Fixxer

10 hours ago, lynxrattle said:

Exactly my take on it as well.

There were times when, during his stint with the Flames, playing behind Miikka Kiprusoff, Curtis was highly touted and said to be a starter if he played for another team (Kinda like the hype Jonathan Bernier got when playing behind Quick), at around the same time.

Don't know how to "embed" that properly, but I wanted to hear Waddell and KK about the deal.

https://www.nhl.com/hurricanes/video/kotkaniemi-media-availability/c-8920881

 

4 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

 

Thing with Bergevin, IMO, is that his tenure is a decidedly "mixed bag" so far.
He does some boneheaded (or seemingly) things....then follows up with something good.

The team scratching and clawing its way all the way to the Finals, to me, was more a testament to the players' own heart, soul, and refusal to lose, because really, on paper, the way Bergevin put together that team, they should NOT have gotten that far.

Doing something like trading away a Mikhail Sergachev for a Jonathan Drouin hasn't helped his image.
But then, allowing someone like Philip Danault to get overpaid elsewhere, allowing a potentially 6M+ KK (who didn't seem to be working out in Montreal) to go for picks, AND acquiring someone like Christian Dvorak here, makes him look damned good once again.

Of course, if JK prospers in Carolina, I expect Bergevin to be criticized yet again...

I've just come to the conclusion that with Marc Bergevin, you just never know what he will do next. Very unpredictable.

At the very least, for the most part, he gets players in there that care about winning.
Whether they are long term viable, or capable of putting the team over the top is another thing entirely.
Eric Staal and Corey Perry are good examples of that.

Personally, I think the Habs should be in retool mode if not in rebuild mode.
On the fly transitioning, as it were, because it seems the Habs' fanbase will simply not accept a full on rebuild.

Is MB capable of pulling that off?
Who knows.... he seems to live life 'on the edge' as a GM.
Constantly at front of death's door, then looking revitalized at various other points.

 

The thing with Bergevin was that he was good at trading (except a few blunders) but they weren't able to draft/develop Elite talent. There has been a bunch of mediocre teams, but I never felt that Bergevin did that bad, but he'd only keep things afloat. As for the 2020 offseason, he went All-In in getting Edmundson, Allen, Toffoli and Anderson. He didn't have a team of stars, but a team of hard workers who played the right way. It wasn't a "successful" season, but it was awesome in the playoffs, kinda how it was expected by Bergevin. 

Yes, the Drouin trade was.. bad. Especially since Marc seemed to have such high praise of the kid, who turned out to still be trying junior stuff like blind passes and overhandling the puck. That Halifax team he played on was LOADED, so you gotta see that there was some stat inflation out there. Drouin is still a 50 point guy in the NHL though.

Honestly, with KK, he was mishandled, brought in too quickly and Julien didn't seem to like him. I mean, you could tell that he was not one of the players he liked much. 

All in all, Bergevin's team are mostly made of hard working guys, with character and leadership. It's still difficult to win a championship when your best player is your goalie, in this era of super fast play with pucks bouncing here and there. Let's just hope the Habs makes the playoffs. I always liked Bergevin's relationship with the media, as he answers questions, can play with the media a bit if they try and sneak in and .. just a funny guy overall. He seems to be a bit worn out as of late, these years as a GM are piling up on him.

On 9/4/2021 at 1:04 PM, ruxpin said:

 

I'm fairly sure this will come across as offensive, but I swear I don't actually mean it that way.  Actually just a sterile, clinical attempt at explaining that dichotomy:

 

Canadians suffer from little brother syndrome so have to try to prove themselves at the Olympics.

 

It's important to some Americans who feel the need to beat their chest (Murica!) but many of us simply don't give a damn.

 

Additionally, for me, I enjoy the NHL and think it's the highest league in the world. It's shutting down and allowing its under-contact players to scatter to the four corners risking injury, etc., necessarily defies that opinion and subordinates the NHL--and, therefore, the Cup tournament--to this other tournament.

 

I know this is over three-decades passe, but I much prefer the amateur ideal of the Olympics.  Maybe get rid of team sports like hockey, basketball, and baseball in the Olympics altogether and go back to individual sports where individuals work very hard to get there and for which the Olympics are the pinnacle and which few would ever actually watch in other forums.

 

I actually thought about the Canadian/US difference when I initially posted... largely due to previous threads on "do we/don't we Olympic threads.  The thing about little brother syndrome is honestly my best guess at it. A lot of Americans really don't care. We figure we don't have to bother with the Olympics. Our stupid as##s will just bomb the crap out of someone if we need to feel superior. And then eat a trough of deep fried whatever.

