PETRY?? Alzner ok. Schelmko hell yeah but Petry? The only guy that showed up last year and you want to boot him out?

You do realize Drouin/Galchenyuk were minus 30 last year also? The entire team stunk!!! If you are blaming Petry for not being a superstar on a bad team then I think you have the wrong impression of people. Petry is a top 4. He was asked to be a top pairing. On a bad team. With the goalie having a career worst year. In fact everyone except for Gally and Petry had bad seasons. Why not rip into Gallagher too? 30 goals.... not enough We need 40!!

YEAH **** PETRY! HE SHOULD OF MADE SAVES AND COACHED THE TEAM BETTER TOO. TRADE HIM!

Agreed. Not to mention your solution was to bring in a guy who hasn't been able to consistently hold an NHL spot for his whole career while averaging a negative +/- on good teams. Not that +/- is that relevant of a stat in the modern NHL but this whole franco-centric mentality is a contributing factor as to why this team hasn't seen the success that it possibly could have. Should have pushed harder to keep all the quality Russian players we once had...

Geez, you have a bromance with Petry! lol this post was only focused on the D. Petry, is good on offense but I do not like his d-zone coverage. In 2000, I was coaching at Junior A level and I had the best forward in the entire league. I got my GM and one of the scouts pissed at me when I said, let's trade him and get a back up goalie, a hard hitting d-man and a pick. They argued with me, he will give one goal per game but I said, his defense is terrible. Long story short, we traded him and the scout quit. In 16 yrs they had one player drafted. The year I coached them, they had 7 players drafted or attend as a free agent. I love the way Petry skates and his passes are above average but he has been known for many years to have brain farts defensively. To lining up on wrong side of player, not knowing when to get in or out of the defensive hole. So I am not a fan. A good player is also sound defensively. Same reason why I did not like Cammalleri. Steve Yzerman said he became a very good player when he learned how to play defense. Do not get me wrong, the team has holes and Carey had a terrible year. Weber being out did not help, Markov and Radu leaving did not help. They have good picks coming and it will show in 2 to 4 yrs. I am also thrilled they fired Sylvain Lefebre. Many of his players did not like him. Joel is much more intense and players love to play for him.

I loved both Markov and Radu so I agree on Russian comment. Unless you are from Quebec it is hard to understand the entire french thing. I am not saying entire team filled with them, but Serge Savard touched on certain things. He complimented his teams with supporting cast of french players and did well. Of course Patrick Roy is the exception but patty did not have stellar stats while playing Junior and his nickname from his teammates was humpty dumpty while playing in Sherbrooke. The NHL team could not figure it out, why he played so well but faded as the game went on. Another long story short, all he ate were humpty dumpty chips and his apartment was full of them. So, they got him eating properly and got him proper food and his stamina improved. I am not bringing in a french guy to replace Petry. The two guys I was thinking of bringing in would be 5 and a 6 d-men. Low on cost and may surprise people. Despres is much stronger mentally now, having hit rock bottom with drinking, drugs, smoking and partying. He is much more cerebral now and ready to prove people wrong. If he regains a little of his past, he will be a steal.

Since they're rebuilding, might as well go all in lol! Pacioretty, Byron & Plekanec all needs to get traded too since they're on their last year. Gather as much assets as you possible can and rebuild the right way, which is throught the draft and the development of young players!

I do think Petry is worth more than that, though (maybe a good prospect + 2nd round pick?)...and I would not trade him this season...maybe next year, but not this one. The Habs are too weak on D, right now.

I agree with you. Bringing back Plecky shows, how weak they are down the middle. I also agree Petry would get you a decent return, I did not go into the details of it and simply traded him. The issue MTL has is they have 3 very solid players in Price, Weber and Patch that are established and win now age bracket, then they have a ton of younger players up and coming. Figure out your nucleus then build around it. For the first time, in five years I finally understand Bergevin's plan. He now has two very solid C players that should join team in 1 to 3 years. Hopefully they pan out and solidify the top 2 middle spots. You cannot just keep throwing players in the mix, figure out your plan, then go out and build it.

You can get more for Petry, but I like your thinking. I agree with JP Harvey, hold on to Petry one more year then move him, that will give the D coming in more time and Weber should be back. Simon Despres was an amazing D-man in Junior. Him and Chabot (OTT) we lights out. If he can find his old self, you have a solid player there. Gutsy, but I like it! 2 minutes for looking so good!

