End of season press conference - April 9, 4:30pm

[Runner77]

He will give a shout out to HF Habs thanking us for our continued love and support.

Based on what several players have been saying on social media, #justgettingstarted should be this year’s slogan at the presser.

 

[LyricalLyricist]

Of course he will deflect, that's all he does. Even when he admits it's on him, he'll quickly move the blame onto somewhere else. That's where the journalists should push more and be relentless.
Bergevin is going into this presser giving himself a tap on the back with a job well done.

I hardly care what he does. People are far too concerned with it.

"Bergevin is smiling! OMG Why? He shouldn't be smiling? The arrogant guy is smiling at a hard question and now he deflects. UNREAL. ARROGANT GUY"

Who gives a f***?

He can smile, dance, pat himself on the back and juggle. I really do not give a f***. He won't say who he spoke to for trades and can't say who he wants to sign because it's tampering.

Only one question actually matters. "Are you done the reset or will you continue to add prospects and picks as aggressively as you did last 2 seasons?"

End of story. The whole reading between the lines stuff is boring and pointless. All I care about is the direction this team is headed.

 

[Kriss E]

I hardly care what he does. People are far too concerned with it.

"Bergevin is smiling! OMG Why? He shouldn't be smiling? The arrogant guy is smiling at a hard question and now he deflects. UNREAL. ARROGANT GUY"

Who gives a ****?

He can smile, dance, pat himself on the back and juggle. I really do not give a ****. He won't say who he spoke to for trades and can't say who he wants to sign because it's tampering.

Only one question actually matters. "Are you done the reset or will you continue to add prospects and picks as aggressively as you did last 2 seasons?"

End of story. The whole reading between the lines stuff is boring and pointless. All I care about is the direction this team is headed.

He's going to deflect no matter what. Even to your question, he'll just say they will evaluate things over the summer, they had some good prospects, some good young guys came in this year, they will see what becomes available to them and go accordingly...blablabla.

I hardly cares what he says too because it's pretty clear who he is at this point, and that's someone clearly unqualified for the job.

 

[LyricalLyricist]

He's going to deflect no matter what. Even to your question, he'll just say they will evaluate things over the summer, they had some good prospects, some good young guys came in this year, they will see what becomes available to them and go accordingly...blablabla.

I hardly cares what he says too because it's pretty clear who he is at this point, and that's someone clearly unqualified for the job.

He seems qualified to me. You don't have that much NHL and front office experience and not be qualified.

Thing is lots of people are qualified, some are better, some are worse.

 

[Kriss E]

He seems qualified to me. You don't have that much NHL and front office experience and not be qualified.

Thing is lots of people are qualified, some are better, some are worse.

Unqualified, unfit, unable, whatever you want to call it. Basically he sucks at his job which is to build a winning/contending team.
If you're being anal, the Pierre Gauthier is a qualified candidate as well.

 

[Runner77]

Yes......every team is getting better, only hab players will regress and Poehling was lucky, and Kotka will stagnate and Julien will hold everyone back, we ain’t signing nobody, we won’t trade for anything, we’ll be 10m$ under the cap, Price and Weber are getting older as everyone else’s in the league are getting younger.......ya ya ya, heard it all,

Are we really going to project Poehling based on one amazing NHL game? Let’s wait and see. KK may go through a 2nd year slump, he’ll only be 19 next season, that wouldn’t be unusual. Julien is not going anywhere with the season he’s had but there are a lot of questionable decisions he’s made. He’s safe for another year so not worth discussing.

The trading part is where it could get interesting. I don’t think anyone is saying MB won’t be trading for anything since we have last summer as evidence that he can and will.

The tricky part is not signing anyone and by that you mean UFAs. That may well be the case. Doesn’t mean MB won’t try to sign a UFA, but they’ve never been able to sign an elite type player so it may well continue. Some markets are just more attractive to elite type players than Montreal for whatever reason.

As for the cap, no one predicted that the Habs as a cap team, would be carrying over so much cap room over the last two seasons. What if MB has no one to spend it on, would it be far fetched to see the Habs carry excess cap room into a 3rd season?

Any discussion about Price and Weber getting older has to do with this team’s window of opportunity. I don’t think Price is an issue as goalies tend to perform at high levels into their mid thirties but Weber is more of a risk.

To me, this off season is about landing a young quarterback type LHD and adding a sniper. If Drouin is traded as part of the process, all the better. Long shot wish: move up in the draft.

Since last year’s off season management review focused on other aspects, I’d like to see them improve both amateur and pro scouting depts.

 

[Runner77]

Back to the presser, last year’s food experience comments just didn’t belong in what should be a hockey-related exchange. Molson can get his fan experience feedback via several other means like studies, customer feedback at the BC, polling at large via several media sources and canvassing season ticket holders directly.

No kidding last year’s presser became an even bigger farce with fans asking what would be done to fix a disaster of a season and when Geoff took the mic, he made hotdogs as important as the team’s real woes.

Hopefully, Geoff won’t be at the presser. He adds nothing to the discussion other than trivialities and empty words. Not that MB will do better but at least it’ll be hockey related.

