News Article: Geoff Molson re-affirms confidence in Marc Bergevin, will not hire a president of hockey operations

[BLONG7]

Sam Pollock says hi.

Since you are the smartest guy in the room, curious if Pollock was anglo first, and learned the franco language second....I know you know....please let the rest of us not so smart people know.
Thx

 

[dinodebino]

Since you are the smartest guy in the room, curious if Pollock was anglo first, and learned the franco language second....I know you know....please let the rest of us not so smart people know.
Thx

Go read. Something posters here don't do often, evidently.

OK, I’ll help you : Scotty: A Hockey Life Like No Other https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07T2VNRF5/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_HQ78MNE6YDC619R463PZ

 

[BLONG7]

Go read. Something posters here don't do often, evidently.

I bow to your greatness.....

 

[dinodebino]

I bow to your greatness.....

You may kiss my hand.

 

[BLONG7]

You may kiss my hand.

Absolutely............my king...
I know you love being the smartest guy in the room, and it show....
Keep it up!!

 

[Benstheman]

I don’t like Bergevin but I fail to see how his tenure is worst than any other Habs GM for the past 25 years.

And I am 99,99% positive the next GM won’t do better.

let’s state the reality here in Mtl:

-you can’t commit to a full rebuild.
-GM and coach need to speak french. So basically, 80% of the coaches and GMs can’t be hired.
-Quality UFAs will never sign here
-Worst of all, players need to produce in pressure-cooker market.

So to simplify. It doesn’t matter if the GM is Yzerman or Jean-Guy de Laval, the team will never be contender under the actual situation.

 

[dinodebino]

Absolutely............my king...
I know you love being the smartest guy in the room, and it show....
Keep it up!!

I will oblige if I don’t get booted off.
I do think that the smartest here are @Treb (his Covid stuff is FASCINATING and complex AF) and Ozy (he’s a brilliant analyst of the human kind and mind).

I come in a far third.


And I’m kidding here.


Apologies, but the subject gets my old blood boiling. It infuriates me because it originates from pure ignorance. Ugh.

 

[Wats]

I don’t like Bergevin but I fail to see how his tenure is worst than any other Habs GM for the past 25 years.

And I am 99,99% positive the next GM won’t do better.

let’s state the reality here in Mtl:

-you can’t commit to a full rebuild.
-GM and coach need to speak french. So basically, 80% of the coaches and GMs can’t be hired.
-Quality UFAs will never sign here
-Worst of all, players need to produce in pressure-cooker market.

So to simplify. It doesn’t matter if the GM is Yzerman or Jean-Guy de Laval, the team will never be contender under the actual situation.

You're basing this on nothing since no other GM had his length of tenure...not even close. Full rebuild means multiple years with top picks...which we have with Bergevin. The only difference to a full rebuild is it's not planned.

 

[Frankenheimer]

You're basing this on nothing since no other GM had his length of tenure...not even close. Full rebuild means multiple years with top picks...which we have with Bergevin. The only difference to a full rebuild is it's not planned.

Yes but none of those picks resulted in anything resembling a top tier talent. The Galchenyuk draft was pure garbage. No pick would have helped. The KK draft didn’t really have that kind of player either. Good players, yes, but not elite. Pasternak was the only player that was within reach I would say but I think he went just before.

In short, you need at least one elite talent on the team to go anywhere, and we have none.

 

[Kriss E]

they do have one of the best in the league, but it's because of the '18 drafts and on. KK is out but that's not his fault or Timmins imo. Time will tell how good or not he is. Romanov was overrated by Hab fans just like Poehling was due to the WJC's, I said this many times. But Romanov is young, came to the Habs raw thanks to his KHL team using him as a 5th/6th/7th D and the Habs yet again rushing another kid to the NHL.

I think Romanov will be a solid bottom pairing D at worst but it may take some time. Poehling like Evans and countless others, yes you have to worry about anyone that gets a couple concussions as we saw what happened to Shaw, it sucks but sadly it's a part of the game. Not on Timmins, just as any injury isn't his fault of course.

