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Waite is undoubtedly an overlooked Home Run by Bergevin Haters, it is easily his best Hire, and arguably the best singular move that contributed the most success he has made.

2012-13: 1st in their Division(63 pts) || Goals For 3rd of 30 || Goals Against 13th of 30 || Playoffs: 1st Round 2013-14: 3rd in the Division(100 pts) || Goals For 21st of 30 || Goals Against 6th of 30 || Playoffs: Conference Final 2014-15: 1st in the Division(110 pts) || Goals for 18th of 30 || Goals Against 1st of 30 || Playoffs: 2nd Round 2015 -16: 6th in the Divison(82 pts) || Goals for 16th of 30 || Goals Against 21st of 30 || Playoffs: None 2016-17: 1st in the Division(103 pts) || Goals For 15th of 30 || Goals Against 3rd of 30 || Playoffs: 1st Round Does that look like a 5 year resume worthy of a firing to you? If you were in the GM chair, and this was your results of the past 5 years, would you be ok with being fired? or would you find it unfair to not be given a chance to continue to build a successful team that could break into contendership status in the near future. So to answer your question, in my opinion, he would need to do much worse than winning 3 division titles, three 100 point seasons, and a conference final on his resume. And i'd Challenge anyone to find me a GM who has recently been fired with similar results in his seasons leading up to his Firing. You guys just sound like a bunch of squabbling Seagulls at times, calling for someone's head just for the sake of change without any real merit, pitch forks in the air, predicting doomsday fall offs in the coming days. And you keepseeing the same whining and grumbling behind the reasoning "Oh but he traded away my favorite player! Get rid of him he'll never get another damn thing right!", "Why can't he just build a winner in a few years like everyone else does, GOD!", "We have been stuck at pretty good team status for a few years why can't we take the next step, it seems so easy for every other team in the league!". Is it starting to sound as ridiculous to you guys as it does to me? His resume is far from perfect, it has its mistakes, but it certainly boasts enough positive results to allow him to continue trying build what he is building, and until those results start turning ugly, I'm not lighting the guy on fire. That doesn't make me Bergevin fan boy, it simply means, when I look at that resume at first glance, the thought of this GM should be fired does not cross my mind, and it shouldn't to anyone looking at it through reasonable eyes. He isn't all doom and gloom, or about as sharp as a bowling ball, he is also not flawless by any means. But somewhere in the middle of all that nonsense, lies his true abilities, his true evaluation, and it doesn't scream Fire Him to me.

Pretty sure I specifically mentioned "Winning Championships" though..

Or... We ran into a veteran goalie who got very hot, coupled with our lacking finish and declining confidence in our ability to finish as the series progressed, forcing us to bow out in the first round because we couldn't bury a few timely goals. Said veteran goalie then looked like a shell of himself from the first round, as was noted by many articles in NY media, and made the Ottawa offence look more potent than it was. Had this veteran goalie played in our series the way he played in the Ottawa series, we likely would have put home an extra few goals on him which would have likely made the difference. Because lets not forget, our Goalie was actually boasting some very solid .937 SV% type of numbers during that series, a couple goals would have been enough to see us through. I'd also love to see the article where Bergevin proclaims that this coming season, this team makes it or breaks it on the shoulders of one Tomas Plekanec and his ability to bounce back. Wait! let me guess, just more presumptuous rhetoric...

Lol it is equally difficult for the Montreal Canadiens, San Jose Sharks, Washington Capitals or Nashville Predators to win a championship, because they are all NHL TEAMS, we are not in some special other worldly category.

Oh boy are we reaching now, you think a few million bucks is the difference between competitive and contender? Jesus..

we can't mention the Rangers, it would show that we lost to a very formidable opponent in a close hard fought series in the 1st round, thus dissolving the rhetoric some of you have been preaching about how terrible we are for being eliminated in the 1st round.

