Go Habs Go
Joined: Mar. 2017
Posts: 10,667
Likes: 4,091
Bergevin is good (or lucky) with small moves, but generally bad at big ones.
Weber - Subban should have brought us an extra piece at least. It worked out, but he still lost value at the time.
Drouin - Sergachev the organization is just as responsible for continually bowing to public pressure and prioritizing spoken language over success or business.
Suzuki - Pacioretty was exactly what a good trade looks like. Vegas got a good player in return for a good prospect with a 2nd as insurance against that prospect not making it. It turned into a big win for MB because the player he didn't ask for (Tatar) exceeded expectations.
His middling moves have been okay but the end result has mostly been shuffling chairs on a sinking ship because of poor targeting and failure to recognize, acknowledge, and address real issues. Too much time in the foxhole fort instance.
Where Bergevin has success, and may even be top of the league, is bargain deals. Thus the "Bargain bin Bergevin" moniker. Small pieces for low prices which work out well and often net a return at the end of their tenure. Eller, Danault and Romanov (albeit with inside information), Armia, Shaw, Petry, Edmundson, etc.
Unfortunately, the good he achieves is outweighed by the bad. Especially when you consider our prospect development and contract signings.
To often have prospects been mishandled during his tenure, and too often have we missed with our high picks. Couple that with our reluctance to trade them until their value is practically zero, and it's not surprising how many of those picks have gone to waste.
He's also irrationally stubborn with negotiations for our own young players, and conversely generous with contracts for older players and players acquired from outside the organization.
The guy you went off the board and want to be your next big thing, gets handled so badly that he has to resort to an offer sheet.
Meanwhile you sign a player like Anderson to a big deal immediately after coming off a ridiculously bad season, and lock up players like Armia and Byron for $3M+ without any fuss and don't hesitate to give someone like Alzner a good chunk of money with term in free agency and consistently sign fringe players that push prospects down the depth chart. This is while also giving his personal favorites contracts which are at the high end or significantly more of what they should reasonably expect, while letting players like Markov walk.
It would be temporarily excusable if the results were there, but when you are pushing back development and still failing, you need to reevaluate your approach. Self-assessment is definitely not among his strengths.
A 10 year quest for security at center and he blows it for the sake of what was probably less than $1M difference in negotiations.
It was time for him to go way back when he refused to acknowledge his buddy pal Therrien was an issue. Let This be the year please.
Campabee liked this.
Reply
CapFriendly
CapFriendly