TSN 690 interview with Marc Bergevin

[Inkling]

People focusing on Stall and when he was, as wasn't good, are missing the larger point that the interview was trying to make, I believe. Bergevin is being paid well north of one million dollars per year precisely to uncover diamonds in the rough, and undervalued players, whether they are Stall, Phil Kessell, or whomever. It is literally his job to fill in the holes in his roster, not to complain that it's hard to get a centre or that you're a Monday Morning Quarterback if you point out that Stall would have been a good acquisition, because "who knew he would be good?" (the team that made the playoffs, that's who). Guys who are good at it win Cups, or at least make the playoffs, because that's exactly what it takes to be a good GM. The media people he is accusing of second guessing are not paid to spot talent; they might try, but they are not the ones whose job it is to fix the team.

The funny thing is that Bergevin is actually pretty good at it when it comes to fourth liners, picking up guys like Paul Byron off of waivers, Petry for a draft pick etc. Also grabbed Radulov out of the KHL. He can get something for nothing, especially at the lower end of the roster (i.e. Bargain Bin) but is unable to make the big trades to fix the glaring holes in his roster down the middle, and on defence.

 

[TheTakedown]

I am just finding and listening to this now.
On Alzner looking like shit: "so I guess... I guess he is tired...?"
On Not addressing center depth: "It's not like Eric Staal was on the peak... I couldn't just sign him because I didn't know what would happen. How do you know I didn't try to get Turris?" (horrible english, btw)... Dude, isn't it your job to weigh that decision? On top of that, why does he bring up Turris? Turris is a 2C at best, he doesn't solve MTL's problems.
On Carey Price having a shit year: "Honestly.... the team in front of him (Grubauuer) got the job done. Carey needs to have a better year"... No explanation, no input, rattles off about going to work every day after that

(I'm paraphrasing on these)

LOLOL this guy is pathetic. how does he have a job in this capacity?

 

[haveandare]

I'm a habs fan.
I think the interview was fine.

Still super pissed at Bergevin (and especially Molson) for trading Subban.

But outside of that it's like people pick on him for not being the greatest communicator. I also agree with everything Bergevin said.

Everyone around here thought Eric Staal was a running joke 2 years ago. Would he even make it to an NHL roster? He' having a FANTASTIC comeback, which is great. But to use him as a reason to say "hey habs you miss the boat" is idiotic.

The Alzner/Chara thing was fine too. It's pretty obvious what he was trying to say. He was trying to say that 3 years ago people said Chara was too slow for the NHL too - but he's been great since. He believes Alzner can similarly be great even if he's perceived as slow, and they plan on working with him in the off season to ensure he's better next year. That's it in a nutshell. And I don't wholly disagree. Willing to give Alzner 1 more chance next year.

Obviously Minnesota's management didn't think he was a running joke, and that worked out real well for them. The GM of a huge team like this should be held to higher standards than random people talking hockey. His team has no centers. He says they're not out there - Staal was out there and another, smarter GM saw a risk worth taking and it paid off.

The Alzner thing is stupid because Chara was arguably the best d in the league for a number of years - him losing a step is like OV having a 20 goal season. Yeah, maybe it's the sign of the end coming, but there's a good chance they rebound because they've been at the top of the league for years and years. Alzner has never, ever been even kind of close to the level Chara has spent most of his career at. Yeah, maybe Alzner can get faster again but he's almost certainly not going to recover to the extent or in the way Chara has. Coming from this guy especially it just sounds like yet another unrealistic excuse/explanation - the team was bad because of their attitude, Price was bad because he didn't get support, centers aren't out there, Alzner is going to bounce back like Chara... there's a good chance literally none of that is true and its the same moron saying this who has nothing to show for the past few years except a bunch of trades he lost. I get why people don't like hearing that from him.

 

[Rempe73]

Honestly this sounds like Mtl fans already have their minds made up about hating Bergevin.

there was very little that will appease those fans right now.
the interview was fine.
Its impossible to defend a track record that puts you into this position.
All red wings fans want Holland gone, he could have said these things.
Likewise with Ottawa fans I am sure....
etc
etc.