The fact still remains Nashville swam in a pool of above average competitiveness for years before turning the corner, several re-tools later and no tanking in sight, they emerge with a legitimate chance to take home the cup. I still firmly believe this fanbase would have been calling for Poile's head years ago, no chance in hell we have the patience to let him work through it like he did in Nashville here in Montreal. Bergevin can't even swim 5 years in above average competitiveness never mind 15 years. I can appreciate that even a good GM like Poile can't build a winner inside a few years, it is incredibly difficult. A sentiment that seems lacking here, because here we don't bother putting things in perspective like that, we just expect lavish results, and crucify everyone for not achieving them, even when some of the best GMs in this league struggle for years to build a championship team. David Poile is one of a list that includes Bob Murray, Doug Wilson, Doug Armstrong, Chuck Fletcher, Steve Yzerman, all good GMs we would be happy to have, all been trying to build a championship team for longer than Bergevin, with disappointments along the way to boot. You think Fletcher is happy about his even more embarrassing 1st round elimination? should he be fired for his incompetence for building a playoff regular who can't make it deep in the playoffs or should he be allowed to continue his work? Almost Identical scenario with Doug Armstrong in St.Louis, perhaps he should be fired too. You think Yzerman is happy about missing the playoffs and watching his team fail to string together enough wins in the absence of Stamkos? Should he be fired for building a team who can't succeed without its best player or should he be allowed to continue his work? Funny how the standards here work, would we really be calling for any of those GMs heads here like we are Bergevin? Despite the results, those GMs have put together good teams capable of turning elite with the right choice of moves, and for that they deserve the chance to make their teams ascend to the next level. Bergevin deserves the same, and it is going to take a whole lot more than Trading away Subban, winning a division, and a disappointing 1st round exit to the best team we could have faced while finishing 4th, to change my mind.

-The only player currently on TB making any kind of meaningful impact that was drafted since 2013 is Brayden Point. - Only ones making meaningful contributions in Anaheim since the 2013 Draft are Theodore and Montour. - Only one in Washington making a meaningful impact since the 2013 Draft is Andre Burakovsky. Hardly the Home run picks you seem to be suggesting in the last 4 years of drafting.

How funny is it though, Nashville weren't even considered contenders all year until Round 2.

1 team out of all the competitive teams drafting in the back half of round 1, is that what you call a norm? I'm not making excuses, i'm merely shedding light on the fact you are making up scenario's where Bergevin is so much worse than his Peers at everything he does. And to argue that, you come to me with one example, or should I say exception. Shame, our fanbase would have wanted Poile fired years ago for his mediocrity stricken Predators, we would have missed out on all they have become had we fired him 10 years ago, as many of you fickle and impatient fans would have wanted.

Of course, because Weber came here an had a horrible season, it is obvious any negative situation this team suffered last season can be directly related to the Subban for Weber swap. His leadership was useless, his reliability was unnoticeable, his PP goals and presence did not make our PP any better than the previous year. Heck we had exactly 0 locker room incidents or rumored locker room incidents between players, pure luck, nothing to do with Weber being there, or someone else not being there In fact his 5th runner up spot for the Norris trophy this season should not put him in Tier 1 for year-end award candidates. Unlike his 7th runner up and 8th runner up fellow defenseman, Mark Giordano and Dougie Hamilton who were ranked as Tier 1. There is nothing wrong with this ranking system at all, that is just a minor observational error on their part which has no bearing because, well ultimately Weber isn't very good. Sarcasm aside, take a looks at the Tier rankings for the Dmen in that article, and if at first glance you don't notice some SERIOUS flaws with that system then its best to just close the browser and switch sports.

