Bergevin Discussion Thread Part IV - Low Expectations Edition

[Andy]

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[Lafleurs Guy]

Somehow I think this should be called the pessimistic edition.

That press conference really turned the tide on this guy. How not to do a presser 101 by Marc Bergevin.

 

[BLONG7]

Somehow I think this should be called the pessimistic edition.

That press conference really turned the tide on this guy. How not to do a presser 101 by Marc Bergevin.

He has spent too much time with MT......remember, the Tampa is not in our division quote...

Let's hope the presser was just blowing smoke...

 

[habalifeok]

He is like 26 other GMs in the league. The way the game has changed has blindsided everybody. The final 4 play up tempo in all 3 zones. They forecheck so quickly its unbelievable. If the puck is turned over in the neutral zone the opposition is on it and back at you in a blink of an eye. Anaheim especially has an abundance of speed in Cogliano(super fast) Silfverberg and Etem (very fast) and the list goes on. Bergevin isn't the only one caught up in this. St. Louis and Winnipeg are build very solidly but are in trouble because Anaheim in particular plays more upbeat for longer periods of time.
Unfortunately there is not enuff of the players who came come at you and suffocate you before you can start a play . The other Gms are now tasked to play Anaheim,Chicago and Tampa Bay style of hockey. Where are all the required players to play this style of game. Certainly not enough to go around.
Now you might think Montreal has speed,but outside of Pacioretty who amonst the forwards? Possibly Plekanec but he is aging. Certainly not Gallagher. Possibly Galchenyuk.
Right now speed kills and it must be used in all zones. I can see a lot of changes in the GM positions as well as coaching positions but the fact of the matter is just about everybody in the league is in same boat. All envying the current final 4 and their blazing style.

 

[DAChampion]

I think these playoffs are good for the game, entertainkng hockey will now be the flavour du jour.

 

[OneSharpMarble]

He is like 26 other GMs in the league. The way the game has changed has blindsided everybody. The final 4 play up tempo in all 3 zones. They forecheck so quickly its unbelievable. If the puck is turned over in the neutral zone the opposition is on it and back at you in a blink of an eye. Anaheim especially has an abundance of speed in Cogliano(super fast) Silfverberg and Etem (very fast) and the list goes on. Bergevin isn't the only one caught up in this. St. Louis and Winnipeg are build very solidly but are in trouble because Anaheim in particular plays more upbeat for longer periods of time.
Unfortunately there is not enuff of the players who came come at you and suffocate you before you can start a play . The other Gms are now tasked to play Anaheim,Chicago and Tampa Bay style of hockey. Where are all the required players to play this style of game. Certainly not enough to go around.
Now you might think Montreal has speed,but outside of Pacioretty who amonst the forwards? Possibly Plekanec but he is aging. Certainly not Gallagher. Possibly Galchenyuk.
Right now speed kills and it must be used in all zones. I can see a lot of changes in the GM positions as well as coaching positions but the fact of the matter is just about everybody in the league is in same boat. All envying the current final 4 and their blazing style.

It's called offense, being a habs fan you probably don't know what it looks like. Apparently some massive change occurred and "blindsided" everyone, this is the reason MB made no substantial improvements over the past 3 years. That "blindsiding" must have knocked MB out cold, hopefully he wakes up in time to sign someone this offseason.

 

[VirginiaMtlExpat]

He is like 26 other GMs in the league. The way the game has changed has blindsided everybody. The final 4 play up tempo in all 3 zones. They forecheck so quickly its unbelievable. If the puck is turned over in the neutral zone the opposition is on it and back at you in a blink of an eye. Anaheim especially has an abundance of speed in Cogliano(super fast) Silfverberg and Etem (very fast) and the list goes on. Bergevin isn't the only one caught up in this. St. Louis and Winnipeg are build very solidly but are in trouble because Anaheim in particular plays more upbeat for longer periods of time.
Unfortunately there is not enuff of the players who came come at you and suffocate you before you can start a play . The other Gms are now tasked to play Anaheim,Chicago and Tampa Bay style of hockey. Where are all the required players to play this style of game. Certainly not enough to go around.
Now you might think Montreal has speed,but outside of Pacioretty who amonst the forwards? Possibly Plekanec but he is aging. Certainly not Gallagher. Possibly Galchenyuk.
Right now speed kills and it must be used in all zones. I can see a lot of changes in the GM positions as well as coaching positions but the fact of the matter is just about everybody in the league is in same boat. All envying the current final 4 and their blazing style.

Good post. These teams have the ability to both keep as well as dump the puck, depending what the other team gives them. A team such as ours that overcommits to dumping is needlessly restricting its toolbox, and the obsolescence of dump-and-chase against that kind of team speed was driven home over consecutive game six playoff losses in 2014 and 2015. Dump-and-chase never had a prayer in either of those games, especially with a hapless powerplay that also employs this strategy.

Edit: Anaheim in particular should be commended for their emphasis on talented fast players in recent trades, buying low on the likes of Sekac and Després.

 

[Whitesnake]

Somehow I think this should be called the pessimistic edition.

That press conference really turned the tide on this guy. How not to do a presser 101 by Marc Bergevin.

