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Habs Report Cards Starting From The Top: GM Marc Bergevin |
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Report card time! For the next while I’ll be grading the roster of the Montreal Canadiens 2015-2016 season but before we get to the players, we’ll go straight to the top and review management.
Marc Bergevin - Montreal Canadiens General Manager:
Grade: C-
The 2015-2016 season was likely Bergevin’s most difficult as the general manager of the Montreal Canadiens. Unable to sign the likes of Justin Williams last July 1st, Bergevin decided to make risky moves with the potential of high rewards by signing Alex Semin and trading Brandon Prust for Zack Kassian and a 5th round pick. Bergevin did take care of shoring up the Canadiens young defenceman by signing then RFA Nathan Beaulieu to a very fair 2 year, $1 million AAV deal and extending Greg Pateryn a year in advance to a 2 year $800k AAV. It took some time but he also signed Alex Galchenyuk to a 2 year $2.8 million AAV contract, a deal that works well for both sides. While Galchenyuk will surely deserve a healthy raise in another year’s time, with the salary cap expected to rise slightly for the 2016-2017 season, it gives Bergevin a little breathing room until contracts such as Andrei Markov, Lars Eller and David Desharnais come off the books. Bud Holloway was signed to help the St. John’s Ice Caps and Tomas Fleischmann earned a contract after being invited to training camp.
The Semin signing looked genius during training camp as he seemed to fit right in on the second line with Alex Galchenyuk and Lars Eller. However, a real NHL game is nothing like training camp and exhibition games and Semin could not keep up. He got outplayed by Sven Andrighetto and the Semin experiment officially ended in December. Semin was bought out from the Carolina Hurricanes for a reason. He no longer has the speed and skill for today’s NHL and was seemingly unable to fully recover from previous injuries. The Canadiens should have done a better job scouting Semin and less dependent on his previous success.
Kassian should have been an upgrade over Prust. Younger, faster and with greater offensive potential. I still wish that Bergevin would have given Kassian a chance to rediscover his game after he completed rehab but Bergevin was firm on note giving Kassian an opportunity in Montreal. While Bergevin may have felt fooled by Kassian in the beginning of the season, sometimes a little compassion can go a long way. Would it have been so terrible to let Kassian go to St. John’s and see where he was mentally as well as his game was? The trade to Edmonton worked out in Kassian and the Oilers favor as Ben Scrivens had very limited success with the Canadiens.
Fleischmann was a pleasant surprise, fitting in on the third line with Desharnais and Dale Weise. Fleischmann had 15 points in the first 22 games. Once Brendan Gallagher got injured though and the Canadiens offence started to dry up, head coach Michel Therrien broke up his third line and Fleischmann lost his way. That was not Bergevin’s fault. The Fleischmann tryout/signing was a good one and it worked well in the first quarter of the season. It is impossible to say how it would have worked out with Fleischmann his line not been broken up.
The waiver wire pick-up of Paul Byron from the Calgary Flames at the very beginning of the season was tremendous. While it took awhile for Byron to crack the lineup due to the Canadiens 9-0 start, once he get in he made it almost impossible for him to come out. While Byron is yet another small forward, his speed and penalty kill prowess made him a valuable addition. He earned his first multi year contract of his career when Bergevin extended him 3 years for a total of $3.5 million USD. Byron has versatility as he can left or right wing and can play on the 3rd or 4th line.
When Carey Price got injured for the second time, Bergevin was too dependent on a possible return of six weeks for the league’s MVP. A tandem of Mike Condon and Dustin Tokarski was asked to step up and play above their heads. Bergevin should have attempted to trade for another goalie to help share the load with Condon as early as possible. If Price were to come back early then Bergevin would deal with it then. As Bergevin likes to say, the first step is making the playoffs and he assumed that the Canadiens could survive without Price for an extended amount of time. Scrivens was not enough to stop the bleeding and losing. I have no doubt that Scrivens was an excellent teammate, he was just not the right one to help the Canadiens.
In smaller moves, Bergevin traded Christian Thomas for Lucas Lessio and Dustin Tokarski for Max Friberg. Thomas, another small forward was never going to find success in Montreal. Lessio at 6’1” and 212lbs brought some much needed size and a hint of skill to the Canadiens bottom six once he was promoted from St. John’s. Friberg is still intriguing as a prospect and was a respectable return for Tokarski who had been unseated by Mike Condon.
In what was the most bizarre trade of the season, in January Bergevin traded Jarred Tinordi in a three way trade for a return of Victor Bartley and John Scott. Bartley is another depth defenceman for the Canadiens but it is unlikely that he will crack the Canadiens top six. Apparently, Bergevin’s hands were tied and he had to take back Scott in order to get rid of Tinordi. Canadiens fans had overvalued Tinordi’s worth and expected more in return for the former first round draft pick. Likely, the Canadiens and Bergevin held on to Tinordi a little too long and it would have been more advantageous had he been traded earlier in his career if he was not in the Canadiens plans. It was a shame the way Scott was treated and dealt with all because of the NHL All-Star vote but that was not Bergevin’s problem. By all accounts, Scott was a mentor to the young players in St. John’s and a consummate professional. In many ways, I would have preferred for Scott to be the 13th forward in Montreal to lend his leadership rather than have young players like Jacob De La Rose and Lucas Lessio sit. Captain Max Pacioretty spoke about the lack of veteran leadership to lean on and how waiver wire pick-up Mike Brown helped once he was acquired. Perhaps Scott could have done the same but earlier...
Likely, Bergevin’s best move of the season was trading Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann to Chicago for former 1st round pick Phillip Danault and a 2018 2nd round draft pick. Danault is likely a 3rd line center eventual replacement for either Lars Eller or David Desharnais. He has speed, is defensively responsible and excellent in the faceoff circle. A second round pick is always of great value. Meanwhile, Weise had difficulty cracking the Blackhawks lineup and while Fleischman started well with Chicago he could not contribute in the playoffs.
While not a roster move, Bergevin has also decided to stand by Michel Therrien as head coach of the Montreal Canadiens. Bergevin is a very loyal man and he wants Therrien to have an opportunity with a healthy Carey Price. However, Bergevin also has to give Therrien more weapons in his arsenal in order for the Canadiens to succeed. This off-season might just be the most important in Bergevin’s career with the Canadiens. The NHL draft and the 9th position as well as two 2nd round picks present an opportunity for Bergevin to make a move or re-stock the Canadiens prospect pool. In order for the Canadiens to improve, Bergevin cannot afford to stand still and waste the prime of his best players. Bergevin is widely respected throughout the NHL and he was rewarded with being part of the brain trust for Team Canada at the 2016 World Cup. However with the Canadiens, the clock is ticking…
Cheers & follow along!
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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