REV-G

I started this post and I believed what I wrote about DD not coming back as our head coach next year. But I honestly never dreamed they could turn it around against Toronto the way they did. And I never imagined they could sweep Winnipeg in 4. Like many people I have had a complete reversal in my thinking. The team has come together in his system in a way that none of us would have believed possible. They seem to be playing for him, within his system and it's all working. This is one of the most amazing playoff turn-arounds that any team has experienced for a while. Even St. Louis a few years ago started their run in January, not at the 4 game mark of the playoffs, behind 3-1 in games. So at this point can anyone say with conviction that DD and MB should not be back next year and have not earned another shot. At the time I first wrote this post I thought I was right. However now, with the turn of events, I think I was wrong, so I'm certain they will both be back next year, and deservedly so. You just never know in sports!!

Interesting, that actually makes sense to me. I didn't do the math, do the contracts even up somewhat?

Let's hope that Molson is reaching out and asking and receiving some good external advice, Serge Savard or Scotty Bowman, people like that. And you would hope that they will tell him something like the following: Part 1: it's time to make major changes staring with a new GM. Then make major changes to our current roster. A significant rebuild but keeping the younger players. Part two: the candidate who gets the job has to give strong evidence in the interviews that he understands that keeping all the veterans isn't the plan. MB wanted to do that and that's why he's not here. The new GM's mandate would be to develop the younger players we have now and trade all the vets for picks or younger pieces to build for the future. Part 3: we must be willing to drop to the bottom of the pile for a year or two to get high picks along with the picks MB has stockpiled and then communicate that to the fans the way the Rangers did a few years back. Part 3: don't interview Pierre McGuire. Very nice guy but not enough GM experience for us. I wonder if that's possible or is in process? Here's hoping....

I've been up and down regarding Bergevin since about his 3d season with us but we've been through his retool, instead of a rebuild, and I think this year should be the final straw. Our team is bad and the older core seems done. We do have some good young players so I think Molson should clean house and remove Bergevin, Ducharme and Timmins and bring in a new GM as soon as possible and let him begin to rebuild. I think I know the answer to this but wouldn't it be amazing if Julien Brisebois wanted to return to his roots and rebuild his home team! Geoff Molson, it's time, we can't wait another year and go through the same thing in a much tougher division next year with Tampa, Boston, Toronto, Carolina, Florida, Ottawa .......all stronger than us and getting stronger. We're willing to suffer through 3 years of pain as long as we see a plan and progress.

This thread isn't primarily about Marc Bergevin and what his future should hold although you can't discuss the coach without overlapping into what he was given to succeed with. But I thought this would be the right time to begin to ask about our head coach position for next season. I think we would all say we are disappointed at the results we've had over this shortened season. With the additions MB made in the offseason many believed this team would challenge for first place in the Canadian division. I heard well known hockey insiders say back in January that Montreal should challenge for top spot, so it wasn't just us diehard fans believing and hoping for great things. We started out great, as we've done before, and then the wheels seem to fall off from what may have been our not realistic lofty expectations (hindsight). Is it the team? Is the older core possibly past their "best by" date? Or is it the coaching, or a combination of both. I believe MB brought in what was needed in the offseason. But maybe it's too little too late. Maybe our older core really has declined that quickly? The coach: My sense is that Dominic has not risen to the occasion and has not surpassed or done as well as his fired predecessor. Is is because he inherited a system that wasn't his, or was it the brutal schedule with little to no practice time, or the many injuries to key people? Probably all of that contributed. Here are my takes on the coach. Nothing personal, I'm sure he's a great guy, just a realistic look and a fan's evaluation at the head coach position. I have this sense that's he's not ready or maybe not suited to be the head guy at this point in the NHL. I feel, for the first time in a long while, the opposite regarding Toronto's head coach. Maybe not a fair comparison given the talent disperity between the two teams. But I have been impressed with Toronto's game plan, their execution and most importantly, they all seem to know their roles and what they are expected to do. They look well organized, for me that means well coached. So I don't think DD should be our head coach next year. Would it work to bring up Joel Bouchard and put DD back as an assistant? I don't know. On another note, maybe it's time to trade off the older guys and spend 2-3 years letting our young guys grow and begin a genuine rebuild. With other teams working hard to constantly improve we can't just sit in no man's land, in the middle of the pack, and not do something dramatic, one way or the other. That's what I think. Agree or disagree?

