New GM Discussion Thread

[Whitesnake]

Win now mode LOL! Dan Robertson is hilarious, guy is paid to toot the Habs horn tbf. Also, people saying that we wouldn't put up with a rebuild is such crap. We have watched this crap mediocrity for 2 decades, at least with a rebuild there would be a future. Also, how excited were we when we had 3rd overall and drafted Galchenyuk?

So dumb.

This whole not rebuild is crap and every sane person knows that. Are we rebuilding now? Strange....aren't there more seats that are unoccupied? Are people not booing the team and laughing at their best player? Are those signs that people are having fun and are NOT putting up with what we're seeing? What does NOT putting up with rebuild mean? People will stop going totally? There will be 20000 empty seats? People will stop watching? Okay..so what..if that lasts 2 years...the day that this team becomes relevant really in 3 years...they will NOT come back ever? For real? In a city when the only sport we have and like is hockey? In a world where we suck at football, suck at soccer and don't have baseball? Just more excuses to only say "I, AS AN OWNER, don't want to put up with the possibility that I'll be losing money".

 

[Tyson]

Molson is afraid of admitting how he was stupid giving a 5-year extension to a guy like that. And people Wonder why we don't have confidence in the owner too.....5 years to Bergevin, agreed to 5 years of Julien...insane management.

Irresponsible on so many levels.

 

[Whitesnake]

Even if Bergevin gets fired (and he deserves that result, no question), I'm still rather anxious to hear what Geoff Molson would want out of his replacement. There's only so much ineptitude a Therrien or a Bergevin can display before the blame trickles upward, and I wonder if the very top will remain the true barrier to actual contention.

Also true. Molson choosing a replacement is NOT a good sign. The first step would be for him to choose a Hockey Prez. Again though...he'll be the one choosing so that's not reassuring...but maybe he could make a mistake and choose the right one? I have no confidence with Molson. At all.

 

[Habsawce]

This whole not rebuild is crap and every sane person knows that. Are we rebuilding now? Strange....aren't there more seats that are unoccupied? Are people not booing the team and laughing at their best player? Are those signs that people are having fun and are NOT putting up with what we're seeing? What does NOT putting up with rebuild mean? People will stop going totally? There will be 20000 empty seats? People will stop watching? Okay..so what..if that lasts 2 years...the day that this team becomes relevant really in 3 years...they will NOT come back ever? For real? In a city when the only sport we have and like is hockey? In a world where we suck at football, suck at soccer and don't have baseball? Just more excuses to only say "I, AS AN OWNER, don't want to put up with the possibility that I'll be losing money".

People still went in Toronto, after they put up with mediocrity for a very long time. The only difference here is that the team has been successful in the regular season which has given a lot of people this notion that this can actually compete. This is false, they did well in the regular season due to a defensive system with an all world goalie. When the intensity gets raised they could not keep up. So be it, the wrong pieces are in place.

Also, the thing I liked about what Toronto did was be transparent. They stood up there and said, we're going to suck real bad, but there's light at the end of tunnel so just stick by us. If Molson dumped Bergevin and told the public we need to start again, everyone would be all-in. I just can't see it happening since Molson is just as stuck in the notion that these talking heads on TV are feeding us about not being able to rebuild.

Zzzzzz. At the end of the day brother, all we can hope for is to be surprised. I'm not holding my breath but here's to hoping.

 

[Habsawce]

I'm going to the game on the 7th vs. Vegas and currently own a Komisarek jersey. Should I toss it?

 

[Puck Luck Run Amok]

I'm going to the game on the 7th vs. Vegas and currently own a Komisarek jersey. Should I toss it?

Yes. Please dear God yes. Either that or carry a sign saying "We Want a Rebuild" or "Sell the team Geoff" and I will love you forever. My girlfriend doesn't have to know

 

[Habs Icing]

It has obviously NOTHING TO DO with the overall population. The day, as an organization that you are STATING that the GM's and the head coaches HAVE to speak french, is the day when you have to groom as many as you can so that when comes the time to replace the ones in place, you have plenty of choices to go with. As simple as that. And note that I also said GOOD ones. Which is what Lefebvre isn't. What Daigneault isn't. What Lacroix isn't. Where are the career coaches in our organizatoni? How come we lost Benoit Groulx? How come we don't hire Ducharme. Not a fan...but how come Vincent isn't here? Do we really know for sure if Joel Bouchard wouldn't be interested in any type of position in our organization? Where is Gilles Bouchard? How about Philippe Boucher? Serge Beausoleil? André Tourigny? Éric Veilleux? You know, REAL carreer coaches? And Bouchard, you could even thinki of him as a great assistant GM....for now.

Just ask yourself that question.....our NHL head coach is fired and you have Sylvain Lefebvre in the minors....do you see him taking charge of the Habs? Do you see Dan Lacroix and JJ Daigneault taking the head coach job even by interim? And since the answer is no....you'll REALLY understand my point of MORE OF THEM BUT THE BEST OF THEM....That comes together.

