Greetings Habs Nation!
This past week has been quite busy for the Montreal Canadiens GM, Marc Bergevin. Either Bergevin is listening to the Habs faithful or he seems to have at least as much hockey sense as pretty much anyone who can sit through the god awful coverage of Canadiens' games provided by TVA and Sportsnet.
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.
Travis Moen was shipped to Dallas in return for 83-year-old defenseman, Sergei Gonchar. Moen was under scrutiny after registering a whopping zero points in nine games this year. Granted, Moen was never really brought to Montreal to score goals, but when your taking up a spot that can be given to players with more offensive upside such as Michael Bournival (who wasn't injured at the time) or the aforementioned Jiri Sekac, fans tend to lose patience quickly.
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?
 |
| 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.
 |
| 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?
