Does Marc Bergevin have a plan?

[REV-G]

I'm sure we've all heard the media clamour over MB's press conference following the close of the trade deadline. Many reporters said they were left totally confused over his comments and at the end they said they had no idea what his plan was. They said he looked very tired, had a sore back and wasn't putting his sentences together very well and ended up contradicting himself. So is he confused, was he just tired, or was he hiding his real plan which will be unfolded this June and July?

 

So my question is, does it seem like MB has a plan.In the Gazette on Feb. 27 Claude Julian said MB does have a well thought out strategy but they're not going to tell everyone. So here are some observations. 

 

Draft:

1. Clearly he is putting a lot of emphasis on the draft, as he has each year for the past while. Unless we get lucky we probably won't get a generational player who will help turn this team around very quickly but we will add some very good prospects who will likely still be a few years developing. So it's unlikely immediate help will be coming from this years draft. 

2. There are some former draft picks who may help us. Romanov will likely be with us next year but how much will a 20 year old first year defenceman be able to help us? I've heard two insiders, Craig Button last week was one, who said emphatically that Cole Caulfield is 18 months away and it will be a big mistake to bring him up sooner. He said CC needs to go back to school for at least another year. 

3. Can we package a core piece with our 1st and something else to get nearer the 1st pick? Is it worth it this year? 

 

Our Core-forwards:

1. I like our players a lot but I'm beginning to wonder if I've jumped on the loyalty bandwagon and am overvaluing our players. I've heard many TV hockey insiders repeatedly say that we simply don't have enough talent or enough depth. They say we are flawed. 

2. Injuries played a big role this year. We had more than our share, but other teams with may injuries still managed to have players step up. Our two long losing streaks seemed to highlight our lack of depth so we didn't have those who could step up. 

3. With the core that we have we've missed the playoffs 3 out of the last 4 years. Can this core get us into the playoffs and win a round or two? Next year if we add one or two drafted players and perhaps a high profile free agent or two will that be enough? In the state that we're in can we attract a high profile free agent?  

 

Our Core-defence:

1. After Weber, Petry and Chariot do we have enough talent? I know we have injuries but when I look past those top 3 do we have a solid NHL defence? 

 

Goalies:

1. Carey Price has struggled for much of this year very possibly due to being overworked and not a strong enough defence. We have not had a solid backup and CP has played 4 more games than any other goalie in the league this year. This used to be a huge position of strength but that's not the case this year. Can he bounce back? 

 

Special teams: 

1. The best power play on the road and the worst at home? One of the worst penalty killing in the league. Is this the players, the coach, the system?

 

Coaches:

1. From my perspective we've got good coaches. I don't think this is a coaching problem either at the NHL or AHL level.

 

So I wonder what MB's plan is? Does he have a solid plan. If it is to sign one or two free agents, what if like other years that doesn't happen? Plan B?

Does he make some hockey trades. If he does can we get back pieces that are much better than what we have so we're improved? 

Does he believe we have enough prospects so he finally is willing to package some prospects and picks and combine that with a core piece or two and upgrade us significantly? 

 

So my question is, does a plan exist?  What is the best plan? Is there a plan that can significantly improve us to get us out of no man's land where we laughed at the Leafs for so many years? 

What do you think? 

 

 

[Habsfan89]

Well I guess since we won't be talking  trades anymore, only thing left is Bergevin till the draft 😂.

 

I have brought this up in other posts, if he still believes in this group of players he has a 2 year window to try and win a cup with them.

 

I say this because in 2 years time we will be seeing another change over in players.  Lehkonen will be a RFA, Weal, Gallagher, Tatar, Petry, Armia and Danault will all be UFA's, Weber will be 36 and Price 34.  So IN my honest opinion this summer he should be going all in and trying to win a cup.

 

Otherwise you use next year to see who you're going to keep and who you're going to trade away in 2 years time.

[Commandant]

Do we have to do this thread over and over every three-four weeks?  I think we all know where everyone else stands on bergevin now.

 

Since January 1st we have had these three threads... plus every other thread ends up a discussion of bergevins plan too.

 

 

 

 

[Prime Minister Koivu]

Many threads questioning whether MB is competent or not? Maybe fans are fed up with him?

[alfredoh2009]

If you look at the number of expiring contracts in 2021, coinciding with the expansion draft 

I think it is clear there is a plan that has been vetted internally, agreed upon and strictly followed for now 

 

Draft picks have been targeted: centres two years ago, defenders one year ago.

This year, they have loaded on draft picks again.

They only have two potentially crippling contracts (Price, Weber) and one that may tie their hands in Byron

 

The way Bouchard is coaching and how they have shipped out career AHLers is also indicative of the plan

 

—-

what can be added to this thread that hasn’t been said? 

