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Gorges Will Infuse His Heart Into Buffalo |
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Josh Gorges is a soldier. A leader of men. A man of very few words.
He does all of his talking where it matters the most: on the ice.
Earlier this week, Gorges opened up his heart and spoke his mind to the Kelowna Daily Courier. Gorges still can’t figure out why Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin cast him aside and traded him to the Buffalo Sabres.. Was it because Gorges represented the Habs’ past? Was it because Bergevin is more interested in promoting talented kids Nathan Beaulieu and Jarred Tinordi to full time roles on the Montreal blue line?
“I wish I had a really good answer — where this came from and why, and how it came about.. but I don’t, to be honest,” Gorges said. “It was a shock to me.”
To be honest, I was surprised when I heard that Bergevin had tried to trade his blood and guts leader to the Toronto Maple Leafs only to have Gorges put the kibosh on the deal. There were rumors of an amnesty buyout of Gorges during the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs. Gorges led his team to the Eastern Conference Finals against the NY Rangers and was unceremoniously traded in July. After he said “No, Thanks” to the Maple Leafs, Gorges added the Sabres to his list of teams that he would be willing to play for. Perhaps he knew that his good friend Brian Gionta would be settling down in Buffalo. On July 1, Sabres GM Tim Murray gladly handed Bergevin a second-round pick in the 2016 NHL draft in exchange for Gorges.
I thought that Gorges figured in the future plans of the Canadiens. I was wrong. Obviously.
Montreal’s loss becomes Buffalo’s gain.
Gorges is an intensely competitive defensive ace who plays playoff hockey on every shift from September to June. He blocks shots, leaves the zone with one tape-to-tape pass, is always in position, and defends his end of the rink like his life depends on it. He won’t wow you with his offensive output, however, he’ll blow you away with his ability to be a human mistake eraser for his team.
Gorges has four years left on his current contract, with an annual salary of $3.9 million. He signed that six-year extension with the Canadiens in January 2012.
In the final analysis, Gorges wanted to stay in Montreal and finish the job that he started. The Habs had other plans. No hard feelings. Gorges is happy to be a Buffalo Sabre now.
“I would’ve loved to stay (in Montreal) and try to achieve my ultimate goal in Montreal and win a Stanley Cup there, but that wasn’t meant to be,” Gorges said. “Whatever the reasons, that’s not our job as players to figure out. Our job is to show up and play the way we’re supposed to play and do our jobs and help our team win. It’s the management’s job to put their team together and try to figure out how to make their team better and how to make their team succeed in the playoffs and succeed under a cap system.
“At the end of the day, you live with the decisions that are made above you. We understand that’s the business we’re involved in.”
Gorges isn’t apologizing Leafs fans either. He’s a high character guy and he didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of pulling a Leafs sweater over his head.
“To think I would have to go and put on my biggest rivals’ jersey and compete and try to be the same player that I am — you have to put 110 per cent of your mindset and your heart into that, and I just didn’t know if I could do that,” Gorges elaborated. “And if I go to Toronto and I’m not the player that I’m supposed to be, I’m not doing them any good. I just felt like I needed to go to a place where I could sink my heart into it"
Gorges was asked if Bergevin had given him a full explanation for why he was traded away.
Read between the lines. He’s not a happy camper with the way it went down in Montreal.
“Not really, and to be honest, I don’t need one or want one. It doesn’t do me any good,
doesn’t do my family any good . . . the thing for us is to look ahead, look to the future and what’s in front of us.”
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Gorges is proud of his contributions to the success of the Canadiens but now his primary focus is trained on turning the Buffalo Sabres into a perennial contender in the Eastern Conference.
“We had a great run ( in Montreal)and it was so fun to be a part of it,” Gorges said. “To be at that point, to come so close to winning the Stanley Cup, and then to get traded, it’s be a lot to handle, a lot to deal with, but I’m excited about the opportunity to go to Buffalo.
