When Marc Bergevin took over GM duties for the Canadiens, he had to have noted that the 15th placed edition of the team had a lot of pieces in place to build around. He promised to do things the right way, making clear his philosophy of not giving into the temptations of free agency; not trading long-term assets for bandaid solutions; putting great emphasis on building through the draft.

Bergevin set out on a mandate to restore the pride that was deeply wounded in the wake of Pierre Gauthier's reign over the Canadiens. Together, with Michel Therrien, they clearly established an environment where the team came first, and that propelled them higher than they could've imagined; higher than anyone had predicted they'd climb in the standings last season.

Montreal's spiral towards the end of last season--as injuries plowed through a roster that was virtually unscathed for most of their 48 games--weighed heavily on Bergevin. Together, with Therrien, they identified two glaring needs for the offseason: Toughness and size.

With limited cap flexibility, Bergevin made two very low cost moves in trading for George Parros and in signing Douglas Murray. He even signed Nick Tarnasky as a depth move, in case he were to lose one of the few players Montreal has that plays that tough brand of hockey.

Bergevin looked at what he had in tough players like Travis Moen and Francis Bouillon and decided--pre-offseason additions--that they were players the Canadiens couldn't afford to lose.

Through these decisions, Montreal's identity crisis has come to the forefront this season; decisions that many fans have labeled snap reactions to the embarrassing loss to Ottawa in the post-season.

Bergevin also took a look at the team's scoring depth and felt it was a necessity to add something. He failed with freshly bought out Vincent Lecavalier, he turned down Jaromir Jagr, and he signed freshly bought out Daniel Briere.

There's no chance that Bergevin expected anything more than the fans did out of Briere, but he obviously felt a slight influx of scoring would be all the Canadiens needed. Even if the contribution was going to be small, Bergevin obviously felt it was a necessity, or he wouldn't have signed Briere for two seasons.

You have to wonder what was running through Bergevin's mind when Briere started the season like a guy who was justifiably bought out. And as Briere was concussed, I'm sure Bergevin imagined some of his other players that helped make Montreal one of the highest scoring teams in the league last season would make the Briere decision easier to swallow.

David Desharnais--who was rewarded by Bergevin with a four-year contract extension--dwindled last season. Perhaps the Briere signing was insurance to hedge against a carryover of Desharnais bad play to this season, but when it became clear that Briere couldn't provide in that moment, the team was stuck hoping for a drastic turnaround. Shockingly, it happened for Desharnais.

The result of Desharnais' success has been a drastic plummet in Lars Eller's play. Eller, who took incredible strides last season before it all came to an end with a devastating blow to the head delivered by Eric Gryba, started this season on fire. But since adjustments have been made to revive Desharnais, Eller's game has completely fallen off the map, and it's not all due to the linemates he's been saddled with.

Granted, Rene Bourque's been abysmal this season, and oft-injured Brandon Prust has looked more like a depth player than the hero he played for most of last season. Moen's offensive output is negligible. Michael Bournival is a rookie. Briere can play centre and he can play wing, but he's mentioned several times that he's more comfortable on the left if he has to, and he only played on the right next to Eller.

Eller's consistently been given between 18-23 shifts for most of his games, and though his ice-time ranges from 15:00 to 18:00 minutes on average, he sees significantly more time on the penalty kill than he does on the powerplay. Since Alex Galchenyuk's injury, Eller's been stuck somewhere in the limbo of being an offensive player that's relied upon far more in defensive situations, seemingly having very little idea of what his role is with the team. Eller's now gone 14 games with zero points, and has a -10 rating through that stretch.

So what's running through Bergevin's mind now?

What's running through Bergevin's mind when Briere, who hasn't been given an opportunity to help even when he's shown he could, is sitting with three less points than Eller, one goal shy of Eller's 10?

What's running through Bergevin's mind when Rene Bourque can't produce anything, regardless of who he's playing with?

What's running through Bergevin's mind regarding the prospect of goals coming from Prust, Moen, Parros, Bournival, Christian Thomas, Louis Leblanc and others who may yet enjoy the pleasures of playing in Therrien's bottom six?

What's running through Bergevin's mind while his team has generated less scoring at even strength than any of the teams currently holding down a playoff position in either conference?

What's going through Bergevin's mind as he and Therrien alter the Canadiens from small, speedy team to slow, physical, grinding team?

What's going through Bergevin's mind as he watches the skill erode?

Bergevin wanted a team full of character, and it seems clear there's plenty of it in the Canadiens room. If we're to prescribe to the theory that Therrien got far more out of his team last season than they could've hoped for, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that their success of not falling out of the playoff picture has been in spite of the program Therrien's been running this season. These guys clearly care enough to play for each other, but it seems painfully obvious that the GM's moves in the offseason has a lot to do with the adjustments Therrien's made to his gameplan--and that just like last year, they're on the same page.

Geoff Molson can buy into Bergevin's long-term plan all he wants, but if things continue like this, it won't be long before Molson starts to feel the way he did during the dog days of Gauthier's reign of terror. The short-term success of the team matters, and right now, it looks to be in serious jeopardy.

How will Bergevin react?

Sitting on his hands is not a viable solution...

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