Reggie Houle is a good guy, that's a fact. Sure he was the puppet of Corey and had no experience. That tells a lot about the whole team back then, just after they won in '93.
Houle left the team in complete disaster. Bergevin did many mistakes but he never gave away the good prospects. Bergy left the team with Suzuki, Caufield, Anderson, Ghule, Harris, Allen, Armia, Gallagher, Evans, Pazetta, RHP, Edmunston, Savard, Mailloux and few others. I'm not sure Montembault. Anyway, it's not like he left a desert land. As soon as Drouin, Hoffman, Wideman and Dadonov are out of the team, the sun will shine again. Our young core will mature. Bergy got Toffoli, Lehkonen, Kulak and Chiarot who got interresting returns last year too. It's not all negative, there is a nice young core of players a gm like Hughes can build on.