Oh Bergevin joke...haven't heard that one before.
Maybe you, like him, dont understand how contracts work.
Players don't always get paid for what they're worth or going to do, that's true for the Habs and it's true for all the other teams.
That obviously doesn't mean you go handing inflated contracts right, left and centre...but it's also par for the course when players reach a certain vested status in the NHL, they get paid for what they've done rather than what they're going to do.
The Tampa Bay Lightning won back to back Stanley Cups with players who had "bad contracts".
Welcome to pro sports.
Giving out contracts to players for what they’ve accomplished rather than what they’re going to do can lead to untradeable contracts, trades with retained salaries, trades where a team has to add a sweetener, and potential buyouts like Alzner (especially when the player is not elite). I understand GM’s need to reward veterans who’ve been with the club since their draft but Bergevin made a big mistake giving out longer term contracts to Hoffman and Armia.
A lot of GM’s now seem to be handing out long term contracts to players yet to reach their prime. I believe that’s a better way to handle the cap.
As far as Tampa goes, if the Habs had elite talent like Kucherov, Hedman, Vasilevskiy, Stamkos, etc. it would be a lot easier to forgive a couple bad contracts.
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