Canadiens Golf Tournament 2017 Quotes and Thoughts + Drouin To Center (golf)

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Canadiens Golf Tournament 2017 Quotes and Thoughts + Drouin To Center

By Brandon Smillie

Sep 12, 2017 • 6:18 pm

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Canadiens Golf Tournament 2017 Quotes and Thoughts

The 2017-2018 season is beginning the same way last season ended, with golf. But, the mood is much better for this round at Club de Golf Laval sur le Lac. The Canadiens players and management converged on the links for the annual meet and greet today and there was no shortage of things to talk about.

A day like today may be different for players of smaller market teams. Responses could be canned, questions could be mundane, and the care factor is minimal for the city. Not in Montreal and especially not the last two Septembers. The City of Montreal and the Canadiens fanbase worldwide know we have a solid core of players with possibly the best goaltender in the league (with a new contract in his pocket). The expectations are that management can make the necessary calls to get this team deeper into the playoffs, and thus a chance at the Stanley Cup. The statements provided were evidence that typical questions and canned responses aren’t acceptable in Montreal, but at least it seems like the players and staff are handling the situation better.

The quotes that players and management provided today showed that while the season has just begun for the Canadiens organization, for fans and media it never ended.

Marc Bergevin took the brunt of the tough questioning, as expected considering half the fan base want him gone, and had some pretty forthcoming answers.

Radulov wasn’t about Montreal, he was about the money. I don’t blame him, but the love affair fans had with him wasn’t reciprocated. He took the opportunity to cash out and leave.

My response? See the text above this tweet, switch “Radulov… with “Markov…. I know that sounds harsh. I know some of you don’t believe that. That’s fine. But it’s what happened. The love of the city and $5,000,000 wasn’t enough for Markov. Now we also see what Bergevin was aiming for heading into this day: one of Radulov or Markov signed, at $6-$5 million, with $2.5-$3.5 million left in cap space. The numbers are out there and both players balked.

The next interesting piece of information Bergevin dropped was saying that he would be willing to take on another teams bad contract, at a (hopefully high) cost.

There are MANY bad contracts in the NHL on various teams, but clearly Bergevin wouldn't want to handcuff the team beyond this season so whoever it is would have to have one year left on the deal. Could Montreal scoop up one year of a terrible contract for a top prospect or first rounder? Depending who is desperate enough. I’ll take this as an “11th hour… type scenario though, the main goal will be to acquire a centerman.

Hmmm, perhaps they won’t need to acquire a center after all? Building off of what was said at the Captains Tournament the other day, and what I speculated on in a previous article, it seems that Drouin is indeed going to get the reigns at center. His work with Pacioretty all summer also appears to show that this plan was put into play almost immediately. If Drouin can handle the role over the course of the season and beyond, then it could be one of the best deals Montreal has made in the last 25 years.

I love John Lu. Could this be Montreal’s opening night first line? The potential on this unit is sky high and I'm on board. The way the GM and coach Julien spoke of Galchenyuk insinuated to me that while he has much skill, the NHL center duties are just too difficult for him at this time. It seems that this burden weighs heavy on Galchenyuk also and it may be in the best interest of the player to be put in a position to succeed, rather than be asked about when he will be ready for centre a thousand times this month.

Bergevin also made another lineup comment by mentioning that on his board he has Schlemko playing with Weber. Schlemko is not Markov, but he is a good defender. One that Vegas probably should have kept (CF% 55.8, FF% 57.2, PDO 99.1) but I suspect the deal was Emelin and the 19 5th for Schlemko. This will fuel some anti Bergevin fans fires for sure, but I think we can see now it will be either Schlemko or Alzner who will be next to Weber this season. Or Bergevin could be trolling everyone and keep his plans to himself, wouldn’t put it past him.

Alex Galchenyuk is a player who probably had some anxiety about today. He has had an unbearable weight of becoming the next great Montreal Canadiens Center for 5 seasons now and some are starting to turn on him. If you follow him on different social media platforms you can see that he did put in work this offseason and his above mentioned quote was a perfect Coles notes version of what he needed to do. Shape up inside and out.

Galchenyuk will bounce back in a huge way this season. Yeah, I said it. I mentioned it before. He was clearly making strides every season, maybe not exponentially but the evidence was there in the numbers. Even last season he was nearly a point per game before getting hurt the first time. He has the skill, but its between the ears that he needed to sort out a bit. The addition of Drouin and the news he will be given the expectation that was on him for 5 years should help. Having a very good young center in Danault helps remove that pressure as well. Any success at C from Drouin will be positive for Galchenyuk. It will allow him to just play a wingers role defensively, but the doors will be wide open offensively.

I can’t think of a better game plan for Galchenyuk at this point and I think it will pay off big time this season. He was even able to laugh off questions about whether he is a center or winger this morning. Kudos to him, he should be taking it easy around the press. They literally mean nothing when it comes to what his job is and if he needs to laugh them off to cope and remain focused, then do it.

Carey Price said something you never hear an NHL player say in that he wants to make sure he earns every penny he’s paid. Those who have followed this team closely know that if the C could be placed on a goaltender it would be stitched to the jersey of #31 until he leaves the Canadiens. It’s good to know that the team has this kind of leadership. Goaltenders typically want to be left alone, working in their own world for the betterment of the team. That wasn’t an option for Carey Price but at least he appears to embrace it. The Canadiens are fortunate to have such a leader on and off the ice.

Speaking of leaders, Shea Weber mentioned that he feels even more comfortable heading into this season with the Canadiens. How could he not? He was acquired in a deal that split the fanbase, likely costing the Canadiens some viewers. Subban went to the Cup final, and lost, while Weber dented goal posts on the way to a first round exit. The good thing is that Weber likely could care less what anyone outside the locker room thinks and if he says he feels better heading into this year then we should all be happy.

Here’s a great interview by Sports Media King Bob MacKenzie, be sure to check it out.

Lots of information came out today and we will all be talking about it for the weeks to come. If you want the latest information as soon as it happens you have to join Twitter. After you join be sure to give me a follow, @BrandonSmillie, and I will retweet everything hockey that I find relevant.

And always…

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