To me, the NHL players to the Olympics. is kinda of a gimmick. A short tournament for whoever wins to pump their chest. Only a handful of team that have a shot at the title. Messes around the NHL schedule, extra strain on the players, all the protocols and all things to settle. All this for that short tournament that I might have a look here and there if I happen to fall on it. Well, as the NHL will be shut down in the meantime, I guess I'll end up watching it.. or some affiliate teams, AHL/ECHL, or the CHL.

To summarize, I put as much importance into these Olympics games as I do with the All-Star Game week-end. I liked the one with Chris Kelly, Christian Thomas, Maxim Noreau, Derek Roy. No stars but a team effort in an european setting. Anyway, the WCOH a few years back was gimmicky too, but I guess the publicity is a great money return.

And I agree that the Olympics should be about individuals and not team sports.
That's my opinion, I said it, but please people, show some respect or we'll agree to disagree.

It's kinda sad to see KK go.. but despite Dvorak being older, what you see is what you get and he comes cheaper than KK.

Things turned out for the best IMO. And, Bergevin was heavily criticized since day 1, so I won't get into the bandwagon. lol - Since losing in the finals, there has been so much criticism on him, that's unreal!! Looking forward to training camp!

1 hour ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

They won't think this is funny either.

 

Carolina Hurricanes have signed Jesperi Kotkaniemi to a one year offer sheet worth just over $6M. The one-year contract includes a $20 signing bonus.

 

Getting them back for signing Aho to an offer sheet a year or so ago.

 

And now Montreal has no cap space.

 

Revenge a dish best served cold!!!

 

This is going to be a headache for Bergevin, but as you said, it sounds a lot like Karma. lol

Bergevin stated that it was his last year as GM. After the cup finals, things like drafting Mailloux, Losing Weber to LTIR, losing Danault to the Kings and now KK getting that offer sheet from the Canes. As a Habs fan, I wonder if it wouldn't be better for the kid to go with the Canes, instead of being used sporadically with the Habs, being rushed initially and not always knowing how to use him. Anyway, personally, I wish he stays because I like KK as a hab. I'll have to look at that offer sheet thing, which I'm glad you stated because Iw as totally unaware of it.

It might get expensive by the end of the deal, but Couturier has an elite two-way game, so the worst case is that he gets back to a more defensive role by the end of that contract. After all, Jagr said that, back when Coots was 19, that he was the best defensive forward on the Flyers team. 

8 hours ago, Hockey Junkie said:

i just learned that the Kracken landed Jaden Shwartz!!!!!????  Why the hell would the Blues let him get away?  OMG>  He is going to put the Kracken on the map instantly.  He is a damn star! Make no mistake about it. Blues have the Cup in their closet in big thanks to his offense  Beast
 

I don't remember how the Blues protection list was put up. I'm not sure why they let him go, unless he has some injury issues or maybe they didn't like his 5.5 M cap hit. I always thought he was underated. Honestly, a few years back, the Blues let go off Pietrangelo and when I watched the MTL/VGK playoff series, Alex was the most lethal offensive player the whole series for the Knights.

Not a prospect anymore, but Jake Evans paid his dues in the minors for quite some time. He is on Dale Weise's show to talk about his career.
 

I'm thinking that Dubas didn't have enough experience or hockey knowledge to know what it takes to build a contender. Talent is fun, signing young stars to big $$, but comes playoff time, it gets tougher. Size and grit is less sexy to and doesn't lead to being super popular, but in the end, it's about team success and less about star power. Ask the Oilers. A team like the Blues won without a true Superstar, although O'Reilly and Binnington did elevate the team.  We'll see what Campbell offers them as goaltending, beginning the season as the starter in net. Anyway, I think that all that I've just said has been repeated many times, so it's nothing new. How will that defense do? we'll see.

On 8/23/2021 at 11:20 PM, Hockey Junkie said:

So I assume Teresenko is still a Blue?  Like Eichel they are not going to get robbed. Just suck it up and play your butt off.  You are on a team two years removed from hoisting the Cup!  Stop your nonsense.   I wonder if Berube has finally lost this team?  Seems like he may have late last year?

I wondr if we'll end up having a kind of Laine/PLD trade, where 2 guys who want to leave get moved one for another. Eichel and Tarasenko are both dealing with injuries. While I have not seen Eichel play much, the production is still elite when he plays, while Tarasenko's production has fallen off a bit. Vlad used to go to the net quite a bit and got a few concussion early in his career, which I thought was going to to be his issue, but the shoulders got in the way of things... - I remember when he was a young KHL star and how he was when the first got into the league!

I’ll be curious to see how the new ECHL Trois-Rivières Lions will fare in their inaugural season.

Lemaire tells it like it is. lol

Maybe there wasn't much scoring in the Dead Puck era, but there was lots of action and guys had to keep their head up.

I'm not sure if this series against Vancouver was before eliminating the Avs, which then led Roy to retire.