 

[Kotkaniemi15]

For the first time in Marc Bergevin’s tenure as GM of the Habs, we’re trending upwards. We’re getting better. We have young stars improving and we have a great nucleus of prospects. Add the best goalie in the world to that and a top D man to lead all the new kids. We had a 25 point increase from last year’s season and there is a winning culture in this new Habs dressing room. I’m happy as fan right now. You should be too.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Hope you like being spoonfed some bullshit.

 

[Chili]

Pretty simple.

"I realize we have some good players but do you think we can realistically compete with powerhouses like TB? Up and comers like Toronto?"

He'll turn it into a softball though, "Anyone can compete in this league." maybe add in attitude, anything in possible, teamwork, etc...

That's basically the direction I would try to go, wanting to know 'What's the plan?'. Hopefully acknowledging they need to be better across the board. As others have pointed out, the division and conference look to get only stronger. Good organizations like the Rangers, Flyers and and Wings missed the playoffs too, I like the odds of them bouncing back soon.

He's slippery but someone (forget who now) got him to acknowledge they had less then five prospects a year ago which I thought was a significant admission. They have started to address that (based on the number of players they had at the WJC tournament) but it needs to continue because handing out bad contracts in free agency isn't the way to go imho.

 

[Miller Time]

I think there's a big difference between ship sinking and sailing in the right direction.

Habs are anchored in the middle of the ocean IMO. We ain't sinking but we're not going anywhere either.

In reality, there is no such thing as being "anchored"...

Either you're moving towards your goal, or away from it. Time stands still for no one.

All who pursue excellence understand this.

 

[habsfan891]

''Marc, every year you say the objective is to make the POs, then anything can happen. You have missed the POs in the last 3 out of 4 years. Fair to say you failed to reach your objective over those seasons?''

No chance any of Montreals cowardly reporters asks that question.

 

[Miller Time]

Every successful team had these streaks at some point......I’m surprised I have to explain this

Not while sticking to the same approach.

Successful franchises aren't afraid to on from failure.

 

[Habby4Life]

I hardly care what he does. People are far too concerned with it.

"Bergevin is smiling! OMG Why? He shouldn't be smiling? The arrogant guy is smiling at a hard question and now he deflects. UNREAL. ARROGANT GUY"

Who gives a ****?

He can smile, dance, pat himself on the back and juggle. I really do not give a ****. He won't say who he spoke to for trades and can't say who he wants to sign because it's tampering.

Only one question actually matters. "Are you done the reset or will you continue to add prospects and picks as aggressively as you did last 2 seasons?"

End of story. The whole reading between the lines stuff is boring and pointless. All I care about is the direction this team is headed.

It’s a typical press conference that all non playoffs have. Its just a formality to wrap up the season so its silly to expect anything ground breaking from it.

The whining/bellyaching over anything and everything is typical for these boards.

 

[Le Tricolore]

Just logistically speaking, how can Bergevin hold a press conference at 4h30 and then be in Toronto/NYC for the draft lottery at 8pm?

... since cameras exist in Toronto too?

 

[jaffy27]

You lost some altitude, your head is definitely in the clouds.

Cloud 9

 

[Miller Time]

Bergevin has managed to fail both of his contradictory objectives.
"The goal is to make the playoffs"
*fail to miss the playoffs 3 out of the last 4 years*

"We want to build through the draft"
*Lehkonen, Kotkaniemi and Mete are the only players on the team that were drafted and developed during his tenure so far*

The failure of his tenure has been so definitive it is quite incredible that some still cling to some belief that he has any ability to effectively lead a franchise.

Very homer simpson-esque... "It's still good, it's still good, it's still good..."

 

[Runner77]

No chance any of Montreals cowardly reporters asks that question.

The PR Dept.’s Elite Suppresser Squad will have the reporter tackled and his mic removed, before he can finish the question.

 

[LaP]

The PR Dept.’s Elite Suppresser Squad will have the reporter tackled and his mic removed, before he can finish the question.

They don't really have to do that. All reporters know if they ask the hard questions they wont be invited next time. And in the province of Quebec if you are not covering the Montreal Canadiens you might as well not be covering sports at all cause that's the only team people follow in the province.

 

[teamfirst]

Hope you like being spoonfed some bull****.

The most bullshit spoonfed i get ............is by far when i come to read on HF, sometimes quite funny i must say

 

[mtl_felix]

Do yourselves a favor and don't watch this trainwreck

 

[jaffy27]

He's going to deflect no matter what. Even to your question, he'll just say they will evaluate things over the summer, they had some good prospects, some good young guys came in this year, they will see what becomes available to them and go accordingly...blablabla.

I hardly cares what he says too because it's pretty clear who he is at this point, and that's someone clearly unqualified for the job.

Lol.....he is more than qualified wether you like it, which you don’t or not

 

[teamfirst]

Lol.....he is more than qualified wether you like it, which you don’t or not

Watch out, beware....i'm gonna call you ''braveheart'' from now on

 

[Whitesnake]

Wow...huge words for Niemi from Price...Partner he respected the most since he's here.

 

[Lshap]

I love you guys, but you're kidding yourself if you expect real info on upcoming moves or insights into what's being discussed in the backrooms. This is nothing more than meaningless soundbites, a courtesy to journalists who need to fill space. Trying to parse meaning out of Bergevin's answers is like gauging political policy based on a campaign poster. I plan to be buying groceries.