Marc Bergevin Press Conference 1 PM

[tazsub3]

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.

he would not have said that 4 years ago. why i say he changed

 

[Habs Halifax]

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

Not when you consider offer sheet. $6.1M was just hostile. Canes fans like Necas more and I doubt they pay him $6.1M next year. Canes appear to value him and we will see how he does on wing next year. Probably improves his stats but doubt he improves his complete game.

 

[Habs Halifax]

he would not have said that 4 years ago. why i say he changed

Agreed. He's been on rough road and I feel he has learned from his experiences. He's not the only GM in the NHL who has learned on the job but in Montreal, it's exposed more.

 

[llamateizer]

What surprised me is that they "regret" promoting KK to the NHL at 18 years old.
It's on the lessons learned by Bergevin.

It's almost sure that Bergevin is extended when he answered the question on whether there is any update on his last year contract.
He said something like there is nothing changed for now.

Something will be announced in the next week or so on the Mailloux's redemption plan. He will stay with his OHL team, but will not participate to the games.

The way Bergevin is talking about KK makes you think that they really did not value him highly and pretty much were giving up on him.

At 6.1m.

KK is a very good player. But not 6.1M at 21 years. He is going to get paid 200k less than MacKinnon...

 

[Doc5]

Honestly, that was a good presser by MB. Loved his sly smile when he said there’s nothing new to report with regards to his extension. I don’t mind extending him as long as he fires the development and scouting people working for him.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Interesting that he also alluded to other problems with KK that they noticed over the last few years and that going back to Finland for an extra year would probably not have changed much

Yeah, don't want to speculate but I'm not sure what he meant by saying "he seen some things". I don't think he is entirely wrong on where KK lands depends on what age he starts but it's a risky road to take IMO. Bergevin did admit to that part so I like hearing that.

What did he see that made him believe it would not have mattered? No idea and I realize he can't say it

 

[Miller Time]

FWIW - Same # as TBay, more than Pit etc since 2012

How many cups have Pitt & TB won since 2012?

It's this kind of lack of context & nuance that makes the arguments in favor of MBs tenure so flawed.

How many picks a team keeps on their roster is less important than how they leverage their assets to build a contender.

 

[Miller Time]

Not when you consider offer sheet. $6.1M was just hostile. Canes fans like Necas more and I doubt they pay him $6.1M next year. Canes appear to value him and we will see how he does on wing next year. Probably improves his stats but doubt he improves his complete game.

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.

 

[Archijerej]

When he talked about his centre line he mentionned Suzuki, Dvorak, Evans, Paquette and made sure to mention Poelhing who he says really improved. Never mentioned Drouin.

It's curious he didn't mention Perreault as an option down the middle.

I have no idea how they intend to utilise Hoffman with this center group. Nor Drouin for that matter.

 

[Miller Time]

The moves and strategy we had last year and results does not show mediocrity so you are reaching on that. I'm assuming you support letting Danault go? I think the mediocrity narrative is getting weak in recent years.

Just admit it... you don't like the guy and don't care about what we do until he is gone. I can respect that more than reaching on things

We had a losing record last year... we lost more games than we won.

You're right, that's worse than mediocre.

I admit, I don't like the team being mediocre year over year.

As for the "guy"? I actually appreciate his personality... seems like he'd be a great guy to party with. Just miscast in the role he holds, which is more the owners fault than his own.

 

[CristianoRonaldo]

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...

 

[Miller Time]

Agreed. He's been on rough road and I feel he has learned from his experiences. He's not the only GM in the NHL who has learned on the job but in Montreal, it's exposed more.

Anywhere it would be "exposed" after 10 years on the job...

 

[HostileCapSpace]

It's curious he didn't mention Perreault as an option down the middle.

I have no idea how they intend to utilise Hoffman with this center group. Nor Drouin for that matter.

Probably see Perreault as a back-up centre in case of injuries. I think he played wing more last few seasons.

 

[Miller Time]

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...

This. 100x

 

[Habs Halifax]

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.

