4 Years Ago: Max traded to Vegas for Suzuki & Tatar

[Runner77]

I have zero faith in him, seems far too injury prone for a young man. My Boy Arber Xhekaj is going to be the future.

Thank goodness, thought it might be worse.

Was afraid you might have called Mailloux, an inbred.

 

[nhlfan9191]

Bergevin figured out how to acquire a centreman: trade your captain and best goal scorer for a centre prospect.

Meanwhile you’re in self-proclaimed “win-now” mode with tens of millions committed to injury-prone 30-somethings Weber and Price.

It worked out but the circumstances of the trade were as bad as it gets, it’s like Bergevin tried his best to destroy any value Pacioretty would have on the trade market.

He wanted Glass. He didn’t figure out anything. He stumbled ass backwards into luck. I’m not complaining however.

 

[MasterD]

...and it would have turned into another EPIC fail, just like almost everything else Bargain Bin touched...my "dumb as Hell" interpretation was also correct; the trade literally fell into his lap due to a significant error on McPhee's part...facts...so you can bitch & whine for the sake of bitching & whining until the cow's come home, doesn't change the facts...

So Bergevin AND McPhee thought Glass was the better prospect. Interesting how McPhee's POV doesn't matter in your story.

We had a Quebecois star centre, and he let him walk...

Danault is a solid player but far from a star, please.

And Danault is solid but was never a star and will never be a star.

Thank you.

 

[ismelofhockey]

He had a good many good individual moves. Just no vision of what it takes to build a winner. It ain't only speed and character, and then turn around shortly thereafter and get a bunch slow with character guys, all the while having talent as an after thought.

Agreed.

He was GM for ten years and you couldn't list even ten moves he made that improved the team that never had a 1C or a single PPG player in all ten years. You had to list the acquisition of Kulak and Scandella ffs.

A good trader would acquire talent that improves the team's record -- the Habs got progressively worse as the years went on. Longer losing streaks, longer playoff droughts, fewer point producers.

And Danault is solid but was never a star and will never be a star.

I could have listed more, but I felt the list was long enough. I added Kulak and Scandella to show he could get something for nothing, and he did so quite frequently. I could have added Anderson, Edmundson, and Weber.

I challenge you to find 5 GMs with better trade records.

So Bergevin AND McPhee thought Glass was the better prospect. Interesting how McPhee's POV doesn't matter in your story.

Danault is a solid player but far from a star, please.

Thank you.

Danault scored 27 goals and he was 6th in Selke votes. He isn't a superstar, but he's definitely a star in my book.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

So Bergevin AND McPhee thought Glass was the better prospect. Interesting how McPhee's POV doesn't matter in your story.

...nope...keep reading my posts; again, was a significant error on McPhee's part is there multiple times...and McPhee is actually on record saying it was a mistake on his part...and again, the original post was very clearly simply stating that the trade fell into Bargain Bin's lap and he still needed a push to take it...just plain, simple, straight to the point facts...maybe that's the problem here; it's not complicated enough for some of the Philosophy majors in this joint so it needs to be overcomplicated with conjecture & bullshyte in order to satisfy their everlasting need for f**king LIKES on a Hockey Message Board...well, bravo, lads & lasses; you did it again...Compliments & Felicitations all around!!...

 

[snakeye]

Carey Price did that, not Marc Bergevin

And who do you think signed Price? With this kind of logic the habs could have won the cup and Bergevin still wouldn't get any credit.

I swear the hate Bergevin gets is cult like and completely irrational. Funny how the team under him was just full of garbage, and then as soon as Gorton and Hughes take over, woooow, they are geniuses for trading away all these valuable assets that seemed to just appear out of thin air.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

And who do you think signed Price? With this kind of logic the habs could have won the cup and Bergevin still wouldn't get any credit.

I swear the hate Bergevin gets is cult like and completely irrational. Funny how the team under him was just full of garbage, and then as soon as Gorton and Hughes take over, woooow, they are geniuses for trading away all these valuable assets that seemed to just appear out of thin air.

He should get credit for resigning the best goalie in the NHL who had zero intentions of ever leaving?

Anyone would have done this, but only Bergevin would have done this for $10.5M

 

[ReHabs]

Anyone would have done this, but only Bergevin would have done this for $10.5M

And NMC, and signing bonuses. The contract structure is incredibly disadvantageous to the Habs.

 

[RationalExpectations]

And NMC, and signing bonuses. The contract structure is incredibly disadvantageous to the Habs.

Moral hazard due to GM's ability to sign contracts they are not going to have to account for in the end. The idea was :"let's try to get 1 lucky SC run with Price playing like it's 2015 and then let's not worry if it ruins MTL future for a decade..."

