For all that was possible to move I think the choices were well done... We needed a third and fourth line that could bring a little more than just kill some ice time, be physical or intimidating at least. Bourque is not a UFA and getting rid of him must be very complicated... first if you trade him out for nothing you may hurt your offensive production this year and secondly not many teams will be eager to spend 3.5 m$ for a coin toss. And Bourque is the only issue that wasn't dealt with today and that's no surprise.
The kind of bottom six I think they needed was what they had in 2010-11. Halpern, Moen, Darche, White, Desharnais, Pouilot and Eller. Guys that can either play defense or provide depth scoring. Montreal didn't do that well on getting that so far. They have some depth defense but no one but Eller and maybe if they get lucky Armstrong can score.
He hasn't sign any long-term crippling deals, but that's the only positive.
He's loaded the team with enough fourth-liners to fill two fourth-lines, and re-signed an ex-Hab for what appears to be purely sentimental reason.
He has tripled up in areas that have less significance and the Habs had no holes (4th-line forwards, bottom-pairing D-men).
He has failed to address any area of need (top-6 LW, top-4 D-man).
At this stage, the Habs are only marginally better than the team they ended up 11-12 with (excluding Gionta's return to health, which is a freebie) and significantly worse than the roster they started 11-12 with.
It also seems that the Habs' team-building philosophy is taking a sharp turn towards "hard to play against", which in a way is code for "not really hard to win against". This is not a good thing.
There's more to be had, Bergevin is not done (as pushing back his press conference indicates), and even he has to realize he needs no more 4th-line forward (and could stand to lose one or two). So this grade is hardly final and there's still time for him to do something that actually improves the club.
Yet, I leave you with this thought: Gauthier's defining UFA signing was Erik Cole. So far, Bergevin's is Brandon Prust.
****! It always sneaks up on me every year but I keep forgetting that the season starts July 2. Thanks for reminding everyone!
The kind of bottom six I think they needed was what they had in 2010-11. Halpern, Moen, Darche, White, Desharnais, Pouilot and Eller. Guys that can either play defense or provide depth scoring. Montreal didn't do that well on getting that so far. They have some depth defense but no one but Eller and maybe if they get lucky Armstrong can score.
Building from the 4th line and bottom-pairing with truculence is what Burke's done in Toronto and that worked out well so I guess we can look forward to that!
Bergevin needs to pull a Semin or Radulov out of his hat to have the Habs as anything more than hoping and praying to sneak into a playoff spot next year. Still that gaping top-6 LW hole there and he spent $5 million of cap space on areas of luxury rather than need.
I really believe you guys haven't got a damn clue what you're talking about. I mean that as politely as possible.
He hasn't sign any long-term crippling deals, but that's the only positive.
He's loaded the team with enough fourth-liners to fill two fourth-lines, and re-signed an ex-Hab for what appears to be purely sentimental reason.
He has tripled up in areas that have less significance and the Habs had no holes (4th-line forwards, bottom-pairing D-men).
He has failed to address any area of need (top-6 LW, top-4 D-man).
At this stage, the Habs are only marginally better than the team they ended up 11-12 with (excluding Gionta's return to health, which is a freebie) and significantly worse than the roster they started 11-12 with.
It also seems that the Habs' team-building philosophy is taking a sharp turn towards "hard to play against", which in a way is code for "not really hard to win against". This is not a good thing.
There's more to be had, Bergevin is not done (as pushing back his press conference indicates), and even he has to realize he needs no more 4th-line forward (and could stand to lose one or two). So this grade is hardly final and there's still time for him to do something that actually improves the club.
Yet, I leave you with this thought: Gauthier's defining UFA signing was Erik Cole. So far, Bergevin's is Brandon Prust.
I would give him a B. None of the moves cripple the team in any way. They may not make us a strong contender for this year but I don't think we were "1 move away from a strong playoff push". So what does he do:
-Signs Moen to a reasonable deal to solidify our 3rd line
-Signs Prust to a slightly less reasonable deal but is a real character guy who provides toughness, grit, and good defensive play while also being a good penalty killer
-Signs Armstrong to a reasonable 1 year deal to simply upgrade the bottom 6 at a very cheap price
-Signs Bouillon -- alright.. not as big of a fan of this move but I have to admit that I liked the Cube when he first played in Montreal. I'm just worried that he isn't a shadow of his former self and with his size, one of the few redeeming qualities he had was the toughness and heart he played with. Still.. a reasonable depth move as a 6th or 7th defensemen and possible mentor to Emelin.
If he signs Jagr, I'll be ecstatic. Sure we won't be a strong contender but I think we'll be a fun team to watch. Kind of how I'm sure most Edmonton fans would agree that their team was fun to watch the past 2 years despite struggling or how Chicago probably said the same thing a few years back when they finally turned the corner. Seeing as I don't consider us strong contenders this year, we may as well make the team fun to watch and continue building the team in the right direction. There's no reason to over commit to one of this year's free agents which would likely cost us way more than we should spend to simply make us playoff bound without necessarily being strong contenders. Keep us out of the patchwork style of GM who just wants to be competitive without eyeing the big prize at the end.
Whitey becomes a healthy scratch? Not sure i like that
Max Pacioretty - David Desharnais - Erik Cole
Colby Armstrong - Tomas Plekanec - Jaromir Jagr
Brandon Prust - Lars Eller - Brian Gionta
Travis Moen - Petteri Nokelainen - Ryan Whyte
Bourque is cancer to whoever plays with him, prust is LW and I really really wished we would get LW like Semin rather than over-playing our right wings.
