Commandant

Yzerman is a good GM who wasn't willing to sell a high valued asset at a discount. It worked out well for him.

A savings for electronic tickets would just be absorbed by increasing the season ticket price another 150 bucks, and then offering a 150 discount. It really would make no difference.

Doesn't have to be the main reason.... as long as thats a side effect. As I said, its already led to a lot less wasted paper with respect to bank statements, utility bills, etc... other teams are also doing it.

A good GM has a Plan A, a Plan B, a Plan C, and a Plan D. Why is it a bad thing if he is doing something different than the original plan?

I still think Markov comes back on a 1 year deal and there is plenty of money for your deadline rental being a C... Bryan Little, Paul Stastny, Mikko Koivu, Henrik Sedin, Bozak, Backlund, Turris, Marchessault. Lots of potential Rental Cs, depending on how their team's season goes.

Thats why Markov has always been a 1 year offer. Plekanecs money is eaten by Price's extension and Danault's raise... which says nothing about re-signing Jerabek or replacing him depending on how good he is.

As I said above, I don't expect to go into the season with 9 million in cap space. I don't think Bergevin is done.

if it encourages more environmentally friendly practices... great

The strange thing is that nearly every defenceman drafted in the last two drafts is of the mould of carrying the puck through the neutral zone.... Sergachev, Mete, Brook, Fleury, Walford, Tyszka.... they can all skate and carry the puck.

We traded a guy who would be Markov's replacement in 2-3 years, for a guy who replaces Radulov immediately. Short term, yeah we could have kept Sergachev and re-signed Radulov by giving him another 1 million a season, but would that have us further ahead? How long til Radulov would need replacing considering he's a 30 year old forward?

Getting a LHD has been far easier than getting a C over recent years.

The Habs are one of many teams who are doing this. I have no problem with it. Hell the utilities, phone companies, and banks charge to send paper statements instead of electronic ones now too.

1) I was comparing the defence from the end of last year to the start of this year. I ignored Davidson and Benn, cause nothing needed to be said. Its status quo with both guys. I don't expect either to be better or worse than they were last year. They aren't at ages where you expect to see big jumps from them, they are who they are. 2) What do you do when Markov is done with the extra cap space.... you either hope someone like Mete or one of this years draftees is ready, or you make a trade, or you spend the cap space on a free agent. Same place you are in today if you don't resign markov. 3) I disagree that the 2015-16 defence was not good enough. The Big issue is at C imo. We lost a bunch of one goal games, and our offence went stone cold.

I'd give up Gallagher and a 2nd. We have too many wingers as it is.

Looking at their cap, he has to go next summer, at the absolute latest. For the right price he has to be available now, but they aren't giving him away I'm sure.

Alzner is much better at breaking out the puck than Emelin was. He is a way better passer. He also doesn't get himself out of position going for big hits like Emelin either. He's a superior player compared to Emelin. If you are comparing him to Markov, he's not. Schlemko is better defensively than Beaulieu, but can still move the puck. The upside might not be as high, but his floor is also higher. Judging by Beaulieu's year, its more like Beaulieu is at his floor than his ceiling most nights anyway. I'm fine with this change too. Jerabek is the wild card. Who knows how good he is. Who is he replacing though? Nesterov. He honestly can't be worse than Nesterov. So Alzner > Emelin Schlemko vs Beaulieu is at minimum a wash, and may be an upgrade. Jerabek > Nesterov. In the end, the Habs have held the cap space to re-sign Markov, or to replace him.

The issue is the stagnation of the team. If you look at the chart its a very, very small improvement. This team needs a little more than that. And we all know what position is needed.

I was on the fire Bergevin train before this off-season began. I was on it after his complete failure at the trade deadline. This hasn't changed. As for this offseason, he's made this team a small bit better than it was last season. That means he's not in the top 3 worst off-seasons in the NHL, which is what I sadi. That still doesn't mean that what he's done is good enough, as he still hasn't addressed the core issue.

The blame does rest on bergevin. He has the power to hire and fire scouts, coaches, etc.... he is the boss. He gets credit and blame.

Some GMs have been fired. If the team is showing improvement, thats one thing. But this team isn't. As Lovett says, we are stuck in neutral until we fix the centre issue. If a GM has a team that is stagnant for multiple years, then yes, they should be fired.

What results? We don't hang division banners in the Bell Centre. His job is to continue to improve that team.... he's not improving it, if he's neglecting to fix the biggest weakness at one of the most important positions in the sport.

In six off-seasons you either have the ability to get the job done, or you don't. If after six off-seasons, he hasn't got the job done (while many of his colleagues are getting it done) all i hear from you is excuses. This isn't the try league, this is the get it done league. Again 1) Doesn't draft many centres in the top 2 rounds with offensive potential... just 1 in his first five drafts... 2 this year. 2) Has been content to re-sign what he has to big money deals. 3) Doesn't make an offer to a potential top six centre from russia. Said centre signs for 2 years, 4.5 million per 4) Doesn't make an offer on Eric Staal. Staal goes on to produce like a top 6 centre in Minnesota and is on a cheap 3 year deal. 5) Doesn't get involved in one of the many trades for a top 6, while his fellow GMs are willing to pull the trigger. This is what we have seen happen over six years. Meanwhile our centre situation gets worse with each passing year. So what do you call that? What do you say if someone can do a job for 6 off-seasons, and not solve the biggest problem he is tasked with solving. All while his colleagues are solving that same problem in a variety of ways. Of course you'll come up with yet another excuse, yet another deflection. At what point does the GM get blamed? He inherited a team with a great goalie. With 2 great defencemen in Markov and Subban, with a great goal scorer in Pacioretty, with a number of solid pieces. And all he had to do was finish the job by getting a number 1 centre for this group, and he can't do it.

I'm not getting paid 3 million a year to find solutions. I'm also not privy to all the discussions with other GMs, agents, scouts, and other people who have the ability to make the deals. Expecting me to come up with a solution is silly. Expecting the man who is privy to those discussions, who is paid well to do that job, who has full control of the hockey operations, is not unreasonable. Add on the fact that we can watch other GMs acquire number 1 centres, and yes some blame is warranted after 6 off-seasons. I feel like I'm in bizzarro world, all i see is excuses for why the most important hole on this team is still not filled.

Here is the key though 4 out of 5 years he went into the season with Centre Depth of Desharnais, Plekanec, Eller. And not only that, but it was a group he felt strongly about that in contract negotiations he overpaid every single one of those three guys. He gave Desharnias 4y x 3.5 million, Plekanec 2y x 6 million, and Eller 4y x 3.5 million. For someone who saw this as an issue that needed addressing, he sure locked up what he had long term at a lot of money.

Bergevin is the boss. He hires the NHL coach, He hires the AHL coach. He has decided to keep Timmins and even given him two promotions. He is responsible at the end of the day for what the people under him do. If my assistant messes up paperwork for a client, you know who takes the blame? I do. Cause I'm the boss and the buck stops with me. The same with Bergevin. He gets credit for the moves that work, he gets blame when they don't. Thats the bottom line when you are given the role at the head tof the hockey operations dept. As for the list of centres, almost all of them would be number 1 on our team. I'm pretty sure I'd take any of them as the number 1 over Danault. Oh and we did have the equivalent of a Seth Jones, we had an even better defenceman than Seth Jones. We traded him for an older defenceman. Again, after 6 off-seasons.... lets live by the words from when he took over the team NO EXCUSES.