 

[ChesterNimitz]

I have zero faith in him, seems far too injury prone for a young man. My Boy Arber Xhekaj is going to be the future.

The great Serge Savard had a much more spotty record of major injuries. It all depends on the will and inner strength of the player. I'm betting on Mailloux. And, I suspect, so is the team's management. If they aren't , it will be a Leclair level mistake.

 

[beowulf]

Worked for both teams I think. As much as I miss MaxPac's scoring, Suzuki brought the youth the team needed and Tatar was good in general while a Hab.

 

[MasterD]

Moral hazard due to GM's ability to sign contracts they are not going to have to account for in the end. The idea was :"let's try to get 1 lucky SC run with Price playing like it's 2015 and then let's not worry if it ruins MTL future for a decade..."

To be fair, that’s nothing new. It’s why Dallas traded Iginla, got their cup.

 

[TheYardMachine]

Must be rare to see a trade that includes the former captain for the future captain!
Kinda cool!

 

[Habs]

The great Serge Savard had a much more spotty record of major injuries. It all depends on the will and inner strength of the player. I'm betting on Mailloux. And, I suspect, so is the team's management. If they aren't , it will be a Leclair level mistake.

LeClair was a horse upto that trade, just started to show what he could do gave us glimpses. However not sure if Logan is on the same level, I don't see it. Let's hope he turns out to be a gem

 

[ChesterNimitz]

LeClair was a horse upto that trade, just started to show what he could do gave us glimpses. However not sure if Logan is on the same level, I don't see it. Let's hope he turns out to be a gem

Nevertheless, most pundits and fans fulsomely praised the trade. After Roy, Leclair was the most important player in that Stanley Cup finals win against the Kings. You trade that combination of size and speed at your peril. That we gave up Leclair and Desjardins for Recchi, made me ill. I say it again, you trade a combination of size and skating ability that Mailloux offers at your great peril.

 

[Habs]

Nevertheless, most pundits and fans fulsomely praised the trade. After Roy, Leclair was the most important player in that Stanley Cup finals win against the Kings. You trade that combination of size and speed at your peril. That we gave up Leclair and Desjardins for Recchi, made me ill. I say it again, you trade a combination of size and skating ability that Mailloux offers at your great peril.

not sure, I totally hated the trade. I loved Recchi, but really was loving LeClair. I did NOT think big 17 was going to turn around that fast, I just loved the power forward he was slowly turning into as a young player. Throwing in Desjardins was just criminal at the time

 

[ChesterNimitz]

not sure, I totally hated the trade. I loved Recchi, but really was loving LeClair. I did NOT think big 17 was going to turn around that fast, I just loved the power forward he was slowly turning into as a young player. Throwing in Desjardins was just criminal at the time

They should re-hire Savard so that they could re-fire him for that trade. Little known fact: before the trade, the Flyers never beat Montreal when Leclair and Desjardins were playing for the Canadiens. After the trade, Montreal didn't beat the Flyers for almost a decade. What incompetence. As Bobby Knight loves to say: Dumb always loses.

 

[Habs]

They should re-hire Savard so that they could re-fire him for that trade. Little known fact: before the trade, the Flyers never beat Montreal when Leclair and Desjardins were playing for the Canadiens. After the trade, Montreal didn't beat the Flyers for almost a decade. What incompetence. As Bobby Knight loves to say: Dumb always loses.

I remember it like yesterday. Don't bring back my ptsd

 

[26Mats]

Since the trade, Pacioretty has:

97 goals and 97 assists during regular season
15 goals and 15 assists during the playoffs.

Numbers sometimes......

Yeah, although he's not a play driver, he's not a one dimensional shooter. He can make good plays with his linemates.

 

[Habs Halifax]

He wanted Glass. He didn’t figure out anything. He stumbled ass backwards into luck. I’m not complaining however.

99% of fans and GM's would have picked Glass over Suzuki at that point in time. Suzuki was a RW/C type and a B+ or fringe Grade A when the trade was made. He just finished the rookie camp with Vegas and they clearly felt comfortable trading him.