[Habsfan89]

1 hour ago, Commandant said:

Do we have to do this thread over and over every three-four weeks?  I think we all know where everyone else stands on bergevin now.

 

Since January 1st we have had these three threads... plus every other thread ends up a discussion of bergevins plan too.

 

 

 

 

Just think you have 8 months to go until the start of next season. What's the over/under on Bergevin topic's 🤔

[alfredoh2009]

Over/under three and a half (3.5) of team problems fixed: (1) elite LD, (2) .910 20-game backup goalie, (3) forward addition to bring PP  home/away to league median, (4) defender addition to bring Pk  home/away to league median; (5) drafting of elite prospect in 2020

 

-> I think he will be under, fixing two out of five by the beginning of next season. 

[TheDriveFor25]

He clearly knows he needs a big star.. which is why they signed Aho to that terrible offer sheet. 
 

You can talk about building through the draft and blah blah blah but what this team needs is a superstar. Lots of good players, but missing that one major piece.

 

I don’t know who is available or a free agent this summer but I expect MB to try and swing for the fences again. You won’t get the guy in the draft because a 14 or 15th overall pick is likely where they’ll land.

[huzer]

28 minutes ago, alfredoh2009 said:

Over/under three and a half (3.5) of team problems fixed: (1) elite LD, (2) .910 20-game backup goalie, (3) forward addition to bring PP  home/away to league median, (4) defender addition to bring Pk  home/away to league median; (5) drafting of elite prospect in 2020

 

-> I think he will be under, fixing two out of five by the beginning of next season. 

 

Are we rebuilding through the draft, or plugging holes? It's one or the other, unless the Habs are suddenly going to become a successful UFA shopper and not have to give up any assets to acquire all of those missing pieces.

[huzer]

2 minutes ago, TheDriveFor25 said:

He clearly knows he needs a big star.. which is why they signed Aho to that terrible offer sheet. 
 

You can talk about building through the draft and blah blah blah but what this team needs is a superstar. Lots of good players, but missing that one major piece.

 

I don’t know who is available or a free agent this summer but I expect MB to try and swing for the fences again. You won’t get the guy in the draft because a 14 or 15th overall pick is likely where they’ll land.

 

Impact UFA forward, Hall is about it. RFAs, offer sheet candidates? Barzal? 

[tomh009]

1 hour ago, alfredoh2009 said:

Over/under three and a half (3.5) of team problems fixed: (1) elite LD, (2) .910 20-game backup goalie, (3) forward addition to bring PP  home/away to league median, (4) defender addition to bring Pk  home/away to league median; (5) drafting of elite prospect in 2020

 

-> I think he will be under, fixing two out of five by the beginning of next season. 

 

I do think the PP and PK can do better, even with the current personnel.

 

And one problem with the .910 20-game backup goalie is with wresting 20 games away from Price (whether it's Price demanding more games or Julien asking him to play those).

[alfredoh2009]

I think Mathias Brunet's interview has already been posted eleswhere, but in case it hasn't here it is and some points:

   https://plus.lapresse.ca/screens/c0842b29-5d78-4790-bd3e-8ba6c76a5605__7C___0.html?utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=Internal+Share&utm_content=Screen

1) Name of the article: "Marc Bergevin, faithful to his plan"

2) "One things is certain: if we play with the same level of inconstancy, we will not be in the playoffs. There is no player that can be added to the team this summer who can guarantee us a place in the series."

3) Citing the CBJ, he stresses that he believes in players sacrificing their personal statistics for the good of the team

4) IN april 2018, Geoff Molson gave him a mandate to start his second 5-year plan:

4a) Out of the question to sacrifice prospects or draft pics for a shortcut

4b) Out of the questions to get rid of veterans in a way that prevents participating in the playoffs

4c) highlights he we would never "make a short-term decision to look good and hurt the team long-term. This will probably cost me my job, but I have too much respect for the organization"

5) Mathias Brunet reminds readers how the first 5-year tenure of MB included four 100+ point seasons (prorating the short-season), four series participation and one semifinal participation

6) Brunet then adds MB's comments saying how he would like fans to see the demarcation in 2018 between the first 5-year term and this second 5-year term

7) The CH will recommend to Caufield to stay one more year in College, but won't force him.

'8) MB expresses his disappointment with KK's camp this year, and the injuries that followed up.

9) KK's development in Laval is seen as a positive. They are working on his tempo, battles for the puck and lower-body strength.

10) Romanov is expected to start on a 3rd pair  and to check his progress. They are confident his "alertness" will help him earn playing time.