I agree, Petry will get more. Was just moving him. Rielly and Gardiner were not so good their first two years, look at them now. They are doing well. I think Mete, Reilly, Juulsen are going to get stronger. Add a healthy Weber and I think you have something here.

I give you a 5 star on trying to make realistic moves. Too many on here slap together players and think it will work. Look how many hundreds of people posted about Taveres and Carlson coming to MTL. I knew it would never happen.

You lost all credibility when you grouped Petry in the same group as Schlemko and Alzner. You clearly know nothing about hockey.

you still need nhlers on your team so petry has to stay. with four years left on his contract his trade value isn't going to decline if he traded now or in two years.

MB reminds me a little bit of Maxwell Smart.
As for Habs downfall, is it solely MB or do the scouts take a bit of the blame too?
I realize that the Price has been injured/off his game the past couple years (which worries me about Bob getting up there in years now).
So many centers drafted since MB got there in 2012 and the best one is probably Galchenyuk, who really excelled more on the wing.
Just curious, cause they always seemed to be very tough to play, but have really fallen off lately.

yup clearly. that is why I coached for 23 years with four teams at CHL level (2 in QMJHL and 2 in OHL) that is why I have 30 players in NHL that I coached. I did not link those three players together saying they were the same caliber. I simply said, I believe all three should be moved. Petry is the strongest of the three of them, no question there. I love Petry's offense and passing but I dislike his d-zone coverage. I coached a kid that could fly like the wind but he had brain farts. The Flyers drafted him and he ended up playing a grand toal of 10 games over a 2 season period in the AHL. He played a lot like Petry. D-zone awareness is so incredibly important. I spoke with a Dad that told me his son was going to be the next Crosby. I told him, unless he learns to play defense he is going nowhere. The father told me I clearly knew nothing about hockey. His son played 3 games with the Owen Sound Attack. I can go on and on. I am just on here because I am semi-retired now and enjoy reading what people think.

I agree with you. Petry might need to stay a year or two. At least until Weber is healthy and a few of the younger players push upwards.

Maxwell Smart, excellent analogy! love it!! In hockey you absolutely have to be strong down the middle. This has been MB's downfall. I think he finally gets it. As for the scouts. I told a good friend of mine that won the cup in '93 that drafting David Fisher in 2006 was going to be a huge mistake. The draft is hit and miss. 35% of all NHL players were never drafted. Of course it is important to draft well but it is also imperative, you have an eye for details. When hockey Canada could not decide between 2 forwards of similar character, I did a ton of background work on both players. I spoke with police, teachers, arena attendants and eventually found a pattern. One was never late for school, always polite, hard worker etc. the other was talented but late for school, hand in work late, rude in arena lobbies. So they took the one I recommended. The other one played 8 seasons in the ECHL and AHL, (mostly in the ECHL) the one I recommended is still in the NHL and has made over 50 million in salary.

No bromance in the slightest! He pisses me off too with some of those idiotic crossovers he does but that is besides the point.

This is just a general principal of asset management. regardless of whether your opinion of an asset is good or bad, it makes no difference. That asset has value amongst those willing to pay for it. That's what MB hasn't done correctly and it drives me absolutely bonkers.

Galchenyuk is the prime example. Kid was drafted to be an impact center. Never quite could do it for the Canadiens for X reasons. Rather than switch to the mentality of I know have a talented winger, I'll continue to diminish my own asset by continuing to have expectations for this player that you know won;t be attained, rather then embracing what he does do!

The same here is happening with Petry. We finally have another player other than/since Subban who can skate the puck up the ice. The one thing that was sorely lacking in the MTL roster these past year since Subban left. It has gotten so bad that we've resorted to a 19 year old 5'10 165Lbs dman to take on the load. Ahead of him truly being ready for it.

Petry has been much better than people give him credit for because the Habs stink and he's expected to much of for what he's capable of giving.