You have completely side stepped my entire point. Should He or Should he not claim this team should win a cup before the season, when they are not even contenders in anyone's eyes? If you answer that with logic and reason, you will quickly see you were just looking for an unfounded reason to attack him for what he is saying. Quickly throwing you into the category I already pegged you and many others in, Because Bergevin traded Subban, he will always speak in "Fart" to you, not anything he does will be good and everything including breathing will be a terrible idea with no vision. You actually named off some good points against him, he has sat back too long and allowed this player development staff to accomplish nothing, Patrice Brisebois likely should never have had an NHL job. However to expect a team who has consistently picked 18th or higher in the past 10 years to have bluechips is highly unrealistic, the only teams who have that to show for are generally teams who continue to miss the playoffs, and if their long term and continuing lack of success is any indication, having a ton of blue chips is hardly a guaranteed method to winning championships. Every Blue chip we have picked up over the years made the team fairly quickly, from Price to Galchenyuk, you expect us to pick a blue chip every year or something? even when we are picking late in the 1st round? Find me a team who has done that in the last 10 years, find me a team picking in the back half of the 1st round who keeps plugging in blue chip after blue chip and has had more success than us. This is exactly what I am talking about, stop putting ridiculous claims of what we should have or be doing without first seeing if it isn't a norm around the league. with an exception here and there. Otherwise you are just asking this team to do what barely anyone other team is doing, and that is the very meaning behind unreasonable and lofty expectations. My expectations are just as high as anyone who is a through and through fan of this team, though they are also realistic expectations. I want to see us win championships, I also like to use logic and reason to determine it is Rare that any GM builds a winner in 5 years, no one has an easy time building championships. Many GMs can't even replicate a winning formula they had while on a different team ever again in their careers. Yet because this is Montreal and we are all so impatient we expect championships because, well, we just want them? Everyone wants them, they are extremely difficult to get, and if this team can remain competitive while it figures out a way to do it, then i'm alright with that. Many teams embarrass themselves for years and years and still have just as many cup finals as we do in the past 15 years. Some of the very best GMs in this league have spent nearly a decade or more trying to win a championship. Heck the GM of the year, David Poile, spent nearly 20 years trying to make Nashville a legitimate Contender, and this year, they were still not considered one going into the playoffs, they reached their first cup final during his long reign. If he were GM in Montreal, we would have been calling for his head for the past 11 years with results like that, successful teams who make the playoffs but aren't considered contenders are not things to take for granted. They can turn a corner at any moment, get hot at the right time. They are also not painful to watch for most of the season, and their place in the standings make it so you don't have to put a paper bag over your head when you go into work. Those are things I can appreciate, if you cannot, then it is your right to kick and stomp your feet each and every day we aren't considered a contender, just don't expect me to agree with it. I understand that being competitive, is a step you must take before becoming a contender, sometimes you remain their for longer than you would like, but it still does not mean you won't ever achieve the next step. Forgive me if I am not close to throwing in the towel on this teams chance to turn a corner in the coming years.

We aren't even legitimate contenders yet, he knows that and so do we, what should he be doing? lying about it an making a lavish claim before the season that he expects this team to win a championship just to make you happy? Did David Poile say that about Nashville before the season? Of course not, because no one expected them to get to a cup final and neither did he, Bergevin doesn't expect us to win a cup and neither do we. So why should he set anything but a realistic goal, Make the playoffs, after that anything can happen, as teams have shown time and time again each and every year. Just more unobjective rhetoric, pitch forks out, type of stuff, instead of looking around the league and noticing only 2 teams had even remotely made announcements such as the one you seem to want to see Bergevin making. Two teams made such claims, Pittsburgh and Chicago, one said they would like to repeat, the other said anything less than a cup is a failure for this core, 2 teams who have been the most successful of the past 5 or 6 years, that's it, that's all. Do you honestly believe us in that category? should Bergevin be making the same kind of claims as they do? what about all the other 29 teams, why aren't they doing that? Why is it only Bergevin gets inexplicably attacked for nonsense like being realistic with his expectations and that of the ones he wants to rest on his teams shoulders? Is he the only GM not making "Win a cup or Bust" claims before the season? Should everyone else be on the chopping block then because of that? Maybe we should start calling them all special names Steve YzerTrash, David DumPoile, Ray TraShero, Ken HollandBin, Peter TrashArelli...

Why are you so stuck on Briere? He was not brought here to play top line minutes, he was brought here to play 2nd and 3rd line, help out on the PP, bring some experience and playoff know how to the table. Keep bringing up Briere like Bergevin put all his eggs in that basket, Briere was an addition to the players that were already in the top 9, he was no savior. We signed a mid 30s player who was declining to a 2 year deal and your acting like he was brought here to play a staring role, he was strictly complimentary. Also, comparing the Drouin/Sergachev deal to the Gomez/McDonagh deal is apples and oranges, the only thing in common is we traded our best defense prospect, the players coming back are totally different, in age, in talent, and in upside. Drouin is nearly 10 years younger than Gomez was when we got him. As far as i'm concerned, i'd be more worried if I was Tampa, that they just pulled a Boston and traded away their Seguin, before I worry about if we just traded our McDonaugh. Explain me something, is this team not in need of goals and offence? Who is going to help in that department being in the line up next season, Drouin on the top line, or Sergachev possibly on the 3rd pair? If you answer that objectively, you will see this trade is a landslide win for us until the day Sergachev becomes a top pair dman in this league, a day which no one can know for certain, may never come to be. Got to get away from this its the end of the world Sergachev is gone because we don't have Subban thing, its just looks like the last few kicks while being strangled by a python from disgruntled fans who are still upset about the trade and still try to blame doomsday events on it. That trade was going to happen no matter what, this team did not want to move forward with Subban, and they like Weber way too much, we survived his absence, won a division, improved our PP, lets just move on already. Besides Sergachev is a LHD, Subban/Weber are RHD, if anything Sergachev being traded has more bearing on the fact Markov won't be coming back possibly, way ahead of any Bearing on whether we have Weber or Subban on this team. He was seen as Markov's potential successor. Our D is also not "much worse", we are weaker without Markov but not THAT much. Losing Markov is a loss, there is no denying that. However we made 3 upgrades between the start of last season and now to our defense, Alzner > Emelin, Schlemko > Beaulieu, Benn > Pateryn, I am also convinced we will be doing something about where Markov slotted in, whether that is bringing him back, or finding another LHD through other means, I doubt very much this current Defense line up starts the season. If we even just get Markov back this D is better than last year, if we end up getting a player even better than Markov then this D is in great shape.