Canes are taking more risks than the Habs IMO on KK and an unprotected 1st even if they are considered a playoff team. It was easier for them to take that risk cause they have more expiring contracts after next year than we do. I honestly don't think they do this offer sheet if we didn't offer sheet Aho. Am I worried that KK will become a regret like Sergachev? It's possible but Sergachev can skate and stand on his feet. I value KK but will he become a complete 2C? I have my doubts. And I'm personally not the type to look at points only (Danault for example).

Will KK get stronger? Yes. Will KK improve? Yes. Where will he top out at? There is no hockey expert that can predict that accurately! Nobody has an crystal ball that predicts the future.

 

[Archijerej]

Which is also what we saw (& he surely felt, making signing the offer sheet a no-brainer) in their handling of him, so no surprise their.

And us not matching a no-brainer as well if I may add.

 

[26Mats]

Probably see Perreault as a back-up centre in case of injuries. I think he played wing more last few seasons.

I've heard Perrault also said he prefers wing, whereas Paquette prefers center.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Anywhere it would be "exposed" after 10 years on the job...

I'll tell you this... If he rushes another guy to the NHL at age 18 where they did not dominate a development league yet, I will be all over him on that! It's stupid and I give him credit for admitting to it to some degree.

Development road can be different but Bergevin is not wrong about that being more on the player than the organization. Being obsessed with getting better is how players develop. The teams responsibility is to facilitate the tools for them to be able to do it. If we didn't rush him, I believe we would have a better idea on who he is at 21 year vs rushing him. But at the end of the day, KK will be who he is at 23/24 no matter the development road IMO. Don't know if I explained that right

 

[26Mats]

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.

... and the risk of their own pick...

I'm really rooting for their pick to end up top 10, maybe in vain. But I'm rooting

 

[teamfirst]

Anywhere it would be "exposed" after 10 years on the job...

Naa, not in Nashville

 

[jaffy27]

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...

More physical as in battling for pucks and asserting himself, not lining up guys crossing the blue line a la Emelin

 

[Adam Michaels]

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...

I don't think they were asking him to be more physical, like to lay hits in and that type of game. They were asking him to work more on his defensive game. And it had more to do with him being easier to go up against, like in the corner during puck battles.

 

[Miller Time]

Canes are taking more risks than the Habs IMO on KK and an unprotected 1st even if they are considered a playoff team. It was easier for them to take that risk cause they have more expiring contracts after next year than we do.

I honestly don't think they do this offer sheet if we didn't offer sheet Aho. Am I worried that KK will become a regret like Sergachev? It's possible but Sergachev can skate and stand on his feet.

Will KK get stronger? Yes. Will KK improve? Yes. Where will he top out at? There is no hockey expert that can predict that accurately! Nobody has an crystal ball that predicts the future.

Agree on the OS... but that's well known part of business. Relationships matter, and if you play with fire you better damn well make sure you've got your house protected.

I have no issue with a GM using offer sheets, but to do so then leave yourself so exposed is either stupid or intentional (frankly, I would bet it's the latter in this case... MB clearly didn't believe in the player & wouldn't surprise me if he was hoping for an offer sheet to materialize to buffer his own ego at explaining the draft/development failure of another top 3 pick).

JKO was one of our best players in the transition game... yes, he struggles with balance in contact, but that's more a strength and style of play issue than a skating one... this narrative is way overblown.

MB has a pretty piss poor track record in assessing young players... it's always a speculative process, but some teams/gms are far better at it. That's an area where he is far worse than mediocre, he's near the bottom of the pile in that regard... which is highly problematic for a guy who came in preaching "build via he draft" lol

 

[jaffy27]

I don't think they were asking him to be more physical, like to lay hits in and that type of game. They were asking him to work more on his defensive game. And it had more to do with him being easier to go up against, like in the corner during puck battles.

pretty much exactly what I said

 

[Theodore450]

MB also said the return of the OS is better than what Carolina was offering in a trade scenario. I don't know if it's true, but Friedman did say that the return in a trade was somewhat similar to what they got as a compensation.

We now get an unprotected 1st from them so I’m sure that ends up being more valuable. I’m not sold on Carolina and I’m actually a fan of the Anderson move. I think deangelo and bear are gonna be a mess there.