Marc Bergevin - Your thoughts on him so far?

[Lafleurs Guy]

I'm not sure what to make of this guy.

On the plus side he seems to have done a great job on the culture of this team. I loved that he didn't lock us into a big deal with Lecavalier and pretty much everything went right last year.

On the other hand, the dealings with PK were puzzling to say the least. Even if I agreed with him on a bridge contract, I don't get the hardball tactics of forcing him to take less than 3 mil per year. To me that was nuts and a real indication of inexperience.

The Briere signing was another head scratcher. Esp considering MB's own comments that we would be building through the draft and needed more size. Glaring weakness up front in terms of size and grit and a big hole on the backend. This one didn't make any sense to me at all esp since he just extended DD for four years.

It's still early days. Too soon to really know what kind of GM this guy is going to be. But I'm curious to see how people think he's doing so far...

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[MasterD]

Dresses up nicely.

Does what he can what what he was given. Gionta will soon be gone... that alone will change the make up of this team.

 

[overlords]

I feel more or less the same way about bergevin as I do about Therrien. I think they both have the attitude, philosophy, whatever you want to call it down pretty good. It's the x's and o's I'm a bit worried about. Moreso in therrien's case than bergevin's, but since this is Bergevin's thread I'll stick to him.

Like you said, changing the 'culture' could be a pretty big win for him. It's important to be able to respect the leadership in any organization or company structure.

The way PK was dealt with was weird, but I decided to see how Bergevin would stick to his guns later on. The DD contract was what made the subban saga particularly ridiculous to me. But let's not let this thread get too mired up in the whole subban thing, we've got a thread for that.

On briere: I dislike the player more than I dislike the move to acquire him. J'explique..

He's a filler move. Bergevin knows this team isn't a legit 2nd place in the east team. He wants to build from within and Briere is just a stopgap until our young guns are ready. Does he fit? Not really? Will it matter in the long run? Hopefully not.

What annoyed me more about Briere was people trying to convince themselves (and everyone else around here) that he was some sort of upgrade (or even equal to) on Gionta, when besides height, they're completely different players. One is a soft minutes, exploitation center with success on the power play. The other is a very good even strength, hard minutes winger who I'd not like to see anywhere near our powerplay anymore. But Briere, Gionta and DD are all short so lets act like small players are homogeneous.

It's still wait and see for me with regards to bergevin.

 

[Ezpz]

He still hasn't made any real roster changes. Bouillon, Drewiske and Briere are the only "Bergevin guys". Gallagher and Galchenyuk were in the system or a product of Gauthier. I'm assuming next summer is the one where Bergevin really starts to put his stamp on the team.

 

[Talks to Goalposts]

Middling. Some very good moves, some less good, some I'm fairly skeptical off.

He got hugely over-feted early on because it wasn't well recognized how plum a situation he parachuted into. He started off with a relatively competitive lineup already in place, a #3 pick and low expectations because expectations were anchored to a 15th place finish which didn't reflect the teams' true talent level in the slightest.

 

[windycity]

Generally pleased. The only move I really don't like much was re-signing DD but it's not big $ (relatively speaking) so kinda meh. The Cole-Ryder move was clever even if MR was terrible in the playoffs (although hardly alone in that regard)

 

[Smokey Thompson]

We may not have big powerfowards or an elite forward yet.
But if you take a look at our top 9 and compare it to our rivals top 9, we have a pretty strong offensive core.

Patches-Plek-Gionta
Galchenyuk-Eller-Gallagher
Bourque-DD-Briere

Our 4th line is strong and can stand their ground. We even have forwards that will not play every game! (For those who remember when we had a dman on our 4th line...)

On D, we are pretty diminutive. We could use a crease clearing dman.
But instead of overpaying for a vet, MB has decided to let our group of young rookie dman battle for a spot. This will benefit us in the coming seasons.

