Greetings Habs Nation!
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| Rene Bourque has been sent down to the Hamilton Bulldogs after clearing Waivers on Monday. |
Since taking the reigns as the Habs general manager in May of 2012, he has done nothing but improve the most storied franchise in the NHL and arguably any other professional sport (The Yankees have more championships but... I mean... that's baseball). Bergevin's moves have always been mostly accepted and celebrated in Montreal, but none so far have been quite as popular as the double whammy he pulled off this past week. His moves have people in Montreal so ecstatic that I actually just used the term "double whammy". And for that I apologize.
While this week's dealings may not have been of the blockbuster variety, they saw two players who were at the top of 99% of the fan's hit lists head out of town.
First was the demotion of struggling forward, Rene Bourque. After having quite a successful playoff run with the team last season scoring eight goals and adding three helpers in 17 games, his game has somewhat dropped off in the current campaign. Bourque had registered a mere two assists in 13 contests before coach Michel Therrien decided to have him watch the games from the press box. Nobody could understand what happened to Bourque after his productive playoff run, but to be honest with you I was more curious as to what happened to him during the playoffs after heading into the post season with only 37 points in 128 games as a Canadien.
Bourque spent two games as a healthy scratch before being put on waivers and, not so unexpectedly, clearing them. The snakebitten winger has been assigned to Hamilton to play for the Habs' AHL affiliate the Bulldogs. I use the term "playing" loosely.
Bourque's spot has since been taken over by 22-year-old Czech rookie, Jiri Sekac. Sekac has registered three points in as many games since re-joining the roster and has provided a spark on the third line alongside Lars Eller and Brandon Prust. Eller, who had also been struggling on Bourque's line has put up three points of his own since Sekac's return, heck even Prust has chalked up two assists.
Bergevin's decision to waive Bourque has forced Sekac into the line-up after sitting out for seven games. In doing that, the Canadiens have scored nine goals in three games, in fact with Sekac in the line-up the team has averaged 3.1 goals a game as opposed the the 1.6 they average without him.
Well played, Bergevin. Well played.
On to move two.
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| The Montreal Canadiens acquired defensemen Sergei Gonchar in exchange for forward Travis Moen. |
This trade benefits both sides in a less than drastic way. The Stars make room for their defensemen who could be Gonchar's grandchildren, they drop the $4.6 million cap hit that came with Gonchar (-8% that Dallas will retain... I don't really jump head first into the whole math thing but the numbers are there for you) and they acquire a hard working 3rd/4th liner in Moen.
The Canadiens get a player who can potentially add to the team's man "advantage". Now, one player won't fix this "power"play, but having Gonchar there can't hurt. Until this team starts skating with the extra man and Therrien mixes the lines nothing will change, but that's a whole other story. Finally, while the Habs do have to pay quite a bit for a defenseman whose first defence partner was a triceratops, they drop that next season along with Moen's $1.85 million that was owed on his last year of his contract. This freed up cap space will be crucial in re-signing Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher.
Moen out, Gonchar in. Another fantastic move by Bergevin.
How about your thoughts.
Have we seen the last of Bourque?
Was Bergevin out of line by waiving him just to get Sekac in the line-up (if that was indeed the case)?
What do you feel about the Gonchar signing?
15 comments:
Sure, while the move for Gonchar, in the context of the cap is perfect. When considering the impact that this will have on our young D, it is a brutal move.
Anything that results in Tinordi being sent down, and Beaulieu being relegated to the bench is a nightmare. Especially when it's for a 40yr old Dman, who has been heavily sheltered for the last 5 years of his career.
Given Therrien's propensity to never bench/punish/move a veteran, we can look forward to Gonchar on the 1st PP (with DD, oh joy!), and playing 15min/night, while Beaulieu watches on and eats hot dogs.
So, good move for the cap, brutal move considering who's got their hand on the tiller.
Not what Begervin has been saying since he became the GM - that is - developing his young prospects. Sad for the youngsters , not just Beaulieu and Tinordi but all the other D-men since they are so deep in the D-prospect pool. Must be discouraging for those youngsters.
You realize that Gonchar well mentor Beaulieu? That will help speed up his development
Gonchar will definitely be able to mentor Beaulieu and that is an upside however it is unfortunate that Beaulieu and Tinordi will miss out on ice time.
I don't, though, feel as if it's as bad as it seems. D take longer to develop and so if it takes another season before they are both staples on this team it's not the end if the world. Besides, if they progress Therrien has the option to rotate Weaver, Emelin, Gilbert and even Gonchar rather than always revert to benching the younger two.
