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A Change Would Do you Good

February 20, 2020, 12:45 PM ET [341 Comments]
Karine Hains
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
On May 2, 2020, Marc Bergevin will "celebrate" his 8th year at the helm of the Montreal Canadiens...if he can find a reason to celebrate of course. I mean sure, he has won some trades I will give him that. Bringing in Petry at the deadline in 2015 and managing to keep hold of him, acquiring Danault from the Hawks for the over the hill vets, getting Weber for Subban also turned out to be a win in hindsight and so was the Domi for Chucky trade, were all good moves. Winning trades does not give you points in the standings however and that is what you need...you need to win games not trades. And more than that, I'd say that you need to shoot for the stars not for just above the building. Aim for the Stanley Cup not for the playoffs... Who else is sick of hearing "if you make it to the playoffs anything can happen"? Sure, you can qualify as the 8th seed and win the cup but how often did that happen? Since 2012, that happened once in 2012.

How about behind the bench? Claude Julien has been in post for 3 full years now and only reached the playoffs in his first season behind the bench. How much credit can we give him for that? I mean he got with the team in mid-February and the Canadiens were first in their division on that date. Even though they made it that year they were swiftly dismissed by the Rangers in 6 games. Since then, the Canadiens have missed the playoffs twice and will miss them again this season. I know, it's not like the GM gave him great teams to work with, never spending to the cap but to me, Julien is outdated. He is not what the Canadiens need to relaunch themselves. I mean look at Kotkniemi's comments when he was sent down to Laval, it hardly sounds like he was happy with the coaching in Montreal.

It's time for a little bit of reality check... This franchise needs to start over and I do not think it can do so with the current tandem in charge. You don't start afresh with a coach that looks fed up, out of answers and is ready to throw his players Under the bus. You do not give the guy who sold you a 5 year plan a 9th year in charge you just don't. When the Habs play their last game of the season in Toronto, I really hope this will be Claude Julien's last game in charge. There's no point in dismissing him now so might as well let him ride out the season but once it's over? The Julien era is done. I don't care if he's signed for 2 more years, for all the money that Molson saved by Bergevin not spending to the cap, he can eat that contract. As for Bergevin, I hope he's done as well but in all likelihood, he isn't. With the draft in Montreal this season, I do not see Molson getting rid of his GM now...it's a shame if you ask me since clearly, there is a need to clean house.

Before the season is over though, there is still the trade deadline to come and with Marc Bergevin watching 2 games in Colorado the chatter about a big trade is getting more and more intense... For once, the guys on TSN 690 are actually making a lot of sense today when they say that if you're going to trade Kovalchuk or Cousins, you do it over the phone. You don't need to be there in person to work on this. Sure, you need to see what's on offer but it still looks suspicious for the GM to actually be there. With the current state of the Montreal Canadiens, I'm starting to think that pretty much any deal could happen. The Avs are dealing with a truckload of injuries and they need help on the wings and even in net since Grubauer went down to injury. So, there are plenty of names on the Habs that could interest Joe Sakic right now but it depends how realistic Marc Bergevin is willing to be. If he can admit that his "reset" is not working and that this team needs big big changes, then maybe he's willing to trade Carey Price and if he does that, it will be a clear admission that this now a rebuild and not a reset. If it ends up being Tatar, Domi or Petry, it's not as big of a statement and if he goes half in, it's unclear what the plan for next year will be.

Bottom line is, if Bergevin stays, he needs to go all in. He needs to put all of his chips on the table, play big and win big. No more half-hearted attempts, I do not want to see another "semi hostile" offer like the one to Aho last summer and a never ending reset, call things what they are, and what is needed is a rebuild.

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