Not sure I agree completely. When LA had won 2/3, everyone needed a strong G with elite D. When Chicago was winning, it was top end talent at every position. Now everyone is freaking out about speed and centers.

The truth is that LA had questionable scoring who overachieved to get them the cup, now that they can't score, they haven't done well. Chicago had suspect depth who overachieved to get them cups, now that those guys are all getting overpaid elsewhere, they aren't winning. Now Pittsburgh has had terrible yet overachieving D in getting them home. To get far, you need your weakness to over-achieve, whatever that weakness may be.
- kev1586

LAK won with Kopitar and Carter as a 1-2 punch. PITT with Crosby and Malkin.

much better than Danault-Plek... I rest my case

look at past cup winners. some had a great goalie, others had a bad dcore, others were big, others were fast.... but ALL had a strong center line.

Are you kidding!?

It seems like 1C is the most important player these days in the nhl when you want to win it all, not just look good in the regular season.
- Mike Komisarek

Say I agree with this idea, as it is the current trend around the league to believe this. Who was he supposed to sign? Bonino at 4.1? Hell no! Thornton? Sure, but I'm not sure he comes over even Bergevin offers 12M... So how is he supposed to sign players that aren't available?

Say I agree with this idea, as it is the current trend around the league to believe this. Who was he supposed to sign? Bonino at 4.1? Hell no! Thornton? Sure, but I'm not sure he comes over even Bergevin offers 12M... So how is he supposed to sign players that aren't available?
- kev1586

there was no #1C on the UFA market. need to get one via trade.
who's leaving? Chucky? Patch? Price?
I don't (frank)in care. just find one at once!!

Say I agree with this idea, as it is the current trend around the league to believe this. Who was he supposed to sign? Bonino at 4.1? Hell no! Thornton? Sure, but I'm not sure he comes over even Bergevin offers 12M... So how is he supposed to sign players that aren't available?
- kev1586

Johansen is.

LAK won with Kopitar and Carter as a 1-2 punch. PITT with Crosby and Malkin.

much better than Danault-Plek... I rest my case

look at past cup winners. some had a great goalie, others had a bad dcore, others were big, others were fast.... but ALL had a strong center line.
- fidopro

Maybe Plekanec can overachieve his 2 inch Richard in the playoffs...

Not sure I agree completely. When LA had won 2/3, everyone needed a strong G with elite D. When Chicago was winning, it was top end talent at every position. Now everyone is freaking out about speed and centers.

The truth is that LA had questionable scoring who overachieved to get them the cup, now that they can't score, they haven't done well. Chicago had suspect depth who overachieved to get them cups, now that those guys are all getting overpaid elsewhere, they aren't winning. Now Pittsburgh has had terrible yet overachieving D in getting them home. To get far, you need your weakness to over-achieve, whatever that weakness may be.
- kev1586

First with CHI and elite at every position, Niemi and Crawfors had been discredited at every opportunity (remember the weak glove vs the Bruins?.

I think you're oversimplifying recent success by blanketing it with overachieving comments. With Chi and depth, ya they had a few unsung heroes, but for the most part they guys they've had have been mostly consistent especially under Quennville's system.

LA has a top C, D-man, goalie and decent scoring at the wings, but if Richards and Stoll focused on the lines on the ice and not on strippers they may still be in the league. If Voynov respected women? Still in the league. Brown unexpectedly fell off the face of the planet and Quick's groin is falling apart.

This year Pitt's success with their defense was an aberration, but last year until Daley went down and a healthy Letang they were decent enough. Luckily they have 2 great centers and a quick offense that makes their limited defense's job easier.

tl;dr: There is no true formula to win but you need a true #1 centre, defenseman and goalie to win, that is the constant.