AGain though, yep, he infuriated most people BUT he put the expectations at an all-time low. And I guess it was his goal.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

AGain though, yep, he infuriated most people BUT he put the expectations at an all-time low. And I guess it was his goal.

Yup, he keeps talking about transition. It actually worked for him last year as we heard some journalists and posters here parrot that mantra.

Won't work now though. He can say it all he wants the pressure is there.

 

[Luigi Habs]

The fact that Tampa made it to the finals, would Bergevin finally realize that a winning team should have some offense or will he use it as an argument that there is no shame to be beaten by the SC finalists/champions?

 

[DAChampion]

Did the Montreal media actually call him out on the presser or just this forum?

 

[OldCraig71]

I think these playoffs are good for the game, entertainkng hockey will now be the flavour du jour.

But but we have da record, da system!!!

 

[Born in 1909]

The fact that Tampa made it to the finals, would Bergevin finally realize that a winning team should have some offense or will he use it as an argument that there is no shame to be beaten by the SC finalists/champions?

MB did not want to trade his #1 pick or any valuable Hab prospects (Tinordi, McCarron, Sherbak) this past season.

Personally, I am glad he didn't.

 

[The Great Weal]

Can't wait to see Beauchemain taking up Tinordi's spot!

 

[Cole Caulifield]

As I was saying in the out of town thread (feels like a better place for it here) :

MB is facing a really really difficult summer.

The problem is that we have 59M committed to 17 players.

With the cap projected to be 71M...

That leaves 12M for

Petry
Beaulieu
Galchenyuk
3 players
Some leftover cap space in prevision of the trade deadline

For a 23 man roster.

This means it will be hard if not impossible to bring back our guys already under contract + the above 3 guys while respecting a 71 cap.

So it will be impossible for MB to improve the roster without getting creative and trading away salary. We will simply HAVE to move some contracts if we want to improve the team.

But, Chicago will be trading players, and their goods are quite a bit more interesting than ours. Sharp or Plekanec ? Bickell or PAP/DD ? It might be difficult to trade salary without getting any back.

All this to say that I'm not very hopeful that MB can find a way to actually improve the team this summer. Would sure have helped to not have bridged Subban, or signed Briere.

 

[DAChampion]

Can't wait to see Beauchemain taking up Tinordi's spot!

What spot?

If we keep Petry, then Pateryn and Tinordi are 7th and 8th respectively.

 

[WhiskeySeven*]

I still think Tampa will fall apart, but you can't say that Yzerman didn't try after his first foray failed.

What has BargainBin done? Drafted the likes of Connor Crisp and extended Desharnais. Oh, and signed Mike Weaver. It's a waste of our time, money and support to keep coming back to this franchise. In his end of season presser he literally said that Desharnais had a fantastic season and that we're a transition team. THREE YEARS OF TRANSITIONING... and still a bare forward cupboard and no #1 centre... and some of the most regressive kind of hockey played in the modern NHL.

Look at that image. Tell me that BargainBin's been trying.

 

[DAChampion]

Seeing as how the Habs are required to have French Canadians on the roster i think that they could do worse than Beauchemin and St Louis.

 

[yianik]

What spot?

If we keep Petry, then Pateryn and Tinordi are 7th and 8th respectively.

They can't be 8th, waivers.

 

[WhiskeySeven*]

Seeing as how the Habs are required to have French Canadians on the roster i think that they could do worse than Beauchemin and St Louis.

Seeing as the Habs had Weise in their top6, I think they could do (and have done) much worse than St Louis on a 1 year contract.

 

[Cole Caulifield]

They can't be 8th, waivers.

We could carry 2 extra D and 1 extra forward instead of 2 extra forwards and 1 extra D no ?

 

[bsl]

MB did not want to trade his #1 pick or any valuable Hab prospects (Tinordi, McCarron, Sherbak) this past season.

Personally, I am glad he didn't.

It is looking like Habs have no chance the next 3 years anyway, and keeping the youth and picks might in fact be one of the good things Bergy does, if he does.

If that is the case, then get some picks back and do a mini rebuild next year also.

Be a dog or a cat, decide.

 

[MJN79]

I also felt the presser he did at the end of season was not very good. I never wrote it or told anyone because I thought it was no big deal. To read some people feel same way around here, makes me realize I might have been right.

I don't know but it just left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Now its just a presser, so I might also be overreacting. Its just their motto is No Excuses and he seemed to have many excuses.

Lets hope his summer is better than presser.

 

[WhiskeySeven*]

Compare Marc BargainBin to Stan Bowman in Chicago... it's night and day.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Compare Marc BargainBin to Stan Bowman in Chicago... it's night and day.

To be fair to Bergevin, Bowman did step into an enviable situation. Dale Tallon set the table beforehand with multiple franchise forwards and was also responsible, I believe, for bringing in Joel Quenneville. Bowman got a team that was pretty much already built, with a great head coach already in place. He did do a great job of getting past the cap crunch following their first cup, that I will agree with.

I'll give Bergevin more time. In today's day and age, where everything needs to be done yesterday, I will give him the benefit of the doubt for a bit longer. That being said, the Habs cannot coast on what this past season resulted in. He cannot let his......rhetoric from the presser be his actual guidelines. He needs to make tough decisions at some point.