Marc Bergevin's post trade deadline presser raised a lot of questions and less than a week later, Mathias Brunet, a sports writer for Quebec's La Presse, published an interesting interview with the general manager. For those of you who speak English, I thought it was worth translating it. Kudos to Brunet for asking very interesting questions...
The Habs GM is definitely looking ahead to the future, Brunet reports the following:
-He hopes that Suzuki will carry on being an impactful centre and that he will stay away from the sophomore jinx;
-He wants Kotkaniemi to move on to the next step. He doesn't regret keeping him in the NHL at the start of the season, based on his training camp, he deserved it. His training camp this season was however a disappointment this year as it was rather ordinary. The injuries that followed did not help. The organization is happy with how he handled being sent down to Laval and the work ethic he's showed. With 11 points in 11 games, he is clearly showing talent but he must work on his legs' strength. His centre of gravity is low but when he battles for the puck, he has to ensure that it stays low as well.
-As for Cole Caufield, the Canadiens would like him to remain with the Wisconsin Badgers next season. He's having a great season in the NCAA but in their eyes, he's not ready to make the jump yet. Of course, they cannot force him but that will be their recommendation. That is not to say it's a disappointment, they just want to develop him properly. If he wants to turn pro, Laval could be an option but it wouldn't be easy, it is a men's league and last year's first pick is only 5'7'. Bergevin says that he plays very well with the puck and can score but a player doesn't always have the puck and he'll need to work on that. According to the GM, leaving him in Wisconsin would help manage fan expectations as well.
COLE CAUFIELD HAT TRICK!!!!! #Badgers #Habs pic.twitter.com/drdFYw9Jzl
— Here's Your Replay â¬‡ï¸ (@HeresYourReplay) January 25, 2020
-Speaking of expectation, Ryan Poehling's debut last season made them sky rocket. For the Canadiens, Poehling is destined to become a solid third line centre, the kind the wins face-offs, plays on the penalty kill and faces the opponents' best line. While the team was happy to see him enter the league with a bang with that hat trick game, it wasn't the best thing that could have happened to him.
-As for the blue line, Bergevin really is hoping to have Romanov over next season but he warns that people should not expect the second coming of Erik Karlsson. Nevertheless, when asked which draft pick he's the most proud of, Bergevin names Alexander Romanov. He wasn't even on some teams' list and yet, he's currently one of the very best young d-man in Russia. Bergevin wants to go careful with the youngster, start him on a third pairing and see how he adapts. He is playing against men in Russia but the NHL is the best league in the world. He's a very aware defender and can break up a lot of plays. At age 23, 24, we expect that he'll be able to give us 24, 25 minutes against the opponents' best lines. The kind of guy you put on the ice to protect a lead, to kill a power play and maybe play the last 30 seconds of the power play when you know the other team's gonna come back with its big line. For Bergevin, that kind of d-man is as important as one that can score 60 points but plays a risky game. He adds that he hopes to bring Kovalchuk back not only as a place holder while Caufield develops but also as a kind of big brother for Romanov.
LHD Alexander Romanov (MON) throws a big (and clean) open ice hit. #U20 pic.twitter.com/fsMoAEgC3v
— Jokke Nevalainen (@JokkeNevalainen) August 24, 2019
-He thinks that Mattias Norlinder (3rd round pick in 2019) can handle another year in Sweden next season before bringing him over. As for Jordan Harris (3rd round pick in 2018 and part of team USA's first pairing at the last world junior championships), they're really happy with his progress and a decision will have to be made at the end of the season. It's possible that they do ask him to turn pro but it remains to be seen. His skating is a big plus but he'll probably have to spend some time in Laval.
.@CanadiensMTL prospect Jordan Harris scores the double-OT winner for @GoNUmhockey's third-straight #Beanpot Championship! pic.twitter.com/D9VHCSO0Kp
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) February 11, 2020
The reset plan
-He believes that his reset would have been better accepted had he been hired in 2018 and had the fans not had in mind the difficult end of his first quinquennal plan;
-When he first arrived in 2012, the team had just finished 27th in the league but he thought it had a good group. Subban, Pacioretty and Price were young, Markov was still playing good hockey. There was some unrest internally and some in-fighting, he mentions that (Erik) Cole was arguing with someone but he figured some adjustments could give this group a chance to win.
"To be fair it's a Russian thing." #subban #markov #Habs #habsvsens #kiss pic.twitter.com/evvq1cPglC
— Jon Degan (@lefthungry) April 18, 2015
-The team hit a wall in 2017-2018 following Markov's, Emelin's and Beaulieu's departures on the left side of the blue line and because of attitude issues, it was time to blow up the core.
-This is the second year of the reset and the team will miss the playoffs for a third consecutive year, which can explains the fans' and the media's unrest.
-Bergevin doesn't want to sacrifice prospects or draft picks to take some shortcuts but he doesn't want to get rid of veteran players to abandon all hopes of making the playoffs.
About the past... -On the 2012 draft, he said he really liked Morgan Rielly but having been in Chicago he had not kept tabs on Alex Galchenyuk and since his new staff was high on him and considering what the Canadiens had at centre (Desharnais and Plekanec) he was happy to go along with the pick and agreed with it.
Alex Galchenyuk kisses the CH logo after OT winning goal. #Habs pic.twitter.com/2vi253CQe2
— Peter Alper (@peteralper99) November 27, 2016
-He says that the Sergachev trade did hurt his blue line but that Drouin has yet to reach his full potential yet and that until he does, it's hard to compare both players. He adds that after losing Radulov, it felt important to bring a Quebecer into the fold.
-On Markov, he says that he wanted to sign him and offered more than what he got in Russia. He didn't have an agent and had to deal with him directly. Even his former agent said he would have advised him to sign the deal. It didn't work out but shortly thereafter, he told someone close to the organisation that he regretted not accepting the offer. Bergevin regrets that he didn't take the deal but he wouldn't have done anything differently.
I think Brunet did a good job here at letting us know what Bergevin sees in the future of this team and it's nice to hear that the team wants to take its time with Cole Caufield. Of course, everyone is looking forward to seeing the little scoring machine make his entrance in the big league but it will be much better if he's really ready. Bergevin also seems pretty confident to be able to re-sign Kovalchuk come free agency and considers this an important move to help Romanov acclimate to Montreal. If that really is why he wants to bring him back and not to play massive amounts of minutes at the detriment of young forwards, then I'm fine with it. Mentoring can go a long way in this league.
The Habs will take on the Hurricanes tonight with Charlie Lindgren in net as Carey Price will get a rare night off. Meanwhile, there's a good chance that Xavier Ouellet could be back in the line-up but it's not a certainty just yet. The puck drops at 19:00 and the players and fans alike will be hoping that the Canadiens finally manage to play a full 60 minutes of good hockey...