Maybe it's because you're a Francophone and the English meaning of your sentence is not what you meant but the way you wrote your sentence it says 1) the Habs need to hire more Francos and 2) they have to hire better ones. The second part yes of course you always have to look for better talent but the first statement is just ridiculous and bordering on bigotry. When all your NHL and AHL coaches are Francos or locals except for one, that first part of your statement leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

 

[Habsawce]

Yes. Please dear God yes. Either that or carry a sign saying "We Want a Rebuild" or "Sell the team Geoff" and I will love you forever. My girlfriend doesn't have to know

What do you recon the punishment for that is? Just tossed from the game or more cause I have a job where I can't get a charge or fine lol.

 

[groovejuice]

Also true. Molson choosing a replacement is NOT a good sign. The first step would be for him to choose a Hockey Prez. Again though...he'll be the one choosing so that's not reassuring...but maybe he could make a mistake and choose the right one? I have no confidence with Molson. At all.

It's my opinion that Molson discusses the team with people outside the the group that he hired to run the team. It might be someone like Savard, for example. This is my only hope that change to management will come sooner than later.

Molson clearly isn't a hockey man, but he's a good businessman. I'm quite certain he's not blind to the degradation of his team. There's plenty of evidence that Bergevin's machinations are mostly failing, and no one can ignore the facts that so many players he jettisoned are playing well with their new teams. The Habs are also experiencing their third awful slump in as many years and if this isn't the equivalent of red lights flashing and sirens roaring, I don't know what is.

My hope is that those who have his ear will advocate for a PHO as a buffer between ownership and the GM. The league is trending towards new types of hierarchies and these templates have been successful for several teams.

It's true that the attendance might wane for a while, but if the team acquires some youthful, exciting players, and a management that acts competently and creatively, those seats won't stay empty for too long if there are clear signs of growth and a brand of exciting hockey returns.

The current situation is intolerable and sacrifices must be made in the short term to steer the team in the direction of success.

 

[waffledave]

French media has turned on Bergevin. He already has one foot in the grave.

If he hadn't have let Markov and Radulov walk, and did not have 9m in cap space right now, I could see Molson trying to justify bringing him back after missing the playoffs this season. But after such a horrible summer, basically dismantling the team like that and brining in nothing to help... yeah, there is no justifying keeping Bergevin.

It's not a question of if he gets fired, it is now when will he be fired. Personally, I don't see it until the end of the season, but it should come a lot sooner if it were up to me. The last thing I want is MB making any more trades.

Didn't you hear? The new narrative is that he gut the team on purpose in order to get a great draft pick. He is a secret genius. He should be praised for his amazing ideas!

 

[waffledave]

It's in the Montreal Gazette "what the puck"

Wow absolutely destroyed him.

Why do the players lack confidence? Max Pacioretty, Carey Price and Shea Weber lack confidence because they don’t believe they have a team that can compete for the Cup.

Ohh...

Even Bergevin believes that. He admitted he doesn’t think the Canadiens are an elite team.
“There’s elite teams in the league and there’s teams that are all fighting,” said Bergevin. “That cluster of teams, they’re all good teams…and I believe we’re in that cluster of teams. We’re in a cluster of good teams that wants to get in, wants to make the playoffs and (do) damage.”

Get this f***ing loser out of here...

 

[Habsawce]

I'd fire Bergevin and Dudley and promote Timmins to GM until the season is over. Then I'd go after Brisebois in Tampa.

 

[Uncle Gary]

I'd fire Bergevin and Dudley and promote Timmins to GM until the season is over. Then I'd go after Brisebois in Tampa.

I think this is what will likely happen if things continue the way they are.

 

[Habsawce]

I think this is what will likely happen if things continue the way they are.

Forgot to put that I'd go after an actual President to run hockey operations.

 

[dinodebino]

Stéphane Laporte has a piece also in La Presse +. It's not about hockey, but more about the negative buzz surrounding the team in the city.

Everything that helps fire this poor managerial team is good, even from Laporte.

 

[LaP]

I have nightmares of management trading futures for temporary fixes. The idea of this team being in win-now mode makes me shudder.

Houle would have done it. I think this year will be a good test to see if MB is better than Houle. Last collapse Price was hurt there's not much MB could do about it so he did nothing. This year though he might be tempted. If he trades good assets for a temporary fix letting us finish 5 positions away from a playoffs spot then his legacy will be the same as Houle.

 

[ChikN]

What do you guys think of Kekalainen in Colombus? Do you think the market would accept a euro more than a unilingual anglo?

 

[Rapala]

It's in the Montreal Gazette "what the puck"

Man what would Red make of this shit...

