Marc Bergevin: Tilting at Windmills Edition

[isthatso]

No, that's weird, I was about to reply and say great post, but then I was interrupted, so I got up to check on something, I must have clicked the button without typing any text. Surprised the site even allows that.

A lot of posts (including this one), even when including text, are quite the same in terms of content as what you just posted. They would have to ''not allow'' a LOT of posts for lack of content if they'd go that way!

 

[Runner77]

But Marc, you led me to believe Domi is better ...

 

[OldCraig71]

That's pretty much what I noticed too. When we still lived under the same roof, our family used to watch the games together, my parents, my sister and me. I played for many years, my father coached for even longer and even my mother was involved. When we started our own families, we still watched religiously from our respective living rooms and talk about it every time we met, but now we don't talk about it at all. It's like it doesn't even exists anymore. I had a conversation with a new neighbor who's about my age and he seemed to have a similar family/hockey tradition and he told me it was the same thing for him. Many people told me that.

Being mad at the team for being bad is one thing, but I never thought it could get to this point. Of course things could get better and they'll win us back, someday, but Bergevin/Molson will always be remembered as one of the worst management team in this team's history, if not the worst. The feeling of waking up in the morning thinking "Yesss, game day!" seems like a very distant memory. I'm not joking, it feels like I'm mourning right now.

Such a great post.

 

[roy munson]

I've bypassed the mourning step altogether. I find the whole thing amusingly disturbing. It's bizarro entertainment. Only x-factor is how can they make it worse cause you damn well know they will.

I envy you. Wish I could bypass this part, it's not fun at all. I know "it's just hockey" but I feel there's some really important part of me that's missing (I'm sure I'm not alone). But at the same time I get the amusingly disturbing part, like a friend told me, It's like you want the insurance money to build a new house, but you have to sit in the yard waiting for it to burn down before you can build a better one

 

[Brainiac]

everyone is signed, with still 7 million in free cap space.

What will MB do?

It's even more than everyone. We actually have too many bodies on the roster. 15 forwards... we have a complete 5th line!

A couple of guys will actually have to go. So we have more like 9M in cap space.

 

[Kriss E]

That's pretty much what I noticed too. When we still lived under the same roof, our family used to watch the games together, my parents, my sister and me. I played for many years, my father coached for even longer and even my mother was involved. When we started our own families, we still watched religiously from our respective living rooms and talk about it every time we met, but now we don't talk about it at all. It's like it doesn't even exists anymore. I had a conversation with a new neighbor who's about my age and he seemed to have a similar family/hockey tradition and he told me it was the same thing for him. Many people told me that.

Being mad at the team for being bad is one thing, but I never thought it could get to this point. Of course things could get better and they'll win us back, someday, but Bergevin/Molson will always be remembered as one of the worst management team in this team's history, if not the worst. The feeling of waking up in the morning thinking "Yesss, game day!" seems like a very distant memory. I'm not joking, it feels like I'm mourning right now.

They are the worst duo to me because of their attitudes, how ironic is that...
Bergevin who keeps talking about attitude and character but insults the intelligence of journalists or fans with his moronic remarks. His unwarranted smugness, as if he was a gift from God and the most intelligent man in the room, yet he can't speak properly in either of his languages.
Molson who adds more to this being discussing food at the bell center when the organization is in a complete mess.

As bad as Houle and Corey was, I never thought they were stupid men. They were just bad at their jobs, which is actually quite common. The two guys in there now though, I truly feel they are stupid, making them worse.

 

[Laurentide]

Lost my dad in 1991 and he used to loathe pro sports, especially hockey. And here I am at a similar stage, where I can easily take a pass on what's going on this year. My dad would be proud of me.

My dad was a sports nut in his youth and early adulthood. Once he hit his forties (in the late 1970's) he became increasingly cynical and more critical about all sports and only watched occasionally after that. I don't think he's paid to watch a live sporting event in decades. He still follows enough to know that the Habs suck and why, but he doesn't sit through many, if any, games anymore.