That's interesting to look back at a post from a year ago and evaluate if anything has changed. I really like the changes MB made and I'll say what many said during the offseason, he checked off all the boxes. Obviously all of want to get better players at all positions but in the real world, I think MB did very well with what he had and what was available and I think we have seen a fairly major uptick in our depth, talent and the obvious needs that we had and were addressed. I think that if they play well as a team we can now compete with anyone. Do we have the best talent? No. But as a group with the system we're playing I think when we play together in our system we can beat anyone. Specifically, we obviously improved our goalie situation. We now have the best goaltending duo in the league. That's what I believe. Our backup can now play against any team and we would expect a win. The fact that Carey Price can have games off to rest, especially in a condensed schedule, will make his life more enjoyable and fun and going into the playoffs, a given for me as long as we're relatively heathy and nothing crazy happens, covid, he will be rested and should be on top of his game. I think we have the best and improved group of defencemen that I have seen for quite some time. I love Romanov but it's still early so we'll need more time but early on he looks great. Again it's early with only having played 3 games but it looks like Anderson was a great pickup and I really like Jake Evans. So when you look at our four lines and the experience waiting on the taxi squad it should give every one of us real hope and an excitement to see what we can do this year. So a year later my take is that I think MB really did step up to the plate and finally spent the money to add needed depth players, two defencmen ( Edmonston and Romanov), two top 6 forwards and probably the best backup goalie in the league. So things have changed and we have to give MB credit. I guess some of us would say, "what took you so long" but that's easy to say for armchair quarterbacks. I know I'm biased but I think we have the best team in Canada. I genuinely like our team better than Toronto's. They may have a stronger top 4 with Matthews, Marner, Taveres and Nylander, but we're better in the remaining 20 players or so, especially with our D-men and especially our goaltending. This year should be a fun year for us. It will be very interesting to see how far we go. Thanks for the question.

I have a question for Commandant and those who follow the draft eligible players closely. I clearly remember Commandant pushing for us to draft Quinn Hughes and without question, in hindsight, that would have been a very very good choice. For this draft who would be your top 3 players you would hope or expect to be available at 16 that we should draft?

Recently Bergevin was quoted as being "cool", not too interested in Laine. Do you think this is him trying not to overplay his hand and appear not too interested or could there be something about Laine he doesn't like....besides all the goals he scores that we could certainly use. Do you think he'll make an offer? Thoughts?

A year ago I wondered why Montreal wasn't interested in Hoffman. However I have read reports lately that say while he can score goals, his teams do poorly in goals against when he's on the ice and all his numbers are all in steady decline. Anyone who gives Hoffman a big long term contract now will regret it. So according to a number of hockey people, don't touch Hoffman with a 10 foot pole.

I don't think that's nearly enough for what Winnipeg would want for Laine. I would expect Winnipeg would want a 1st and Romanov and maybe Petry. Players like Laine don't come along too often and I don't think you're getting him for a 2nd line centre, a prospect and a 1st or 2nd rounder.

I haven't spent time thinking about Sergechev because I just can't see Tampa letting a young developing d-man get away. Is there anything we could offer them that could accomplish them getting value for him while also saving $ for their cap issues? Would they accept a first and two seconds and a d-prospect. Personally I don't think they would. I just don't see it happening. Teams always seem to find ways to dump salaries so they can keep young d-men like Sergechev. Would I like to get him. Absolutely. But I don't think he's leaving Tampa.

I don't think we need Kerfoot, so I would be talking about what the Leafs would want for Nylander. If we offered Domi & either Mete or Juulsen and maybe a second, I don't think I'd want to give up much more. It might be hard for these two teams to come to an agreement for Nylander, especially being division rivals. You'll probably say the Leafs wouldn't take that offer and I probably agree. But MB doesn't seem to be a GM who overpays, at least in the past 2-3 years, so I would be very surprised if he would give away much more. He would give much much more for Laine, but I don't think he will for Nylander.

Whoo. To me that's a huge overpayment. I wouldn't give up that much for Nylander and Kerfoot.

Does anyone think that Toronto would be interested in bringing home another Domi. That might be a popular move. I think Toronto regrets letting Kadri go since he's the type of gritty hard working, skilled player they're lacking. Max is that kind of player. Would Max Domi + get it done for a Nylander? I think the two teams would make a trade like that if they were both getting value.

