Around the League - ...in 56 Games

[TMLeafer]

Just one assistant fired with him, interesting. It's bad news, might give them some life.

 

[ToneDog]

Wow, thought 8 years for Bergevin was too much but he had finally turned things around. Maybe he thinks Habs will go on a run like the Leafs did last year after they punted Babs. It is a short season after all and a bounce back could solidify a playoff spot.

Just goes to show Montreal is as tough a hockey market as Toronto.

 

[sxvnert]

Remember when Habs fans were mocking the leafs loss to the Sens a week ago?

Matty remembers

 

[Menzinger]

People were going out of their way to praise Bergevin after the Habs hot start during their first few games.

Its why you always should wait for the bigger sample size.

Still, bit surprised that they'd opt to fire him mid season like this unless something went on behind the scenes (like an argument between coach and gm)

 

[Dragao6]

Montreal is only team in the league that can go from bottom 10 team one year to cup of burst the following year haha
Love it
Just buying Bergevin time cause he’s prob next

 

[TheShape]

More like if Freddy did that, some of our fans would blame the defence

Freddy allowed a similar goal to Debrusk in game 7 and people blamed Gardiner

 

[Seath The Scaleless]

Will this make Price better than a below average goalie? Because it won't matter who's the coach if he keeps sh!tting the bed

 

[Jozay]

 

[BrannigansLaw]

Pretty hilarious to look back on now.

I bet Bergevin just picked the first minor league team with a french speaking coach and said here you go lol based on how reflexive this firing seems.

 

[Warden of the North]

Montreal radio this morning is a treat

 

[TheTotalPackage]

Idiotic move in my opinion, but I may eat crow.

I thought Julien was getting every drop of talent out of that team.

Agreed. I thought Julien made the team much better they were and he squeezed as much as possible from the talent he had to work with.

I'm surprised by the move. I'd probably have stood pat in a shortened season which could go off the rails at any time. Ducharme has been a coaching darling in the up-and-coming ranks for a while now -- will be interesting to see how he does.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Julien's a bit of a dinosaur of a coach.. still a bit perplexing given the timing of it all.

How many coaches doe Bergevin get leash for?

At this point though, I don't know if a new coach can make significant changes. The season is approaching the midway point and the Habs, already have already had their off week and are basically playing every other night. Not much time for practice new systems.

I bet the Habs get a bit rejuvenated, go on a run playing a bit looser and move free wheeling but that will ultimately catch up with them in this division.

This move reeks of desperation by Bergevin to win. The slump wasn't that prolonged, the North division isn't that strong and the Habs are good enough to make a run if they get hot. Not to mention they just made some big changes up front (Toffoli, Anderson, etc) and you only give the coach 20 games to get them going? Yowza.

At the same time he could have just waited until the off-season but my guess is another failed season spells the end for Bergevin, he knows it, and he had to make the move now for the sake of his job.

 

[meefer]

Surprising. Julien has a good rep. Did the team quit on him?

 

[BertCorbeau]

Surprising. Julien has a good rep. Did the team quit on him?

Don't think they quit, I just think they came back down to earth .. teams built on the wings generally aren't successful, their centre group has a lot of potential but they haven't been that strong, and Price hasn't been good enough to cover their mistakes.

Julien gave them a good defensive competitive structure IMO.

Glad the Leafs don't play them until April now, gives them a month to see how their game changes.

 

[Dragao6]

Agreed. I thought Julien made the team much better they were and he squeezed as much as possible from the talent he had to work with.

I'm surprised by the move. I'd probably have stood pat in a shortened season which could go off the rails at any time. Ducharme has been a coaching darling in the up-and-coming ranks for a while now -- will be interesting to see how he does.

This is all the save Bergevin job
He’s next and he knows it
Team still not offensively gifted even though Anderson was a nice pick up

 

[kk87]

I’ve been beating this drum all offseason and all season: the Habs are a mediocre team. Borderline bottom 10 in the league. No offensive firepower, solid but overrated D core, and good goaltending. How they went from 24th place in the league to “juggernaut” overnight is preposterous. Not sure what else Julien was supposed to do, the team’s getting the same results they deserve - they’re a .500 team, give or take.

 

[zeke]

I don't see how any other coach can get more out of that mediocre roster than Julien did.

hell, the Habs are #1 in 5v5 goal differential (and expected goal differential) this year!

meanwhile, look at their roster and I dare you to show me one part of that roster either at that top or the bottom that is better than average, while i'll show you a number that are clearly below average.

 

[zeke]

I’ve been beating this drum all offseason and all season: the Habs are a mediocre team. Borderline bottom 10 in the league. No offensive firepower, solid but overrated D core, and good goaltending. How they went from 24th place in the league to “juggernaut” overnight is preposterous. Not sure what else Julien was supposed to do, the team’s getting the same results they deserve - they’re a .500 team, give or take.

the delicious irony here is that its the canadian media's obsessive Leafs-hating that caused this 24th placed Habs team to become so hilariously overrated and overhyped coming into the year, just so they didn't have to praise the Leafs as the clearcut best team in the country.

the habs are playing at a 100pt pace this year! that is way better than they should have been expected to play!

 

[zeke]

I have to say it again because it's so hilarious:

Habs just fired their coach because they are winning at a 100pt pace with the best even strength goal differential in the league, despite going 0-4 in OT/SOs and their $10.5m goalie having an .893sv%.

 

[Critical13]

One of the most wonderful parts about the Habs not having enough skill is that they just invested a ton of cap into Edmundson and Chiarot, and used a top 15 pick on Kadien Guhle lol.

"If we can't beat them, we will at least chase them aimlessly around the ice until we can get a useless hit!"

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

the Habs did have weak special teams, but they were arguably the best team at 5v5. Getting new assistant coaches would have been a good idea, but firing Julien will probably end up biting them. They aren't a super talented team, and he got a lot out of them

 

[willmma]

Oiler's are doing really well lately, 8-2-0 in the last 10.

I expect Sid to jump on the band wagon soon

 

[supermann_98]

God help team Canada if this guy is in net come Olympic time, which he most likely will be or at least in the top 2-3 in consideration

 

[zeke]

 

[Stephen]

How much of a major malfunction was it for the League Offices to call in and ruin a good goal with a bad call only to result in a loss for the Habs and a veteran coach losing their job? As a Leafs fan you kind of laugh at the comedy of errors but in the bigger picture that is some egregious incompetence being shown by the league. Awful calls nightly, incompetent and pointless game management, the Carolina-Columbus goal/penalty fiasco.