middle of next year)
4) What players does he bring in to compliment the young guys ( Morrow, Murray guys like that)


This summer will be a fun to one to watch.

 

[Poulet Kostopoulos]

Need a lot of changes.

Re-signing guys early was just dumb.

Some people were mad that BG only negotiate and sign during off-season. Now some people are mad because MB is NOT doing that.

So what's the right answer?

 

[hersky77]

Desharnais for 4 years is a huge mistake.

Price for a 6.5 millions cap hit is hard to justify.

Price at 6.5 is really easy to justify, he would have gotten more on the open market.

Plus no other goalie in the system that seems like a viable starter so price had all of the leverage.

 

[Teufelsdreck]

Please get rid of Gionta and DD. change the face of the team, replacing those two with Clarkson and anyone else would satisfy me almost as much as a Stanley cup.

Sick and tired of ****ing useless ***** soft midgets. Get the **** out

Why throw in Clarkson's name? Lou Lamoriello knows whom he wants to keep. He couldn't keep Parise, who had made up his mind to join Suter in Minnesota despite any counter-offer, but I doubt that Clarkson is similarly motivated to join the Habs.

 

[Walksss]

Don't care ...that was the excuse every year for like 10 years ...I want to win and I wanted good players, he didn't get it done.

He got softer by re-signing Desharnais and signing useless players like Moen

We weren't winning the Cup this year with or without Jagr so chill out dude(s). It is a fools errand to continually trade away assets for rental players anyways, I'm stoked to have all those picks in this vintage draft.

I do agree about DD though but I'll give him til next season to pass judgement on him, the timing of his resigning was stupid in either case though. Nonetheless he put up 60 points in the NHL last year, those skills didn't evaporate so something must've been up injury-wise this year. He'll never be a good 1/2 center for a playoff run but he's a decent enough asset to have. If he puts up 45-50 points its a good ROI and the contract isn't an albatross anyways.

I think he's done a decent job so far, Rome wasn't built in a day here kids.

 

[OneSharpMarble]

DD got massively exposed this year, he was focused and taken right out of the picture. I can't believe some people thought he was our #1 centre, at no time was he ever capable of lining up against the nhls top lines. Eller getting hurt exposed him even more and with Galchenyuk playing wing our centre depth looks pathetic once again. Cole being traded meant he didn't have anyone making space for him since Pacioretty plays a very hands off game and rarely drives the net.

The answer has been staring this team in the face for years and yet we still go back to the Ryders, the Boullions and the Desharnais. Prust was his best move and it showed, the rest seem like they are "along for the ride".

 

[Kimota]

huh??? 8-1-1 ??

any way I think DD will pick it up next season. He seemed off this year.

and no way signing bouillon was a bad move.. at least its not one thats gonna have a huge impact.

I think we missed some Erik Cole in the playoffs this year

I disagree.

 

[uiCk]

Some people were mad that BG only negotiate and sign during off-season. Now some people are mad because MB is NOT doing that.

So what's the right answer?

Waiting till end of the year. Except for big contracts. If your getting the big bucks it shouldn't be based on single success full season.

 

[Kriss E]

I don't think anybody who is criticizing him were expecting him to build a contender but he has made some BAD moves which can potentially screw the team up for the next few years (if he doesn't make up for it):

1- Signing Moen to a 4 yr contract
2- Signing Desharnais to a 4 yr contract (no reason to rush, he was RFA and was having a horrible year)
3- Signing Price to a 6 year 6.5 M $
4- Not doing anything at the deadline
5- Signing Armstrong
6- Saying publicly that our goal was to make the playoffs at the deadline.

1- Moen has a 1.85 cap hit. Cry me a river. If he keeps sucking, you bury him and don't feel anything really.

2- Agreed. No reason to have rushed his re-signal (nor Bouillon's btw). However, people say DD has been horrible this year yet he still produced at a decent pace so if he this is just a bad year, then I'm curious to see if he get back to his better ways.
I also don't think his contract is so bad that it is immovable. But I agree that it was rushed for no reason.

3- Ya, Price hasn't played up to those numbers yet.

4- I fail to see how not making a trade at the deadline can ''screw the team up for the next few years''. If anything it helped us long term seeing how we retained assets.

5- Armstrong is a 4th liner signed for 1M and will be an UFA this summer. Again, I don't see the long term screw up. Armstrong was an interesting player to gamble on last year. He had his share of injuries and so struggled a bit more these past years but he also had very good years playing his role, so for a 1M/1y deal, it was well worth the risk.