I was waiting for his (MB's) "dumb" response... and quite frankly I do not hear it.

I'm a Rangers fan (clearly), and I agree. Although I don't like the Canadiens, I don't believe Bergevin said anything too stupid. He was being respectful, even though the reporter/interviewer was kind of being an ass. And he was able to articulate his thoughts. I don't get what the fuss is about. Yea, a few of his excuses are meh, but lots of GMs sound like this, don't they?

 

[MasterDecoy]

I personally think it's long overdue. Bergevin made a good first impression because he had some charisma and looked a lot more genuine than Gauthier who looked borderline creepy before him. It was a breath of fresh air, and even among fans he was one of the top candidate for the GM job at the time, so it was sort of an unanimous call. He seemed confident and he was coming out of Chicago, so people just figured he knew what he was doing.

But the more the pressure has built on, the less he could keep up the façade. The first time I recall he was at odds with a large portion of the fan base was the first contractual dispute with Subban where he forced him into a bridge deal which eventually came back to bite him in the ass - to no one's surprise.

But what really made him fall out of favor with the fan base is his over-commitment to Therrien, and by repercussion the fact the organization as a whole decided to favor a guy like Desharnais on the organizational depth chart instead of developing guys like Galchenyuk and Eller. That was the first big crack in the foundation. The Subban trade is what made a lot of people completely jump ship. That's when a lot of people realized he had no idea what he was doing. Not long before that you had the Shaw trade in spite of the fact he claimed multiple times he wanted to build this team through the draft, and the contract that followed shortly after was even worst than the trade in and of itself. And as people started calling him out, you quickly say the charisma and the confidence fade, and we were left with some kind of insecure narcissist that never really managed to own his mistakes. How ironic that this team's motto used to be "no excuses" when Therrien first came on board. The fact they started to pull excuses one after the other to explain whatever would ill the team at a given time ended up being such a comedy source that they had to get rid of the motto altogether. No joke, that actually happened.

The end result being, you have a guy here that took a team that had a 25 years old Carey Price, 23 years old Subban, Pacioretty and Eller, 20 years old Gallagher, 19 years old Beaulieu, a 3rd overall pick, and a decent amount of solid players in their prime like Plekanec, Markov, Cole, Gionta. The mission at that point was a fairly simple one. Find/develop a #1 center and surround your three young studs so that 5 years down the line you have a team that can hope to compete for a cup. Bergevin however never really had anything close to a long term plan and we find ourselves in the situation we're in today. We should be peaking right now and instead we're looking at a second lottery pick in 3 years. Our then young core is now in its 30s and won't hold up forever and after saying all these years he wanted us to build through the draft, we're currently sitting with one of the absolute worst prospect pool in the entire league.

So yeah, I do think it's with good reason. He managed to spoil the best young core this team had to work with in years, and he can thank Price for keeping up the appearances that this was a solid team for even a couple years, because even when we were winning division titles, everyone knew the team as a whole didn't play at that level. Bergevin didn't, though.

Savage

 

[CristianoRonaldo]

He clearly was using Chara as an example of a player that was written off in the same manner as Alzner is being written off now (because of skating.) As it turned out, the reports of Chara's demise were greatly exaggerated. Bergevin was arguing that it's too early to close the door on Alzner.

My interpretation was of an awkwardly phrased shot at Alzner's conditioning.

Chara is an elite player.

Alzner was bad since the season start, it's not the fatigue, he just suck.

 

[King In The North]

About Eric Staal. Could've been maybe he never wanted to play for a Canadian team, perhaps I'm wrong but wasn't that in his clause?

Secondly, everyone knew his track record. Minnesota signed him anyway, why wouldn't Mtl go for it if no other options available?

 

[Pyrophorus]

Chara's demise??
Ottawa gambled on having to choose a defenseman, and it didn't work out.
Chara went to Boston, and never missed a beat
During the last three seasons when they either missed or made by a range of 2pts-maybe he (like the rest of the team)
were suffering with Julien fatigue.

 

[MasterDecoy]

Ive had Julien fatigue before numbnuts even joined the habs