Confirmed with Link: Bergevin, Timmins & Paul Wilson Fired & Jeff Gorton Hired As EVP of Hockey Ops

[salbutera]

Does Ottawa do anything for the Canadian market ?

They will move to the US, it only a matter of when not if.

 

[OnTheRun]

Does Ottawa do anything for the Canadian market ?

Not much. It's very likely than the franchise would be better off in Quebec city if the choice was limited to A or B. But in this case it just doesn't fit the NHL's priorities.

 

[TopC0rner]

Quebec will never get a team - US owners on the NHL board of governors will never approve Quebec, small potatoes for where the NHL wants to go.

Jacobs has already said many times Quebec just doesn’t have the corporate or disposable income potential to deserve a team

Jacobs is years behind. Quebec's development has been tremendous and the team would have more support than any current bottom 10 teams in terms of revenue.

 

[Miller Time]

How long til French QC media starts making a thing about this…or have they already lol.

Would be interesting if they created a workaround that reshaped the traditional GM role...

Frankly I don't care what structure they use (or how the French media reacts), as long as they build pillars of excellence in every facet of the organization, and prioritizes class & dignity in their public & player relationships.

 

[Kriss E]

Don't kid yourself. The next GM will have the usual power every GM's get in the NHL.

How do you know about the organizational dynamic across each and every NHL team?

 

[FF de Mars]

Reading Dave Tallon is the only good GM on the market.

 

[OnTheRun]

Their growing the game has never worked. The south has always had bad attendances and bad corporate support. These franchises stay alive cause the NHL is basically a welfare league. And their TV contracts sucks. At the very least having a team in Quebec would help the well of Canadian players who is diminishing year by year. Kids do not play hockey anymore. Having a team in Quebec would create an enthusiasm in the whole Province. I believe it would help as far as hockey inscriptions.

Oh it's not "growing the game", it's growing the market. Not for the sake of the game, just good ol capitalism.

Franchise value keep going up and up. Revenue sharing exist because they want to keep teams in developing markets, it's good for the league revenues.

 

[Non Player Canadiens]

Would be interesting if they created a workaround that reshaped the traditional GM role...

Frankly I don't care what structure they use (or how the French media reacts), as long as they build pillars of excellence in every facet of the organization, and prioritizes class & dignity in their public & player relationships.

it's becoming clearer to me that this was the only way around the silly language restriction which has plagued us lately. distribute the traditional powers of the GM to more than one person (like Gorton as VP whatever-it-is) while still eventually obtaining a French-speaking GM to satisfy those who care about that kind of thing. nice

 

[salbutera]

Jacobs is years behind. Quebec's development has been tremendous and the team would have more support than any current bottom 10 teams in terms of revenue.

It’s not about team support or growing the game, it’s about access to large population markets for other business purposes, while continuing to grow franchise valuations.

Vinik didn’t buy TBay for the Lightning neither did all the recent ownership changes ALL of whom now are hedge fund types (Canes, NJD, upcoming Pens owners)

 

[Skip Bayless]

How long til French QC media starts making a thing about this…or have they already lol.

They're gonna start spinning the narrative about the fans not wanting an anglo GM when it's them.

 

[salbutera]

How long til French QC media starts making a thing about this…or have they already lol.

It’ll all depends on responsibilities of the fake GM, if the intelligence of the diehard language zealots gets insulted this could become really ugly, which is why I think Darche is the ideal candidate for the role - it can be sold as slowly grooming over time.

 

[HabsCowboysOwn]

I went to RDS.ca for shits and giggles (some of the clowns over there are pretty amusing) and took a quick look at the comments about MB's firing to see if his delusional fanboys were still singing his praise. I scrolled down for literally one second and found this gem:

Les chiffres parlent, beaucoup plus de victoires que de défaites sous le règne de Bergevin, qui aura fait presque dix ans comme directeur général, un exploit dans un marché explosif comme MTL. Le meilleur DG depuis Serge Savard à mon avis. Son successeur aura de grands souliers à chausser, espérons qu'il aura de la vision et qu'il saura garder son calme quand ça chauffera.

There's no way some people actually believe that right? on what planet are they living???

 

[GHJimmy]

After so many years of waiting, greatest news finally came to Montreal

 

[MON4NHLTOR4MLB]

The funny thing is, it would be a big deal for a little bit if the GM was Anglo, but if they started making great decisions, trades, draft choices, signings and building properly. Nobody will care who’s doing what when they’re winning.

 

[Runner77]

Molson Bros. strike again.

 

[Non Player Canadiens]

 

[Hostile Offer]

A couple of years too late but it's DONE!!

Just hilarious MB gets his team to the finals and a few months later gets canned lol

Ducharme next please

 

[Rapala]

Man I've been waiting for this for so long it feels anticlimactic. I'm a little bit concerned that Gorton has simply been hired as Mr. Goodwrench. What I'm really hoping is that the wording was purposely opaque to circumvent any potential blowback. Like I mentioned in a previous post it doesn't matter if Molson retains his title as long as there is a good hockey brain between him and the GM. Gorton as Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations serves that purpose perfectly. If he truly is "retained" solely as a consultant I'm not sure I'm on board with it. Once again it would leave a gaping hole in terms of accountability as Mr. Goodwrench wouldn't necessarily be around for any warranty issues. Hopefully the presser will clear up a few things. On a side note what is the over under on the media playing the language card?

 

[Stive Morgan]

Man I'm so sorry for you. Many hardcore fans have completely lost interest since he came in, that's how bad it has been.

Sure the teams we're better and more competitive than during the Houle era, but Bergevin killed all the fun aspects of the game. I'm really hoping I can get excited to watch a game again.

I've been watching since 2009 and I'd say my favourite era so far was 2013-2015 with 2018-present being the darkest age

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

I want to be happier that MB & Timmins are gone but what has Gorton done to get my hopes up? And we are destined to me limited on who the GM candidates are and they all look inexperienced. Took 9 years to fix the last one, hopefully next set don’t get as long a leash of futility, at least unless they commit to a full rebuild

 

[JC Superstar]

I didn't read the whole thread, so maybe somebody did it before, but my headline would be:

"Shell in the foxhole"

 

[Pickles]

Molson Bros. strike again.

Omg can't stop laughing at this. Great to see you back posting again man.

 

[26Mats]

It’ll all depends on responsibilities of the fake GM, if the intelligence of the diehard language zealots gets insulted this could become really ugly, which is why I think Darche is the ideal candidate for the role - it can be sold as slowly grooming over time.

This.

 

[BlackStar]

I've been waiting for this since December of 2015!

After all these years...finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[FMichael]

Their growing the game has never worked. The south has always had bad attendances and bad corporate support. These franchises stay alive cause the NHL is basically a welfare league. And their TV contracts sucks. At the very least having a team in Quebec would help the well of Canadian players who is diminishing year by year. Kids do not play hockey anymore. Having a team in Quebec would create an enthusiasm in the whole Province. I believe it would help as far as hockey inscriptions.

For starters - as an outsider I'm kinda bummed Bergevin was fired (selecting Logan Mailloux seemed to kick things off) - I found him entertaining.

2nd - I do agree with the idea of 'growing the game' here in Murica is beating a dead horse - how many decades have we been hearing this?

I'd love to see the Yotes relocate to QC, but as we all know that isn't going to happen