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McLean’s Pub Call Of The Wilde: Kicking The Can Down The Road

February 26, 2018

By Brian Wilde

So we are just going to keep kicking the can down the road, are we? We are just going to keep finding reasons it’s hard for Marc Bergevin, are we? Bergevin says nobody wanted to give up their firsts. Well, there were five firsts that moved.

In some examples, you can’t argue Max Pacioretty wasn’t worth what the players who moved for firsts were. You can’t tell me that Nash, Hartman or Tatar are superior to Pacioretty. You can’t make an argument that term was an issue or it wasn’t an issue. Hartman and Tatar had length left in their contract like Pacioretty. Nash didn’t have term. You can’t argue that it would be better to wait. He had two playoffs versus one. You can’t say the offerings were terrible. Nash fetched four pieces. Tatar fetched three pieces. Rangers GM Jeff Gorton got a large haul for his other deal too in Ryan Mcadonagh. The Rangers got it done.

Bergevin did not.

He had eight assets to move and he had to move them because if you’re going to keep the same lousy hockey players on your team next year …. NEWSFLASH: You’re going to have the same lousy team.

He moved two. How many should he have moved? Not two.

Unless you want to be 29th again. Then you had a great deadline day sticking with the same script as this year and I’ve heard it argued two years of tank is better anyway.

Again, it’s hard, right. It’s hard to do this. It’s hard to do that. The can just keeps getting kicked down the road. If it’s hard and you can’t do it, then let someone else try it.

18 trades were made. Lower than usual.

But the job is the job is the job. In the pro business world, do the job. Trades was the job.

So now the kind and loving Bergevin supporters are gonna kick the can down the road until the draft and then they kick the can down the road until free agency. And when you have kicked the can down the road long enough and far enough, you’re an also ran and still finding things hard.

When it’s too hard to achieve your goal of getting a first line center, or a left handed first pairing D, or getting rid of a blue line full of pylons, you are the same team that you were before.

There’s only one result possible with the same players and that’s the previous result.

So the keys are in the hands of Trevor Timmins but there should be more keys for him. Oh but there’s five in the first two rounds. Yeah, I knew that before today. I also know the blue line corps stayed the same and Pacioretty wasn’t moved for four assets, three assets, two assets, or one asset. I knew before that Bergevin wasn’t able to do what Holland did or what Gorton did. I know that the other guy pulled it off and your guy didn’t. I know that’s hard to hear but some guys got it done today and other guys found the can to kick.

The proceedings started out so positively too with the return that Thomas Plekanec fetched but in the end, he did a two for eight.

Well, Brian, no one wanted his terrible players, so you have to understand that.

Except he was the one who got the terrible players in the first place.

So as I commit myself to understanding here the positive spin masters , I am seeing the Catch-22 of the situation… You have to forgive Marc for he couldn’t trade these players that he brought here in the first place because they’re terrible and oh forgive him for that first thing too of bringing them here.

Also, get ready to understand that it’s hard to move Alzner, Benn, Schlemko and Pacioretty at the draft too.

Also, get ready to understand that it’s hard to attain UFA because of the weather and the taxes and the fishbowl of Montreal.

It’s all up to Trevor Timmins, I guess. He’s extremely capable and he has a lot of picks. In fact, just give the GM chair to him as he is clearly the top mind in the organization anyway.

Either that or we can understand how hard all of this is to do and just keep on kicking that can down the road.

 

About Brian Wilde

Brian Wilde has worked in hockey since he was 20. He was the rink side host for the Edmonton Oilers at CTV and Ottawa Senators for Sportsnet. He was also lead reporter on the Montreal Canadiens for 17 years at CTV Montreal.

View all posts by Brian Wilde

  • Sebastian says

    Scathing review, but I can’t say I disagree. Two playoff runs are worth more than one, there were enough bidders, other GM’s got it done with pieces of equal or lesser value. Not only that, but: with all due respect to the athletes like Benn and Schlemko, they are what they are, and we have too many of the kind. Could have had a couple extra picks there. Alzner will have to be a buyout, because his contract is as much of a dumpster fire as his play has been. With a fail on the trade deadline, by my count, that’s Strike 3 on Brian’s fireable offences list. Offseason will be have to be the last chance for Bergevin. Let’s hope Molson has the courage and sense to step in if things don’t look up very soon.

