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Came into this thread hoping for some new juicy trade rumour talk. Instead got to hear about the Weber/Subban trade.

Bergevin's defenders seem to fixate on the 'trade deadline' issue. This is missing the forest for the trees. This GM inherited a good core and has been absolutely unable to improve it. Meanwhile the farm system is a desert. That's crap performance, period.

For years, we've heard GMs and hockey talking heads muse about building a team from the net out. Is that how the league really works now, though? We've got a great goalie, a solid top 4 (ok, we can debate if it's a top 3 or not). Where has that gotten the Habs? Even going back to Theodore, we've had a decent goalie between the pipes. Not goal scoring, that's for sure. I remember meeting with Pierre Lacroix during a preseason meet n greet many years ago, and he mentioned then that he was a proponent of building down the middle (easy to say when you've got Roy). Have the past few GMs for Montreal been so focused on net-out thinking, that they've simply missed the boat? Of course, there are three teams that scored fewer goals than Montreal that qualified for the post season. Two of those three teams are still playing (Ottawa, Anaheim). Go figure.

There was once talk that Hamilton was not liked in Calgary and was on the trade block but that talk disappeared around Christmas. He had a 50 point season. Also he's a right defenceman. Brodie/Bennett for Galchenyuk/Beaulieu is closer.

Again, lets look at the team Bergevin took over in 2012. What was the biggest need? Centre. For four straight years he started the season with a centre group of Plekanec, Desharnais, Eller. Four straight seasons those were our top 3 centres on day one of the year. In the fifth year he had Galchenyuk, Plekanec, Desharnais starting the season. and Danault, Plekanec, Shaw (injured so Flynn came in, but I'm gonna say Shaw cause he would have been the centre if not hurt). finishing the season. So for 4 years he did nothing to help the problem, and in year 5 he re-arranged the deck chairs on the titanic.

He undoubtedly thought it was the right thing to do. He was wrong. So it's quite appropriate to call him out.

I know. It fits Bergevin's MO.

The trade did not make the team any better. Therefore, the whole argument that Weber 'fit better into the style of play' is nugatory. If we acquired a guy to 'fit into the system' then the rationale had to be that it would improve the team. Yet we were no better in our own end, did not score more goals, did not win more games, did not do any better in the playoffs, and the team character was described by the GM as 'fragile.' The results, rationally examined, show that the trade was a futile lateral move to please a coach who should have been fired and soon was. Anyhow,. this is the 'trade proposal' thread. The question returns: Galy for what return from the Rags? I'm honestly curious.

Kind of hard for Galchenyuk to create space at centre in the playoffs when he's being placed as a third/fourth line winger.

I'm not a cheerleader but I'm not sure what your point is either. Some teams are also worse than they were 5 years ago. Do you really think every team's path is / over a 5 year period? That's not how it works and the only difference between three years ago and today is that Price wasn't the best player in the league. Unfortunately, even if we do acquire a top 6 center, Price is still going to have to play better than Condon did last season and also better than he did this season in February. The aura around the team was never about Pacioretty or even Subban. 3 years ago, teams came into our barn knowing they would be hard pressed to get a puck by Price even if they skated circles around our team. That aura is the main difference between 3 years ago and today. Not the players in front of him. I definitely think Bergevin has made mistakes but I also think most GMs have as well. It's part of the business and extremely difficult to not have happen. He's not the best GM in the league but he's also not the first one in the league who should be fired as much as my passionate side actually did have a little bit of a negative outlook heading into next season after we lost to the Rangers. I will be joining the negative side of the fence if no moves are made this summer to address our top 6 center issue and will also be joining those with the pitchforks by the end of next year if there's a similar outcome. I do think it's too early in this most recent wave of change to criticize him fully. We could have doubled down on speed but instead he traded Andrighetto (who I liked more than anyone on here) and Desharnais (who is certainly an NHLer but had to go) and picked up players with size. We have a clear picture of what he's trying to do. If that method doesn't work and you were right about how we should have doubled down on speed, then you will have been right. The writing isn't on the wall yet though.

I think it's not only our weak centres but our week d-core that cost us in the playoffs. Outside of Weber, markov and benn the rest of the guys did nothing. If you look at playoff runs its strong goaltending and strong play from the back end. we don't need a elite centre we can get by with 2 guys that can create space. Which plekanec and galchenyuk don't seem to do come playoff time. we also need to revamp our d-core. Get some fast puck moving guys in there. I think that's what cost us the most.

Boo hoo is the theme of 99% of the posts that you make, always complaining about something. So I find it funny that you use that to describe someone who is generally positive. I tend to pick on the things you say because they are quite often very outlandish and illogical. It's like you just spew out a bunch of words without thinking about it whatsoever. Somewhere in the rants are little pieces of things that make some sense and can be considered as factual, but it's hard to sift through it all to get to that. Case in point: " I would be happy to trade a player for 10 cents on the dollar". Really? Is that what you really think or is it all for dramatic effect? Because as a reader it's hard to take you seriously. " I was happy that they traded Subban for a player in decline because I felt slighted at an event" Really? I've only posted hundreds of times about that damn trade, and if that's what it is you get from everything I've wrote, then your reading comprehension needs work. To summarize: I was pissed off Subban got traded, then I grew to learn more about Shea Weber. And then I got excited about how he would fit in, and I still am happy with how the trade effected the team this season. I referenced an event I attended specifically to see Subban where he was a dick head because at the time the thread was talking about his personality.

I'm sorry but if you're not rebuilding and you run the Montreal Canadiens, your goal better be to win the Stanley Cup. Nothing else matters. I would extend that to any team but it goes tenfold for one of the most celebrated sports teams in North America. Heck the world. I supported Bergevin quite aggressively in previous years (2015-16 is where he lost me) because I felt he was trying to do what it took to win. The goal was the Cup. And then in 15-16 he did nothing to fix the goaltending when we were still in first and gave up on the year early. Trading Subban was the final straw. It was clear he didn't know how to build a Stanley Cup winning franchise. He just knew how to tweak an existing franchise to his liking. If you are fine with winning divisions and meaningless games in October that's you. Keep doing you. But I will never accept a "very good" team. Go for a Cup or suck until you have the team to go for a Cup. In between is just a slow death.

Trades are easy, you can magically acquire whoever you want for whatever crap you want to give. Drafting is even easier, predicting the future on a kid who has yet to fully grow into a man is no problem. Only the Montreal Canadiens are entitled to win the Cup each year, if they don't, it's a huge upset. Regular season results mean nothing, who cares about all of those happy moments in your life when they won and how good it felt to be leading the division all season. I want a Cup and if they don't win it I am going to flip out and trash the team that I love.

The fact that I think Galchenyuk has a MUCH higher ceiling should be obvious. Galchenyuk should be untouchable unless he is part of a package for someone like McKinnon or barkov. But im sure someone like you would be happy to trade him for 10 cents in the dollar, just as you were happy that they traded Subban for a guy in decline- all because you felt he slighted you at an event. Boo hoo hoo ill will. Whatever.

Great post. When a team loses there are going to be fingers pointed, and people are going to be pointing them in different directions So you're saying that if our best goal scorers Galchenyuk and Pacioretty would have scored just 1 goal each that would have made the difference. Glad we cleared that up

Trades are hard. Drafting is hard. Developing is hard. Not everyone can win. This isn't a videogame you know. Not everyone gets a chance at the Cup. Be happy with regular season results. They will soon be putting division winner banners up in the rafters to celebrate this team.