Aside from that need, our defense is not all that bad. We have a very young Norris winner. We have the General. Gorges brings heart and can block shots with his head. Emelin delivers crushing hits every game of the season. And Diaz, well he's a decent PMD when hes on his game.

Now our offensive top 9 combined with our 3 good PMDs means we are a high scoring possession team. (Evidenced last season). This also means we will compete this season and CAN make the playoffs.

MB knows this, and he knows our core is young.
Now, look at the Habs hf page and you will notice the sheer amount of prospects in our system. And good prospects.

Our prospect pool has talent at every position and it has size at every position.

MB could have taken advantage of this and made a bold trade.
He could have signed an overrated free agent.

Instead, he took the higher route and displayed his patience and commitment to his plan.

And for this, I approve of him.

 

[Habsterix*]

Bergevin has done an outstanding job so far. Every move is well calculated and with a purpose. He has done everything he's said he would do and he has stuck to what he's said:

• building a winner for now and the future
• building a winner through draft and development, as well as a few trades, not free agency
• will not get into bidding war and will sign players at the terms he feels are fair
• wanting to change the mind set and bringing back pride to wearing the jersey by focusing on character
• surrounded himself with an excellent team off the ice
• gave Timmins more freedom and took some of his duties away to allow him to better focus on recruiting
• wanting to put an emphasis on not missing out on local products

He seems like a very well respected hockey guy and players can't say enough about him, including many who have been traded here or who have signed as UFA.

While some moves will be questioned and/or contested, you can definitely see that there is a purpose and consistency to his actions/inaction. No one will ever satisfy everyone at 100%.

This is the first time that I'm confident in the direction this organization is taking since the early days of Serge Savard. If only fans could understand that he's been in place for just over a year and has only been able to fill his entire role for a few months only, and that Rome wasn't built in a day. But that's a lot to ask.

 

[habs03]

Pleased, and I understand that he plans to build threw the draft, and his ideal team might not be ready for 2 years, and he has went out an drafted bigger players to fill a need that should be ready in that 2 year period, but I have not been impressed with the guys he brought in for the gap between now and when those guys drafted will be ready, the DD and specially the Briere signing, there were a few other guys who would have been a better fit for the team, and got/still looking for similar contact or less than Briere's, Morrow, Jagr..

 

[Fozz]

I'm quite happy so far. I like the fact that he built the supporting team and put good people in the different roles. I also like the long-term approach, while staying away from knee-jerk reaction type moves. The goal is to build a team that will compete year-in, year-out. Also, going from 15th to 2nd in the conference wasn't a bad start at all.

 

[Sorinth]

It's tough to say since he hasn't really put his stamp on the team yet. Pretty much all his roster acquisitions have been window dressing so we haven't seen "his" team yet.

On the management side he seems to have done well but in reality we don't know if the guys he's hired are actually doing a good job or not. But I like the fact that we have a larger brain trust.

That being said there have been plenty of red flags as well. Maybe they are just rookie mistakes that will/have been corrected but they may be also be signs of something more serious.

So far I'd say he's been pretty average. Hasn't made a great move nor have one of his mistakes blown up in his face. I get the sense that we are basically just treading water.

 

[Brainiac]

Generally pleased. Some good moves, changed the culture.

The only thing is, he seems to have two standards: one for French-speaking players and another for the rest.

He's always buying low or not overpaying for anything and even underpaying in the case of Subban. Case in point: he didn't move on trade deadline and it was a very good move. This approach will be good for the long-term health of the franchise.

But when local talent is involved, the checkbook is open and a deal is always closed very fast (DD, Bouillon, Briere). And then MT follows along (using Bouillon on the PP instead of Emelin, for example).

Those moves were relatively minor and not all bad, but I hope it won't turn into a trend. I'm all for having local talent on the team, but you also need to be objective and fair. We know we'll all turn red if MT ends up overusing Briere on the PP instead of Glachenyuk or Eller.