I notice how you leave out acquisitions that ended up actually being much more helpful than anticipated and all brought in for ridiculously low costs. Guys like Danault, Byron, and Benn. Drouin could easily end up on that list, he is not just a good pick up, he is a meaningful impact acquisition. We traded for a top line player here and lost no one on the current roster, as of right now it is a Home Run, and Until Sergachev turns into a top pairing D-man it will remain a heavily in our favor. That is 4 players added into this roster in the last 2 years who have and will contribute in meaningful ways to the success of this team and they cost us Fleischman, Weise, Pateryn, Sergachev and 4th rd pick. Put that in perspective for a moment, and tell me Bergevin has been completely useless for 5 years. Almost every player you mentioned earlier in your post is a low risk move with no commitments that didn't bite us at all. With the only exception being Prust, and we still didn't really struggle to get rid of him when we wanted to cut him loose, but i'll make him the exception because he got 4 years. Briere, Semin, Murray, Armstrong, Halpern, Weaver, Gonchar were hardly ball and chains to this team, so lets just stop with the rhetoric that they were terrible acquisitions that cost us dearly.

I love how people actually think tanking for years is a science that works, according to whom? Edmonton has spent 10 years swimming chest deep in a pool full of poop with their mouths wide open, and only just made a dent in a playoff run this season. news flash folks, still no guarantees they will do better next year, or that they will win a cup in the next 3 years. Same with Toronto, they had a good season finally after a decade of embarrassment, they give Washington a run for their money but get knocked out in round 1, suddenly that is the model of excellence? We have no clue what these teams will do next year, look at Florida, everyone thought finally after years and years of rebuilding they turned a corner only to fall flat on their faces the very next season. Buffalo has been at it for 10 years too, with no breakout season to show for, just a bunch of really talented kids who keep losing. I'd rather re-tool on the fly around a different nucleus of young players, with a chance to remain in the mix, while trying to improve year after year until you hit a peak that is good enough to win. Rather than risk 10 years of misery for potentially no reward, I don't believe in that way of doing things, I have yet to see a team spend 10 years dumpster diving and be rewarded with even a Cup Final. I like the way Detroit did it, I like the way the Kings did it, I like the way the Rangers have been doing it, Nashville even. All teams who have spent years NOT being bottom feeders, and re-tooling their core when needed over the years to try and get more success than the previous core. The next Nucleus to build around seems to be Drouin, Galchenyuk, and Lehkonen. If we can add some interesting pieces to that Nucleus over the next 3 to 5 years coupled with Price in net, we could see some interesting results.

There hasn't been that point for me yet, because for every questionable move, he still also pulls rabbits out of his hat that just remind me that everyone is human and everyone makes mistakes. If he was incompetent he would not be capable of moves that brought in Petry, Vanek, Benn, Danault, Byron, Drouin, Radulov. That is a solid list there of players who have and will render notable contributions to this team. He also brought them in with cost of acquisition varying from very reasonable to STEAL. I've said it before and will say it again, he has his shining moments and he has had some notable errors. He has been neither Brilliant or Incompetent, and for that, in my books, he is free to proceed until he mucks things up a lot worse than a division winning team. For every instance he has made me feel like this with his moves He has also pulled off stuff that made me feel like this I'll continue to give him the benefit of the doubt as long as the pendulum does not swing too heavily in the negative direction, and a benefit of the doubt is not to be mistaken for unconditional support.

God I can't wait for the season to start so people can actually see how dynamic Jonathan Drouin is. This constant rhetoric on how we have no exciting players left and because of that the team is crashing an burning is a little much. The kid will literally have Highlight of the night moments at least a half dozen times next year just based on the half dozen he had last season in Tampa. He will quickly quench the thirst for Dynamic Talent and hopefully help folks move past this Radulov thing.

