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GDT #82: Season Finale, Thank you Bob Cole

Habsy said:
So out of curiosity, it’s believed Bergevin will try to sign Duchene. Do you think adding him without losing anyone moves the needle?
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Yes and no.

The questions are whether or not your 5 on 5 results are repeatable and what Matt Duchene actually is. If Montreal is in fact a top 5-8 team 5 on 5, and Duchene is closer to what he was this season overall (75+ point centre, as opposed to the 55-60 point guy he's been most other years), then yeah that moves the needle.

It would feel a lot like the Kessel/Phaneuf era Leafs to me in team construction method, but it shouldn't be terrible.
 
MindzEye said:
Yes and no.

The questions are whether or not your 5 on 5 results are repeatable and what Matt Duchene actually is. If Montreal is in fact a top 5-8 team 5 on 5, and Duchene is closer to what he was this season overall (75+ point centre, as opposed to the 55-60 point guy he's been most other years), then yeah that moves the needle.

It would feel a lot like the Kessel/Phaneuf era Leafs to me in team construction method, but it shouldn't be terrible.
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That's a huge if. He wants a 7 yr deal. Hard pass for me.
 
CH1 said:
That's a huge if. He wants a 7 yr deal. Hard pass for me.
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I'd pass as well. But I'd pure tank if I was the GM of the Habs and that clearly isn't on the menu in Montreal. It's one of the few markets in the league, like Toronto, that if a competent plan was laid out the fans would buy it and continue to fill the building with barely a blip in the revenue column. Incredible that they can see the success of the Shanaplan in Toronto and not look to emulate it. They have to know that there is no winning at the end of the road they're currently on.
 
Hard to bottom out with Price in net to emulate the leafs plan. Hard to not be a bubble team when he’s on his game.
 
Habsy said:
Bergevin is on life support. He can’t miss again. It’s a concern.
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If you're trying to avoid firing him (which I don't get, but whatever), shuffle him "upstairs" and bring in someone to execute the rebuilding plan. Allowing the timeline of an executive to get in the way of long term winning is one of the sillier bits of NHL corporate culture. It happens all over the league.
 
soco22 said:
Hard to bottom out with Price in net to emulate the leafs plan. Hard to not be a bubble team when he’s on his game.
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Yep. Goaltending is the worst elite skill to possess if you're trying to tank. But they're not trying to tank. And while a multi-year tank is an efficient way to stockpile talent, it's not the only way to win the Cup. See Capitals last season. Kings a few years ago. They made the most of their limited top 3 picks.
 
I don’t see how the Habs can tank. Whatever anyone thinks of them, they were almost a 100 point team this year, which was literally the worst thing that could’ve happened to them. Now they’re pregnant with the notion of being an inch away from contending, so Bergy will be throwing as many dollars at players as he can this summer.
 
Yes, lots of ways to win. But when looking at the cap era - majority had 3-4 years of picking in the top 8 or so.
 
Habsy said:
Bergevin is on life support. He can’t miss again. It’s a concern.
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I think you're dreaming....Bergevin bought himself more time by landing Domi, Tartar, KK, Suzuki. Not to mention career years from his Chicago boys -Dano and Shaw. The draft gods are finally smiling on him -- less McCarron/Sherbak/Fucale more of Poehling/Romanov/Brook/Primeau.

Last year's bottomless despair was the ideal time to turf him. Now the cycle has changed. He can point to the green shoots he helped plant. Hope would have to be lost again before his gig is under threat.
 
LeafOfFaith said:
I don’t see how the Habs can tank. Whatever anyone thinks of them, they were almost a 100 point team this year, which was literally the worst thing that could’ve happened to them. Now they’re pregnant with the notion of being an inch away from contending, so Bergy will be throwing as many dollars at players as he can this summer.
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Until you are on track to be a top contender year after year - looking at rebuilding is a must.

With buffalo and Florida potentially being able to pass Montreal in the upcoming year or two and still haven’t to deal with Toronto and Tampa (kinda Boston) for prob the next 5-10 years as contenders year in and year out...its tuff to be fighting to just get a wildcard spot most years if most things go right and not take a long look at your team. Kinda the blue jays before AA took things over where we were playing for a wild card position and hoping for things to go right (better teams to have off years and for your team to have a few guys to go above and beyond).
 
I didn’t say they shouldn’t rebuild. They have no elite talent.

What I’m saying is that they won’t rebuild.
 
Big problem for the Habs as well is a lot of their young talent will have an over-the-hill Price and Weber who need to be replaced.
They needed a top pick this year. 9th is the worst. Florida and Buffalo are getting better and have that elite talent.
 
The Habs are the Leafs in the mid 00's. A couple of elite players (Sundin/Kaberle, Weber/Price), some solid prospects with good, but not elite upside. and management team trying to compete instead of rebuild. So you are stuck battling as a bubble playoff team. And there really isn't any end in sight unless they luck into another 2007 type draft where they get an elite player or two later on. But I am not sure how this Habs core ever competes for a Cup. With Weber/Price they won't be bad enough to bottom out, and without game breaking talent up front they won't be good enough to win.
 
you either rebuild or try to continue around Price and Weber. they chose door #2. savvy move by Bergevin, staying bad wouldn't have been a good career move. now he gets to stay in the chair longer.
 
9th isn’t the worst if they fluke into a Barzal or Pastrnak. Lots of recent examples of game breaking talent going later. But will the Habs land one? Probably not.

As for UFAs signing there, we’ve seen how attractive a destination it’s been in the past. The only guys who’ll sign there are the ones that don’t care about winning and are just going for the cash. Even they might think twice after seeing Alzner get buried.

I don’t see any pot of gold at the end of their rainbow. They need to draft studs who are stuck with them for the majority of their careers and add pieces around them. But they have none and are on track to get none.
 
CH1 said:
Yep. Goaltending is the worst elite skill to possess if you're trying to tank. But they're not trying to tank. And while a multi-year tank is an efficient way to stockpile talent, it's not the only way to win the Cup. See Capitals last season. Kings a few years ago. They made the most of their limited top 3 picks.
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The Caps aren't the greatest example for you to use. Not when Ovie was drafted 1st overall & Backstrom was picked 4th overall.

The Kings are a better example for you to aspire to, I suppose. They drafted Kopitar & Brown outside of the top-10 (11th & 13th respectively), hit on some post-1st round picks (Voynov, Muzzin, Toffoli, Quick) and acquired Richards, Carter, Gaborik & Williams through trades.

But then the beating heart of their team was Doughty (drafted 2nd overall), and Richards and Carter were acquired for recent top-5 picks (Jack Johnson, Brayden Schenn). So I guess you'd best hope that Kotkaniemi can become your Doughty, and that swapping Sergachev & Galchenyuk for Drouin & Domi can be your equivalent of the Richards/Carter deals.
 
LeafGm said:
The Caps aren't the greatest example for you to use. Not when Ovie was drafted 1st overall & Backstrom was picked 4th overall.

The Kings are a better example for you to aspire to, I suppose. They drafted Kopitar & Brown outside of the top-10 (11th & 13th respectively), hit on some post-1st round picks (Voynov, Muzzin, Toffoli, Quick) and acquired Richards, Carter, Gaborik & Williams through trades.

But then the beating heart of their team was Doughty (drafted 2nd overall), and Richards and Carter were acquired for recent top-5 picks (Jack Johnson, Brayden Schenn). So I guess you'd best hope that Kotkaniemi can become your Doughty, and that swapping Sergachev & Galchenyuk for Drouin & Domi can be your equivalent of the Richards/Carter deals.
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and Price at 5
 
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