Therrien is doing the best he can with a bad situation.
1) Neither DD or Briere deserve to be on one of the two top lines right now.
2) You can't play DD with Briere, because then their line is simply too small and too soft.
3) DD is at his best in the middle between two big wingers.
4) Scratching DD and/or Briere this early in the season would likely get the Quebec media up in arms. The team doesn't need that sort of distraction.
Add this altogether, and Therrien is probably taking the best approach he can - DD between Bourque and Prust on the third line, Briere on the fourth.
It sucks, because it means we don't have anything like a good energy/crash line. But at least DD/Bourque/Prust looked decent together, and the 4th line is just the 4th line.
Good news here is that Therrien sees what we're seeing, and realizes that DD and Briere have been terribly ineffective so far this season. He's making the best Top 2 lines he can, which is good.
Who cares about the media??
If our management takes their decision based on how the media will react, we're in trouble.
DD has been worse than DB, and one of them isn't playing at its natural position. Putting Danny on the 4th line is not only useless for him, but we're back to having a random 4th line. Maybe he'll create things with Bournival, but 4M on the 4th line, not a great move.
Anyways, this was such a foreseeable scenario. I have no freaking clue what Bergevin was thinking in going after Briere (unless he moves DD in the not so distant future). It was such a bad fit. It seemed like a desperate move but we weren't in a position of despair.
This signing is starting to look like it has disaster written all over it. Kind of like another Gomez, though Gomez at least produced at first. Not only is Brière not producing, he's not even getting close.
Anyway, hopefully he finds a way to figure it out. Still sour about him passing on us in his prime and now all of a sudden he's living his dream. BS.
What does this guy have to prove anyway at this point, looks like he's awestruck or something and too comfortable right now. Happy about Therrien's move.
It's not starting to look like it, it has been one since Bergevin announced the deal.
We didn't really need a stop gap player. But if MB insisted on having one for a short term (1-2years) then we certainly didn't need a short smurf that needs sheltering who just got bought out because he's declined to the point of uselessness.
You had Jagr, another veteran, except he's big, he's very talented, he had a productive year, and is one of the most respected players to ever play the game, he also has cups, and is a Future HoF. He also agreed to a 1y deal to go play in NJ at 4M. But no, let's go with the french guy.
Same thing as him extending Bouillon midway through the half year.
This signing is more of a sign of how MB decided to work, and I didn't like it. Hopefully it was a one time thing and he'll learn from his mistake. Otherwise, I'm not super confident in our management.
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