 

[Rapala]

Molson is afraid of admitting how he was stupid giving a 5-year extension to a guy like that. And people Wonder why we don't have confidence in the owner too.....5 years to Bergevin, agreed to 5 years of Julien...insane management.

Thinking about how we handled Plek we definitely aren't the "Show Me" state. The irony being the ones who did "Show me"
Were shown the door.

 

[Runner77]

I'm going to the game on the 7th vs. Vegas and currently own a Komisarek jersey. Should I toss it?

Does a Komisarek jersey qualify as a symbol of disdain when tossed or is it the fact that someone actually paid for one and still owns it, that is more telling?

 

[WeThreeKings]

As much as I want to see jerseys on the ice. I'm sure you would get thrown out and banned. So maybe I would suggest taping something to the back like "Fire Bergevin" or "Forget the past join the future" and hanging it over the glass during warm ups or a commercial break

 

[habs73]

Didn't you hear? The new narrative is that he gut the team on purpose in order to get a great draft pick. He is a secret genius. He should be praised for his amazing ideas!

I was wondering when this narrative was going to start. Their are no lengths that this management group won't stoop too it seems to justify the decisions they have made. So pathetic!

 

[Roadhouse]

"PK for Weber"
"5x4.6 for Alzner"

"No Present,
[frowning face]
No Future"

and

"It's all on
[frowning face]
Bergevin"

...is what we're going with as it turns out, in Habs jerseys of course. There's only so much space to write on when you use grocery type paper bags and it can't all be up high unless you write it small. Too bad the cameras don't look our way the majority of the time, but hey one of those bored camera guys might find us a few rows up from the penalty box.

 

[Whitesnake]

Maybe it's because you're a Francophone and the English meaning of your sentence is not what you meant but the way you wrote your sentence it says 1) the Habs need to hire more Francos and 2) they have to hire better ones. The second part yes of course you always have to look for better talent but the first statement is just ridiculous and bordering on bigotry. When all your NHL and AHL coaches are Francos or locals except for one, that first part of your statement leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

OK let me try again. What is THE REALITY of this market right now? Hiring french coaches and GM's. My reality? Well I do love my locals...but bring me Mike Babcok and I'd take him. Bring me Gallant and I'd take him. Bring me Yzerman and I'd take him etc. So since I'M not Molson...and based also on the Cunneyworth debacle, this REALITY is not going to change anytime soon. So, as an organization that decides to go with that, you need to make sure that you'd have everybody you need to build a strong contingent of francos that could take charge of any NHL jobs you can 'cause that is ultimately your goal. And that you also have somebody strong in the AHL so that kids continue their progression. But you also have to go with a guy or guys that if needed could come in and help in the NHL. Now I named A LOT OF NAMES out there that are career head coaches that wouldn't do a worst job than Lefebvre. And also guys like that that wouldn't mind being assistant coaches instead of losers like Carrière. And would have been able to do a better job than Daigneault and Lacroix combined. That was ALWAYS MY TAKE on the subject. Yes, I love my Q, I think it's an underrated league and think that there are a lot of people out there that are as talented as anglophones and that the only reason they don't have a job is because they don't know the right people. Yes, I believe that. For sure, there was some improvement as we saw some people with no ties to the Habs getting jobs. Vincent did. Groulx did. Though guess who made sure he'd come in the TBay organization, yes, another franco in Brisebois.

So based on all this reality, we DO need to bring more francos in higher positions but not any francos....the BETTER ones. Incredible that one day we might lose Joel Bouchard to the freakin Québec Nordiques. And I assure you that we will lose most of the other names i mentioned in there while we will probalby still be stucked with an old guard. And then maybe we will wake up and see that there is real talent in there and that what's more important is what they know instead of who they know. I remember how Dallas Eakins was suppose to be the next Scotty Bowman....There was such a big vibe around this guy. He was just incredible and teams would be Lucky to have him and yet....there are just no words out there for Benoit Groulx....Dominic Ducharme....and so on. And I'm bordering on bigotry?

Anyway, you want to deal with hiring francos at the highest jobs. Be sure you have people that could do the job. 'Cause when you don't...do you know what it does? It makes you give 5 year contract to a rookie GM and 5 year contract to an old guard coach. THAT is what happens when you don't have a lot of candidates around.....

 

[Andrei79]

I have 0 pity for Molson.

As an owner, you have to know your fanbase.

Did he really think Habs fans would get behind a team that traded ALL of it's fan favorites ? Almost all of its skill ? That, on top of having no entertaimnent value we'd, at best, compete for the playoffs with nothing coming up on the farm.

He'd save 10M$ not paying for MB,MT and CJ (granted these dorks ever find employment). He'd save more on the cap from not overpaying for aging stars. He'd make everything back in a few years when the team has its own
Matthews/Nylander/Marner.

So yes, do get a new GM, do blow it up. Habs fans are ready for it. I'd spend MORE on the team if I knew they were doing everything they can to ice a competitive team long term.