  • Shawn Connors says

    I’m sure there are multiple issues involved here why nothing was done. But I just wish we had Julien Brisebois to run this ship. If he hasn’t learned anything from the genius that is Stevie Y. Then there won’t be much hope with a new GM here because of the whole French thing, they are strapped anyway. One of the multiple reason why I have no hope for this franchise anymore. The once proud franchise I grew up to know is long long gone, with little hope of return. I can’t believe I am coming to this but it’s getting frustrating to continue gollowing this drama, Habs are heading down the same road the Leafs went for decades. It’s hard to spend hard earned money to go watch this stuff anymore. I’m tired of hearing about guys like JDR and McCarron down the road, I totally think they are busts. We heard the same about Tinordi and Beaulieu, LeBlanc for years. It’s like reruns of old shows. Frustrating as he’ll for long time fans. I may offend some here but the most frustrating thing for me is the French issue. Especially when English is the 100% language used in the dressing room and on ice. Hardly a French player plays here. I guess it’s all for media then which is running the team if that’s the case. Put the best men available in place to do the job and things may change quickly. Until then in words I heard a hundred times before…”expect the unexpected”…which is basically nothing.

  • Denis Boudreau says

    Not your best this one Brian. I don’t think that MB wouldn’t do something if the return was worth it. And don’t tell me that MB is not a good negotiator, we don’t know what the offers were. He better keep Patch than gave him for nothing. It seems that nobody wanted to trade young centers that’s all. Now can we had first round picks for him. Probably but the picks 25th or 26th. You know the odd. The offer can be better at the draft. If someone they want drop a little bit than a trade would be possible.

    • Brian Wilde says

      Okay so one more pass. Forgiveness for not doing the job that others did all around. Kick the can down the road it is. Got it. Let’s see how many ore chances he gets for this to be the formula….. we wait for the summer.

  • Nick Jurich says

    I thought the Habs had a decent trade deadline weekend getting rid of some UFAs, I’m surprised your expectation was for Bergevin to trade a bunch of players away with term left on their contract. I’m in the camp that Bergy had an awful 2017 off-season and the Habs are paying for it now, stuck with Alzner for a while and Benn/Schlemko until they’re in the last year of their deals.

    Some interesting swings and misses over the last couple days, thought Holland did great with Tatar yet he couldn’t move pending UFA Green. Thought Gorton did very well with the Nash trade but got fleeced giving up McDonaugh/Miller.

  • Timo says

    Perhaps you should have been a bit more vocal about calling out Bergevin on his BS during the “news” conference. Most of you reports that cover Habs are great at writing great sounding articles and statements on line, but when it comes to telling it to Bergevin’s and Molson’s faces you all rehash same useless questions to which one knows an answer before question is being asked. Just like the Habs – no character.

  • Richard McAdam says

    I sense some frustration today.

    I give it a C+ today. Had he been able to move Schlemko or Benn I would have said a B. Alzner would get an automatic A from me. Like you said, he got two out of eight. The two were good. I like the Reilly acquisition. But more needed to happen to really clear the pantry to restock for the future.

    It isn’t easy trying to move bad players or below-average players who are having bad years but have term. Other GM’s watch the games too, right? I don’t think that opposing GM’s that are at this stage of the season who are in the playoffs need to take themselves down a peg by adding guys who have struggled all year. Maybe they turn it around in a new situation by why take that risk.

  • Ralph Segreto says

    Great piece, Brian. If you want an idea for another Bergevin piece, compare the 2011/12 Winnipeg Jets to how they are today (when Kevin Chevaldayoff took over the GM duties in Winnipeg) to the Habs of 2012/13 when Marc Bergevin took over the team and how they look today. It’s a stark contrast and quite sickening for Habs fans. That 2011/12 Jets team was hardly a powerhouse. Great job by Chevaldayoff. Both GM’s learned in the same organization, with the same opportunities, but one seems to have made the transition more successfully than the other.

    • Brian Wilde says

      The Jets are the blue print. They didn’t make many trades. Chevy only did the Kane one. They didn’t break the bank for UFA as they even let Ladd go without a big offer. They just relied on their draft guys. I have said that is what the Habs have to do. Check my Twitter pinned tweet. UFA aren’t going to come here. Use the Jets blue print to do this as Montreal and Winnipeg have the same issues…. weather and taxes.

