Bergevin made great moves to get close to Cup. Weber probably biggest one as until calling meeting in Toronto that team was dead in water.
It’s hard to say Bergevin made good moves to get the team close to a cup when the team wouldn’t have even made the playoffs if it wasn’t for the pandemic and the Canadian division. It’s also well documented he wanted Cody Glass over Suzuki in the Pacioretty trade. He got lucky. In almost 10 years, you would expect a GM to stumble upon players like Danault and Petry. He really did f*** all else to get talent a tier better then guys like that. Price was there when he was hired and he swapped two #1 D’s to get Weber and he had to give up the younger player with more upside at the time to get the deal done.
All teams had to play under same rules. Bottom line is Berg's got to Cup finals others didn't. Yes, Subban younger player but team lacked leadership. He was disgruntled in dressing room. Bergs addressed it with Weber which paid off in aces during Toronto series.
This stuff happens to every team, gms get lucky and unlucky. He still thought Suzuki was a good enough piece for Pacioretty when he could have easily declined if he was dead set on Glass who was probably the best prospect in hockey at the time and injuries ruined his career, was he supposed to predict that when nobody else in the world did?
All teams didn’t have to play threw the same rules during Covid. That’s the thing. We only played 6 out of 31 other teams all season. And the Canadian teams were weak. We don’t make the playoffs if we were placed in any other division. That run was a lot of fun for a lot of reasons but there’s a big asterisk next to that season. Bergevin inherited a great core and did nothing with it. I like Suzuki and Caufield but they aren’t looking like the main players you would build a team around. They’d be better off as a support cast. The jury is still out on Hughes but we can’t pretend like he was given the same advantages when he started that Bergevin had. Bergevin didn’t have to spend years cleaning up another persons mess. He was even lucky enough to have a compliance buyout for someone like Gomez who was really the only trash that needed to be cleaned up. I’m sure Hughes would’ve loved to have one of those to clear one or the many awful contracts we’ve had the last few seasons.
Bergs said he built his team for Canadian division. Knew Ottawa and Flames unlikely to make it. He thought Oilers and Toronto were top heavy. We were built on heart, big heavy defense in front of good goalie. If it went long series he liked our chances. Against the Jets he thought our odds were 50/50. Once Sch was suspended in went in our favour. He figured odds good we get final 4.
I’m thinking Mews as a solid RD prospect if he’s still there although a lot of boards see him sooner.
Like I said, the jury is out on Hughes. The way he’s being evaluated is different then Bergevin. Hugo didn’t have a 24 year old HOF goalie, 23 year old Norris defenseman, Pacioretty coming into his prime, Markov with years left in the tank, etc. they had to start from scratch. There’s things I’ve liked and things I haven’t but as a fan I’m willing to be more flexible because they’re cleaning up a mess that had been accumulating since around 2016. The things that you brought up as failures early are pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Allen regardless of contract was never going to be a big trade pawn and Anderson, due to the ridiculous contract Bergevin gave him, was always going to be more complicated to move then it should’ve been. I’m not saying you’re out of line for being questioning these things, but I think it’s a little premature to go after this management team.
You mentionned many trade that Hughes have done and you seems to say that he loose those trade. But in fact. If Hugues wouldnt have trade lehkonen, Toffoli. The team stick into the no man’s land and this is l’the last thing you want. Casey desmith had no value last summer and still hasnt value. Maybe a 4th round pick for him. We received a 3rd with Pearson.
Danault has pretty much decided to go on the UFA market. He knows also the health conditions of Weber and Price and knew the team would have to re-construct. As for Dvorak, he was acquired after KK decided to sign the Canes' offer sheet - which happened many weeks after Danault went to LA. Bergevin did not had much choice to acquire a centerman. He had only Suzuki and Evans. Yes Bergevin did lots of mistakes over the last couple of years as GM like giving fat contracts to Gally, Armia, Price and Anderson who was the first suprised to be offered that big long contract.
The difference, to me, is that Bergevin looked at every transaction individually. He tried really hard not to lose transactions, but he didn't plan for the team and he didn't acquire players who would fit. He made some really interesting moves to pick up some players but the supporting moves were terrible. In years where he needed one more good player he picked up multiple scrubs who then got ice time. In years where they needed one decent second pairing defencemen he cycled through retreads. Bergevin also failed to get along with players and bashed them in the media. He needed to retain some or all of Markov, Radulov, Danault, and there may have been other factors but his interactions with them, especially through the media, stunk. The state of the franchise was bad, too, bad coaching, little support for players off ice, bad PR.
In two years, Hughes has added much, and had to get rid of a ton of crap left behind....
No the Canadian division was significantly weaker than other divisions.
Loved the Hoffman cleanup. After next season, we'll only have Anderson and Gallagher to clean up.
If Hugo can liquidate Gally, a shrine will be built for those two.
may buy him out in summer 2025. We'll see who needs roster spots then...
I ........... agree............. he.......... was ............ brutal.............. GM
That honestly doesn't look so bad the difference between a couple rankings has got to be a miniscule amount of points. But ah pretty sure they are actually wrong as Boston should be 1st, and Tampa 4th which does change things a bit but it's debateable whether having a couple very good teams but also a couple extra really bad teams makes a division harder. Like you'll lose more against those good teams but win more against the bad teams, so it might even out and the division that's almost all middle of the pack teams is actually tougher because there's less "free" points for the taking.
Are you sure? I usually check before I post.
But right now our vets are not the kind a team who is in a rebuilt wish to have. Young players doesn't learn anything playing with Dvorak. What a young player learn playing with Gallagher, Evans, Wideman and Hoffman? All these vets are better than Danault, Lehkonen and Toffoli?
