In losing season, players ‘were never in sync’: GM
Bergevin and team president deliver post-mortem after disappointing year
Transparency and attitude — bad attitude, to be exact — dominated the conversation Monday as Canadiens president Geoff Molson and general manager Marc Bergevin delivered their aptly named postmortem on the team’s secondworst season in the post-expansion era.
Molson, who declared that the status quo is not acceptable, promised fans better communication and an improved game experience, but it’s a good bet that healthier food at the Bell Centre won’t be an adequate substitute for more wins on the ice.
That’s Bergevin’s department, and he said the “overall attitude needs to change. We will do a complete assessment of our organization and as general manager, I take my share of responsibility for the season. We’re all in this together.”
Bergevin said he had a plan, but despite the new emphasis on transparency, there were few details on how to turn around a team that ranked 30th in offence, 25th in defence and 30th in the penaltykill, which is often a barometer of how hard a team is working.
The GM did say goaltender Carey Price has to be better. Much better.
“Carey wasn’t good this year,” Bergevin said. “We’re not going to sugar-coat it — he’s the first one to admit it. He had a down year and we need him to be back where he was. If Carey’s back, we’re already a better team. You build from the goal-line and it starts with Carey.”
There have been no explanations put forward as to why Price had the worst year of his career — he didn’t shed light on why his season went south in an interview that mostly expressed his relief the season was over and he hopes for a reset for next season.
That reset is crucial because Price will be starting a new eightyear contract with a cap hit of $10.5 million a season. Bergevin said the contract might have factored in Price’s performance. He noted that Anze Kopitar had an off-season after signing a similar contract but bounced back with an MVP-worthy season.
Bergevin admitted to being overly optimistic last fall when he said the defence would be better even after the loss of Andrei Markov, Alexei Emelin and Nathan Beaulieu. He filled in the holes with Mark Streit, who was cut after playing only two games; David Schlemko, whose season was marred by injuries; and Karl Alzner, whose play didn’t justify the five-year, $23-million contract he signed as a free agent.
“Karl Alzner’s not the reason we’re sitting here today,” Bergevin said. “It’s not fair to pick on one guy. I had a meeting with Karl and there was one message, and the message is he has to be better. He’s not the only one. There are only a handful of guys who performed up to our expectations. “
Max Pacioretty was not one of those players who lived up to expectations, but Bergevin said he would continue to serve as captain. Unless, of course, he’s traded. He professed his love for the city in his final interview, but seemed like someone who was dreading a trade. Bergevin acknowledged that there have been rumours concerning a possible deal, but noted that he doesn’t deal in rumours and Pacioretty is still here.
“From Game 1, we were never in the playoff race,” Bergevin said. “The most disappointment for me is, for our fans, it was never fun. I never felt that we were a team that competed every night. We competed for a period or for a game ( but) we were never in sync.”
Bergevin said he would spend the next week reviewing the organization, including the coaching staff, development personnel and scouts. Head coach Claude Julien is safe.
The player interviews earlier in the day yielded some nuggets of information.
Andrew Shaw confirmed that he suffered a concussion in the March 13 collision with Dallas defenceman Greg Pateryn, but said that injury didn’t end his season. Shaw, who has conferred with a U.S.-based doctor who specializes in concussions, said he also aggravated an earlier knee surgery and will undergo surgery next Tuesday.
Jacob de la Rose will join Sweden for the upcoming world championships in Denmark, and Artturi Lehkonen is mulling an offer to represent Finland. Jonathan Drouin would like to represent Canada, but co- GMs Sean Burke and Marty Brodeur are holding off on their final decisions until they see who’s available after the first round of the playoffs.
Notre Dame centre Jake Evans has signed a two-year entry-level contract. He had a career-high 46 points in 40 games and led the Irish to the NCAA Final where they lost 2-1 to Minnesota-Duluth.
As general manager, I take my share of responsibility for the season. We’re all in this together.