  • Jon says

    Absolutely true, Brian. The season gets more frustrating as it goes on. How does he not deal more out and get something for them. Players like Benn and Schlemko i’m almost positive could have got some kind of draft pick. By the sounds of it Pleky may be coming back in the summer so what has really changed? Morrow is gone and Reilly is in. We have more draft picks but other than maybe 1 of them, they will all take a few yrs or more to develop. May not even reach the NHL. So like you said we go back to the same team but hope for a different result. When is this going to end. Molson needs to either can MB or appoint someone team president bc what has been going on for 6 yrs now is clearly not working. For a guy who now wants to get young and fast, he sure didn’t do much to change that at this deadline. I can’t see any draft trades other than Patches maybe. What do they do now, Brian, I’m curious on your thoughts.

  • Paul Crites says

    So on Dec 31st you write an article somewhat criticizing everyone calling for Bergevin’s job, because you stated he’d only made one major mistake in 6 years (Alzner), and explain to the uneducated masses that he’s now in the same boat as the other 30 GM’s. Now you lump all the “kind and loving Bergevin supporters” together and claim they’re giving him too much credit. Where exactly do you stand on Bergevin as GM of the Habs?

    • Brian Wilde says

      I didn’t call for his job, Paul. I assessed the job that he did yesterday and he did a bad job. I have also always stated that he has two assets to get his two big gets…. a top C and a top left handed D. That hasn’t change either. I have been quite consistent. He had a job to do and he still has a job to do. He kicked the can down the road. There is no apologizing for the work that he did yesterday. Now he has kicked the can down the road and we wait for his next opportunity to do the job right. Each time that he doesn’t do the job right, he is weakened. So we wait. But if he keeps not doing it right, then the criticism gets sharper. If and when he changes course and gets the job done, then the criticism turns to praise. Bottom line is he had a job to do yesterday and he did not do it. You don’t move only 2 of 8 assets and are 28th in the league and are praised for your work. That’s blinders. There is no praise. He didn’t get it done. Now we wait for the next time and I will praise or criticize on the merits of his work. Thats what a good fair journalist does. So as it relates to December 31st saying that he has made the same mistakes as other GMs, that has not changed. He has made the same mistakes. And if he can’t get the players needed to turn the team around then he will have made more mistakes and after a while, if he can’t stop making mistakes, then he isn’t just like the other 30 GMs, then he is worse than them, and he will lose his job and at a certain point I will say he should be fired, but as of now what I have said is oh okay we are going to kick the can down the road here are we …. okay so lets do that and wait for the next chance in the summer to get his act together. Each day in a changing world you re-evaluate the GM’s work. To not do that and remain steadfast and stubborn in your original opinion is to be a terrible journalist.

  • Dan Adams says

    Hi Brian,
    I certainly cannot disagree because I suggested that Trevor Timmins be hired as the general manager a few days ago when I wrote to you. Slowly, it seems we are coming to the real problem. It is not just speculation. It has been proven over and over again through The Montreal Canadiens’ restricted hiring practices. We have been restricted to hiring only those candidates who can speak French to the media. So we end up with coaches and general managers that probably would not be hired by any other team. Therrien did coach The Penguins for a little while, but not very successfully . Our coaches keep coming back because there is very little choice. I think we were quite fortunate this time to get Julien, but Boston is doing very well without him. Would any other team hire Bergevin as a their general manager. I don’t think so. The language issue has reached our boardrooms and hiring ex players or the same coaches over and over again will not help. The hiring of Bergevin and Gainey is only the result of a much deeper problem. The problem is what almost all media will not approach : The language issue of The Canadiens has limited the choices of who may be hired and it has been to the detriment of the team. It has the same effect as if our draft choices were limited because we live in Quebec.

  • HabsAddict says

    Tell us how you REALLY feel Brian.

    At this point, Bergevin is the worst GM since Houle. Houle had the excuse of taking a job that was offered to him rather then pretend he was GM material. On top of that, Houle was directed to save money and make the team saleable, not win cups.

    I don’t know what Bergevin has to do to get fired. He certainly not capable of making any big moves and his excuses are becoming his legacy.

    I’m a Habs lifer. I was enjoying cup parades long before Bergevin the egg became viable. Sadly, all I (and we) have left are memories of a glorious past.