Marc Bergevin: Draft 2020 (XVI)

[Lshap]

Throw a pile of money at Dean Lombardi to become the GM. Successful Cup-winning GM currently with the Flyers org. It's time to stop the mentoring programs and give the job to an experienced winner.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Throw a pile of money at Dean Lombardi to become the GM. Successful Cup-winning GM currently with the Flyers org. It's time to stop the mentoring programs and give the job to an experienced winner.

I'd do whatever it takes to get George McPhee. Building up a real prospect factory is the first step.

I'm tempted to bring in Bruce Boudreau to pump up our assets and then dump them for our benefit. He'll need to be fired quick though as he is not a playoff coach.

 

[Habsrule]

I definitely thing he plays up the goofiness on tv a lot. When Chiclets interviewed him he came across way way better. Definitely knows the game inside and out and is much more respected within the league than many think.

My exact thought ls

 

[Lshap]

I'd do whatever it takes to get George McPhee. Building up a real prospect factory is the first step.

I'm tempted to bring in Bruce Boudreau to pump up our assets and then dump them for our benefit. He'll need to be fired quick though as he is not a playoff coach.

McPhee would also be great.

And before someone chimes in... yes, the reality of our market means a GM or coach will be evaluated on two distinct levels: Hockey expertise and cultural attachment. Both are important, but prioritizing one means giving less to the other. Claiming that "We can do both!" is marketing bullshit; it fools no one. There can many priorities but only one top priority. Up until now, they've chosen culture over expertise because the perception (rightly or wrongly) was that our market wanted that. At some point our market will probably prioritize expertise/winning and will pressure Molson to chose a candidate who reflects that. Culture will always be a priority, however it may stop being the top priority. Are we there yet? Yes, I believe the vast majority of fans are tired of losing, but it may take more time for that new pragmatism to filter up through the media to Geoff Molson's ears.

 

[Tighthead]

My exact thought ls

I’ve said this before. I wouldn’t want McGuire as GM, but I’d be fine with him as President.

I think he has a near obsession with scouting and prospects. He goes and watches college practices on his days off, even on the road. He’s repeatedly said that nobody should out-scout the Habs when it comes to the Q.

I do think he would be good at keeping the GM on track - have a plan, and ask yourself if the moves you are making accord with the plan.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

I’ve said this before. I wouldn’t want McGuire as GM, but I’d be fine with him as President.

I think he has a near obsession with scouting and prospects. He goes and watches college practices on his days off, even on the road. He’s repeatedly said that nobody should out-scout the Habs when it comes to the Q.

I do think he would be good at keeping the GM on track - have a plan, and ask yourself if the moves you are making accord with the plan.

Well, I would say Mcguire has the work ethic for the job if he's working on his days off.

Besides, if he's not into the old-timey stuff that Marc is known for, that is better.

 

[Seb]

This feeling of thinking it's actually possible Bergevin gets fired at the end of season is incredible. Will he finally be held accountable for all these wasted years?

 

[ahmedou]

Marc Bergevin is a maestro

 

[expy]

Remember when we used to play “na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye”?

The organization owes it to us to play it when a Bergevin gets canned.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

So, who's the great french speaking GM canditate who's available ? Now might be the time to get them resumes up to date.

 

[NobleSix]

Marc Bergevin is a maestro

Making a thread boasting about Bergevin and expecting it to not age terribly is like pulling the pin on a hand grenade and hoping it doesn't blow your face off.

Shame that thread was closed. OP deserved to get roasted.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Making a thread boasting about Bergevin and expecting it to not age terribly is like pulling the pin on a hand grenade and hoping it doesn't blow your face off.

Shame that thread was closed. OP deserved to get roasted.

They shoulda deleted the user too. One stone two blah blah blah

 

[HabsCowboysOwn]

Here's a recent picture of the orchestra conducted by Maestro Bergevin

 

[Scintillating10]

It's 2012 all over. 9 years wasted! Why we didn't properly rebuild then is amazing.

 

[Apoplectic Habs Fan]

Doesnt deserve another kick at the can. He can take Timmins with him

 

[Holystik]

Making a thread boasting about Bergevin and expecting it to not age terribly is like pulling the pin on a hand grenade and hoping it doesn't blow your face off.

Shame that thread was closed. OP deserved to get roasted.

He usually makes one thread of this kind once every few months. You just have to be quick to comment as they usually get locked out pretty quick and always end up making the 'normal' Habs fans look ridiculous on the mainboard...

