If this is all Bergy does

[Mike]

Then its a massive failure. If Radulov walks and Markov walks then the
offence on this team will be no better than it was last year. Oh, I
suppose we will have a french guy on the top line though so I suppose
we're supposed to be happy about that. Still no #1 centre on this team.
Hell, we don't even have a legit #2 centre and while I like the Alzner
pickup, is he a #1 pairing guy? No, he's not. There are so many holes on
this team right now I don't see what our Bargain Bin GM is going to do.
He must have something up his sleeve - he has to. This team cannot go
into the year like this. If it does he should be fired immediately.
Packing the team with more fillers is like buying those rib steaks they
advertise at Dollar Tree. You can try and fool me into thinking they're
steak and I can even try to fool myself into thinking they're steak but
steak they're not.

[Gerry]

Hopefully what it does is highlight just how far this team really is. Because frankly, I'm still very optimistic that they'll bring Markov and Radulov back. Nobody else signed them, so I think the odds now are very good that they just come back to the Habs.

And even with that, I don't believe this team got better or is a contender. Drouin would have been a great *addition*, but I'll be a little surprised if history doesn't record Sergachev as the best player in the deal. And looking at the Habs' D, at all levels, losing Sergachev is going to have a big impact. So Drouin isn't as much of an "addition" as he might seem.

They didn't get a center.

Does it count as a plus that they didn't make a stupid trade to dump Galchenyuk?

I still think they missed a golden opportunity with Shipachyov. Whether he pans out or not - and it will be hard for him to prove it with that Vegas roster - he was truly a chance at a pure addition, at the position the team needed an addition the most.

You need to get a little lucky to take a step ahead, and to get lucky you need to take some chances. It's not taking much of a chance to make a series of lateral moves. This team wasn't just a little bit of chemistry away from taking the next step.

I'd also note that there were teams out there sitting on their contract extensions, like SJ with the Jones and Vlasic deals. I didn't notice any similar announcement of an extension for Price.

It's not a disastrous outcome for the Habs by any stretch either, though. Assuming they do retain Radulov and Markov. I expect a fair amount of argument that he did in fact do a Good Job if/when those last two items are settled.

l8r,
Gerry

[Gerry]

On Sunday, July 2, 2017 at 8:48:33 AM UTC-4, Gerry wrote:
> I'd also note that there were teams out there sitting on their
> contract extensions, like SJ with the Jones and Vlasic deals.
> I didn't notice any similar announcement of an extension for Price.

Haha, ok, never mind. :)

Reasonable deal. Price must really like it in Montreal, I guess.

l8r,
Gerry