6- Bergevin said the goal is always to make the POs, and then you see. Not sure what the big deal here is. You want to cry because he didn't say that the goal is to win the cup? What's the damn freaking point. You know very well the team we have was not winning the cup, and that there's quite a bit of work to do before even truly contending. I'm sure when he builds a strong team that can remain contenders for years, then he'll be talking about cups a lot more.


The only real mistake he made was sign PK to a bridge deal. Even if you want to say that Price doesn't deserve his contract, I'm pretty sure Bergevin's hands were tied in the negotiations. We had nobody that could take over Price's place in our system, and there wasn't anything available out there. There's also no freaking way the new rookie GM's first couple moves will include trading the franchise's face and star goalie. Simply won't happen. Price had all the power in the negotiations, all of it. So I'd be curious to see how that dealing went.

PK is the only thing he really screwed up. Forcing a bridge deal to such a sure bet player was ridiculous.

 

[WillHabs12]

Some people were mad that BG only negotiate and sign during off-season. Now some people are mad because MB is NOT doing that.

So what's the right answer?

Desharnais was RFA = No hurry
Bouillon = ... he sucks but Therrien wants him in his team .
Budaj = Ok

 

[Agnostic]

This club hasn’t turned the corner but it’s now at least on the right road.
Bergevin:

Is building a meritocracy . See Gallagher, Galchenyuk, Tinordi , and the other call ups. Weber, Kaberle, sit the **** down.

Don’t like the Subban contract? Cry on another shoulder. Bergevin took one of the team’s biggest players , stood firm on principles, negotiated respectfully behind closed doors, and motivated him into the Norris echelon. Professional . Constructive. Good for the team.

Made a mid season trade that got a player that was on a good biorhythm for a displeased slumping player, transferring risk rather than taking it on (list of Gaineygoats blunders should be inserted here for contrast). Didn’t execute trade in second intermission.

Draft picks at end of season > that of beginning of season. Eyes on big picture.

DD contract was generous but no NMC in play so I think that's one contract that comes with an eraser.

 

[ClasslessGuy]

Cole trade
Prust
Subban situation
halpern
Tinordi and young player
Gomez gone
Kaberle gone
Bouillon
Better player management team
Draft
Budaj

There's a lot of good

 

[ak90210]

Why does he always insist on signing guys so early. Signed Price to a massive contract coming off a bad season super early, signs Desharnais super early, extends Bouillion super early. All horrible moves.

Decides to wait on Subban, Subban misses 5 games and Bergevin signs him to a bridge contract which crews us in two years. The one guy he should have locked down long term at what would have seemed like a high price he doesn't.

 

[S Bah]

Bergevin exceeded any expectations that I held for the team's success this season and the draft and UFA's are less than two month's away. Bravo! This gives them ample time to prepare for both, the Habs combine should be quite interesting for seeing the direction Marc plans to take.

 

[Gally11]

Best:
Cole trade
Keeping Gallagher up
Handling of youth

Worst:
Not going on ice Savard-Fraser style on Tim Peel last game
DD Signing.. but I've always been a dd doubter and he usually proves me wrong.. I'm just sick of being so small and weak in corners it's an obvious issue that for some reason isn't apparent to anyone that has the GM job in mtl at any given time

 

[hototogisu]

Best move was standing pat at the deadline. We weren't good enough to justify dealing assets for 1 or 2 players who maybe could have gotten us to the second round, if that. Not a popular decision, but the right one.

Worst move is probably the Desharnais contract, though I don't think anyone could have expected him to go into the tank immediately after signing that deal. But if Desharnais is at least producing the way he did last year, it's not an unmoveable contract. If he continues to play like he did this year and in the playoffs, it's problematic.

 

[DamianHabs]

Bergevin exceeded any expectations that I held for the team's success this season and the draft and UFA's are less than two month's away. Bravo! This gives them ample time to prepare for both, the Habs combine should be quite interesting for seeing the direction Marc plans to take.

Could not agree more. A spectacular season. Ya, there is work to do but with a core of Price, PK, Chucky, Gallagher, Pacioretty and a stacked farm system, things are looking really good.

Next season is, to me, the bridge year from contender to serious Cup contender. To that end, let's throw our young defensemen in to the deep water and develop Tinordi and Beaulieu and Diaz into vital cogs for a Cup run in 14/15.

