I have a problem with that of course. MB is stubborn and shows some arrogance and self confidence. Hockey is a macho world, MB is not the only guy of this type in the hockey world. In a way, a GM needs to be like that to survive, to beleive in the long term. But fans like us takes that too seriously. MB as a GM doesn't affect me directly, I'm annoyed but not that much, it's just a professionnal game with millions dollars involved and a fan base who follows that. There is only one team who wins the Stanley Cup, ... and 30 loser teams.
You must be missing our Mr October for so many years : Brian Savage. Such a nice guy, so good in october.
Old man always says if you're going to say stupid things, better keep your mouth closed.
He's no worse than his gm in that regard, they both believed it and ultimately that sucks for all of us. I wonder if Bergevin secretly scouts beer leagues in and around the Montreal area, looking for the next great buy low?
There are parts of this that I agree with, the business part of course but I really disagree with the macho part, the game has shifted towards youth, speed, analytics and so on, it is a thinking man's game. I guess that what I am trying to say is, a strong brain is much more valuable in a management role. It's great to look good for PR reasons and not much else, Mrs America gets asked about her thoughts on climate change while standing in a two-piece bikini, you dig? We need an innovator, a shark, a no-excuses type, savvy and well connected. This is a challenging market, probably one of the toughest in the entire league for many reasons, just being a macho middle-aged bodybuilder type is not enough and frankly, the last 8 years have proven that.
I loved the part "Mrs America gets asked about her thoughts on climate change while standing in a two-piece bikini", great !! Time is changing, we will have that connected new GM one day but not right now. I think MB changed some of his country club advisers for better and more connected. His miskates : he kept Lefebvre for too long, Therrien for too long, Desharnais the temporary patch for too long and I think he learned a few lessons that makes him today a better gm. He is surrounded with better advisers, he draft better and I expect in 2 or 3 years we'll see a real improvement. We have a better farm youth compared with 2010.
I think that MB was forced to change some of his country club advisors and that any only that is the reason that he did indeed finally do the right thing. He is a no compromise my way or the highway type of person and his management style has proven that. He is only headed in a "better direction"because of his own self-imposed failures. He brought us to the bottom all while claiming that he was taking us to the top. It would be like me cutting your arm with a knife on purpose but taking praise for the wonderful stitch job I did to repair your wound.
I would have a mixed feeling between being very mad at you and pleased that you fixed my arm with that wonderfull stitch job. That explains the mixed feelings among this board.
I am being permitted to fix the damage that I caused, that's not usually the way it works in professional sports. His should have been gone 3 years ago and my opinion won't change.
Schlemko like Alzner were signed to replace Emelin not Markov - and yes both were putrid signings the only blessing was Lucic deciding to sign in Edm instead of Mtl.
I know by now that you don't have mixed feelings, lol. You want him gone since 3 years or more and you won't change your mind. That's ok, that's democraty.
MB really f-ed up when he signed Alzner, Schlemko, Hemsky, and Streit, and let go of Markov and Radulov claiming not enough money for them.
We are still stuck in no mans land. Not good enough to compete and not bad enough to get a high pick. We are still half-assing both directions. We "try" and get a top 4 LHD in Chiarot which hasn't worked out and a backup in Kinkaid who hasn't been that great. We also traded a guy like Shaw for picks, but then refuse to do the same with guys like Byron.
I don't buy that. People will always go to Habs games imo. We have also missed the playoffs 3 times in the last 4 years so it's not like we are doing above average anyways. I think you can find good role models for the kids by going after other teams cap dumps and acquiring assets for taking on those contracts. I don't see the point in doing nothing with your 2 best players despite them being leaders.
