(from Global News)
It’s not that Marc Bergevin doesn’t win trades. It’s that he doesn’t know how to build a team. Winning trades doesn’t get you to the playoffs. Building a team gets you to the playoffs. Make it four seasons in the last five that Montreal Canadiens will miss the post-season. Bergevin has had only two playoff wins in his last five years at the helm. He’s finished eight seasons as the Habs’ GM.
But hey, he got a second-round draft pick for Marco Scandella when he only invested a fourth. He got a third-rounder for Ilya Kovalchuk when no one else wanted him. He got a fifth-round pick for Nate Thompson. And he got a fourth for Nick Cousins. Maybe, Trevor Timmins can get Connor McDavid with one of those picks.
Prices are too high when he is a buyer. Prices are too low when he is a seller. The trade deadline has passed and he has not traded Tomas Tatar and Jeff Petry. They are assets under contract only until the end of next season; then they are free to go anywhere they choose. Again, he didn’t choose to build a team. He could have had two first-round draft choices and two top prospects who could become the elite players of tomorrow.
Even if they make the playoffs, next season — is that the definition of success? Does everyone say that it was wise to have kept Petry and Tatar because they made the playoffs? Is that the bottom line? Well done, Habs. You did it. You made the playoffs. They’re not winning the Stanley Cup next year. The cup is the goal, not simply making the playoffs.
Marc Bergevin has had eight years. He has won two playoff games in the last five years. The next time Bergevin wins a trade, he will be lauded as savvy while the search for a left side top-tier defender continues, while the search for elite scoring talent continues. Bergevin’s main message seems to be wait till next year. Canadiens fans should be getting used to that by now.
Go Habs Go!