Post-Game Talk: Bergevin end of the season presser [Summary page 4, post 88]

[ECWHSWI]

23 man roster, average career of 10 years for good players, so I expect 2 or 3 rookies a year. We had one this year: Bournival.

prepare to be disappointed, outside bottom dwellers you wont find many teams adding 2 or 3 rookies every year.

 

[Kriss E]

I think he needs to be a more responsible player, period, before moving to center.

I disagree. Galchenyuk is not George Parros, and if he was responsible enough to play on Plek's wing, then he's responsible enough center an exploitation line. You are completely ignoring the possible upside to Galchenyuk's offensive game. I mean, all you talk about is his defensive responsibilities as if he is this horribly liable play like Parros.
If DD has been good enough defensively to center lines for the past 4 years, then so can Galchenyuk.
Galy is a smart player, smart players adapt fast.

My point about Seguin was to answer your question about who in their 4th season turned back to center, well, there it is. No ill-effects whatsoever in his development, actually playing wing likely contributed to his success this season, developing other areas of his game, sure Boston had better centers than us in their top two but the point remains, this didn't hurt Seguin a lick. In fact, it most likely helped him mature as a player, not to mention they're in two different situations, Seguin is 22, Gally is 20, Seguin didn't miss an entire year a year before his draft year. Seguin had close to 200 games under his belt. Playing wing until Gally improves under developed areas of his game is not a bad thing and it won't hurt him at all once he transitions to center.

Maybe I should have been clearer in that I meant on a team who's centers weren't really that great to begin with, which wasn't Seguin's case. But even in his case, a lot of debate was going on about him needing to play center in that 3rd year.

Maybe our difference of opinion comes from me believing that our team would be much better off with him as a center because I see him potentially start to come out of his shell next season. Our centers struggled to put up 50pts. So I rather try Galchenyuk there who's already on a .5ppg career average, which should increase next year. Give him better wingers on an exploitation line, with top PP minutes, I see little reason as to why he couldn't outperform our other centers, which only benefits us.

DD's not going anywhere imo, and he's a good piece as a complimentary guy, but I think the team would go through more ups and downs and likely have a worse record with Gally centering a line and DD on the wing and you can't have 2 centers needing sheltering.

That's fine, except he isn't used as a complimentary guy now. You said it, we can't have two guys that need sheltering. I think it's pretty clear who has the better upside between Galy-DD.
DD put up 52pts playing on an exploitation line, with our best wingers, while always being the go-to guy on the PP as well. I see no reason why Galy who's already a .5 ppg career pace player not outperform this.
It's also why I rather move DD. He's just way too uni-dimensional. There seems to be only one spot in which he can succeed. I would want such a difficult player to maneuver to put up way more than just 50-55pts.

 

[deandebean]

I don't think Gio is back..he started listing all of the other leaders...he was complimentary of Gio..but I think if you read between the lines he's a goner.

Yeah, same here. I think he made it pretty clear that there will be a change of guard here, leadership-wise. Meaning, some vets will leave. I say Gio and Pleks.

 

[domdo345]

....


Conditioning is the main reasoning you don't want Emelin on the first pairing?

Exactly. When they pushed his minutes, you could see he had a hard time keeping the pace. Many of his mental breakdowns happened late in a shift where he was gassed. That my friend, you see it at any level of hockey. Playing physical definitely drains some juice. But he has a nice offensive flair and a decent shot.

From the look of the past 3 seasons, he can't keep up with Subban's icetime. Emelin is unfortunatly at his best when he plays around 20 minutes.

I'm still surprised at how people underestimate the importance of a good conditioning. Particularly for the top 6 forwards and top 4 D's. The amount of poor reads and bad decisions is quite often linked with lack of oxygen going to the brain, let alone getting second to lose pucks and less energy to fight your 1vs1.

Anyway, you might not like my thinking because of his skillset, and I have no problems about that.

 

[deandebean]

But he already traded Colberg and a 2nd round pick for Vanek and seems like he won't be keeping Vanek.

Ultimately a net loss, no?

Edit: This might not be fair. As I am a proponent of deadline pickups and know the reality there... But Bergy did exactly what people are crediting him with not doing. A good GM can leverage quantity into quality, which he seemingly did this year.

