The Contrast In Treatments For Our Last Top Picks Between Regimes

Le Barron de HF

Justin make me proud
Mar 12, 2008
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This thread could have probably been posted in one of the Bergevin/Galchenyuk threads but I felt the premise of my post was interesting enough to warrant having its own threads, feel free to merge the thread if you have a different opinion mods.

So with all the talk of who we will be taking at 3rd overall, it got me thinking about our last two top 5 selections: Galchenyuk & Price and how the two were handled completely different by their respective regimes.

When Price was selected, there was no pressure on him and the team let him develop at his pace, which was normal considering that the team had decent depth in net with the likes of Huet, Theodore, Danis and Halak. They took their time with him, let him share the workload in his rookie season with Huet before handing him the reins when they felt he was ready (which in hindsight might have been a tad too early). When Price showed signs of struggling, his GM stood by him and backed him up.

"A lot of fans, people I’ve talked to, including my own wife, have said, ‘Why do you continually stick by Carey Price?’ ‘What is the, you know… Why does he keep putting Carey Price out there?’ is the question I’m asked. Well you know, because everybody’s saying, ‘Well, Halak… why not put him in?’ But what is there about Carey Price that you seem to be so ready to defend all the time?" - Reporter

"Well, I think Carey Price is a thoroughbred. And your wife may not recognize it, but I don’t bake bread very well either, so, you know, we each have our expertise. And Carey Price, I made a decision on Carey Price a year ago which put him in a position to gain experience. He got into a starting role at a very young age so that he could accelerate the number of games that he could play, so that he could accelerate the number of rich experience games that he could play in and at 21 years old I think he’s doing pretty darn well. And besides that, I think he plays pretty good. He’s a good goalie. And if I was playing against him, I would think, ‘Man, that’s a good goalie. Look at him, the way he plays.’ That’s why. Could you pass that on to your wife?" - Bob Gainey

Bob Gainey doubled down on a player that was quite a controversial pick in his draft year and didn't throw him under the bus in front of the media. He took the right precautions in making sure that his investment would pay off and not backfire.

Now let's look at Galchenyuk in the Bergevin era. The team selects him and proclaims him to be our solution down the middle. "We were focused on him from the beginning, he's a big centre, and that's rare," Bergevin told the Habs' French-language radio broadcaster 98.5 FM. Okay that's great.

The team decides that for his rookie season, it's better off if he stays on the wing and acclimates himself to the NHL before being put at center. Fair enough, some players have done this in the past like Seguin, good on the management on not rushing this kid. Galchenyuk puts up a respectable rookie year with 27 pts in 48 GP. The next season, once again the organization deems that it's better for his development that he stays on the wing because they don't believe he's ready just yet. Okay, the coaching staff has done a good job so far, so let's wait and see. Desharnais starts off with 1 assist in 19 GP. Despite that, Desharnais remains at center and Galchenyuk is not tried at center and that would remain the case for the rest of the season. Even during the playoffs when we were starving for goals and were blanked in our elimination game.

During the 2014-15 season, the management decides to stay status quo with Galchenyuk at wing despite witnessing Desharnais putting up less than 0.5 PPG and being largely ineffective despite playing with our best wingers during the playoffs. The one stretch that Galchenyuk was tried at center, the team was winning and he was a PPG in those 9 games. This is where fans started to get really impatient. Then to add fuel to the fire, there's the debacle on whether or not Galchenyuk had truly asked to be put back on the wing which was debunked by Galchenyuk himself saying he never requested that.

He started the next season at center with Semin (who was bought out before Christmas even arrived) and Eller who's game doesn't shine on the wing. Despite showing some positive signs, he was put back on the wing so Eller could go back at center. Desharnais was never really considered at wing and Galchenyuk's development at center took another hit. In a season that seemed like a wasted year, the team finally gave Galchenyuk a chance at center where he finished strong alongside Pacioretty. The very next season, the team decides to let Galchenyuk start at center once again and he's one of the league's top scorer before suffering a knee injury. When he comes back, the team decides to put him in a lesser role in favor of Danault. Then finally this year, the organization decides to officially pull the plug on the Galchenyuk at C experiment and forces Drouin at C or plays the likes of Byron, Hudon, L. Shaw, etc. at C before him.