You make excellent points. For the record, I liked Galchenyuk. I never saw him as a C because of his spotty defense but I thought he was getting stronger on the wing. I have heard he does enjoy the drink a little too much, so not sure if that is the reason. i cannot speculate as I do not know the truth. But all in all I liked Galchenyuk. Will Domi, replace him, time will tell. As for Petry, I am not saying move him for nothing. Keep him until a good offer becomes available. Make him available and see if a good offer comes in. Once Weber returns, hopefully Reilly, Mete and Juulsen blossoms. If they do, you might have a top four right there. Not sure if Juulsen has enough O in him, but he plays well in D-zone. Can Despres and Ouellett, solidify as a 5 and 6? if yes, then you now have movable parts. A lot of this is speculative and hopefully some of those answers come to fruition at training camp and the exhibition games.

You literally traded him for a 3rd rounder with salary retained if necessary!

Despres has been out of hockey for how long now? And you want throw the good ol' "gars chez nous" to the wolves? Yeah Im sure he'll be great......Oh and Ouellett? The 25 year old who couldn't crack a lousy Detroit d-Core lineup?

Why not, I dunno, keep the guy who played over 23 mins a game for you last year and managed over 40 points? Maybe that's a better option? Maybe.

Damn those teams and players must have sucked.

.673 winning percentage. Always made playoff's. I only had one team that had too many egos and did not come together and we had internal problems the entire year. All the others went deep and I am still friends with most today, as they got married and became dads.

Do not look too much into the value coming back, as you will also notice I was asking for timbits to be included. My focus was not on what was coming back but on eventually moving Petry, because of his defense. As for Despres, He hit rock bottom, got into smoking, drugs, drinking and women. His agent who is a friend of mine was flying to Vancouver but as soon as he landed he took another flight to go see Despres and also told his parents to fly out. They stayed with him for one month. They got him in rehab and hopefully all of that is behind him. He went to KHL to begin the relaunching of his career and it was good for him. He is healthy and clean. Should he regain and I say should, his touch from a few years ago, he will be a good solid player. I saw him play over fifty times, when he is at the top of his game, he is good. As for Ouellet, I think he will do better playing "at home". He is not a top four d, but could possibly be good in 3rd pairing.

Right now Habs do not have a solid and set nucleus, they are a team in transition. The 7 d put together last year was bad and I told my son before the 1st game of the season, it is going to be a long season in MTL. With pain, comes opportunity and out of the chaos, we saw Mete, Juulsen and Reilly emerge. I think all three have potential and should get stronger. The beauty of Markov was his passing and ability to transition with quick up pass. Those three D did make much faster passes out of zone, so it should help the transition game.

wow, that's really sad that you couldn't get that team to come together. sucks to suck, we can't all be good at what we do.

1 team out of 23 is not bad at all. Plus the Team Ontario's, Quebec , New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Also had three seasons helping with Team Canada. That was a fantastic experience. Once I turned 50, I love a lot of interest and decided to spend my winters in Florida with my wife. Just waiting for grand-kids now! lol

You think Jeff Petry is bad lol

His skating, passing no. His d-zone coverage yes! Championships are won with d-zone awareness first. Ask Steve Yzerman. Look at the Habs of the 70's, look at how strong their plus/minus was. Who later taught Steve Yzerman, the same coach from the 70's in MTL. Even Guy Lafleur had a strong plus/minus. This is not a remark from last season with regards to Petry, he has a track record going back to his days as a teenager. I traded the best offensive player in the entire league at Junior A level to get a good backup goalie, a hard hitting d-man and two draft picks. One of the scouts threw his binder on the ground and walked out saying I knew nothing about hockey. The GM trusted me as I was hired to turn team around. In 16 years 1 player got drafted, the year I coached them, 7 of our players either played in AHL or NHL. I spent the entire first month of season working on two things, chemistry and defense. Never once worked on PP or anything passed red line. Our goals against went way down and our goals for went from 97 to 294. We had 3 centres that finished the year with 49, 52 and 46 goals. We lost in double overtime, one game away from going to play for the National Championship. I love hockey but studied human behavior which allowed me to really take my understanding of an athlete to a much higher level. Most people come on these comment pages, whether it is sports, faith or politics and spew off hatred and put down people. Read all my posts, I have never put one person down and always try to give good solid positive feedback. This is like raising a teenager. It is up to the teen to accept or reject the advice.

Forgot to finish about the Junior player I traded away. his father yelled at me and swore at me, saying his son was going to have a stellar NHL career. His son ended up playing two years of Junior with good scoring but with terrible plus/minus. He played 3 games at ECHL level and that was it.