Bergevin really blew this one. How he ever thought Alzner was worth almost $25M over 5 years is just astounding to me. They really could use that money to go after Panarin or Stone this summer. As bad as this is to have a near $5M AAV player sent to the minors, it was the right move at this point. Why have him around at all? My second point: The most confusing thing recently was EDM's trade for Spooner. This was yet another move by a GM who has no clue what kind of team he has. He's throwing darts w/ a blindfold on. He's clueless. Why not trade Strome for a pick or prospect? Or hold on to him? He's obviously desperate. After he finally gets tossed out of EDM Chiarelli will never get another GM job...and probably not even an assistant GM job. Wait...I just heard Chiarelli tried to acquire Alzner off waivers! Not enough cap space though...Oh well!

What was the point of this? Also, Chiarelli won the Spooner trade

HAHAHAHA!!! He WON the Spooner trade??? HAHAHAHA!!!

The point is to articulate the almost incalculable number of terrible decisions that the two GM's have made and yet their coaches get fired, while Hextall loses his job in PHI after drafting exceptionally well and making the playoffs multiple times. I find it almost impossible to believe that the 2 most incompetent GM's in the NHL right now can continuously throw away season after season w/ no consequence and zero accountability.

Yeah. Strome is absolute garbage. I wouldn’t want him on my AHL team.

They're both overrated and overpaid.

You're last sentence. The people that hired these GMs are also the people that have to fired them. Often they don't want to fire them because 1. They truly believe the guy...is their guy. 2. It would be an admission of a mistake, that was made to hire them in the first place. This happens In business all the time.

I def understand what you're saying in regards to guys like Ken Holland and Stan Bowman. They've been highly successful in the past and have shown the ability to build a great team. They've earned the benefit of the doubt by winning Cups. But the guys in EDM and MTL have never been successful w/ their current teams. I'm just saying that at some point the owners/team presidents need to realize that the current plan isn't working. That brings me back to PHI and Hextall. Obviously we don't know what's going on behind closed doors, but PHI has a ton of young talent on both ends of the ice. Hextall has drafted better and done better in both free agency and trades than both Bergevin and Chiarelli...in my opinion.

Yep and Spooner is better so he wins

So why didn't Hextall just fire Hackstol 2-3 weeks ago as PhI was off to a rough enough start? Unless he tried and was shut down by the ownership. Usually GM's but time by firing their coaches. Just look at what just happened in EDM and CHI. Both GM's have been on the hot seat for their own poor decision making.

There was a good article on ESPN.com a few days ago about how/why coaches have much shorter lifespans than GM's. It stood out to me b/c almost everything about hockey on ESPN is total garbage and this was an interesting piece. The GM's are the architects of their franchises and yet they're often forgiven year after year of losing and poor decision making.

Who are you...Spooner's brother? He's an absolute joke as a hockey player. 1G and 1A in 22 games this season while sporting an abhorrent minus-11 rating. Since the trade he has 0G and 0A for a grand total of...ready? Zero points. He's also a minus-6 in just six games played. He's also only recorded 8 SOG in his last 9 games combined.

Strome, on the other hand, has 1G and 2A in six games since the trade. He's also far more versatile and can play up and down the lineup and in all situations. What's next? Are you gonna tell me that Chiarelli won the Hall for Larsson trade too? HAHAHA!

If there was a "winner" in that trade, it wasn't EDM lol. Spooner is awful and has maybe 2 years left after this figure it out or he's done. I had a lot of hope for Spooner as I watched him come through the system. Unfortunately he just didn't want to be a 200ft player. The problem with Spooner is if he isn't producing offensivley, then he's doing nothing for your team. He's a defensive guy, so if he's not racking up points, he's a liability to the team.

Both GM's have been jockeying for worst GM's in the league these past couple of years. Bad decision after bad decision. But with that said, MB's recent moves have all come back winners and thus have saved his job for the time being.

Chiarelli has not flat out won a deal of significance since his early Boston days with Boychuck and Horton etc. Not that being second worst is really any better but I'd debate anyone who thinks Chiarelli isn't the worst GM in the league right now and its not even close.

As much as I have had a special hatred for MB due to the bone headed moves he's made, this past year has at least turned out well for him regardless of whether it was lock or not and he is a at the very least showing signs of learning from his mistakes. Can anyone honestly say the same for Chiarelli right now?

I agree that there's no debating who the worst GM is. It's Chiarelli and it's not even close.He traded away not one, but TWO SUPERSTARS in Hall and Seguin and got absolutely robbed on both. Either one should've cost him his career. But the Carey Price contract, Subban trade, and the Alzner signing far outweigh the positive moves that Bergevin has made. Acquiring Max Domi was a big win for Bergevin. But I'm not so sure about drafting Kotkaniemi over Tkachuck or trading Sergachev for Drouin. Only time will tell on those decisions. Maybe they'll work out well for MTL. But the Price contract was ridiculously short-sighted. There are numerous Goalies in the league with far better numbers who make less than half what Price makes (Freddy Andersen, Carter Hutton, and Ben Bishop, to name a few). They couldve used the extra $5M+ to sign the 2-way Center they desperately need.

Domi trade will be a loss for Bergevin in the long run. No way Domi keeps up this pace. And drafting Kotka over Tkachuk was a good decision, Kotka is better

No matter what, Bergevin's career in MTL will always be defined by the $84M disaster that was the Carey Price contract extension. Maybe he can partially redeem himself if he can land a big time UFA or trade. Maybe Panarin...?

Panarin won't sign there. He wants a big city in the US. And I agree that his contract is bad, but it's not horrible. Price is worth about what Bobrovsky is making now, 8.5M. They are my 2 and 3 for goalies right now, pretty much interchangeable.

So you're saying that Price's terrible numbers are a result of his team's terrible defense? Because statistically Price is one of the worst Goalies in the league right now. He ranks 32nd in save % (10+ games) and 30th in GAA. All that being said, I'm pretty sure that if Rinne or Vasilevskiy played behind MTL's defense they'd have terrible numbers too.

Yup. When Jeff Petry is your only good defenseman (besides Shea “oh wow he isn’t injured?” Weber) you know something is wrong

The immediate returns on Domi probably saved his bacon.