Built for playoff hockey
Bergevin happy his moves are paying off
MONTREAL — As the Montreal Canadiens departed for Las Vegas and a date with the Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup semifinal, general manager Marc Bergevin paused to say: “I told you so.”
The Canadiens were the last team to qualify for the playoffs but Bergevin said he never lost confidence in the team he assembled.
“I believed in this team from the start,” Bergevin said Saturday after the team held a final on-ice session at its practice facility before boarding a charter flight to Sin City. “Even in January, when I said I was building a playoff team, that’s what I thought. There are always obstacles. There are two kinds of hockey, one for the season and one for the playoffs. You can’t build a team one way and change the staff for the playoffs. There are always risks to be taken, but it is paying off today.”
“There were tough times during the year,” Bergevin added. “I think of our 25 games in 44 days. That period hurt both us physically and mentally. We also played in the Canadian division where there was a lot of travel between East and West. It all goes into the mix.”
But Bergevin said his faith never wavered, even when Toronto took a 3-1 series lead in the first round.
“For Toronto, I was calm when I woke up,” he said. “I knew the veterans had spoken, that the players had had good discussions. Perry, Staal, Allen, Eddy (Edmundson) and Weber have said some important things. It also takes luck. But it seems to be going well. I am very proud of our team.”
Bergevin doesn’t like the term rebuild but there’s no other word to describe what he has accomplished. Ten of the players who have dressed for these playoffs weren’t with the team last season. The wisdom of some of those acquisitions has been questioned but it’s difficult to argue with the results — a comeback win over Toronto and a sweep of the Winnipeg Jets in the North Division.
There is also an ongoing debate over the wisdom of the 2017 decision to give goaltender Carey Price an eight-year deal with an annual cap hit of US$10.5 million but, faced with the possibility of having Price test the free-agent market, Bergevin said signing Price was a no-brainer.
“As you see in the playoffs, the teams that go far have goalies who play well,” said Bergevin. “To be successful, it takes a goaltender who’s up to the task. We had Price in Montreal and there was no reason to let him go and see him be successful elsewhere. It was a thoughtful decision, but still the best one we made.”
Head coach Dominique Ducharme also addressed the media Saturday and expressed thanks to Bergevin for having confidence in him. Bergevin also thanked Ducharme because, when the players embraced Ducharme’s system, the results most likely guaranteed that coach and general manager will return next season.
The team’s final practice was a high-energy affair and featured some furious one-onone battles in front of the net.
Jake Evans, who is recovering from a concussion, skated on the secondary rink with a member of the training staff. When he crossed the main rink to reach the dressing room, his teammates saluted him by tapping their sticks. Ducharme said Evans was three or four days away from being cleared to play but he won’t see action until he’s 100 per cent.
Evans, Jeff Petry and Jon Merrill all accompanied the team to Vegas but they are all doubtful for Game 1 tonight.