 

[Teufelsdreck]

What extravagant overpayments are antsy fans willing to make in their hunger for roster change? What are they daydreaming about now? I'd prefer Bergevin to remain sane and stable and wait for reasonable opportunities. He's started to clean house. A few names I hated to see on the roster have been erased. A batch of prospects have been brought into the organization. I'd like to see how they perform before they're thrown away, unlike the past. By the way, I was pleased to see the Habs move up by 26 places last season. After all, they had already snared their Galchenyuk while they were near rock bottom.

 

[Kriss E]

I think it's too early to really judge yet. He's got a 48 game season under his belt with a new CBA in motion.
I liked that he wanted to focus on rebuilding through the draft, I really did. But Chicago had the luxury of finishing in the bottom for quite some time which gave them more valuable assets. So the task might be a little tougher on a team that usually has a mid-low first round pick.
I like the way he surrounded himself and the team.

As far as contract goes, it's entirely up in the air. Loved the MaxPac deal, wasn't thrilled with Price's but understood he was backed into a corner. I thought the PK negotiations were very odd, wasn't in favor of a bridge deal but understood the purpose of a 2-3year deal, getting in a dispute with him in order to sign him to a really under value deal was what really made me scratch my head. Seeing him be such a hard ball on PK only to extend DD at a very unnecessary time made me scratch it even more.
Not a fan of Briere's deal, but he does provide a solid PO presence, however I would have aimed for someone else.
Thought Prust for 4 years was a tad too long, but was happy we went after him.
Not a fan of Moen's long term deal either. I don't understand the re-signal of Drewiske especially considering the extension to Bouillon, but I'm hoping they saw something in him that he'll demo this year.
I like that he wants to focus on character guys but at the same time I don't like how he seems to completely ignore talent like the snobing of Jagr or Semin.

All in all, he's done some good things and some head scratching ones. Too early to really tell where things will go, I still feel like we're heading in the right direction but we'll have a better indication of this within a year.

 

[WhiskeySeven*]

I've either disliked every single move he's made so far or disliked the way he's made his moves.

Really want to like the guy but nothing about him makes me feel like he's different from the old bosses - and I'm not ready to commit another 8 years of very intense, very time consuming fandom to wasteful arrogance.

Last year's Habs reminded me of the Canes. Run and gun offense, bad defense, up-and-down in consecutive years. And as such I'm really not sure we're a guaranteed playoff team.

I'm not sure that Therrien is the right coach, I'm not sure that Desharnais belongs on this team, nor Briere. I'm especially not sure about what the f Bergevin thinks of the defense - it's brutal.

Trading for Drewiskie was moronic. Extending Boullion and Desharnais the way he did was beyond stupid.

Not a fan.

 

[Nom de Guerre]

I know he has to deal with a handicap when it comes to signing/attracting players (weather, taxes & language) so Im willing to give him more time to see what he can do. It did kinda irk me when he went back to Therrien as coach, but again the handicap comes into play with that vas well. Maybe the future years with him at the helm will be different. Patience my friends.

 

[General Fanager]

Funky suits and will be patient while building through the draft.....



I like both

 

[Power Man]

I approve of Bergevin

 

[Nom de Guerre]

Funky suits and will be patient while building through the draft.....



I like both

If he ever leaves hockey he can always be in Moore's commercials. Well actually now that I think about it he dresses way more nicer then anything that Moore's offers.

 

[Zathronas]

It's fun to see him doing exactly what he says he will do.

He's like the cylon he has a plan and he's sticking to it. I find the future seems bright right now.
I'll give my approval to him.

 

[Sorinth]

It's fun to see him doing exactly what he says he will do.

He's like the cylon he has a plan and he's sticking to it. I find the future seems bright right now.
I'll give my approval to him.

Except for the part where he says we need to get bigger but then goes out and makes us smaller.