“Talking with the guys in Buffalo, the management and ownership and some players, that’s our next challenge, is to try to grow a team that can win a championship in Buffalo. That’s where my mindset is, that’s where my head is at.”
Gorges isn’t buying into the smack the Sabres are going to be the Eastern Conference doormat. He might want to fight the unsuspecting fool who talks crap about his new team. He and Gionta have designs on leading the Sabres out of the cellar and into the penthouse. Hell, they did it in Montreal two seasons ago. Why not in Buffalo, too?
Buffalo finished 30th overall in the NHL standings in 2014-15. It was a tumultuous season that saw Ron Rolston and Darcy Regier get fired, Pat LaFontaine resigned from the front office, Thomas Vanek, Ryan Miller, and Steve Ott were traded away for young building blocks and premium draft choices. The Sabres were 21-51-10 in the standings, by far the worst season in the team’s 44 year history. Gorges wants to help restore the Sabres organization to its past glory and he wants it to happen this season. Sabres fans are imploring Murray and Ted Nolan to “Dishonor For Connor” so that they can tank out and hopefully secure Connor McDavid with the first overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft. Gorges thinks differently of that approach.
The 30 year old vet sees a glass half full.
“Two years ago, before Marc Bergevin and Michel Therrien took over (in Montreal), we were 15th in the Eastern Conference. Coming into the next season, everybody was saying ‘you’ve got no chance, this is a last-place team and you can’t put it together.’ But we said as a team, ‘who cares what people on the outside think, you have to go do the job, you have to go play the game, and at the end of the day, we’ll see where things lie.’ I think that’s where our mentality has to be in Buffalo,” Gorges explained.
“Yeah, they struggled last year, but they’ve got a lot of good young talented players and an organization that’s willing to make the adjustments to make them a good team, a great team. When I come in, it’s going to be ‘why not?’ People can say whatever they want to say and think what they want about our team, but at the end of the day, why can’t we be a good team?” Gorges asked. “No one can determine how hard we play and the things that we do on the ice, and that’ll be what I try to implement when I go to Buffalo.”
Now you know why Tim Murray made the trade for Gorges. The guy is blood, sweat and tears. That’s what you’d expect from a team leader.
Gorges is training in Kelowna right now with his likely D partner this season Tyler Myers. Gorges and Myers train together during their summers in Kelowna. Both are Kelowna Rockets alums. Gorges may just be the tonic to help heal the ills that have been plaguing Myers' defensive game.
His wife just gave birth to their baby and they will be moving to Buffalo in August. He plans to bringing his trademark intensity and seriousness to Sabres training camp in September.
“You always have something to prove, and it’s not to anyone else but yourself,” Gorges said. “People are always going to have their judgments about you, they are going to say what they want and think what they want about you as a player and as a person, but at the end of the day, it comes down to: ‘can I look at myself in a mirror and say I’m doing my job, I’m contributing, I’m helping this team be a better club?’
Gorges will not be operating under false illusions in Buffalo. He knows what is being expected of him from Day One.
“I know what’s expected of me when I go to Buffalo. I know what my job is. I’m not going to try to overextend myself or do things that I’m not made of, but you go there and do your job and help develop and bring a winning personality to the city of Buffalo.”
“That’s always the side part of hockey, there’s your life,” Gorges said. “Hockey is one thing and I love the game of hockey and I’m so passionate about playing the game and doing what I can to help win a Stanley Cup, but at the end of the day, I have a family to support. I have to look after my wife and my kid, and that’s most important to me".
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The Habs travel to Buffalo on Friday November 28. Gorges said that he is fully aware of his inevitable return to his old haunts at Montreal’s Bell Centre on November. 29. Yes, it will be on “Hockey Night In Canada”.
“With the first game in Buffalo, that might make it a little easier. We play the night before, so we just fly in, go to sleep and get ready to play the next day. . . . But it’s going to be an emotional game, getting dressed at the Bell Centre on the opposite side of the ice.”
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