11) Romanov is not seen as a point producing D, more like a smart defender on critical missions for the team.

12) Poehling is seen as a potential 3rd line defensive center, winning critical face-offs, playing on the PK and facing the other team's top line

13) MB expects Norlinder to stay another year in Sweden, but he would not be surprised if they turned Harris pro, to get him to play in Laval next year.

14) First draft in 2012: Galchenyuk vs Rielly. MB wanted to pick Moragn Rielly but he could not force his preference given that he had not seen Galchenyuk play and didn't want to start his relationship with the CH's scouting team on the wrong foot.

15) To make the decision to trade Sergachev for Drouin, they asked themselves if on their draft year they would have picked Drouin over Sergachev and the answer was yes. They tookl the risk and still believe that Drouin will pan out.

 

 

[hab29RETIRED]

5 hours ago, alfredoh2009 said:

I think Mathias Brunet's interview has already been posted eleswhere, but in case it hasn't here it is and some points:

   https://plus.lapresse.ca/screens/c0842b29-5d78-4790-bd3e-8ba6c76a5605__7C___0.html?utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=Internal+Share&utm_content=Screen

1) Name of the article: "Marc Bergevin, faithful to his plan"

2) "One things is certain: if we play with the same level of inconstancy, we will not be in the playoffs. There is no player that can be added to the team this summer who can guarantee us a place in the series."

3) Citing the CBJ, he stresses that he believes in players sacrificing their personal statistics for the good of the team

4) IN april 2018, Geoff Molson gave him a mandate to start his second 5-year plan:

4a) Out of the question to sacrifice prospects or draft pics for a shortcut

4b) Out of the questions to get rid of veterans in a way that prevents participating in the playoffs

4c) highlights he we would never "make a short-term decision to look good and hurt the team long-term. This will probably cost me my job, but I have too much respect for the organization"

5) Mathias Brunet reminds readers how the first 5-year tenure of MB included four 100+ point seasons (prorating the short-season), four series participation and one semifinal participation

6) Brunet then adds MB's comments saying how he would like fans to see the demarcation in 2018 between the first 5-year term and this second 5-year term

7) The CH will recommend to Caufield to stay one more year in College, but won't force him.

'8) MB expresses his disappointment with KK's camp this year, and the injuries that followed up.

9) KK's development in Laval is seen as a positive. They are working on his tempo, battles for the puck and lower-body strength.

10) Romanov is expected to start on a 3rd pair  and to check his progress. They are confident his "alertness" will help him earn playing time.

11) Romanov is not seen as a point producing D, more like a smart defender on critical missions for the team.

12) Poehling is seen as a potential 3rd line defensive center, winning critical face-offs, playing on the PK and facing the other team's top line

13) MB expects Norlinder to stay another year in Sweden, but he would not be surprised if they turned Harris pro, to get him to play in Laval next year.

14) First draft in 2012: Galchenyuk vs Rielly. MB wanted to pick Moragn Rielly but he could not force his preference given that he had not seen Galchenyuk play and didn't want to start his relationship with the CH's scouting team on the wrong foot.

15) To make the decision to trade Sergachev for Drouin, they asked themselves if on their draft year they would have picked Drouin over Sergachev and the answer was yes. They tookl the risk and still believe that Drouin will pan out.

 

 

As far as point 15, that sound asinine. By the time the trade was made, it was already clear the   Drouin was picked too early - Jones and monohon proved they were clearly the better picks.  Rationalizing that in the 2013 Drouin was a better prospect and trading the guy considered the second best dman in his draft class when Drouin hadn’t planned out is just stupid. Even more so, considering the hole we had on LD.

[Commandant]

The first game was a blowout

 

Game 2 they won 3-1

 

We won game 3

 

We lost game 4 in OT

 

We won game 5 in a blowout.

 

We lost game 6 by one goal.

 

1 blowout loss... 1 by 2 goals... and 2 by a single goal (one of which was in OT)

 

Vs

 

A blowout win and an OT win

 

 

Who exactly is doing the revisionist history in saying outclassed?

[Chris]

I believe his new plan is changing his luck, maybe bringing in a voodoo priestess or something to change luck. 

 

all he has is bad luck apparently, once that changes things will be fine 

[Commandant]

8 minutes ago, Chris said:

I believe his new plan is changing his luck, maybe bringing in a voodoo priestess or something to change luck. 

 

all he has is bad luck apparently, once that changes things will be fine 

 

No one laughed the last seventeen times you made the joke.

[Chris]

Its not a joke, 

 

MB was the one who said it, not me 

[Commandant]

3 hours ago, Chris said:

Its not a joke, 

 

MB was the one who said it, not me 

 

You're still beating a dead horse man