Marc Bergevin Press Conference 1 PM

[Miller Time]

Do you think Bergy deserves some accountability for a cup finals? Or is it only allowed to acknowledge the negatives?

We're you not around in June & July?

Credit was given in spades... GM job is to build a winner, and the offseason is one of the most important times of the year.

Are you happy with the work he's done?

Defense worse.
C group at best the same, likely worse unless Suzuki makes yet another big jump.
Still a cap spending team without 1 elite skater.
Likely even further from a playoff spot than at start of last season.

I'd say that with an offseason like that, if anything, he's getting a far bigger pass than 1 good playoff run in 6 years would warrant in any market, let alone a jockey obsessed one like montreal

 

[Mark9988]

What's funny about the Kotkaniemi situation, is that he was drafted at a time where everyone agreed we needed to break the bad spell of missing a #1 center. Kotkaniemi failed to become that in due time

KK should have never been expected to be a #1C, that's not on him, that's on the people who expected him to be more than what he really is

 

[Tyson]

Already did after MB. Usual stuff you would expect a new player to say when being traded. Likes our group of wingers, plays both ways, likes to play bumper or near the net on the PP where he scores his goals. Seemed a bit upset that he bought a house two days ago, which is understandable.

As far has him buying a house all the while hearing trade rumors and seeing his team being gutted in real time, perhaps he should have waited a bit on buying a house at this particular time. Just a thought

 

[BLONG7]

Do you think Bergy deserves some accountability for a cup finals? Or is it only allowed to acknowledge the negatives?

Would he had been accountable if the leafs eliminated us in the first round?
We will never know, so...............
Price is over in the corner, smiling...

 

[Theodore450]

Bear and DeAngelo in.....Hamilton out......a horrible trade off.

The KK money would've easily covered Hamilton's demands, and they sure as hell don't need more centers

would you rather have Hamilton, Bear, a 1st round pick and a 3rd round pick in a super draft or....

Kotkaniemi and his 5 goals and 6.1m$ cap hit, DeAngelo, Bear and no 1st and 3rd round pick?

Carolina was so gung ho to get back at Montreal that they hurt themselves big time.....I hope they fall on their faces this year

Now they have to double down and hope he takes Staal spot in 2 years, I agree it’s a massive risk for small upside

 

[Apoplectic Habs Fan]

All along? Ya, no not really, as a soft perimeter player in JD preps for his 5th season with the habs.....this is without a doubt the biggest blunder, and still is.......

Remember Tinordi "i want 2 second rounders" then traded for John "all star" Scott

Or untouchable Mete lol

 

[BLONG7]

Remember Tinordi "i want 2 second rounders" then traded for John "all star" Scott

Ah yes..........and here we all thought he won all his trades....

 

[Essenege]

We're you not around in June & July?

Credit was given in spades... GM job is to build a winner, and the offseason is one of the most important times of the year.

Are you happy with the work he's done?

Defense worse.
C group at best the same, likely worse unless Suzuki makes yet another big jump.
Still a cap spending team without 1 elite skater.
Likely even further from a playoff spot than at start of last season.

I'd say that with an offseason like that, if anything, he's getting a far bigger pass than 1 good playoff run in 6 years would warrant in any market, let alone a jockey obsessed one like montreal

I don’t think it was a good offseason, but we got to acknowledge he was dealt a tough hand (Danault refusing a good offer, the KK offer sheet, Weber out with injuries)

What I’m most worried about is the lost 5v5 positive contribution from Danault line. Can whoever plays with Gally dominate possession and even scoring against opposing top lines?

Weber was not very good during the regular season so I think Savard isn’t a huge downgrade.

There is some improvements from last year though.

The power play and winger depth is better then last year. We actually have a more dangerous offense overall.

We’ll see how it plays out. I think this is still a playoff team if Price have an OK season by his standards.

 

[HostileCapSpace]

As far has him buying a house all the while hearing trade rumors and seeing his team being gutted in real time, perhaps he should have waited a bit on buying a house at this particular time. Just a thought

I think he said the house was commissioned, so being built for a while. He just took possession a few days ago. Plans were probably underway for quite a while. He was indeed aware of the rumours this summer and really did seem like he paid attention the cup run, which is nice. Some players completely tune out in the summer.

 

[CHfan1]

If Bergevin and Ducharme mess up on our current prospect pool, I will join you. However, I feel it's deep and we don't have to rush guys. A guy like Norlinder coming into camp is a good test. Habs should be looking at his maturity, neutralization ability, and ability to handle less time and space. Look at points in preseason games should not be the focus.

I'm a big fan of Norlinder's offensive ability but the focus should be how he handles the physical parts and puck management parts in our own end. If he makes our roster, it should be all about how reliable he is, not about his offensive potential.