The only MB move I questioned and still do was the DD contract. Hopefully that contract won't limit us under the cap to doing something big.

I was 100% behind NOT moving young players and draft picks for rental players at the deadline and that was clearly the right move.

Bravo MB and thanks MT and the boys for a really fun season. The Habs are back!

 

[Tacos]

Worst moves:
Not trading Gionta.
Re-signing Desharnais/Bouillon.
Signing Armstrong.
Signing Moen.
Signing Therrien.

Armstrong is a single year for 1M as a bottom 6 player, he performed as well as can be expected of a player with no expectations of being a scoring winger.

Moen is playing sub par and was hoping for another playoff with him working some magic.

Therrien did great in the regular season and emotionally collapsed in the playoffs.

Desharnais was and I will always believe to be a bad signing.

Cube did well for the role he was asked to but not sure how he'll perform next year.

Prust was a great signing.

 

[Megaforce]

David Desharnais will be better this year. Some sort of malady was clearly causing his skating to be considerably slower this year than last. Hopefully a few months off will set him right.

Right now he's looking like a Stephane Lebeau or Danny Geoffrion but last year he really did good things. Let's hope he can bounce back because selling him low might not be a great idea.

 

[Slew Foots]

I haven't been overly impressed by Bergevin so far, but he's made some good moves, he's new, and it's still too early to really judge him.

Best moves:

- Trading Cole for Ryder was brilliant: Cole was a rapidly declining asset, and it was encouraging to finally see a Habs GM proactively offload a declining asset prior to that asset's perceived market value depreciating below its actual value. It was nice not to trade a player at his lowest market value for a bag of pucks. This move shows that Bergevin understands how important cap space is.

- Not signing Carey Price to a 12-year contract: I'm not convinced that Price will ever be the elite goalie that some are hoping for, but he has proven himself to be solid enough for a #1 job. I believe Price can be a top-10 goalie when healthy and confident. However, if the worst case scenario unfolds, and Price goes the Jim Carey route or he just can't handle the pressure cooker of Montreal anymore, then the contract is one you can move. It's only 6 years, and because of Price's age and pedigree, you know some team will jump at the opportunity to pick him up. The cap hit is high considering his overall body of work (he's more a 5M goalie than a 6.5M goalie), but I figure Bergevin had to give him a higher cap hit in order to benefit from the flexibility of shorter term. We have no other goalies in our system. I like the contract term. Again, it shows Bergevin understands the risks of saddling yourself with an overly long contract - anything can happen.

- Pacioretty contract: fair term, great cap hit. He's had an off year, but he's a legitimate first-line winger, and we haven't seen his best years yet. He can set plays up, has an elite shot release, and can be a dominating player when physically engaged.

Worst moves:

- Desharnais contract: it's been discussed by everyone already. This was an incomprehensible mistake, especially since it was already becoming clear that Galchenyuk and Eller were both going to be better options at C moving forward. I'm still shaking my head about this move.

- Subban bridge contract: I don't want to hear about team policy. The bridge contract makes sense for players who haven't yet shown they are elite-calibre players. Price signed a bridge contract because he had just been outplayed by Halak and had not yet clearly established himself as an elite goalie. Pacioretty signed a bridge contract because he had not yet established himself as a top-line player. Subban, however, had established himself as a #1 d-man last year. Most of us saw that. This year, he's established himself as a Norris-caliber d-man. Instead of signing Subban at 5M/year over 7 years, we'll have to pay him closer to 7-8M/year. Puzzling lack of foresight by Bergevin here, which most of us predicted. It's especially puzzling considering how quickly Bergevin gifted an extension to Desharnais.

I'm not a fan of a few other moves, but they're more debatable and easier to understand (e.g. signing Moen for four years, extending Bouillon for a season, etc.).

 

[Coldplay]