Gonchar averaged 12 minutes recently with Dallas and is up there in age so this move doesn't necessarily have to have a crippling effect on the development of Beaulieu and Tinordi.
I fail to see why we need a 'mentor' D. What more do we need than a 35+ Markov and Weaver? We also have a veteran D in Gilbert, not to mention a reigning Norris trophy winner in PK. How many 'mentors' are needed, before we just give playing time to the younger players?
While, yes, I agree that it is possible that therrien could rotate the vets, do we have any evidence to support that? He steadfastly played Murray/Boullion last year. Also the choice of Moen/Weiss/Bourque over Sekac, until Bergevin forced his hand shows yet more evidence that benching a veteran is just not something Therrien considers.
Not so sure that Bergevin waived Bourque to get Sekac in the line up, since Bourque was already a healthy scratch before being demoted. I think it is Sekac that forced his hand. Of course, that is assuming that Therrien has control over who gets to play from the active roster.
You're right about Therrien's insistance on playing his vets but if they don't perform as the season progresses the young d may force his hand.
I don't really see Gilbert or Weaver as being big mentors. Beaulieu has a skill set similar to gonchars (as on offensive d) and gonchar can help guide him to his potential. Either way, I don't see that as the reason he was brought here more so of an extra use for him while he's here.
As for Bourque and Sekac, who knows how long Therrien would've kept Bourque out. At this point it's obvious that Sekac's play would make it difficult to take him out but this way it was made clear that Bergevin wanted Bourque out and Sekac in.
Well, I tend to take an evidenced based outlook on the behavior of Therrien. To date, we have learned that:
a) Vets will not be benched despite poor verging on atrocious play (re: Desharnais, Bouillion, Murray, Moen)
b) Vets will not be disciplined for poor decisions and lack of production (re: Desharnais taking two penalties in Edmonton, and getting first line PP duty, vs Eller's 1 penalty = benched for half the game; Similar things with D last year when PK was benched for a game after 1 flub).
c) Therrien much rather stick with vet's. He admitted as much with the Rene Bourque fiasco, when he said that they had to try and get him going for 13 games! Without acknowledging that Moen had been even worse throughout that time.
Therrien has, consistently, demonstrated a reluctance to use rookies. Look at Galchenyuk, without a doubt our most skilled forward (even if not our most productive), who routinely bounces between 12 and 16 minutes, while Prust plays 19 (!). Geezers, like weaver and Markov playing 20++ minutes, while Tinordi plays a mistake free 13 minutes, then gets sent down to Hamilton for his efforts.
I appreciate the rose-tinted glasses, of hoping that Gonchar doesn't stunt our Defense's growth, but all evidence points to the contrary. Despite many instances of 'Therrien's hand being forced' in the past (DD, Bouillion, Murray, Moen), he steadfastly refuses(ed) to acknowledge the deficiencies of veterans.
You all seem to forget that injuries occur... we'll be happy to have Gonchar around if Subban or Markov is injured...
Assuming one of Subban or Markov going down for a prolonged period of time, I would rather see Beaulieu step in than Gonchar.
It's like when we watched Bouillion last year. While mistakes by a rookie can be tolerated, as they learn, watching an old veteran Dman make the same mistakes and not be disciplined it beyond frustrating.
Our future is in the hands of PK, and Beaulieu on D. So why not try and get him up to speed, rather than park him on the bench?
There is no arguing Therrien prefers to use his vets, however he did finally have the sense to sit Bourque. One can only hope that he begins to lean more in his younger players.
Absolutely, which is where the dispute comes from. "Bergevin giving fans what they want", is a slightly naïve premise. Fans want to see young players grow, and the team succeed with them. By giving Therrien the option of Gonchar, it is doubtful that either of these two things will occur.
Fair point, however the title was more aimed towards the removal of Bourque and Moen. As mentioned the acquisition of Gonchar is short term and won't effect Beaulieu and Tinordi in the long term. Ideally they would get more ice time this year but there's still a long way to go in the season so if we're lucky they will.
When the Habs went out west, Therrien said that both Sekac and Bournival would see ice time, but after a conversation with Bergevin he changed his mind, was it because of that talk? When a player is ready to play in the NHL full time he plays full time, neither Tinordi or Beaulieu showed that this year, and the NHL is not a development league. I think that both Bergevin and Therrien think the game the same way. So blaming one over the other is not quite fair. Moen only played 10 games for the Habs this year so he was also scratched, so where do you get your info about Therrien not benching his vets? Also remember that when Moen was ready to play in the playoffs, he didn't play,in fact he only played 4 games. With the win/lost record that Therrien has, it's very hard to argue that he doesn't do a good job, but still some find a reason to bitch.
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