Is it really that deep? From the prospects not on the Habs roster last season how many will actually make an impact? How many will be a top 6 forward or top 4 defenceman?

Guhle, maybe Norlinder. Who else?

I see the current roster as mediocre (9-12 range in the Eastern Conference) and I’m not that thrilled about the future as well.

 

[Redux91]

Basically Jake Evans is a lock for 3C , good for you kid

 

[Essenege]

Would he had been accountable if the leafs eliminated us in the first round?
We will never know, so...............
Price is over in the corner, smiling...

If, if, if….we also played better then Philly last year and lost. It goes both way.

 

[ole ole]

Well, Canes pretty much are, don't you think?

Too bad for the Canes. That's their own fault.

 

[JianYang]

Arpon asked MB if having KK in the NHL at 18 could serve as a lesson for future prospects, bringing up examples of Suzuki going back to Junior for a year and Caufield who went back to college. MB said yes, it is something they can learn moving forward. He said he's not perfect and they may not always make the right decision, but that they always do it with the best intentions.

MB has said in the past the players will make the decision for them abiut whether they make the team out of camp.

KK was a benefactor of weak center depth and a pretty good training camp in order to make it as an 18 year old.

The takeaway then is that maybe this policy should have some exceptions, as it ultimately has not helped KK to date, and I think it probably hurt Mete as well who came on the scene in similar circumstances.

But I'm also assuming that whatever is said in PC's actually should be taken at face value, which is probably a stretch on my part as well.

 

[LaP]

As far has him buying a house all the while hearing trade rumors and seeing his team being gutted in real time, perhaps he should have waited a bit on buying a house at this particular time. Just a thought

Someone making 4 millions a year doesn't care. He surely pays someone to handle this kind of things for him. Someone will sell the house for him and he wont lose significant money on it and someone will buy a new one for him in Montreal he'll just have to visit it and say yes. It's not an inconvenience at all.

 

[HostileCapSpace]

Someone making 4 millions a year doesn't care. He surely pays someone to handle this kind of things for him. Someone will sell the house for him and he wont lose significant money on it and someone will buy a new one for him in Montreal he'll just have to visit it and say yes. It's not an inconvenience at all.

For sure but it still sucks. He had the house custom built and a couple of days after taking possession he gets traded. Has to sting a little. Even worse if he has a wife or girlfriend he lives with. Probably all they talked about the last few months.

 

[Miller Time]

I don’t think it was a good offseason, but we got to acknowledge he was dealt a tough hand (Danault refusing a good offer, the KK offer sheet, Weber out with injuries)

What I’m most worried about is the lost 5v5 positive contribution from Danault line. Can whoever plays with Gally dominate possession and even scoring against opposing top lines?

Weber was not very good during the regular season so I think Savard isn’t a huge downgrade.

There is some improvements from last year though.

The power play and winger depth is better then last year. We actually have a more dangerous offense overall.

We’ll see how it plays out. I think this is still a playoff team if Price have an OK season by his standards.

I don't buy the "dealt a bad hand" part... he created a mess by mishandling a few key aspects of his role as GM.

The PP should be a bit better, but having only Petrt as a dman that can actually contribute to the PP is an issue...

Certainly, if Price has a vezina caliber season & stays healthy, playoffs are a lot more likely. If he misses significant time to injury or is average? No chance.

Ditto if Petey goes down for significant time.

Ditto if Suzuki falters or misses time.

We're again a cap spent team that is heavily reliant on a lot of things going very well to be in the hunt for a playoff spot, and even then, with the division & conference strength, we're still going to be iffy.

 

[BLONG7]

Someone making 4 millions a year doesn't care. He surely pays someone to handle this kind of things for him. Someone will sell the house for him and he wont lose significant money on it and someone will buy a new one for him in Montreal he'll just have to visit it and say yes. It's not an inconvenience at all.

The guy probably has a wife chirping in his ear though.....more than likely this is where those thoughts come from....nothing to do with money at all.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Funny... we're you not among the posters saying the same "if he messes up this lottery pick, I'll get off the MB fan bus" a few years ago???

Maybe not? But certainly the "ok, THIS TIME if he makes the same mistakes..." narratives have been around for the past 4-5 years.

Maybe better to just drop that and go with "no matter what he does, I'll support him because I'm happier when I look for the positives and would rather not consider anything else"?

I don't recall saying that in specific (if he messes up this lottery pick) but I do recall saying if he messes up other things I will move off the MB fan bus. I think you might be reaching on this. And for the record, I really speak to things I agree with and things I don't as time moves along. Are you blind when I have been saying for years that I did not like one bit that we rushed him at age 18? I appears you cherry pick only other things taken out of context and ignore the things I criticize him with? So things I criticize him with, you move along and say nothing but things I support him with, you focus on? Come on man, give me a break here on that.

