Bouchard GM, Boucher coach.

They'd bring a worse GM who won't be allowed to rebuild. The fact that Bergevin built a playoffs team only via trade is already impressive and it shows he's a great GM.

I think they'll bring in joel bouchard in as GM, who BTW is kinda of the gm and coach in laval. I was an ardent supporter of bergevin because after 2018, he really did change and IMO if the team was playing up to their potential, we would be discussing him as GM of the year, but maybe a fresh voice is needed. they wont trade weber or price, so don't be hopeful of that. but the next gm that comes in will eb thanking bergevin just because of the draft capital and prospects he's acquired. IMO the habs need to swing for the fences and pay a 1st rd pick plus KK/Romanov to bring in an Eichel or Laine. But that's just me.

I really don't get the Bergiven hate. He made some bad moves, like the Drouin trade, the Alzner contract, and the Price contract, but he's made more good move, like the Toffoli signing, the Galchenuk-Domi and Domi-Anderson trades, the Danault trade, the Suzuki trade, and he's good at finding depth pieces for the team. Hes not a great GM, but he's by no means a bad GM, he's made some good moves.

Reminder this is coming from a leafs fan.

That's the thing, they're just good moves. Nothing really stands out as "that's a franchise altering decision". And therein lies the problem with MB for me. Don't get me wrong I like the additions in the offseason and I like some of the moves made prior. However, that doesn't excuse the fact that MB had almost 10 years to find the next McDavid, Crosby, Matthews, Ovi, etc. etc. and has a big nothing to show.

Ducharme can’t get fired from a position he doesn’t already have.

But this team should've been rebuilt instead of being "reset" by MB after the disaster that was the 2017 playoff loss to the Rangers that sent the Captain and Galchenyuk packing. We got one year of a top-five draft pick and I understand that you can't help it if the team plays hard like they did in Domi's first year en route to a 96-point regular season. He really should of tried to have a few years like the leafs where they were absolutely dreadful but look at them now, cream of the crop in the league. And if you are trying to win, as MB has stated numerous times, you cannot have players that were on your "reset" team on the "playoff" team. Guys like Byron, Lekhonen, Armia, Drouin, etc.

You're telling me that Bergiven is a bad GM because he wasn't able to draft a generational talent? You don't just magically get generational talents like McDavid and Matthews out of nowhere. You have to have draft lottery luck (being bad helps, but you can be dead last for 5 years straight and there's no guarentee you will win the first overall, and even if you do, there's no guarentee that player will be a generational talent), or you have to sell off your depth to trade for one, which is usually not really worth it. Plenty of teams have won a cup without players like that. In fact, the majority of cup winning teams are teams without generational talents. Can't fault him for not having one when its not really his fault anyways.

I'm not saying he's a bad GM, I'm saying he lacks vision. You either tank or go all in, no in-between, especially for a franchise of Montreal's caliber. If you draft in the middle, you make moves for average to slightly above average players, that's all you'll get, an average team. A team that is mediocre. Sure the draft takes luck and you need to be bad at the right time to draft the right player. What you can't do is be bad for one season, draft one top draft player and say "everything is good now let's try and compete". That almost never works. If you're going to be bad, be bad, tank, draft the right players and maybe you'll be good in 3-4 years. But if you follow MB's blueprint and stay around the middle, that's all your team will ever be in the middle. Take the Leafs for example, of the 6 past draft years if they were to draft once in the top 5 (not the number one) and a bunch in the middle of the first round, would they have the team constructed today? No. That's because they had a vision to build a successful team. Sure it took some luck and really bad seasons but look at them now, near unstoppable. So if you tell me to pick a plan to build a franchise, I'll always pick the Leafs way of "resetting" rather than the Canadiens.

150% I agree. Habs have been largely mediocre and will not compete for a cup anytime soon. They should’ve went into a rebuild and acquired a game changer. MB should’ve known his team was never good enough, rather than putting bandages on bullet holes

Don't think Marc is going anywhere, Love ur tik toks tho!

I agree complete rebuilding is a better way to go, but winning a cup is still possible with the way Montreal runs. Look at Boston and St Louis for example. Neither team had a set of high draft picks, but they still were able to win a cup by staying good (though not elite) for a long period of time, and making good depth moves. I don't think Montreal wins a cup under Bergevin, but the style that he uses still can provide cups.

I mean those teams have elite, bona-fide, number 1 centremen. Bergeron and O'Reilly.

Yes, the leafs got lucky in their rebuild and came out as a very strong team but then there are the savers who have two first overall picks and are still awful and looking at another potential 1st overall pick.

The devils had two 1st overall picks and were supposed to be a playoff team last year but are still bottom dwellers.

The oilers had three consecutive years of first overall picks and were terrible until they got lucky and got a 4th the McDavid year. It still took them years to be a legitimate playoff team and they still have a lot of depth issues. If that had not been the McDavid year they may still not have made the playoffs.

The kings won 2 cups by being average and then turning it on in the playoffs.

Boston has done some retools while never tanking and drafted players like Pasta and McAvoy.

My point is that no strategy works every time, it takes luck, making the right deals (some of which you don’t know if it was the right deal until 5 or more years later), and maybe most importantly being able to develop players.

well addison, you can't rebuild in montreal. fans would have burnt the bell center down. thats why he couldn't rebuild. he had to take the longer route. i wish we could have tanked like toronto, but say toronto doesn't land matthews. they're still trash in that case. but i agree with you.

ah those guys are generational talents. they don't come around every draft. unless you trade for one

I see your point. But we don't know exactly how good Suzuki or Kotkaniemi are yet. But yes, chances are neither of them become a Bergeron or O'Rielly. I don't think Montreal has a cup in their future, but they are still a decent team.



This. While high picks help, they guarentee nothing.

Ohh, and did I mention it,

Dubas>Bergiven