LAK won with Kopitar and Carter as a 1-2 punch. PITT with Crosby and Malkin.

much better than Danault-Plek... I rest my case

look at past cup winners. some had a great goalie, others had a bad dcore, others were big, others were fast.... but ALL had a strong center line.
- fidopro

I get it, which is why I started with "I don't agree completely"... the argument makes sense, but Bergevin could not fix that need today, right? So unless Bergevin can trade Galchenyuk for a real 1C (he can't), then what this fan base is asking of him is literally impossible. And Duchene is not the answer to that equation either.

I get it, which is why I started with "I don't agree completely"... the argument makes sense, but Bergevin could not fix that need today, right? So unless Bergevin can trade Galchenyuk for a real 1C (he can't), then what this fan base is asking of him is literally impossible. And Duchene is not the answer to that equation either.
- kev1586

he's been there for 5 years and signed for another 5 and getting a 1C is still the biggest problem from when he took over. He couldn't address it today, but he didn't from 2012-2016 either

If Bergevin can bring back Radulov and Markov, today will have been a very good day. This roster will be very solid outside of a no.1 C. And one must admit that there isn't a team in the league without a weakness in the cap era. This is ours. Rest is really looking good imo.
- kev1586

I agree, I was going to post something similar. Personally I still think Galchenyuk can be that first line center, so all is not lost even at center in my opinion. Having Plekanec at 6M and Shaw and 4M(I immediately thought the trade was stupid and the contract they signed him to was even stupider) is (frank)ing annoying as if/when they sign the 3 Russians they wont have anymore space to try and trade for a center without moving a contract out. Also can someone explain to me why Alzner at 4.5M is good? I believe you guys when you say it's a good contract, but numbers wise he looks no better than Emelin who is certainly overpaid at 4.1M.

I get it, which is why I started with "I don't agree completely"... the argument makes sense, but Bergevin could not fix that need today, right? So unless Bergevin can trade Galchenyuk for a real 1C (he can't), then what this fan base is asking of him is literally impossible. And Duchene is not the answer to that equation either.
- kev1586

if he can't fire him and get one who will. as simple as that. nothing is impossible.
tabarnak, plenty of #1C were traded in the past few years!!
worst case, trade for a young #2C who will develop into a legit #1. but do something!!

I agree, I was going to post something similar. Personally I still think Galchenyuk can be that first line center, so all is not lost even at center in my opinion. Having Plekanec at 6M and Shaw and 4M(I immediately thought the trade was stupid and the contract they signed him to was even stupider) is (frank)ing annoying as if/when they sign the 3 Russians they wont have anymore space to try and trade for a center without moving a contract out. Also can someone explain to me why Alzner at 4.5M is good? I believe you guys when you say it's a good contract, but numbers wise he looks no better than Emelin who is certainly overpaid at 4.1M.
- apex123

You might be right about Galchenyuk. Lets hope Drouin can bring him to the next level.

First with CHI and elite at every position, Niemi and Crawfors had been discredited at every opportunity (remember the weak glove vs the Bruins?.

I think you're oversimplifying recent success by blanketing it with overachieving comments. With Chi and depth, ya they had a few unsung heroes, but for the most part they guys they've had have been mostly consistent especially under Quennville's system.

LA has a top C, D-man, goalie and decent scoring at the wings, but if Richards and Stoll focused on the lines on the ice and not on strippers they may still be in the league. If Voynov respected women? Still in the league. Brown unexpectedly fell off the face of the planet and Quick's groin is falling apart.

This year Pitt's success with their defense was an aberration, but last year until Daley went down and a healthy Letang they were decent enough. Luckily they have 2 great centers and a quick offense that makes their limited defense's job easier.

tl;dr: There is no true formula to win but you need a true #1 centre, defenseman and goalie to win, that is the constant.
- mr.peanut

Pittsburg's defense this years in the playoffs was the biggest pile of poop I've seen on a playoff team in a long time and they still managed to win because they had enough compensation up front. I think Montreal is strong enough on the wings now to potentially compensate for Galchenyuk-Danault-Plekanec not being a superb center group.