I really want to keep Vanek as 35-goal scoters don't grow on trees and an adapted, integrated Vanek would be killer on our team.

Gionta really has to leave and Pleks cannot be kept at 5m in a 3rd line role. A total waste... 10m combined, lots of PP time and non-time for Eller/Chucky on those two 40-pts players is untenable.

What he gave up is nothing compared to what it brought to this team and organisation. It showed the coaches, management (the rest of it) and the players that if you build a solid 1st unit, the Habs will be a potent adversary. Vanek brought credibility and much more. And for that, he gave many, many millions to Molson. Many millions.

Giving up a Collberg for that is nothing.

 

[rockjngo]

Bergy didn't mention much on Markov and Gionta and Vanek. I think he has no interest in resigning them.

 

[deandebean]

The Bergevin road to the cup can be summarized as "slow and steady". Bergevin will let the young players force his hand on personnel decisions, and the mantra is still "through the draft" .

This man gets it. No shortcuts. A long term vision. Recognizes that his team is not at the level of the West teams. Is willing to be patient to do something about it.

Looking good.

Yep. I like very much. Some here were afraid that he would have been blinded by this playoff success. He is not. He realizes that this team is still far from being a real contender. He talked about maturity a lot. And that is a very significant word. He still believes that his young studs are not 'there' yet. But are getting there.

Posters who are expecting this magic wand that can bring this organisation an instant Cup will be disappointed. That's not how a champion is built. That's not how Pollock built the Habs. He built them like Bergevin did: he plugged holes first and foremost, developed the young talent, drafted well and brought leaders from elsewhere when needed (let's remember that although Montreal had some veteran presence in the early 70's, the acquisition of Frank Mahovlich changed the complexion of the team).

 

[Mike8]

Yep. I like very much. Some here were afraid that he would have been blinded by this playoff success. He is not. He realizes that this team is still far from being a real contender. He talked about maturity a lot. And that is a very significant word. He still believes that his young studs are not 'there' yet. But are getting there.

Posters who are expecting this magic wand that can bring this organisation an instant Cup will be disappointed. That's not how a champion is built. That's not how Pollock built the Habs. He built them like Bergevin did: he plugged holes first and foremost, developed the young talent, drafted well and brought leaders from elsewhere when needed (let's remember that although Montreal had some veteran presence in the early 70's, the acquisition of Frank Mahovlich changed the complexion of the team).

Sounds like similar recipes that A. Savard and Gainey talked about, though.

 

[deandebean]

I listened to the quotes in french and he made it pretty clear there will be a change of guard. According to him, it has already started. And will impact on which vet is back.

 

[PricePkPatch*]

Someone else listened to the interview MB did on 98,5? It was actually much better.

 

[deandebean]

I'm really disappointed in the news that Gionta is coming back.

How are young players suppose to force management's hand if they are never given a chance?

I hope Bouillon doesn't come back.

No one except posters here said that Gionta would be back.

 

[deandebean]

Sounds like similar recipes that A. Savard and Gainey talked about, though.

But Gainey did not execute. And he panicked. And guys here tend to forget that Gainey was not the most present of GMs. Bergevin is very active.

 

[Hoople]

But he already traded Colberg and a 2nd round pick for Vanek and seems like he won't be keeping Vanek.

Ultimately a net loss, no?

No, not a net loss.

Bergevin was playing with House money since our prospect pool is full of Colberg type players.

He took the gamble to make a run and the Habs came damn close.

 

[Gabe84]

Gionta on a 2 year reduced salary deal playing on the 3rd line and not playing top 6 or on the PP I could live with I guess. I fully expect him back.

I'd like to have him back.

He sure has slowed down since his first season with us but he's been useful.

 

[overlords]

No, not a net loss.

Bergevin was playing with House money since our prospect pool is full of Colberg type players.

He took the gamble to make a run and the Habs came damn close.

Our pool isn't close to being full of colberg type players.

 

[Mike8]

Our pool isn't close to being full of colberg type players.

Prospect wingers with foreign-sounding names? Of course it is. . .