 

[MTL-rules]

Doesnt deserve another kick at the can. He can take Timmins with him

I hope so. Everyone should go and Molson should only be the owner who enjoy the game from his luxury suite.

We need a drastic change from top to bottom, I'm tired to see these talentless playoffs bubble teams year in, year out.

Use your good players to get picks and prospects, wipe the bottom of the league for a couple of years and work your way back with young talented players. Enough with the half mesure bullshit.

 

[HabsForHire]

This feeling of thinking it's actually possible Bergevin gets fired at the end of season is incredible. Will he finally be held accountable for all these wasted years?

Hes already admitted he is next and it cant happen quick enough

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

It's 2012 all over. 9 years wasted! Why we didn't properly rebuild then is amazing.

Wait, didn't you say just a few weeks ago that we're a top 3 team in the league, right up there with Tampa, Vegas and the leafs?

 

[Milhouse40]

It's time to let him go.
Enough is enough.

This team is not going anywhere, nothing in the future tells me that this team will be a contender anytime soon.
After 5 years of being a bad team and being told that the "future is bright", well it's still dark.

Time for Mark Hunter.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

It's time to let him go.
Enough is enough.

This team is not going anywhere, nothing in the future tells me that this team will be a contender anytime soon.
After 5 years of being a bad team and being told that the "future is bright", well it's still dark.

Time for Mark Hunter.

We're still in year 2 of the new 8 year plan. Geoff said he expects results somewhere around year 3 or 4, so buckle-up buttercup, it's gonna be a long painful ride.

 

[Slew Foots]

We're still in year 2 of the new 8 year plan. Geoff said he expects results somewhere around year 3 or 4, so buckle-up buttercup, it's gonna be a long painful ride.

Therein lies the problem; as long as Geoff is running hockey ops as president, the outlook for the organization is pretty bleak. In a performance-driven organization with high accountability, Bergevin would have been fired years ago. We can only hope that what Bergevin told Waite about being next is true, but given Geoff's history, who knows.

That being said, I'm glad Bergevin is finally being exposed as a bad GM and that this view is gaining broader consensus (I'll never know how he fooled so many people for so long though).

Bergevin is an improvisational GM with zero understanding/appreciation for the importance of windows of contention in a salary cap environment. His strategy basically boiled down to "make the playoffs, cuz with Pricey in nets, anything is possible".

This year's edition is tinged with desperation. There are serious structural issues that made contention this year nearly impossible: 3 kids at center, lack of puck moving skills at D, no elite superstar forward who can make things happen out of nothing during cold spells for the team, and an aging core centered around a goalie (in an era where goalies are increasingly commoditized) and a stay-at home defenseman (in an era where teams are desperate for PMDs to help create offense). I was 100% convinced this was a middling team, and even after the hot start, I brought up evidence for this being the Habs modus operandi (for a number of reasons I won't delve into here).

Moreover cap allocation is abysmal: Habs are spending 21% of their cap space on goaltending, when the average is 9.5% and it's clear from the data that the gap in performance between the median goalie and the top goalies is 1) increasingly marginal / decreasing every year because goalie technique has been improving by leaps and bounds over the past decade and 2) variable by year (i.e. it is almost impossible to guarantee having a goalie that is consistently outperforming the average). In other words, it makes no sense to spend so much on goaltending because it doesn't guarantee a significant margin of outperformance. Goaltending is not a scarce asset anymore. Stay-at-home defensemen are another abundant asset class, and again it's an area where Bergevin overinvests, with 17M of cap space allocated to it. He systematically overpays for abundant asset class types because he has a fundamental lack of understanding of 1) how the game has evolved (as evidenced by signing Edmundson instead of a PMD) and 2) the importance of using cap dollars on the asset classes of highest scarcity in a salary cap environment.

Long story short, Bergevin has handcuffed the next GM by having stayed for far too long and been allowed to make moves to save himself to the detriment of the team's ability to build a proper contender. It's salvageable, but it would have made so much more sense to dump him back in 2018, and let a new GM do a proper rebuild to have a contention window starting in 2023 centered around guys like Kotkaniemi and Suzuki. That missed opportunity is on Geoff.

 

[badi]

9 years and counting
Guess its time for Geoff to extend him till 2035

 

[Tighthead]

Hire a French speaking President of HO to do most of the media appearances.

Hire the best available GM regardless of language.

 

[Doc McKenna]

They shoulda deleted the user too. One stone two blah blah blah

Edit.. who has all but disappeared when the maestros music sounds like the music in eric the viking while on high brazil.