HABS GM IN A WORD: SMART

It has been a while since we could say this about the Habs GM and mean it as a comprehensive judgement on his work. In the recent past the Habs had half-decent to downright bad GMs. Now they got their hands on a pretty darn good one. Putting aside the fact that Bergevin has the near perfect personality fit for the crazy hockey market that is Montreal, his most impressive attribute can be boiled down to one key word: smart. Let us look at examples of this....


Smart: personnel hire

Bergevin has surrounded himself with good to great hockey people.This means that while he is the boss and makes the final calls, he is also extremely well advised. A guy like Dudley for example is a perfect fit. He also hired good people to take care of player development and implemented an organizational re-structuring of the Habs that saw key people moved or kept in key positions. This is true from the GM's decision group to scouting and yes to coaching. He picked a coach I was not thrilled with. In fact, I was not happy at all when Therrien was hired. However, it is hard to argue the results as this coach just keeps winning and now has a deep playoff run under his belt. What interests me here is how the hockey department under Bergevin works hand in hand with the coaching staff when it comes to player movement and development. This is a real organizational strength in my opinion as there is an inner coherence that means moves are made through careful thinking and considering of the entire picture.

Smart: Free Agent acquisitions/signings

Thus far, Bergevin has made next to no significant mistakes on the FA market. He has not handed out dumb contracts for crazy term. All of his FA signings have been in the reasonably price and range category. There is no David Clarkson contract in Montreal for example. The mistakes he has made, ie players that did not work out, he corrected as I will show later. A brief look at his FA record shows smart acquisitions that fill a team need but that also leave the Habs with cap flexibility (more on this later). These FA pickups are either internal (players already on the team that would become UFA) or open market pick ups (free agents in the summer). This past summer would be a pretty good example of smart FA work with the signing of 3 players at very reasonable contracts to fill team needs. Malhotra on a 1 year deal fixes the 4th line center problem and is among the leagues best face off guys, this was a clear need. Gilbert for 2 years at a very reasonable rate beings balance to the D in terms of playing D on their natural side, adds a puck mover and a decent option for the second wave of the PP. Finally, Sekac is a smart addition, a winger with size, speed and decent hands, again at a reasonable price. The FAs he has signed internally have been for good prices or at the very least market prices. Markov and Subban are good examples of D-men signed to good contracts. Guys like Eller at 3.5M and Desharnais at 3.5M are also very reasonable signings in terms of contract length but also cap hit. Eller was paid for potential, Desharnais was paid for production (a 50pt C for 3.5 is pretty reasonable if you look around). The key for me is that if these players do not work out, they can be moved because they all have reasonable contracts. this brings me to part two of this section; correcting one's "mistakes". When Bergevin has signed a player that did not work out, he typically has managed to trade him without getting saddled with a crap contract. In fact, he usually managed to trade that player and free up cap space for that coming off-season (see Cole for Ryder, Moen for Gonchar). He then turned this cap space into a player that fit a need or used the money to re-sign one of his own key players. In other instances he traded a guy that did not work out and got a younger player that can contribute by eating one year of contract (see Brière for Parenteau). This shows that this GM is able to correct his mistakes but to do so by considering his teams needs and the al-valuable asset that cap space is.

Smart: Trades

Let us begin by asking a question: when is the last time a Habs GM made a spectacular trade on deadline day and ended up not overpaying? The quick answer is Bob Gainey trading for Kovalev and paying only a guy named Belaj. Beregin acquired Vanek last year and paid well below typical rental player price. In fact, when has Bergevin paid either a 1st round pick or a top prospect to acquire a player? The answer is never. Thus far Bergevin's real strength is trading for character players that fill key roles on the team and paying bargain basement prices for them. Weaver for a 5th and Weise for Diaz stand out here. The common theme for Bergevin's trades are that they do not cut off the team at the knees in terms of cap hit, that he never overpays and that all his moves are reasonable. This means that Habs under him remain well positioned to make trades and sign players because they have cap space now or in the upcoming offseason and that team needs are met.

Smart: player management and development

Under Bergevin and yes Therrien, this team has opened spots in the lineup for young players like it has almost never done in the past. Lots of fans whine and shout that #letthekidsplay chant but reality, if you look at it is that the GM and coach have made moves to allow kids to play when they earned it. Cases in point? Galchenyuk and Gallagher making the team 2 years ago. Eller earning a contract is another good example and the list goes on. Players that do not earn an immediate spot are told to keep working and an honest look at the Habs shows them that at some point they will have a spot. The D is a good example this year because for all of the griping done by fans, at seasons end Gonchar and Weaver are GONE. Their contracts will be up and thus spots will open up on D. Markov has 2 years left on his deal which means yet another spot opening up in the near future. Gilbert will be done in at the end of next season. This means Tinordi and Beaulieu will have spots on the Habs D but will have been groomed and developed for these spots. They have been and will continue to ve given the chance to prove themselves by playing a few games here and there. As Bergevin and Therrien have often said kids will get spots if they force us to give them spots, in clear: spots are earned. The team also keeps a good stable of crafty and valuable veterans but is not afraid to let some go. This beings us to asset management.

Smart: assets

Bergevin has managed to keep the Habs in a good position with the Cap to either make trades during the season (see: Vanek, Weaver, Weise, Gonchar...) or to have room to sign or re-sign players in the summer (see: Moen for Gonchar, Cole for Ryder, Vanek acquisition last year). The Habs also seem to manage the cap better with player movement from the AHL to the NHL. These micro-moves when added up save cap space as the season progresses. Finally, Bergevin has made moves to either get rid of issues or to make space for a player. He traded Gorges and his 4M contract and signed 2 players to replace him. He waived Bourque who was an anchor and he traded Moen to free cap space but also to open up a spot at F (that means two spots with Bourque being waived). The spots are for Sekac (if he continues to earn it) and probably for Bournival when he returns. He traded Budaj to make room for Tokarski and thus avoid losing the goalie to waivers.


Conclusion

Bergevin is not perfect but he is a pretty good GM. It has been a long time since we had a GM that had a plan (a smart one anyway) and stuck to it through intelligent moves. I would say Bob Gainey was a bit like this before he lost his daughter. Bergevin however is building a pretty good team through smart building block moves all the while avoiding idiot signings or trades. He drafts well through Timins for the most part and develops these players.

To me this bodes well for the future.