Leaderboard

I think he means that he doesn't care much about the games currently being played....clearly we all still care about the franchise.

Indeed. The young 'uns on this board probably don't remember the rumours that the Montreal Canadiens might be leaving town. I doubt these were ever super-serious, but just let that sink in. It was thinkable that the Habs leave town. That's how crap the entire situation was from top to bottom. Bergevin is an inept imbecile, but at least he had all the qualifications needed to be a serious candidate for GM. Houle was basically a beer-shilling PR man thrown into the job because Corey couldn't find anyone else on short notice after his panic decision to fire the accomplished Serge Savard. As bad as Bergevin's moves and non-moves have been, he committed no atrocity on a scale comparable to the Roy trade (imagine if we had traded PK Subban for Karl Alzner, now you're getting the picture); nor did he hire any coach as catalclysmically unqualified and moronic as Blueberry. It is difficult to overstate the sheer amateur-hour ineptitude of the Houle era, it really is. I like to read this thread thinking, not of the worst Habs teams, but the most disappointing Habs teams of my recollection. My ranking is as follows: 1. 2008-09. The 100th anniversary team was supposed to be the culmination of the Gainey rebuild. Instead it became a tire-fire, leading Gainey to launch the most radical reconstruction of an organization I've ever seen. 2. 1991-92. Team that led the league in the overall standings for much of the season crapped out down the stretch and put in one of the most lacklustre, impotent playoff performances I've ever seen a supposed contender put in. Deep problems in the room and with the coach, both corrected in spectacular fashion by GM Savard. 3. 2015-16. Team that should have been poised for "the next step" and which completely dominates the league for the first 20 games loses its goaltender and absolutely collapses. Subsequent decisions in response to this exposed Bergevin as incompetent - thus the season was the harbinger of doom for our hopes for the new regime. 4. 2011-12. Pretty promising, if imperfect, team craps out due to injuries to Markov, the complete evaporation of Scott Gomez, internal rebellion against the coach and GM , and the GM's farcical attempts to grapple with the mess. 5. 2017-18. The profile seemed clear: the Habs were a solid bet to make the playoffs and an equally solid bet to be an early exit. But Bergevin's asinine decisions, plus Price's mysterious descent into mediocrity, deprived us of even the modest pleasures of watching a non-contender make the playoffs, turning the year into the world's longest funeral dirge.

Evans said in an interview fairly recently (paraphrased), "Montreal believed in me when nobody else did." and had indicated he would sign in Montreal as Commandant noted. As far as pure speculation towards his intent, well... he's Canadian (from Toronto), so probably has no problem living in Laval like some American-born players might. Habs depth at center is so bad he might be the #1 or #2 guy in Laval next year, and could be a #3 center in Montreal the year after... so he's probably not going to get a better trajectory towards the NHL anywhere else. And by signing his contract this year with Montreal, he banks himself an extra year of a signing bonus. I'd speculate he has more reasons to sign with Montreal than anywhere else.

Price's mediocrity this season has been puzzling and, if I were the frettin' type, worrisome. It's almost an under-played story, because Machine is right. If he'd showed up, this team would probably be burbling around the playoff threshold and we could all still be fantasizing about some sort of inexplicable miracle run, despite having a garbage roster.

Worst team? Probably not. Worst to watch though...? ZzzzzzzzZzzzzz

This is not worse than the 99 - 2001 teams

I doubt anyone in the Habs dressing room respects bergevin.

It isn't so clear. As the only aim of these last 20-30 games are focused on the future. So if don't care how Juulsen-Lernout-Lehkonen-Scherbak-Hudon-Galchenyuk-Drouin-Lindgren-Reilly-Carr look for the next month's play, clearly seems mustn't have a whole lot of interest in 18-19 season neither. A fan who only cares about team when winning, not much of a fan is it? Game in Tampa was entertaining, wasn't it? What more do you want, at this stage of season?