Naturally, he was the team's best centre. No one was out performing him point wise.
Of course not, no one could have...he played the most even strength, usually with the best players, he played the most on the PP as well.
So if both prevented Galchenyuk from playing centre, why have you only focused on Plekanec? You're very sloppy on this point.
Wrong...I've criticized their usage of Desharnais, there's nothing new here, who hasn't done that. That's beating a dead horse.
But everyone seems to have forgotten Plekanec was also a factor, a bigger factor IMO, in all of this.
Plekanec from 2012 to today has played almost 1000 more minutes at ES compared to Galchenyuk
It's points like this that makes your Plekanec crusade a weak one.
There's nothing 'weak' about my crusade regarding Plekanec...history has proven me right, you can try to twist what I've said in the past all you want, but there's a search function on this site as I'm sure you're aware.
You're more than welcomed to do a search on my name and the word "Plekanec".
Again, that it is a fact is meaningless. Why wouldn't the Canadiens give minutes to their best centre? Desharnais wasn;t better than him, neither was Eller. You repeating a fact without using it to advance or support a coherent argument doesn't magically make that argument coherent.
The minutes Plekanec received should of been better distributed amongst other candidates, namely Galchenyuk & Eller.
This type of logic assumes that Plekanec was the one taht prevented the Habs from having success in the last 5 years. It wasn't because we kept Plekanec that the team didn't find success, it's because we didn't find a centre to bump him down into a clear second line role.
Wrong...
YOU assume that's my logic, nowhere in my post did I put the lack of success of this team ALL on Plekanec.
BTW the Habs could of found a centre to bump him down in a clear 2nd line role...his name was/is Alex Galchenyuk.
So yeah, we have a declined Plekanec after 5 years, but not finding a better a centre while he was here is what makes keeping a waste. It's less a Plekanec problem than an MB problem of not actually finding a better centre.
I never argued the opposite...
I still don't see how this means they should have moved Plekanec. All it does is reinforce the issue many have with this regime which is that they wasted productive years of a good core.
You don't see how acquiring additional assets when the team wasn't expected to win, would of set us up for a better situation today?
Really?
Again, you just reinforce those who have issues with MB not adding to a solid core.
I've been championing that cause for years...funny enough, I'm still labeled a "Bergevin defender".
How can you guarantee that the pieces acquired in a hypothetical Plekanec trade would be a cornerstone piece on the team today? This is such wishful thinking. What if the pieces we got were all busts? Where would the team be then?
How can you not???
How is your opinion more worthy than mine in this scenario???
What if the pieces we got weren't busts? What if the pieces we got either turned into what we needed, or were used to acquire more established players?
Everyone is tradeable for future pieces, this is not necessarily an argument in favor of trading someone. Plekanec is a solid hockey player, you add a bonafide 1st line centre in year two or three and the Habs are contender with that player and Plekanec as a 1-2 punch. MB failing to find a piece to push down Plekanec doesn't validate your crusade at all. There was room for Plekanec on the club and a 1st line centre. It seems like MB made the gamble of keeping Plekanec and trying to get in a 1st line centre, that gambled failed, sure, but it's not a ridiculous gamble to have made.
I never argued it was a 'ridiculous gamble'...I argued it wasn't the right decision to make, and 5yrs on, I was 100% right.
How you can sit here and say I'm wrong now or twist this debate into something else is odd...again, the proofs in the old threads.
Dude, predicting a guy is going to decline for the last 6 years isn't accuracy, it's an inevitability of an opinion. 5-3-4 and even 2 years ago Plekanec was a productive player, productive enough that if MB got a bonafide 1st centre through trade or development that it would have given the Habs a good 1-2 punch.
For the 1000th time...I NEVER ARGUED HE'S BEEN IN DECLINE FOR THE LAST X NUMBER OF YEARS.
what I argued, 5yrs ago, was that his play and his value was as high as it would ever be and that form THAT point, his value would only continue to decline.
You and others have decided to twist what I've argued..but once more, the proof is in those threads.
I'm not sure you "nailed" the Plekanec situation. You were on here crying about his decline for 6 years, players eventually decline. You weren't right for literally 5 of the 6 years you were saying he was going to decline. During that team, Plekanec could have easily been a key piece in a contending team had they got a 1st line centre.
Again...you can try to shape my argument then, into what you want now. I stand behind what I said and history shows I was 100% right.
Keep challenging me on this, and i'll be more than happy to post some of the gems of those days. I don't want to get in a **** match here, it's not about what he said or whatever.
Give my credit as its due, because I recall getting absolutely shredded over my opinion. The fact some of you want to act now like I wasn't all over that is cheap.
Let's revisit an old Plekanec thread just for fun
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1939359&highlight=plekanec
An interesting thread started by an old friend wondering if it's wise to give Plekanec a contract extension the summer of 2015 (a few months before he would ultimately re-sign)
Every good player declines, and every good player will get you decent to good assets. These are not necessarily reasons why a player should be traded. Weber will eventually decline at he at this point still has value, yet these are not reasons to move him. Before last season, Plekanec wasn't just the most productive Habs centre during the MB regime, he was one of the most productive forwards. Moving him for futures would have resulted in a gaping hole in a club whose mandate was clearly to compete.
Oddly enough...the Nashville Predators moved him at the perfect time. Trust me, they don't get a player of PK Subban's value if they're trying to move him today.
It's odd you'll use the Weber situation as part of your argument, it supports mine if nothing else.
The issue isn't that the Habs didn't trade Plekanec, the issue is that the Habs didn't create the conditions where Plekanec didn't have to be the go-to guy. They never acquired that player in the time that Plekanec was productive. However, he was productive enough for a number of years where keeping him and trying to acquiring a a better centre was a reasonable option.
Well I argued that the condition they needed to create, was to acquire additional assets.
It's classic HF where the hypothetical future acquisition are sure to replace the out-going piece. For all you know they did try to trade Plekanec and the offers they received didn't justify moving him at that point. You just can't assume you will get high end pieces that will plug holes because you said so. In fact, you criticize others for doing this all the time.
I'm not, nor did I not in the past, assume they'd get "high end pieces" for Plekanec...I said they could get a good package like a prospect and a 1st round pick, possibly a bit more.
We already had Galchenyuk, who we should of groomed as a center...we had Lars Eller who was more than capable, and still is, capable of handling 3rd line duties.
Look at all the top centers that have been traded since Bergevin became GM...you want to know why the Habs could never land one?
It's because they didn't have enough assets (players, draft picks) to acquire them...they couldn't outbid other teams who were either prospect rich, or draft pick rich or both, to compete with them.
Marc Bergevin took over a team in 2012 that had finished 3rd last...he could of easily packaged Plekanec for the package I mentioned above.
What's the worse that would of happened? The Habs end up being a bottom 5 team ahead of the 2013 draft, but with 2 1st round picks in tow and an improved prospect core as a result of the Plekanec trade?
Go look at the 2013 draft...you know what the Habs would like today had they finished bottom 5 that year and held 2 1st round picks???
Would you be mad if the Habs had a Sean Monahan & Alex Wennberg? (just an example).
The Habs didn't need to compete WITH Plekanec in 2012...they should of continued to bottom out while reshaping their team, and Plekanec should of been a prime piece used to accelerate what today SHOULD be a MUCH better team.
So we expose the guy we know can score 15 goals in the NHL, win face-offs, bring leadership, a big game player instead of an undersized, average skating forward who's barely a point per game player in the AHL ? 