I too, was obsessed with sports into my forties. I used to plan my life around when a game was taking place. Almost my entire life took a back seat to my passion for sports. When I decided to go to university in Montreal a big factor in my decision was the knowledge that I would be able to go to a lot of Habs and Expos games and watch them on TV free of the blackouts I had to endure as a youth living in Leafs and Jays country. And when I moved to the West Coast 26 years ago the yearly visit from the Habs was like a secular holiday. In those pre-internet days I would line up at a Ticketmaster kiosk in the Pacific Center Mall on the day single game Canucks tickets went on sale. I'd buy 4 of them, then sprint down to the other end of the mall where there was another Ticketmaster outlet inside the Eaton's store and I'd buy 4 more tickets there (there was a 4 ticket limit imposed due to the popularity of the Habs. That was in the days before teams figured out that they could just jack up the price of tickets for "premium" games)

Of course, back then, Habs games in Vancouver were practically guaranteed wins. It took a few years for me to witness a loss at the hands of the Canucks. In the last decade losing those games in Western Canada has become pretty much routine. I expect them to lose now, and because I do, I am less enthusiastic about schlepping downtown and paying a king's ransom for a ticket to watch those clowns embarrass me yet again.

And since the last lock-out, I've not watched games as faithfully as I did before. I used to pay for RDS when they had all the games blackout free but once the blackouts came into effect I stopped watching except on weekends when the games were on CBC or Sportsnet or City. Eventually I found better things to do on many Saturday nights and wasn't interested in spending any time watching a PVR'd recording later on. I simply lost interest. I have no passion for it anymore. Posting on boards such as this is about all I have the energy for. I can't sit through 60 minutes of defense-first hockey and I don't care enough about any other team to watch their games either. If a hockey game is on in competition with a non-Blue Jays baseball game or even a CFL game, the NHL game is probably losing out on my TV these days. The Habs have sucked the life out of me. I just don't care if they live or die anymore. I can't even get worked up about the possibility of the Leafs winning a Cup anymore. I have always dreaded it on principle, but if it happened now I don't think I'd even care anymore.

 

[badbrains]

Absolute indifference is pretty much where I'm at with this team and have been for a couple of years.

I didn't watch even one full game last season, I went a decade or more rarely missing one or two all year long. No more.

Used to look forward to watching games with my young kids as they grow up as I did with my dad. This year I'm building a small rink in the yard and instead of supporting this disaster of a team I'll get outside and try to teach my kids about and enjoy the sport of hockey again.

Hockey was fun once upon a time, anyone else remember that?

 

[jiboy]

I still love hockey , its true habs have been pretty depressing to watch since the Subban trade. I like the way we have been drafting recently.

Most great teams of the present have had to go through "accidental tanking" and we seem to be at this stage. With a little lottery/timing luck we might make it back to respectability in 2-3 years.

 

[Roke]

I still love hockey , its true habs have been pretty depressing to watch since the Subban trade. I like the way we have been drafting recently.

Most great teams of the present have had to go through "accidental tanking" and we seem to be at this stage. With a little lottery/timing luck we might make it back to respectability in 2-3 years.

Unfortunately mos of those teams did their tanking before the draft lottery odds got flattened. It's a more difficult path now.

 

[admiralcadillac]

That's pretty much what I noticed too. When we still lived under the same roof, our family used to watch the games together, my parents, my sister and me. I played for many years, my father coached for even longer and even my mother was involved. When we started our own families, we still watched religiously from our respective living rooms and talk about it every time we met, but now we don't talk about it at all. It's like it doesn't even exists anymore. I had a conversation with a new neighbor who's about my age and he seemed to have a similar family/hockey tradition and he told me it was the same thing for him. Many people told me that.

Being mad at the team for being bad is one thing, but I never thought it could get to this point. Of course things could get better and they'll win us back, someday, but Bergevin/Molson will always be remembered as one of the worst management team in this team's history, if not the worst. The feeling of waking up in the morning thinking "Yesss, game day!" seems like a very distant memory. I'm not joking, it feels like I'm mourning right now.

Fans are fickle what a surprise

 

[roy munson]

They are the worst duo to me because of their attitudes, how ironic is that...
Bergevin who keeps talking about attitude and character but insults the intelligence of journalists or fans with his moronic remarks. His unwarranted smugness, as if he was a gift from God and the most intelligent man in the room, yet he can't speak properly in either of his languages.
Molson who adds more to this being discussing food at the bell center when the organization is in a complete mess.

As bad as Houle and Corey was, I never thought they were stupid men. They were just bad at their jobs, which is actually quite common. The two guys in there now though, I truly feel they are stupid, making them worse.

Agreed, IMO as bad as those two were - especially Houle - the biggest difference was it still felt like they were on our side, they really cared about the team. With Molson/Bergevin it's us vs them and they care more about the brand (I'm pretty sure Subban was a victim of that). If they put as much effort on the on-ice product as they put into merchandise, image and branding we'd win the Cup every other year. Houle was really devastated while Bergevin seems more worried about his reputation and personal image, it feels like his moves are trying to prove how good he is instead of how good they made the team. That's why when people say hit them where it hurts the most (beer, tickets, etc), I couldn't agree more.

