Bergevin comble la solitude et les heures de déplacement de conversations avec ses dépisteurs et Sylvain Lefebvre, entraîneur-chef des Bulldogs, club-école du Canadien à Hamilton.
Bergevin jongle aussi avec le dossier de P.K. Subban. Le seul dossier qu'il n'a pas réglé avant le décret du lock-out qui paralyse la Ligue nationale depuis près de deux mois.
«Je n'ai pas le droit de parler à P.K. ou de négocier avec son agent [Don Meehan], mais je réfléchis souvent à ce dossier», a reconnu Bergevin.
Un dossier qu'il sera urgent de régler dès l'instant où Gary Bettman et son rival Donald Fehr s'échangeront la poignée de main qui mettra fin au conflit. Une fois le lock-out terminé, la saison du Canadien et des 29 autres équipes de la LNH se mettra en branle une dizaine de jours plus tard.
«Je n'ai aucune raison de croire que P.K. raterait le début de la saison pourvu qu'il respecte les règles salariales de l'équipe. Nous offrons à P.K. le même cheminement qu'ont suivi Carey [Price] et Max [Pacioretty], qui sont deux autres piliers de notre organisation», a insisté Bergevin.
Avant de signer des contrats à long terme (39 millions pour six ans dans le cas du gardien et 27 millions pour six ans dans celui de l'attaquant de puissance), Price et Pacioretty ont signé des ententes de deux ans d'une valeur de 5,5 millions et de 3,25 millions.
Lorsque le lock-out a été décrété le 15 septembre dernier, Subban refusait l'offre de deux ans d'une valeur oscillant autour des 9 millions que lui proposait le Canadien.
«Ce n'était pas l'argent qui faisait défaut, mais la durée du contrat. Le Canadien est campé sur sa position. On respecte ça. Mais en même temps, les comparables jouent en faveur de P.K. quand on considère les sept ans [38,5 millions] accordés à Tyler Myers à Buffalo et les six ans [23,8 millions] consentis à John Carlson à Washington», m'a expliqué plus tôt cette semaine Bob Perno, un des agents de l'écurie de Don Meehan.
«Nous ne sommes pas obligés d'imiter ces équipes, a soutenu Bergevin. Nos partisans tiennent à P.K., nous tenons à P.K. et P.K. tient à rester à Montréal avec le Canadien. Tout est en place pour que nous nous entendions avant le début de la prochaine saison. Attendons d'abord la fin du conflit. D'ici là, il est impossible de faire quoi que ce soit.»
In short:
Bergevin says he is offering short term, mainly because 2 other ''pillars'' of the organization in Price and Pacioretty went on that path and they are offering a comparable path, with the long-term deal afterwards.
Gagnon writes the Habs supposedly offered 2 years/around 4.5 M per. That seems a bit hard to believe to me.
Bob Perno, who is one of the agents working with Don Meehan, says the $ per year wasn't the problem, but they want a long-term deal. Brings up the ''comparables'' in the Myers and Carlson deals.
Bergevin says they aren't ''obligated'' to imitate those teams. Our fans want P.K. here, we want P.K. here and P.K. wants to stay here. Everything is in place to get him signed before next season, whenever the lockout ends.
And obviously nothing can happen until the new CBA is signed.
I am puzzled by Bergy's position here unless the whole strategy was ''we'd rather wait for the new CBA and what new rules it might bring'', especially if they are willing to go to that $ level on a 2 year deal anyway. Subban is a much more proven player coming out of his ELC than the other 2 were. Pacioretty had played maybe 30 games at high level before signing that 2 year deal and was coming off a near career ending injury. Price had to prove he could be a #1 for a full season and had a ton of pressure on him post-Halak trade.
In Le Soleil, there's pretty much the same article but with a bonus where he talks about galchenyuk. He says they really hit the jackpot with him and did not miss their shot. He's a stud and says it's more than points he's getting atm saying his vision, his attitude and his will to succeed will definitely make him a top 6 player.
Myers deal isn't that great. Carlson is still to be seen. I can understand Bergevin not wanting to take the risk of a home run with Subban and sticking to a short term contract in order to further assess Therrien's "Black Stallion".
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"Our priority is finding the best possible person to help us win." - Geoff Molson
Longterm deals with the new CBA will be 5 years which is the worst possible case for us because he'll be UFA after his contract (at 27 years old if that doesnt change too)
With a possible rollback of some sort, it might make sense for Subban to wait until the new CBA is finalized in any case. If he is signed after the new CBA, his contract would not get changed.
I think they will find a way to work this one out. I am not worried, yet.
Don't get me wrong, Subban is and will be our best d-man for the forseeable future, but he isn't a good enough player to warrent a franchise to break their own set of rules as far as contracts go. I think the Habs management are playing this one correctly.
Don't get me wrong, Subban is and will be our best d-man for the forseeable future, but he isn't a good enough player to warrent a franchise to break their own set of rules as far as contracts go. I think the Habs management are playing this one correctly.
Agreed. I think the 2 year, 9 million deal is a fair offer. I like how Bergevin is handling this.
I'd love for Subban to take the 2 year deal, but he does have a case for himself. He's proven more than Price and Pacioretty did before their 2nd contracts and he's gonna keep on getting better.
Regardless of what happens, I just want Subban to sign, that's all.
Like others have said, the term on the Meyer's and Carlson (Skinner deal aswell)deals are not great. Both eat up mostly RFA years, and make those players to possible be UFA at a very young age (under current CBA).
I really hope they can agree to a 2-3 year deal, but if the Habs are going to sign him to long term contract, they should just sign Subban to a 8 year + contract.
Agreed. I think the 2 year, 9 million deal is a fair offer. I like how Bergevin is handling this.
Unless Burke offer sheets him.
If other teams want him you never know, I for one don't understand the reason for not signing him to a longer-term deal. Price was a different situation, the team offered a long-term deal and Price only wanted a short-term deal, which was what ended up being signed.
He is not equivalent to Pacioretty and Price as they were not established top-tier NHLers when negotiating their second contracts, whereas Subban was the team's no. 2 dman in 2010-2011 and no. 1 dman in 2011-2012.
There's a lot of risk to being the no. 1 dman on a weak team and playing 25 minutes a game in all situations. He needs some sort of guarantees in case something happens, same as veterans get. If I'm Subban I hold out for more. If they're going to insultingly limit him to two years, he should be paid at least 6 million per year, since Markov is getting 5.75.
I hope Subban doesn't become the next Chelios/Beauchemin/McDonagh.
So... the Habs can then compare his new contract to post-rollback contracts? What's the benefit to PK?
There's no benefit to PK, but either way he doesn't have the choice to negotiate during the lockout anyway, so he's getting a post-lockout contract whether it's in his best interest or not.