Suzuki will be fine imo, the team sucks so everyone is piling on but I'm not worried about him at all or Caufield. I worry much more about Molson, MB, and the coaches they hire who think it's 1990's.

That said and it's not an excuse but a fact, it's hard to say what you have in prospects due to covid, as the OHL didn't play at all last year, the AHL played half a season and against the same 3 or so teams. The Q/WHL less then half a season. So what impact did that have? The Habs pick from '21 Vrbetic didn't play a game for 19 months or so, who knows what impact that has as we have never seen whole leagues not play for that long, especially when the OHL might be the best junior league in the world.

One of the Habs top prospects is Guhle but who knows what he really is as he missed almost an entire year of one of the most important years of development imo (his age 18 season). Outside the WJC's he played a couple games, very hard to get a read on that. Then you have Mailloux, never played much at a high level so who knows what he is.

The Habs have 3 of the current top 8 or so scorers in the Q, one of the top goalies in the NCAA so far, Farrell just put up 7 pts in 2 games though vs weak teams. Biondi will likely easily have more goals then he had points last year. Mysak looks solid. Norlinder if he can stay healthy is the one I'm holding out most hope for. Harris will be an NHLer, 100% no doubt in my mind. Tuch is very interesting. There's clearly a lot to like but with prospects it's always about how much they continue to progress or not. Of course having shit development does have it's impacts.

But I've this what feels like a 1000 times, Fans of any sport will ALWAYS overrate their prospects, it's human nature and I don't see the problem as it gives us some hope for the future. Molson, MB, the MT/Juline/Dom/clone these guys can't be here forever.

It's not just 2018. In 2012, Habs allegedly had won the draft. Everyone was pretty much great with potential. Then it was from 2016 onward, now it's 2018.
Timmins has been here for what, like 20 years? Bergey a decade. Tomorrow we will have 4 players we drafted in our starting roster. That's freaking pathetic, especially considering we've been mediocre at best for 5 years.

I think Romanov, Caufield and Suzuki will undoubtedly be regular NHLers but our prospects pool is only as good as our developmental strategy and they seem to be utterly clueless in that department.

 

[Kriss E]

Development team most definitely sucks. But I wonder what's lacking. That's why habs need to hire someone from a team that has been good at developping talent to replace Timmins. Molson doesn't seem to be eager to flex his money muscles. One of the richest team in the league and they don't even have an in-house skating coach for their prospects? Ridiculous.

It's not Molson, he spends wherever they ask. We have one of the deepest management group in the league, we just do not hire the right people.
We need to bring in someone with a proven track record in development but that doesn't seem possible as long as Timmins leads the charge.

 

[Doc McKenna]

It's not just 2018. In 2012, Habs allegedly had won the draft. Everyone was pretty much great with potential. Then it was from 2016 onward, now it's 2018.
Timmins has been here for what, like 20 years? Bergey a decade. Tomorrow we will have 4 players we drafted in our starting roster. That's freaking pathetic, especially considering we've been mediocre at best for 5 years.

I think Romanov, Caufield and Suzuki will undoubtedly be regular NHLers but our prospects pool is only as good as our developmental strategy and they seem to be utterly clueless in that department.

But I kept being told how deep our pool was....and yet no one AHL wise can crack this elite squad that is the habs. Been reading about players in the AHL for so long I think they are vets by the time they are called up.

 

[MasterD]

I don’t like Bergevin but I fail to see how his tenure is worst than any other Habs GM for the past 25 years.

And I am 99,99% positive the next GM won’t do better.

let’s state the reality here in Mtl:

-you can’t commit to a full rebuild.
-GM and coach need to speak french. So basically, 80% of the coaches and GMs can’t be hired.
-Quality UFAs will never sign here
-Worst of all, players need to produce in pressure-cooker market.

So to simplify. It doesn’t matter if the GM is Yzerman or Jean-Guy de Laval, the team will never be contender under the actual situation.

Agree about the french stuff, but wrong about UFAs.