 

[Belial]

Come on man, dont bull**** with me. I've been arguing with you for years and I know your English is pretty damn good. A simple proof read on your part would have caught that. Besides, I was only busting your balls.

I haven't argued about Galchenyuk since the week he was traded. I hate the trade, think Domi isnt even close to the caliber of player that Galchenyuk is, have noted that the trade will look putrid by December, but I can honestly say I'm done pounding on that drum. He's gone, time to let the horse die and stop beating on it.

Besides, we still have Drouin and Danault to argue over, so let's just concentrate on the players that are still here instead of bringing up Galchenyuk.

Fine my friend, what do you want to argue about today?

 

[BLONG7]

MB fired yet? Just checking in...fingers crossed. If finishing 28th out of 31st didn't do it...?

 

[Runner77]

MB fired yet? Just checking in...fingers crossed. If finishing 28th out of 31st didn't do it...?

As we await his firing, we're witnessing MB's stamp on this forum yet again, seeing that the top three player threads in the list while I typed this post, were in order, about Lernout, Plekanec and X. Ouellet.

 

[BLONG7]

As we await his firing, we're seeing MB's stamp on this forum seeing that the top three player threads in the list while I typed this post, were in order, about Lernout, Plekanec and X. Ouellet.

Dats some taaalent and some depp right dere eh...in MB we trust!!

 

[theghost1]

Bergevin talks about how important the draft is then why is he not acquiring more draft picks.....acquire players on LTIR....Franzen with Detroit...MacArthur with Ottawa....also sign players like Enstrom,Sbisa,Franson to 1 year deals who you could flip at the deadline.

 

[Runner77]

Based on the way this year's UFAs scampered away from Bergevin and left him with even more cap space than last year, we can't even look forward to next year's UFA crop. That cap space is wasted. All he can do is use it to acquire more Armia clones.

 

[Peanut]

One would think a golden boy wouldn't start the season on the 4th line wing and always get crapped on lol

One would think a golden boy would be gift wrapped 1C despite never producing there before and having the french/Coaches Son Card and not being crapped on despite a worst performance than said previously player lol

 

[Miller Time]

Bergevin talks about how important the draft is then why is he not acquiring more draft picks.....acquire players on LTIR....Franzen with Detroit...MacArthur with Ottawa....also sign players like Enstrom,Sbisa,Franson to 1 year deals who you could flip at the deadline.

That would require vision, competence & a plan...

MB possesses none of those competencies, so it is of no use to expect that from him.

 

[OldCraig71]

Based on the way this year's UFAs scampered away from Bergevin and left him with even more cap space than last year, we can't even look forward to next year's UFA crop. That cap space is wasted. All he can do is use it to acquire more Armia clones.

Truth, there was no plan to rebuild and we all know it. He fell flat on his smug face in free agency and now some are making it look like he knew that the team he inherited was just not good enough and this is his way of turning things around. I am no GM but give me a team with Subban, Eller, Pacioretty, Galchenyuk, Sergachev, Markov and yes even Emelin and I don't think that it wouldn't be a big mountain to climb to make that team a contender. Add Radulov and I forgot Price and damn, get a veteran center to do the heavy lifting to buy time for Chuck and Lars and man, we are in great shape but yeah, this team was not good enough. I think we need more Benn and Armia types, keep up the good work Marc.

 

[CalgarySnow]

Ok Brouwer has cleared waivers, has Bergevin been reined in? No signing yet

 

[DAChampion]

Ok Brouwer has cleared waivers, has Bergevin been reined in? No signing yet

Can someone remind me the point of waivers In the summer?

 

[groovejuice]

As we await his firing, we're witnessing MB's stamp on this forum yet again, seeing that the top three player threads in the list while I typed this post, were in order, about Lernout, Plekanec and X. Ouellet.

 

[Runner77]

What is this, a "summit" at the BC for season ticket holders? I'll be darned ...

Text says it's an exclusive invitation to present next season's novelties. They'll be able to interact with past and present Habs, Youppi! and participate at a question and answer session with the three stooges, Molson, Bergevin and Julien.

And now for the pièce de résistance ... our new hotdogs!!!! Did we mention our soon to be bottled Marijuana beer?