I give Nill credit for building the front end, as I give Bergevin credit for finishing the build on our back end. But being seduced by forwards and totally dismissing dmen is simply not how the game works. Teams get nowhere without a solid defence. Tampa didn't get to the SCF simply by scoring a ton of goals, they got through tight series thanks to an awesome defense led by Hedman. And they lost to a team with weaker offence and stronger defense. LA and Boston were built from the defence out, especially Boston. Without their D none of these teams come close to their Cups. Look back at Detroit and New Jersey. It's a strong defensive system, supplemented by decent offense.
Why not dismiss the goalie as well? After, he's only there to counter goals, just like the defence.
Yes, Nill is 'working on the D'. And Bergevin is 'working on the O'. It isn't easy fixing either end, but we'll see which approach has worked out better in 10 months.
Bergy had Subban, Markov, Beaulieu, Tinordi, Emelin, Gorges... Bergie brought in Petry. Great.
Again, the cupboard was fully stocked for Bergy. He gets too much credit for doing the minimum and too much credit for not being a complete mess. Is this what things have come to?
Anyways, He brought in Petry (who I hope will live up to his contract) and bought out a few underprefroming players and shored up the 4th line. The degree of difficulty on that is a 0.
Bergie is working on the O and whiffing. HIs lack of execution is pathetic. He has whiffed on Briere and PAP. What has he done to the D exactly? He inherited PK, Emelin, Markov, Beaulieu, Tinordi, Gorges. It's not easy to fix this D? And IMO it never needed fixing. Just tweaking. And that's what he did with Petry. 4 summers of work. Not to mention the myriad of middling DMen he has brought during his tenure. Bouillion had no business playing in the league. Douglas Murray? WTF? Look at how much money is tied up in the D? Again, this is not something I'd sing Bergie's praises for.
For me, Bergie gets way to much praise for what he's done. And people are looking at the record which is completely fine. But when you analyze the entire body of work, I have no idea why he has as much support as he does yet Nill gets destroyed.
Nill did something that Bergie said was impossible to do. He did it twice. Meanwhile Bergie's hoping and praying his unproven prospects step up. Talk about lazy.
Bringing up Boston, LA, Detroit is kind of ridiculous as those teams were built. Bergie's Habs team's core is the same exact as when he came in. And since we can't count the 1st summer he came in, then we can't count Galchenyuk or Gallagher. So, what has he done to deserve all this praise? Don't look at the record. Are you happy with the development of our youth? Are you pleased with the coaching staff in the minors and NHL? Are you happy with the terrible team stats? Are you happy that Bergie has struggled to replace the top 6 forward he let walk for nothing?
Bergie couldn't build a team like those other teams did. The guy is petrified of making an impact move. Completely petrified.