Pittsburg's defense this years in the playoffs was the biggest pile of poop I've seen on a playoff team in a long time and they still managed to win because they had enough compensation up front. I think Montreal is strong enough on the wings now to potentially compensate for Galchenyuk-Danault-Plekanec not being a superb center group.
- apex123

i did say this year was an aberration. regarding defense, maybe 06 also.

galchenyuk isn't a centre it's been 5 years. therrien didn't think he was one and up to this point julien doesn't either.

You might be right about Galchenyuk. Lets hope Drouin can bring him to the next level.
- Mike Komisarek

Edit: Alzner was typical Bergevin. Vegas gave us a break and picked Emelin and his 4.1M$ cap hit. That clown Bergevin turns around and sign his equivalent for 4.6M$ Bravo.

I agree, I was going to post something similar. Personally I still think Galchenyuk can be that first line center, so all is not lost even at center in my opinion. Having Plekanec at 6M and Shaw and 4M(I immediately thought the trade was stupid and the contract they signed him to was even stupider) is (frank)ing annoying as if/when they sign the 3 Russians they wont have anymore space to try and trade for a center without moving a contract out. Also can someone explain to me why Alzner at 4.5M is good? I believe you guys when you say it's a good contract, but numbers wise he looks no better than Emelin who is certainly overpaid at 4.1M.
- apex123

Galchenyuk as 1C might be a stretch, at least defensively. Plekanec and Shaw are without a doubt crippling the cap situation, but Price is getting a big chunk of that change and Pacioretty's contract alleviates some of that bad cap management also.

As shown by Emelin getting traded twice, 4.5 is tradeable, so the assumption that Emelin is overpaid at that amount is certainly debatable. Emelin's problem was mostly not having the intelligence to cover Petry's risk-taking. Alzner, being more of a traditional stay-at-home type, should be better at this, allowing Petry to play to his strengths.

Paul's idea that Bergevin's failure to find a 1C since 2012 is right and by far his biggest failure to date. Then again, this might be more driven by poor development of Galchenyuk, we are sure to find out in the very near future.

So who was MB supposed to sign today? Who was he supposed to trade for that was available?

So who was MB supposed to sign today? Who was he supposed to trade for that was available?
- Symba007

It doesn't matter. He should have been fired because Galchenyuk did not develop how the organization thought he would.

So who was MB supposed to sign today? Who was he supposed to trade for that was available?
- Symba007

We were told to expect the unexpected...

So who was MB supposed to sign today? Who was he supposed to trade for that was available?
- Symba007

Radulov and Markov?

i did say this year was an aberration. regarding defense, maybe 06 also.

galchenyuk isn't a centre it's been 5 years. therrien didn't think he was one and up to this point julien doesn't either.
- mr.peanut

He scored 30 goals playing as Pacioretty's center and was doing a good job this year until he got injured.

So who was MB supposed to sign today? Who was he supposed to trade for that was available?
- Symba007

aside from the #1C I thought he did well, calling both russians bluff
who knows who's available and who is not? MB should know, and it should be is priority #1. even if that creates a hole somewhere else in the lineup. he'll fix that later.

as I said, no team as ever won the cup without a strong center line. you start there and build around.

We were told to expect the unexpected...
- Mike Komisarek

they still have 3 months to fix their problems. Odds are they won't find a good center because....well none are available or they lack the right pieces to go for one.

It doesn't matter. He should have been fired because Galchenyuk did not develop how the organization thought he would.
- kev1586

I'm not sure if you're serious or joking. If he was going to be fired I'd have done it at the end of last season or I'd fire him for trying to trade Subban for an older equivalent.

aside from the #1C I thought he did well, calling both russians bluff
who knows who's available and who is not? MB should know, and it should be is priority #1. even if that creates a hole somewhere else in the lineup. he'll fix that later.

as I said, no team as ever won the cup without a strong center line. you start there and build around.
- fidopro

i agree but i doubt he can do it this summer. 1C are sought by at least 10 teams

Radulov and Markov?
- deadpoulet

i expect both will be back, it's business