There's a problem with sticking to his 5-year build through the draft plan. We are not going to be drafting top-5 picks anymore which makes it very hard to build an elite team through the draft. The fact that we are a much better team then he expected should change his plans.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Very happy. Wasn't thrilled with the amount given to Subban, but that wasn't a dealbreaker. Still not sure if the logic behind the Desharnais deal, probably the only mistake I'd attribute to him thus far. This is still very much a young operation, I'd say real judgment should be handed out after year 3.

 

[Lshap]

I'm not sure what to make of this guy.

On the plus side he seems to have done a great job on the culture of this team. I loved that he didn't lock us into a big deal with Lecavalier and pretty much everything went right last year.

On the other hand, the dealings with PK were puzzling to say the least. Even if I agreed with him on a bridge contract, I don't get the hardball tactics of forcing him to take less than 3 mil per year. To me that was nuts and a real indication of inexperience.

The Briere signing was another head scratcher. Esp considering MB's own comments that we would be building through the draft and needed more size. Glaring weakness up front in terms of size and grit and a big hole on the backend. This one didn't make any sense to me at all esp since he just extended DD for four years.

It's still early days. Too soon to really know what kind of GM this guy is going to be. But I'm curious to see how people think he's doing so far...

You and I are on the same page. I still have faith, even if Briere's contract tested it.

But notwithstanding one odd signing, I'm hoping Plan-A is still on and Bergevin's goal is building a contender through our existing core plus prospects. But at some point he has to stop building for a future and divert all assets to the present. At that stage, the job of a GM is to stop being the cautious bean-counter and become the aggressive deal-maker willing to grab whatever is needed to make a serious run for the Cup. Will Bergevin's timing be right? Will his response be aggressive enough? Here's what I'm looking for:

1) Knowing when to "Go For It": At some point, Bergevin has to decide the window is open and it's time to invest all assets in going for it now. When is "Now"? Next year's draft picks likely won't make the team until about 2018, by which time guys like Plekanec, Emelin, Prust will be on the decline. So if the Habs' sweet-spot is in a year or two, does Bergevin consider dealing next year's draft picks for NHL-ready players?

2) Making the Big Moves to acquire the missing pieces: Okay, it's 2015 and even though the team is stocked with upcoming 2nd and 3rd line prospects, nowhere in our prospect pool do we have a top-tier power forward or shutdown defenseman (in addition to Tinordi). Habs are one or two pieces away from being a contender; is Bergevin willing to overpay for that prime UFA? Does he have the balls to trade a core player to fill an even more important need? At some point between now and then, the answer better be yes, or we'll be forever stuck on an endless roller-coaster of "Almost".

 

[Account Terminated]

I'm at a wait and see stance right now.

Is he building through the draft?
Absolutely. We've seen the likes of Tinordi, Beaulieu and Pateryn get time with the club, we've seen other prospects either assigned to Hamilton for try-outs during the season (when their CHL team was done with for the season) and as soon as this off-season, where many prospects who had a good development camp received a contract. That's very promising and it gives the guys in the system more of a light at the end of the tunnel. Work hard, get better and get rewarded.

Is he building a Cup contender now and the future?
The future? Absolutely. With guys in the core like Galchenyuk, Gallagher, Pacioretty, Subban, Gorges and Price, it makes things a lot easier when it comes to surrounding them and creating a complete team. At the moment, it's tough to claim they are Cup contenders but if Bergevin can work on signing the right players when the time calls for it while leaning on his prospects to eventually make the jump, the future will remain very bright.

As for the signings; I like the Drewiske signing, don't care much for the Bouillon and Desharnais signing BUT... If I am willing to give Moen a pass on a bad season, I have to be willing to do the same for Desharnais. I like the Briere signing too, as it's a two year deal and doesn't cripple the team in the long run.

As of right now? I'd give him a B, maybe a B+. We'll see where he goes from here.

 

[the]

He would rather choose character players instead of talented players, Bergevin fail!