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Personally, I think he may be the best-dressed GM in the NHL.

This post, with some fun using math, suggests Timmins is not that bad at drafting and that maybe MB is not as bad as some say at developing through the draft : https://recrutes.ca/4773-2/

You're asking for something that's entirely unrealistic though. Non-playoff teams aren't moving unprotected first-round picks for guys that are going to be unrestricted free agents next season. They're not moving protected first-round picks for them either. They'd be insane to do so. The mishaps with Duchene and Karlsson will have teams putting lottery protections on almost all draft pick trades moving forward so that they don't risk the same thing happening. You can want to trade for an unprotected first-rounder all you want but it's not going to happen, at least with those guys.

Good post, and fair. Where we may differ is that I am more skeptical about the new plan working out. By "working out," I mean enabling the Habs to become enduring, top-end contenders in the medium term. I just don't think we have enough top-end young talent to achieve that, and I also worry about our best players aging out. So I'm somewhat more negative about MB. That said, I'm not sure I want him fired anymore either. A new GM would have to come in and basically keep the identical plan, so any upgrade would have to be in the execution of the plan, rather than in its design. And every time you fire the GM, a whole lot is lost in the transition - coaches get canned, there is upheaval throughout the organization, players get shipped out without full evaluation, etc.. He should have been fired in 2018, but at this point we might as well keep him around until the result of the "retool" has clarified itself. If the result is, as I expect, a good-not-great team, then that's not sufficient, and the GM position should be revisited at that point. Not that it will be, because at the end of the day the Habs are the way the Leafs used to be - happy as long as the fans are drinking the Kool-Aid and the money is rolling in.

Oops! Forgot about Caulfield. Carry on But actually, taking Caulfield into account increases the desirability of signing Kovy2 over Tatar. The latter will probably want a longer-term deal (4-5 years). What we need is a guy like Kovy2 on a 2-year deal to give Caulfield time to develop. One could argue that Byron could be that transitional piece, but as you may recall, I have always been skeptical about the likelihood of Byron being a legit top-6 guy into his 30s. And even if he is, Kovy2 is a massive upgrade in any case.

Bergevin from 13 to 18 was reactionary and changed his game plan constantly. I hated him and wanted him gone. The new Bergevin is making some solid moves and being patient. I want to see the new plan play out, because overall, I like what I see. I also understand people's frustrations when looking at his job as a whole. It is quite poor overall.