...

My point here is where is the logic in all this? Galchenyuk was Bergevin's first pick and it was the team's highest selection at the draft since the team had the first overall pick in 1980. So my question here is, considering how precious a selection at this spot is and it being somewhat part of your legacy as GM, why would you treat your pick in such a baffling way? You know how hard it is to acquire top centers, you have one sitting on your lap and for some mind boggling reason, you decide to not maximize your asset. This contrast in philosophy and way of doing things between our two regimes is truly maddening. Why didn't Bergevin doubledown on Galchenyuk like Gainey did for Price? It's not like Galchenyuk has shown to be a bust a la Yakupov, the potential has always been there and he's shown stretches of excellence even at C. Gainey didn't hold Price back when he easily could have by keeping Huet for much longer or sending him down in the AHL and going with a Huet/Halak tandem in 07-08. Instead, our management decided to do the most it could to get a journeyman like Desharnais going, instead of maximizing its asset. And now instead of having a solid young defenseman like Sergachev and sticking with Galchenyuk at center, we decided to trade that asset for a winger who's forced to play at wing for no rational explanation other than pure stubborness. We would be in much better hands if we just sticked with Galchenyuk at center and kept Sergachev. Furthermore, from an asset management point of view, the way Bergevin has portrayed Galchenyuk in front of the media doesn't help his value at all so in the long run, not only will we not get fair value for him but the team that gets him will probably finally start using him at center to prove how foolish our management was in not using him.
 
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Habs Halifax

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Jul 11, 2016
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I think it's different for a Goalie to make the NHL as a 18 year old vs a forward. But I also remember back in 2012 where I wanted Galchenyuk to go back to junior cause I didn't want to burn a year of his ELC at age 18. And he missed almost his entire draft year due to injury. After he made the team in that shorten season, I think he was treated very well in year one. Gallagher and Galchenyuk played well together with no expectations or pressure. But once we needed Galchenyuk as our #1C in the following years and he was not able to play a reliable game in that role, things changed very quick. I think our need for a #1C has affected how we allowed him to develop no doubt.
 

Le Barron de HF

Justin make me proud
Mar 12, 2008
16,248
3,880
Shawinigan
I think it's different for a Goalie to make the NHL as a 18 year old vs a forward. But I also remember back in 2012 where I wanted Galchenyuk to go back to junior cause I didn't want to burn a year of his ELC at age 18. And he missed almost his entire draft year due to injury. After he made the team in that shorten season, I think he was treated very well in year one. Gallagher and Galchenyuk played well together with no expectations or pressure. But once we needed Galchenyuk as our #1C in the following years and he was not able to play a reliable game in that role, things changed very quick. I think our need for a #1C has affected how we allowed him to develop no doubt.
There's no doubt from a position standpoint and how to manage the roster on the ice it's quite different but what blows my mind more is how things were handled off the ice.
 
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Habs Halifax

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There's no doubt from a position standpoint and how to manage the roster on the ice it's quite different but what blows my mind more is how things were handled off the ice.

Agreed. Management did not handle this well with the media. The media is going to push and ask many questions because that is there job and there is many of them in Montreal. Management needs a back bone. Leafs hired Babcock and he is not afraid to fire back to the media when they get out of line. Heck, he even put the Montreal media in place when he said "If you don't like him, we will take him".

That's why I dislike the attacks towards young players. Look at the comments being made towards Drouin already. Management needs to back them up instead of criticizing them to the media.
 
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Habs Halifax

Loyal Habs Fan
Jul 11, 2016
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Something else I just remembered with Price... Remember when he told the Media to relax after we had a bad pre-season? Can't remember what season that was but it was after we traded Halak. Might be the year or two after that. Price stood up to the media as a young man and told them where to go. I don't think Galchenyuk is that type. He needed our management to support him, not join the media and criticize him.
 
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