Toffoli signed here. Hoffman signed here. They're not generational talent, but some of the best scorers in the league in recent years...

 

[Milhouse40]

I wish that, one day, on this forum of hockey fans (and a few Habs fans), someone would have the gonads to stop this foolish nonsense about the Québec factor in le Club de hockey Canadien Inc.

This is an Anglo site, I understand that. I also understand that the Ys and the Millenials dominate discussions here. I do, really.

I wish that some moderator would care to have a sticky thread (no replies, just a simple post) about why, oh! why this organization will ALWAYS have a Québec-based or Franco-based administrative core. A thread where our younger ones (and some older and stubbornly redneck posters) would learn WHY it is that way, and WHY it will never change. It is getting tiresome to reply to all the ignorant posts about the language issue. It's like trying to plug the holes of a sinking Titanic with your fingers.

I suggest to the younger ones to read some of the great books put forth by the likes of Camil DesRoches, Claude Mouton and Ken Dryden on the history of this club. To learn and think before posting such absurd comments about the Francophone factor. Dryden, in his recent Scotty Bowman biography explains it. He explains why Bowman was first given a chance as a young coach in the minor ranks. He explains why Sam Pollock was chosen by the outsider that Frank Selke was (Selke understood the culture and the importance of having 'locals' run the show). He explains how Pollock understood what he had done by naming Al McNeil as coach. And he never repeated it afterwards.

Go read on how Pollock understood the importance of the universal draft before anybody else in the league. The man was a genius. Arguably the best GM in pro sports history. Un tit-cul de Snowdon, Montréal, PeeQue.

This is the Club de hockey CanadiEN. Not CanadiAN. It was done with a purpose. I even wonder if people here on the forum know why was the name chosen. Does anyone have a clue? And does anyone here know how players were picked by teams at the time of the original six (yes, some poster STILL believe that all Québec-born players automatically went to the Club de hockey Canadien Inc.)?

All I can say is that : there are 32 teams in the NHL as of today. Your Maroons died a long time ago. You have the choice of 31 other teams to cheer from. Go ahead! Make my day!

BriseBois WAS the best candidate at the time of Bergevin's hire, in hindsight. He was too close to the old regime. There was a period in hockey where I thought that Blair McKasey (good old Lac St-Louis guy) had the talent and the knowledge to be a good GM.

YES, I favour our locals. Just like Taranna favoured the kid as GM because he was a 'local' product. You know who would be a good candidate too, and he's not from Québec, but close enough to me? Bobby Smith! Played here, speaks the language of the majority (at least he used to) and comes from Ottawa. Plus he KNOWS the Q by heart.

So there. Sue me.

I get it. I'm a french Québécois, my best hockey buddy is a hard pro-french everything.
We argue all the time about it. You have the same arguments.

All I'm going to say it's things changed.

For the people under 35 years old, the Habs are not the glorious team you and to some extent me knows......they sucked for all their life. While having french everything for all of their life. Same poutine for decades.

Kids in the last 12 years grow up with a losing Habs team.....less interesting to follow especially in a world of Facebook, Online gaming, Twitter, Netflix, Iphone and many other things dragging their attention away. We may tell them all the great stories about the Habs, it's just stories to them just like it is for those under 35 years old.

Now...How important will it be to have a french GM if no one gives a shit about the Habs?
If the younger doesn't follow them or care about them? If the Bell Center is half-empty like many places in the League?

All the younger kids I know (14- 18)....I think one out 20/25 follow the Habs, I know a lot more who more fans of CFMTL than the Habs. It's a trend that will continue if the team keeps sucking. That is the real thing we whould worry about.

We need to win for a couple of season and fast....cause the buzz has been dropping since 2014....did you see many Habs flags in the last playoff runs this summer? Cause I didn't see it at all.