Yeah, we got lucky with Suzuki turning into a gem of a center.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

I remember it like yesterday. Don't bring back my ptsd

I was travelling when the trade was announced. Back then (comparatively, medieval times) there was no internet. My brother called me to ask me if I heard about the trade. I replied, "What trade?" My brother said, "Montreal just traded Leclair and Desjardins to Philadelphia." My response was naturally "For whom?" My brother said "Recchi." And I then replied, "And what else?" When my brother said, "Nothing else," I almost threw up. I told my bother we have just shot ourselves in the foot and it would take years for us to recover from such a blunder. I was so dismayed that shortly after the trade, on February 13, 1995, I sent Roger Corey a 14 page analysis that eviscerated the wisdom of the trade which assessment ended by me saying:

"While Recchi and Desjardins have largely achieved the level that can be expected of them, the wild card in this trade is Leclair. If he attains his immense potential, Leclair will be, after Lindros, the predominant power forward in hockey. Even if he doesn't attain his full potential, Leclair is a prime time player. Ask any defenceman in the league. Just look at their eyes when they see Leclair closing in on them when he is forechecking. For the past two years, one of Montreal's best offensive plays was to dump the puck in the corner and have Leclair come up with it. I have yet to see a defenceman who has been able to physically handle Leclair when he tries one of his "wrap around" plays. In that regard, I positively cringe when trying to visualize Racine, Brisebois or Daigneault trying to physically stop Leclair. Finally, I give you my own prediction that by the end of the season, Leclair's scoring output will be only marginally lower than Recchi's. In fact, because of his immense potential, I wouldn't have traded Leclair even-up for Recchi."​

​

And one wonders why Montreal hasn't won a Stanley Cup in almost 30 years.​

 

[Frank Drebin]

99% of fans and GM's would have picked Glass over Suzuki at that point in time. Suzuki was a RW/C type and a B+ or fringe Grade A when the trade was made. He just finished the rookie camp with Vegas and they clearly felt comfortable trading him.

Yeah, we got lucky with Suzuki turning into a gem of a center.

He wanted Glass. He didn’t figure out anything. He stumbled ass backwards into luck. I’m not complaining however.

Outside of slam dunk picks like McDavid and Matthews, teams almost always get lucky with player development.

Tampa wanted (and took) Namestekov over Kucherov, Koekkoek over Vasilevski, Jonathan MacLeod over Brayden Point and Dennis Yan over Cirelli.

Whatever shade you're going to throw at Bergevin/Montreal for getting "lucky" with Suzuki you have to throw at the most successful franchise of the last decade, no?

Anyways, trade was still a win win for both teams, at least I was told.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

Outside of slam dunk picks like McDavid and Matthews, teams almost always get lucky with player development.

Tampa wanted (and took) Namestekov over Kucherov, Koekkoek over Vasilevski, Jonathan MacLeod over Brayden Point and Dennis Yan over Cirelli.

Whatever shade you're going to throw at Bergevin/Montreal for getting "lucky" with Suzuki you have to throw at the most successful franchise of the last decade, no?

Anyways, trade was still a win win for both teams, at least I was told.

...the shade that's being thrown at him in here is to illustrate a reflection of the GM that he was...outside of a few particular instances, like the Danault trade, he was a horrid GM; getting "lucky" was pretty much the only times where he showed any semblance of forward thought, of progressing the team past being on the Bubble praying Carey went GOD MODE...he wasted the Prime years of the best goalie of his Generation by using duct tape to hold what we had together instead of using the tools he had at his command to BETTER the team moving forward...a rudderless Captain plugging holes on a sinking ship with sponges; the sponge only soaks up soo much before it becomes useless...and then he'd just change the sponge out for another...and another...and another...do I harp about it too much??...absolutely...because he cost us a DECADE of progression and caused a DECADE of pain, a DECADE of mediocrity...and for no other reason than the simple fact that he was terrible at his job...and for everyone who gets tired of hearing about it; please, feel free to ignore me...just don't ignore the facts of his tenure...

 

[Frank Drebin]

...the shade that's being thrown at him in here is to illustrate a reflection of the GM that he was...outside of a few particular instances, like the Danault trade, he was a horrid GM; getting "lucky" was pretty much the only times where he showed any semblance of forward thought, of progressing the team past being on the Bubble praying Carey went GOD MODE...he wasted the Prime years of the best goalie of his Generation by using duct tape to hold what we had together instead of using the tools he had at his command to BETTER the team moving forward...a rudderless Captain plugging holes on a sinking ship with sponges; the sponge only soaks up soo much before it becomes useless...and then he'd just change the sponge out for another...and another...and another...do I harp about it too much??...absolutely...because he cost us a DECADE of progression and caused a DECADE of pain, a DECADE of mediocrity...and for no other reason than the simple fact that he was terrible at his job...and for everyone who gets tired of hearing about it; please, feel free to ignore me...just don't ignore the facts of his tenure...

Nothing personal, but what you've just posted has been essentially copy and pasted for the last 9 years. I honestly don't care.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

Nothing personal, but what you've just posted has been essentially copy and pasted for the last 9 years. I honestly don't care.