you can add drafting Kopitar over Price, Habs would have won some Cups with Kopitar & Halak.

could have, would have, should have.

Same could be said with every team in the NHL, It's 20/20 hindsight.

Coulda woulda shoulda

The only one of those trades (or equivalents) that can be put on his shoulders 100% is the Drouin for Serg trade. That was and will be an unmitigated disaster. The others? Not even remotely.

This is coming from a guy that wants MB gone btw, just for different reasons.

okay peasant (LOOOOL) we're civilized people

lets OS sergy

Everyone keeps saying this and it doesn't matter.

If you were Serg, would you want to come back to the MTL after they traded you? Not me. Plus I might even entertain staying in TB for cheaper just to stay on that all star team that has great weather. He'll have plenty of time to cash in later on.

Players have to accept OS too. Habs OS Brayden Point but he didn't even want to take more money to come........

good point. but hey, if they cant pay him, we should try at least

I get that but look at the players I added - they were all mistakes that were called out as such at the time they were made. Kotkaniemi was never good enough to go 3rd overall, losing Radulov was always dumb because they didn't want to give him term while being in a win-soon window (bc of Price and Weber), the Drouin for Sergachev trade was just meh, I don't think any Habs fan was okay with us trading Eller and he's only gotten better since then, and the Kassian trade was only because of a DUI which everyone forgot about 2 months after the fact.

I completely disagree - the Drouin trade is the only one I'm mildly okay with, if only because Serg hasn't hit his full potential yet either. Kotkaniemi was never good enough to go 3rd overall, losing Radulov was always dumb because they didn't want to give him term while being in a win-soon window (bc of Price and Weber), I don't think any Habs fan was okay with us trading Eller and he's only gotten better since then, and the Kassian trade was only because of a DUI which everyone forgot about 2 months after the fact.

Plus we let go of Markov to save money for Radulov, and we still have the hole in our cap hit from not signing either of them.

From what I've heard and its just speculation obviously but apparently Markov didn't have an agent and was negotiating himself. Problem was as a result he was negotiating from Russia and MB didn't get a ton of time to talk with him face to face and Markov took that as a slight against him. He felt MB should have stopped what he was doing to come to Russia to negotiate with him. Usually agents meet face to face with the GM's to hammer out the details. Markov I guess didn't realize that was a major part of negotiating and when it comes to something like this, he should have been more accommodating. Especially because he didn't have an agent. I blame Markov more than I do MB. The effort needs to be on both sides.

As for Radulov, we'll never know the truth but IMHO I think Radulov had both offers to choose from and simply chose Dallas's. Less taxes, nicer weather, playing with Seguin and Benn. I don't blame him. I don't blame MB for not overpaying either. That would have been unwise. I'm glad MB didn't pay Radulov what he would have needed to be a better offer than Dallas's. Like 7.5m*5 or something.

The only thing I blame MB for is reacting to not resigning Markov and Radulov by trading Serg for Drouin..... That trade was MB showing he was desperate and didn't want to lose his job.

What do you know about Marc Bergevin? He likes hard working players who have a lot of character, right? Explain Drouin then......... That trade was 100% to appease the franco community after losing fan favorites Radulov, Markov and Subban the year before and its the reason why this team is always behind the 8 ball when it comes to the rest of the league.

I want ' les gars chez nous' as much as the next guy but the minute it becomes more important than adding the "right" player at the right time, this team will always be behind the curve.

Drouin was the exact opposite player MB should have wanted. Sergachev on the other hand? This team just lost Markov and their best LHD was Emelin and their 2nd best? Beaulieu...........

I know it sounds like hindsight but I could go back to that time and find my exact comments on this site and I guarantee you, they were very skeptical. This trade did not make sense.