The Montreal Canadiens had a quietly successful trade deadline day, as the club sold off some veterans and made some minor deals with the future in mind. While there were no blockbusters, it was a good day for the team.
When asked about the future of the Canadiens, Bergevin said the team is heading in the right direction.
“We have some young players, a young core, and yes we’ve had some major hiccups, but I know we’re going in the right direction,” Bergevin told Eric Engels of Sportsnet.ca.
Uh, OK. While I understand what Bergevin is getting at – the Canadiens, despite some bumps in the road are still heading on the right path – but the statement is a tad delusional. Montreal will never be heading in the right direction as long as Michel Therrien is the head coach, and Bergevin has been his biggest enabler. Montreal has once again underperformed in Therrien’s second stint as bench boss, and unsurprisingly he’s exactly the perplexing coach fans thought he was.
In the same interview, Bergevin flip-flopped on the future position of Alex Galchenyuk. Despite widespread belief and evidence he’s better up the middle, Therrien wants to stick with him at the wing.
“To me it’s a tool in his bag that he can play both positions,” said Bergevin. But right now, the way things are going, the way he’s been playing very well at the wing—I think [Therrien] is going to stick with him there. But I don’t rule out that [he’ll] be back playing centre.”
Bergevin’s correct when he says the Canadiens have a good young core, but as long as he’s still employing Therrien, there’s little chance they develop into the players they should.