 

[teh doors]

But Gainey did not execute. And he panicked. And guys here tend to forget that Gainey was not the most present of GMs. Bergevin is very active.

Wasn't all that panicky when everyone and their cousin wanted Carey Price dealt.

 

[AntonCH]

Our pool isn't close to being full of colberg type players.

Perhaps not
BUT I would love someone to ask Molson what he thinks of the trade.
Ultimately, that's the only higher power that Bergevin needs to answer to. It made a buzz on trade day, it made a buzz when he started clicking with DD and Pacioretty. Vanek even contributed to the playoff run. Thats worth a colberg any day of the week.

I'm not Molson, nor do i pretend to be, but if I were a betting man, I'd wager that Molson would make that trade everyday!

 

[Agnostic]

Perhaps not
BUT I would love someone to ask Molson what he thinks of the trade.
Ultimately, that's the only higher power that Bergevin needs to answer to. It made a buzz on trade day, it made a buzz when he started clicking with DD and Pacioretty. Vanek even contributed to the playoff run. Thats worth a colberg any day of the week.

I'm not Molson, nor do i pretend to be, but if I were a betting man, I'd wager that Molson would make that trade everyday!

Sure he would, but Molson isn't qualified to understand the downstream impact of these decisions. Make this trade for 3 years straight, giving up 3 second rounders and 3 world class prospects, and see where this team ends up. This was a one-off situation made to buy time and give his players good playoff experience. It was an investment.

 

[Compile]

Well that's fine, but would like to hear the arguments as to why he is better suited as a winger. He's got the size, he's got the smarts, he's got the speed, to be an exploitation center. I really don't see any argument as to why he isn't ready for that role. I also can't recall the last time a prospect waited 4 years before being moved back to his natural side, let alone 5.
Again, we're not talking about him taking over the minutes of Getzlaf here. He would be taking over some rather average center's role.



Ya, he also did well as a winger with Gomez/Gio, although very small sample size. I could see it working too. It is possible that it doesn't though because we just haven't seen enough of it. If no centers are moved, it's definitely something I hope we will do.

Galchenyuk should have been on the 4th line as a center in his 1st season (last year) and not relied upon to produce. I don't understand how a player is supposed to learn their position after 4 years of playing another. His production scale should gradually go upwards, not up then sideways then down for a couple of year then up.

I don't buy the argument that he should play on the wing at all. He's not a winger at all. He tends to move from one side of the offensive zone to the other and tries to slot himself in the middle of the rink. I see a lot of Damphousse and Turgeon in him.

 

[Hoople]

Prospect wingers with foreign-sounding names? Of course it is. . .

I overlooked the "foreign sounding" of his name.

I was looking more at the small in size stature player who looks like a superstar in international play and then suffers when they play against men in the AHL/NHL.

You know, guys like Reway and Andrighetto who perfectly complement St Pierre, Dumont and Thomas. Plus, they really cant look up to Desharnais, Gallagher, Gionta or Briere for inspiration.

But you do have to give Collberg credit. He did not run back home to mommy like Nygren did.

I have faith in Lehkonen though. And his name sounds pretty cool also.

 

[Compile]

Lehkonen

Sounds like the name of train.

 

[DAChampion]

Our pool isn't close to being full of colberg type players.

Lehkonnen, Hudon, Reway, Andrighetto, Thomas ...

Players with an outside shot at becoming the next mike cammalleri.

 

[Runner77]

Someone else listened to the interview MB did on 98,5? It was actually much better.

I imagine it's the interview he had with Mario Langlois, spanning almost 20 minutes?

You can find a summary of it and the audio link here.

Unless he was subsequently interviewed by Ron Fournier.

 

[Kimota]

Well that's fine, but would like to hear the arguments as to why he is better suited as a winger. He's got the size, he's got the smarts, he's got the speed, to be an exploitation center. I really don't see any argument as to why he isn't ready for that role. I also can't recall the last time a prospect waited 4 years before being moved back to his natural side, let alone 5.
Again, we're not talking about him taking over the minutes of Getzlaf here. He would be taking over some rather average center's role.
.

Just watch him play. The guy is all instinct. Centers are usualy more cerebral and a lot of them are playmakers.