At the end of the series with Pittsburgh in my mind Drouin was a total mess and a total loss. He didn't seem to be able to generate anything, kept losing puck battles and to me was almost totally ineffective, invisible except for his mistakes. I don't know what happened, maybe Suzuki happened, but in the Philly series I saw the first glimpse of his talent begin to emerge. In particular his vision and two passes to Suzuki who burried them seemed elite to me. HIs speed is undeniable and from I read each time a player gets put on his line they say they love playing with Drouin because of his amazing talent. Obviously they see it and enjoy playing with him. Just in these recent games both Domi and Suzuki said how excited they were to be able to play with Drouin. I guess for me, the conclusion is that he has great talent, but he has to be hungry and put in the work to come to the next camp in fabulous shape and ready to go. But he needs to play with talented players like Suzuki who know where to go and be and maybe, just maybe, we're seeing the beginning of what happened with Guy Lafleur after a few years....the emergence of a truly talented played who is ready to blossom! Surely it has to be his time after his years and experience in the league. We will see but if he does then suddenly with the emergence of Suzuki, KK, Evans and even Kulak, with Romanov coming, and with perhaps Danault having to move further down the lineup we can see some real hope before Price and Weber get too old.

All great points and they all make perfect sense.

Is anyone surprised that Ryan Poehling hasn't made it into the lineup yet? Jake Evans, a 7th round pick is in and playing. Alex Belzile, who I think was undrafted and played for a few AHL teams, had made it onto the 4th line in the playoffs. But Poehling, a first round pick hasn't played a game. Is there a problem? Just wondering, kinda surprised that a big body like his isn't needed against Philly.

What a shock! Did something happen to him?

Just a quick note and question regarding something I read today. This isn't a bash on the player just an observation regarding our team and future. A year ago I think a number of us were wanting, hoping that we could sign Jake Gardner to a long term contract. But I read today that he was a healthy scratch and is Carolina's 7th defenceman. For those who maybe follow Carolina closer than I do, has he been injured or has something happened to him or has he just played himself into that #7 position? Kind of shocking, in spite of his defensive gaffs at time, that a guy who had a lot of attention as a free agent and signed for pretty decent money and if I remember was in Toronto's top 4, that Carolina has him as a healthy scratch. If he's played himself into that spot then we should be really glad that he took less money than we offered and signed with them. That would have been very disappointing and someone would have had great criticism heaped on them for that signing. Was it Sam Pollock who coined that phrase, "The best deal is sometimes the one you don't make"? But perhaps there is another reason. Thoughts?

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?

What I heard Pierre McQuire say on TSN radio a few months back was that was the best and deepest draft in years. He said this was the year to not trade away draft picks and the more picks you had the better positioned you would be. But from what some of you are saying, maybe that’s not the case.

Brian Wilde on Global made some very good points on yesterdays lack of real action on the part of MB. In a nutshell this is what he said. He said MB missed a huge one time opportunity yesterday. He said that Petry and Tatar's values are probably at the max right now and MB could have gotten a first round pick for each of them plus some very good add-ons. In the 2020 draft, to have 3 first round picks, plus the 3 second round picks, added to the young guys we already have or are coming, Wilde said that would have been how to build for the future. We would have picked up some high, perhaps elite talent for the coming years. But we missed it. He said the current core has missed the playoffs 3 out for the past 4 years and if they improve next year, MAYBE we make the playoffs but do we win a round? If MB had of made the trades yesterday we would be much much better positioned for the next 10 years instead of holding onto to them to make the playoffs next year. What he said sounded like a very good plan. But we missed it. I've heard a few people say in the past 24 hours that MB can win a trade but he doesn't seem to know how to build a team. I think that may be true. We may have sunk a little bit deeper in the pat 24 hours. Ugh!

He could go back to 17 and if we resign Kovalchuk he could get another watch to switch back! lol

Does anyone have an update on Noah Juulsen. He seemed like a good up and coming defence man. Will he be able to make a comeback or is he headed for early retirement due to injuries?

I think the way Bergevin works is that he wouldn't publicly say he is open to trading them. He is publicly doing what he should, saying that he is not open to trading them. So if someone did call kicking the tires, they probably know that a lowball offer isn't even going to be considered. I think he would listen, privately, and still be able to take a great deal if one came along, and the whole time still saying he's not trading them. Probably standard approach for players of Price and Weber's standing.