I'm not 100% convinced you comprehend my stance well but you may not be the only one left from past post wars about Bergevin. You seem to want the one side of the fence vs the other and nobody is allowed in the middle. I may have been on one side but that was many years ago now. For a while now, I've been on the fence or trying to be as neutral as possible. Where you might get confused is where I fight stupid exaggeration in attempts to prove weak points. Like some thinking he wants out cause he said "I have one year left and I will honor it". Sorry, but I don't comprehend that the same as others.

One other thing... I'm personally not happy with Bergevin letting Danault walk over $0.5M and signing Savard and Hoffman. There are other things I am not quite content on what he has done bud but I don't hate the guy either. Understand?

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

We're you not around in June & July?

Credit was given in spades... GM job is to build a winner, and the offseason is one of the most important times of the year.

Are you happy with the work he's done?

Defense worse.
C group at best the same, likely worse unless Suzuki makes yet another big jump.
Still a cap spending team without 1 elite skater.
Likely even further from a playoff spot than at start of last season.

I'd say that with an offseason like that, if anything, he's getting a far bigger pass than 1 good playoff run in 6 years would warrant in any market, let alone a jockey obsessed one like montreal

C group can be better. Dvorak brings more offense than Danault while having almost the same defensive results. JK is not replaced but he wasn't a valuable center anyway. 62 pts in 171 games, he is easy to replace, Evans, Paquette, Perreault or Poehling can't do worse. Habs have now two strong lines and that's what matters. And Suzuki will improve.

 

[ole ole]

No, Aho offer sheet was "just hostile"... no chance of working, just an attempt at leveraging a mistaken "edge".

JKO offer sheet was effective. Canes got an asset they coveted.

Time will tell if their assessment of the player was better than ours.

But the Canes had to overpay double contract wise for that player.

 

[LaP]

If Bergevin and Ducharme mess up on our current prospect pool, I will join you. However, I feel it's deep and we don't have to rush guys. A guy like Norlinder coming into camp is a good test. Habs should be looking at his maturity, neutralization ability, and ability to handle less time and space. Look at points in preseason games should not be the focus.

I'm a big fan of Norlinder's offensive ability but the focus should be how he handles the physical parts and puck management parts in our own end. If he makes our roster, it should be all about how reliable he is, not about his offensive potential.

And what constitute messing up? How do you define it? How do you quantify it? If we miss the playoffs the next two seasons will he have messed up or he will have built a great prospect pool (the argument being made the last time we missed the playoffs).

 

[le_sean]

I don’t think it was a good offseason, but we got to acknowledge he was dealt a tough hand (Danault refusing a good offer, the KK offer sheet, Weber out with injuries)

What I’m most worried about is the lost 5v5 positive contribution from Danault line. Can whoever plays with Gally dominate possession and even scoring against opposing top lines?

Weber was not very good during the regular season so I think Savard isn’t a huge downgrade.

There is some improvements from last year though.

The power play and winger depth is better then last year. We actually have a more dangerous offense overall.

We’ll see how it plays out. I think this is still a playoff team if Price have an OK season by his standards.

Team couldn’t score after the first 8 games and the PP was an absolute joke that took away momentum. So they brought in players that can score goals and help the PP.

Danault and Tatar with their 15 total goals become Dvorak and Hoffman with 34 total goals. Caufield can easily score 20-25 goals as a rookie, he replaces Perry with his 9 goals. Evans scored 3 as a rookie playing less than 12 mins a game (47 total games). Pretty sure he can manage the 5 we got from KK if given them same role and linemates.

It’s not the perfect offseason, I won’t ever argue that. But this doom and gloom of pretending we are a lottery team all of a sudden is a bit much.

 

[BLONG7]

I don’t think it was a good offseason, but we got to acknowledge he was dealt a tough hand (Danault refusing a good offer, the KK offer sheet, Weber out with injuries)

What I’m most worried about is the lost 5v5 positive contribution from Danault line. Can whoever plays with Gally dominate possession and even scoring against opposing top lines?

Weber was not very good during the regular season so I think Savard isn’t a huge downgrade.

There is some improvements from last year though.

The power play and winger depth is better then last year. We actually have a more dangerous offense overall.

We’ll see how it plays out. I think this is still a playoff team if Price have an OK season by his standards.

Dealt a tough hand? The hand he dealt to himself......guy is in year 10 as a GM, and still has training wheels on when it suits his narrative...tough hand....

 

[ole ole]

Our management asked Mete to be more physical, maybe the problem is not how the players view themselves, but the way the management view them...

Well of course he did since Mete was playing D while being the softest player on the team. Where's Mete now? And still soft as shit.