Go look at Cam Talbot's stats compared to the goalies we had while Price was injured. Of course Rangers didn't miss a beat they got goaltending that was statistically better than Lundqvist that year from Talbot. Our guys here? not even close to what Price was doing that year before his injury

No that was clearly a mistake, but there was also no clear sign that Price was missing a whole year at the time of the Scrivens trade. The hope at that time was that Price would return after the all star break if I recall. So do you really give up as much as it takes to get a Reimer if you think you might only be 8 weeks away from having your Starter back? The answer could be yes or no at that point, it becomes much more clear when you find out Price is gone the rest of the season. In Hindsight i'm sure Bergevin realizes that trade was not adequate, and if he could do it over again i'm sure he would be more aggressive in a trade.

a common theme through the years when anyone not named Price is in goal, They seem so used to playing in front of him, that when they don't, they overthink everything in compensation. Whether they mean to or not, there is a mental "Je ne sais quoi" that takes place up and down the line up with these guys when Price is not there, and unless said Backup stands on his head, he is usually hung out to try 50% of his games. Combined, Budaj, Condon, Scrivens, and Montoya have around a .500 W/L ratio with Montreal, and a .909SV% average between them all while playing with us. I wonder how much of that result falls at their feet, compared to how the guys in front of them performed away from Price.

got news for ya, aside from a few of the very elite teams, any team who sustains injuries to key players generally suffers. You think Tampa flops like they did without the key injuries they had? LA Kings? Florida? We ourselves got hit for a stretch there Galchenyuk, Shaw, Desharnais, Gallagher, Markov. Our ability to fight through those roster player losses was tested, all while we had a coach who was losing his room, and still we won a division. This team is more than a Drouin or a Galchenyuk away from disaster. It basically comes down to as long as Price is healthy, and Weber stays healthy, this team will have a chance to win more than it loses. Every team has the couple Achilles heel players, where if they go down it likely spells disaster for you. Ours is Price, we were reminded of that much not so long ago, and very likely Weber. Care to wonder how well L.A Does without Quick and Doughty in their lineup for a long stretch? How about Tampa without Stamkos and Hedman? What if Nasville lost Rinne and Josi for half a season? would they still be the team we saw in the playoffs? Maybe Washington would survive the loss of Ovechkin and Holtby? i'n sure they would still win the presidents trophy if they got hurt right? As you can see every team suffers from the same "Bubble wrap the key player" theory, because it is with them that your team becomes elite, it is through them that your team succeeds. Sometimes you guys put way too much energy into the doomsday theories to try and showcase how weak Our team is. You are so quick to forget if you place the same doomsday theory on 95% of the league, the results would be just as catastrophic. We spew feces and piss at management, the players, the choices, the trades, the signings, acting like this team barely stayed out of the Lottery pick, like it will likely be a lottery pick this coming season. Yet there we were, division champions, far from any lottery, a good team, a competitive team, but not quite a contender, something more than half the fan bases in this league did not have. But this is Montreal, and here the fickle minds erase all positives when you go out in the first round, erase all positives about trading for one of the best young talents in this league, because Radulov decided to walk. Here, you lose in the wrong round, and you might as well be a lottery pick, screw bad luck, or we deserved better, nope it is all bollocks, burn it all to the ground we have 29 holes in this roster and a Management that is completely wasted 24/7. Here you lose the wrong player and you might as well not even bother evaluating the one taking his place, won't ever be as good, not a good replacement, won't be as exciting. It god damn wears me out to be a fan of this team sometimes, not because of what I see on the ice, but because of what I see away from it, from our own fan base at times, the lack of better judgment, objectivity, and downright reason, is a very disheartening thing to see. Sorry...that concludes my rant, not pointing at anyone in particular with this statement just a generalization of our fan base in my view, and I am also not saying this Management is not without its faults, because it has some. I'm just saying the team doesn't suck, and the management doesn't screw everything up they touch or look at, when will we all start acting like it? When will we start acting like there is simply still more mountain to climb and to keep pushing forward? instead of like we are in the middle of an avalanche gasping for air?

I would've hated not picking Price at this point. there were 2 generational talents in that draft, we were lucky enough to get one, I don't care what spot we picked him in.

thats a great deal for us, which means they would probably hate it.