Alumni brought back into the fold

[Willie Dog]

Finally...

montrealgazette.com/sports/hockey/nhl/hockey-inside-out/stu-cowan-chris-nilan-takes-canadiens-young-guns-under-his-wing

[seventeen]

Shunning the alumni, alone, should have been a giant red flag. The guy was all about himself. How can that type of guy build a team? I'm still fuming about 5 lost years (I can give him the first 5 years while he burned up what he inherited). Everything about the new regime reinforces how poorly run the previous one was. My lingering question is, "Why the hell would LA want him?"

[folatre]

It is great to see guys like Nilan getting their due and sharing their passion for the Canadien with the current Habs.

But man, it is rather inexplicable how Molson, who grew up revering the idols of the club, let Bergevin get away with that bs. Insecurity cloaked in arrogance is just such a terrible mixture in leaders.

[Boston_Habs]

Such a no brainer. There should pretty much be an open door policy for the Habs alum, particularly those with a ring. Makes it feel like a real family with great history. The Boston Celtics here are way into that stuff. It's common for the legends to just pop in and out of the facilities, talk to the players after practice or before games, actually build relationships with the new generation. I love that stuff and when you have a franchise with as much history and legends as the Habs it's crazy to cut those guys off from the team.

As for Geoff, he's a pretty mild mannered and traditional guy (to a fault) and I think he deferred to Bergevin to run the team the way he wanted. He had a chance to get rid of Bergevin much sooner but by then he had signed him to the extension and probably felt obligated to see it through. He was about 5 years too late on finally pulling the trigger, but the new regime is basically 180 degrees from the style and substance of the Bergevin years.

[habsorbed]

Molson sure was played. But that's what happens when you have a neophyte, who has really achieved nothing on his own, in charge of the franchise. The irony of the whole situation is that with HuGo, Molson life is so much easier. Live and learn Geoffie Boy - just wish it wasn't at our expense.

[PTH]

Nov 29, 2022 9:39:07 GMT -5 Boston_Habs said:

.... but the new regime is basically 180 degrees from the style and substance of the Bergevin years.

Meh... I'd say it's still similar to the early Berg years, and a few times the justification for decisions was similar.

The big difference IMO is avoiding being a 1-man show, so it should avoid the issues Berg fell into, namely overpaying for guys he had a liking for and who'd "grown up" under his tutelage.

Guys like Gorges were ejected for a solid return just like we moved Lehkonen or Toffoli... Starting a rebuild is easy enough: sell assets to the highest bidder. It's seeing if it all fits together that tells us if the overall vision works. The Romanov/Dach move makes me optimistic on that front. It's surprising in hindsight that no one saw Romanov as expendable even though the large number of young RD should have told us he wasn't untouchable.

---

Hughes really reminded me of Berg when he mentioned having looked at comparable contracts for Lehkonen before moving him, essentially assuming the player's future contract value.

[Skilly]

The aura of the Habs history isn’t what it used to be. Sure we still have players alive that are revered from those late 70s teams. But they are all 70 years old or more now. I’m not sure the players want to listen to Gilbert Dionne, ring or no ring