 

[Bouboumaster]

This man is waiting the call

Roy would go in the room and break his foot because of too much ass kicking on those losers

 

[Benstheman]

You're basing this on nothing since no other GM had his length of tenure...not even close. Full rebuild means multiple years with top picks...which we have with Bergevin. The only difference to a full rebuild is it's not planned.

rebuilding isn’t just drafting top picks. It’s making sure everything is in place to make them your futur core. In Mtl, the only priority is winning, winning, winning. They don’t want to commit to a rebuild that imply 4, 5 or even 6 years of being out of the playoffs. Plain and simple.

 

[Benstheman]

Y

Agree about the french stuff, but wrong about UFAs.

Toffoli signed here. Hoffman signed here. They're not generational talent, but some of the best scorers in the league in recent years...

Yeah but they were plan B or C. And not exactly what we needed to be honest. Same thing with Chiarot and Edmundson.

 

[jackeymoon]

I will oblige if I don’t get booted off.
I do think that the smartest here are @Treb (his Covid stuff is FASCINATING and complex AF) and Ozy (he’s a brilliant analyst of the human kind and mind).

I come in a far third.


And I’m kidding here.


Apologies, but the subject gets my old blood boiling. It infuriates me because it originates from pure ignorance. Ugh.

As someone who moved out of Quebec many years ago I must say it's surreal to see a debate where the merits of obstructive and somewhat ethnocentric hiring policies of an anglo owned corporation (who doesn't care about you) are lauded as a net positive for the quebecois nation.

I'm certian that prior to the Nordiques being moved most Quebecois people had a much stronger national sentiment towards them than the CH.

 

[jackeymoon]

This man is waiting the call

Roy would go in the room and break his foot because of too much ass kicking on those losers

Say what you want but this guy's a total Legend

 

[tazsub3]

It's not Molson, he spends wherever they ask. We have one of the deepest management group in the league, we just do not hire the right people.
We need to bring in someone with a proven track record in development but that doesn't seem possible as long as Timmins leads the charge.

i disagree, that is not enough, he is a leader, he acts as team president and he has to lead not simply pay the check.
For reference look what a top leader with the raptors does. He challenges the media, the league, the wrong perceptions, he accept nothing but winning a championship.
he dont simply sign the check, or say the goal is the playoffs, or remove the no excuse sign.
Molson the single reason for the current team failure. He is the boss and he failing at his job.

 

[Kriss E]

i disagree, that is not enough, he is a leader, he acts as team president and he has to lead not simply pay the check.
For reference look what a top leader with the raptors does. He challenges the media, the league, the wrong perceptions, he accept nothing but winning a championship.
he dont simply sign the check, or say the goal is the playoffs, or remove the no excuse sign.
Molson the single reason for the current team failure. He is the boss and he failing at his job.

You can have a hands off approach, or on, both can be fine, depends on the organization structure and how roles are defined.

 

[tazsub3]

You can have a hands off approach, or on, both can be fine, depends on the organization structure and how roles are defined.

sure you can, but he clearly failed in leading.
Its media , and heck even politicians running this team, not him.

 

[Kriss E]

sure you can, but he clearly failed in leading.
Its media , and heck even politicians running this team, not him.

It's definitely him. He cashes in no matter what. The Habs own the media, if they speak too out of line, they get their privileges revoked and are kicked off the plane.

 

[salbutera]

It's definitely him. He cashes in no matter what. The Habs own the media, if they speak too out of line, they get their privileges revoked and are kicked off the plane.

Only Habs radio guys.

Beat writers & media are not allowed on the plane, that was the first thing Gainey did when he took over ...which is why Reggie Tremblay has always been so pissed and has an axe to grind

 

[JSR 56]

Yes but none of those picks resulted in anything resembling a top tier talent. The Galchenyuk draft was pure garbage. No pick would have helped. The KK draft didn’t really have that kind of player either. Good players, yes, but not elite. Pasternak was the only player that was within reach I would say but I think he went just before.

In short, you need at least one elite talent on the team to go anywhere, and we have none.

If the draft was garbage, and you have scouts who are supposed to assess draft class... Why not flip the pick? All I hear from management is excuses. Draft was not good, trades are hard, players are hurt, blah blah blah.