What a great season it was to be a Habs fan. Not only was the jump from 15th in the Eastern conference to the winners of the Northeast division a huge leap, but the change in culture this organization underwent was truly incredible. Last year, as a Habs fan, the future looked murky at best. With Pierre Gauthier at the helm and a struggling team on the ice, there wasn't much to look forward to. Brendan Gallagher was relatively unknown and playing in the the WHL with the Vancouver Giants. Alex Galchenyuk, on the other hand, was a top prospect recovering from an ACL tear he suffered while playing for his junior team, the Sarnia Sting. Lars Eller was being labeled a bust (already) and there were no real, top- tier prospects in the organization. As the nightmare that was the 2011-2012 season came to an end, so did the tenure of the evil Pierre Gauthier. Not long after, Marc Bergevin was hired to fix all of what Gauthier had done, and he did just that. Bergevin gave new life to the fans and players of the Bleu, Blanc et Rouge.
As we close the book on the 2012-2013 season, it is now time to discuss and dissect all that went on throughout the season. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, I'll be breaking down the Habs season from top to bottom. We'll take a look at everything, from the work Michel Therrien has done to the play of Carey Price. We will start the fun at the top of the food chain, with General Manager, Marc Bergevin.
Bergevin was hired out of Chicago where he was the assistant GM of Stan Bowman's Blackhawks. While many thought Pierre McGuire was destined for the job, we can only thank god that Geoff Molson chose Bergevin.. MB's first order of business was to hire, to the dismay of many (including myself), Michel Therrien. Therrien was the first of many strokes of genius by the Habs new GM. Bergevin continued by adding the likes of Rick Dudley, Patrice Brisebois and Scott Mellanby to his staff, all while keeping Larry Carriere and Trevor Timmins on board. Shortly after, Marc headed to Pittsburgh for the NHL draft where he selected Alex Galchenyuk with the 3rd overall pick. Bergevin nailed pick after pick including the selections of Sebastien Collberg and Dalton Thrower in the second round. When the lockout finally ended, Bergevin completed one of his more underrated, yet still amazing moves. When Bergevin sent Scott Gomez home from training camp, not only did he clear 7 million dollars off the cap, he also made room for Lars Eller, who finally blossomed in his third year with the Habs. After that, the team was relatively quiet in terms of trading/ signing free agents, with the only additions being Jeff Halpern (waivers) and Davis Drewiske (trade). While all in all, it was a very successful season for Bergevin and his crew, it did not come without a couple of questionable moves. Those being the signings of David Desharnais and Francis Bouillon. While Bouillon's term and price-tag are very reasonable, it was an unnecessary move that could take a spot away from a younger player (Beaulieu, Pateryn, etc.). On the other hand, it could prove as some good depth on the back-end in case of injury. Desharnais, on the flip- side, was a pretty poor move. Despite his great play from a season ago, Desharnais is not the top center that NHL teams like to build themselves around. He doesn't have good size and he showed this year that he is not the 60 point scorer we all thought he was. While this won't prove to be a Gomez- like signing it definitely doesn't help the team. We can only hope that Davey has a major bounce back season next year. Despite the poor move, we'll give Bergevin a pass due to his flawless work prior to this. To cap off his brilliant season, Bergevin was nominated for the NHL's top general manager award along with with Anaheim's Bob Murray and Pittsburgh's Ray Shero.
Final word: Fantastic performance by the rookie GM. The future looks bright with Bergevin running the show.
Next up: Michel Therrien
CHeers
Follow me on Twitter: @Zignasty2point0
As we close the book on the 2012-2013 season, it is now time to discuss and dissect all that went on throughout the season. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, I'll be breaking down the Habs season from top to bottom. We'll take a look at everything, from the work Michel Therrien has done to the play of Carey Price. We will start the fun at the top of the food chain, with General Manager, Marc Bergevin.
Bergevin was hired out of Chicago where he was the assistant GM of Stan Bowman's Blackhawks. While many thought Pierre McGuire was destined for the job, we can only thank god that Geoff Molson chose Bergevin.. MB's first order of business was to hire, to the dismay of many (including myself), Michel Therrien. Therrien was the first of many strokes of genius by the Habs new GM. Bergevin continued by adding the likes of Rick Dudley, Patrice Brisebois and Scott Mellanby to his staff, all while keeping Larry Carriere and Trevor Timmins on board. Shortly after, Marc headed to Pittsburgh for the NHL draft where he selected Alex Galchenyuk with the 3rd overall pick. Bergevin nailed pick after pick including the selections of Sebastien Collberg and Dalton Thrower in the second round. When the lockout finally ended, Bergevin completed one of his more underrated, yet still amazing moves. When Bergevin sent Scott Gomez home from training camp, not only did he clear 7 million dollars off the cap, he also made room for Lars Eller, who finally blossomed in his third year with the Habs. After that, the team was relatively quiet in terms of trading/ signing free agents, with the only additions being Jeff Halpern (waivers) and Davis Drewiske (trade). While all in all, it was a very successful season for Bergevin and his crew, it did not come without a couple of questionable moves. Those being the signings of David Desharnais and Francis Bouillon. While Bouillon's term and price-tag are very reasonable, it was an unnecessary move that could take a spot away from a younger player (Beaulieu, Pateryn, etc.). On the other hand, it could prove as some good depth on the back-end in case of injury. Desharnais, on the flip- side, was a pretty poor move. Despite his great play from a season ago, Desharnais is not the top center that NHL teams like to build themselves around. He doesn't have good size and he showed this year that he is not the 60 point scorer we all thought he was. While this won't prove to be a Gomez- like signing it definitely doesn't help the team. We can only hope that Davey has a major bounce back season next year. Despite the poor move, we'll give Bergevin a pass due to his flawless work prior to this. To cap off his brilliant season, Bergevin was nominated for the NHL's top general manager award along with with Anaheim's Bob Murray and Pittsburgh's Ray Shero.
Final word: Fantastic performance by the rookie GM. The future looks bright with Bergevin running the show.
Next up: Michel Therrien
CHeers
Follow me on Twitter: @Zignasty2point0
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