Best moves

• Brandon Prust (just a boss)
• Bringing up Galchenyuk and Gallagher (picking up on the fact they were done in the minors and their time was now. Two huge, key cogs to our core.
• Jeff Halpern for free (the best kind of waiver claim. I hope Jeff is back next season, he surpassed even the biggest pessimist's expectations in his specialty role and performed more than fine as a 3rd line centre in the playoffs)
• Hiring Michel Therrien (mea culpa. Wasn't happy when it happened, but Michel has changed in so many ways as a coach, it's truly remarkable. He has my full trust at this point, despite the fact his ice-time distribution can be very questionable at times. Glad we've got him on board.)
• Colby Armstrong (was worth the gamble, he looked good after a slow start, almost had a beaut last night)
• Extending Budaj (mea culpa once more. Wasn't a fan when Gauthier signed him - in fact, I was livid - but Budaj may be one of the best backups in the league. Great guy and teammate, we need more of him around. Plus he had a pretty stellar season as a #2)
• Ushering in a new era of culture & accountability (maybe the biggest one. The culture shift was obvious the moment he stepped up to his introductory presser. This man means business and he will restore our franchise's glory days, I'm sure of it. Gauthier's reign of terror couldn't be more far away)
• Brilliantly offloading my boy Scott Gomez

Worst moves

• PK Subban's bridge-deal (I was in favour of Bergevin handling PK with oven gloves at the time, but it's become clear that this deal only delays the inevitable and that PK will be in line for a Doughty contract soon enough. Maybe a missed opportunity to sign him on the cheap, but I won't hold this against him because that would make me a hypocrite.)
• Francis Bouillon's extension (unnecessary - he's a decent player as a #6 or #7, but we could use an upgrade or have Tinordi take up his minutes next year, adds to a potential logjam if he's not used as depth)
• Trading Erik Cole (I'm going against the grain, but I didn't like this trade then and I dislike it even more now. Cole brought an element to our team we sorely lacked for so long and we unloaded him in the name of saving some money that we already had next season. Ryder started off strong but his disappearing act down the stretch and playoffs was laughably embarassing. The third round pick was a nice add, but I still don't believe it was necessary to trade Cole. He completed the DD-Patch line so nicely, and those two guys fell of significantly this year, and I will blame the absence of Cole on that in part. I hate the fact we gave away a rugged, big, fast winger for a UFA to be who ended up completely falling off the face of the earth when the going got tough. Cole was off to a tough start, yes, but he showed clear signs of emerging from it right around the time we traded him. Not a fan of this move at all, then and in hindsight.)
• Sylvain Lefebvre (need I say more?)
• Trade Deadline inaction (I'm not saying we should have gone out of our way to pick up any overpriced piece of crap and offloaded picks, but it would have been nice to pick up another depth piece or two other than just Drewiske. I like the approach he took in not wanting to indulge in a seller's market, but I would have appreciated another forward that could slot into our bottom-6 a la Jeff Halpern, or a guy with sandpaper to slot in instead of Moen. No Jagr or Clowe or anything of that insane sort, just a little depth, might've gone a long way)
• Extending Desharnais (I'm a big fan of Davey's, but this move is looking very suspect right now. Why the rush to extend? It's time to pray he turns it around next year, or we may be hardpressed to trade him if his production declines. He didn't look good at all. Ideally, he should be the 3rd line centre next season behind Eller playing sheltered minutes, but I somehow doubt that this kind of logic will prevail over Michel.)
• Mishandling Kaberle (it was clear that Kaberle could have helped this team at times in the second half with a depleted defense and a powerplay that began to shoot too many blanks. I understand why they decided to be careful with him for buyout purposes, but I would have been perfectly happy to salvage 2nd unit minutes out of him and sit him on the bench the rest of the game if it meant a more potent powerplay and never having to ****ing see Bouillon or, even worse, Gorges try and run a PP. I felt for once that this move hurt the team now for long-term benefit, but it was being overly cautious. What are the odds Kaberle would have suffered a serious injury playing 5 minutes a game on the 2nd PP unit, and nothing else? A wasted asset in my mind, even though I am positive many of you would (and will) disagree with me.)
• Extending Moen (again, it's not looking good, but he's on the cheap and he could turn it around much more easily than Desharnais. Was in favour of his extension when he signed it, he was really disappointing this year though.)

TBD

• Extending Price (this has been talked about, but we paid for potential. Waiting on him to deliver on it and the expectations associated to the top money he got).

All-in all, I give Bergevin a B+. Rome wasn't built overnight, some of the oversights I listed in "worst moves" have asterisks assigned to them and may turn out to be better once next season is underway (Desharnais, Moen). I feel like he's done a very good job in a short period of time, and now he'll have the opportunity to build on what was a very enjoyable if not monumentally frustrating season - due to the way it ended.

 

[Bieber fever]

Prust , the cole trade and gomez buy out were his best move

DD contract is awful
Moen contrac is bad
Price contract is putrid
Low ballin' subban was dump
Bouillin singing is average at best
Drewsky acquition was stupid