Habs : Bergevin wants big, fast, young team

Source : Montrealgazette.com

The Canadiens are a small, fast, young team

And general manager Marc Bergevin said Monday it’s going to take some time to transform the Canadiens into a big, fast, young team — a team like the Ottawa Senators, who eliminated Montreal in the playoffs with a team that is bigger, faster and younger.

“You don’t change the makeup of a team overnight,” Bergevin said as he answered questions at his end-of-the-season news conference Monday in Brossard. “It takes a long time to change the makeup of a team. Obviously, there’s 29 other teams that want to be big, fast and strong, but that’s easier said than done. But I believe balance is very important. You can’t win with all big guys and you can’t win with all small guys.”

Bergevin stressed character as one of the key components in the Canadiens’ success.

“I don’t care how big you are, if you have no character you’re not going to succeed,” the GM said.

“You look at a guy like Brendan Gallagher — one of the smallest guys in the league, but character off the charts. So we’ll need a balance. And that’s my job moving forward to bring balance to our club.”

The Canadiens made great strides this season, going from last in the 15-team Eastern Conference to second. Bergevin said he wasn’t surprised by the finish — “I thought we’d be in the pack” — but said the task next season will be a difficult one.

“There were five teams that made the playoffs last season that didn’t make it this season,” he noted. “New Jersey reached the final last season and didn’t make the playoffs this season. Does that mean

New Jersey is a bad team? No.”

Bergevin said the most important factor in a team’s success is depth and he defended his relative lack of activity at the trading deadline by saying: “You got to bring depth through your draft, through your young prospects coming through.”

Bergevin, who has six picks in the first three rounds of next month’s entry draft, said his philosophy is to select the best player, but added one option was to take size into consideration.

“It’s easier said than done because everyone is looking for those players, but we’ll look at it for sure,” Bergevin said.

Bergevin acted as a morale booster when asked about goaltender Carey Price and centre David Desharnais, two players who could have had better seasons.

“Can Carey be better? He’ll be the first one to admit he can be better and he said he will be better,” Bergevin said. “I have faith in him that he will be better. He had some good stretches and he had some so-so stretches. And that’s part of being a young goaltender and we’re going to move forward with him and I’m 100 per cent behind him.”

On Saturday, Price suggested the pressure that comes with playing in Montreal might be getting to him. He said he missed being anonymous and added he has stopped going to the grocery store. The goaltender described himself as a “Hobbit in a hole.”

Bergevin said he has talked with Price and is willing to do whatever he can to help the goaltender, even if it means doing Price’s groceries.

Bergevin said Price talked to the media after the team lost, after he got hurt and after “he didn’t feel he performed up to his potential.”

The GM added: “The first step is that he faced the music, which to me that showed character.”
Bergevin also noted that goalies mature later than other players and their mistakes are more noticeable.

“If a forward plays a bad game, it often goes unnoticed unless you really pay attention,” Bergevin said. “If a defenceman makes a mistake, it becomes a scoring chance, and if a goalie makes a mistake it’s a goal.”

Bergevin concluded his remarks on the goaltender by saying: “I have 150 per cent faith in Carey Price.”

As for Desharnais, his production tailed off after he signed a four-year, $14-million contract extension. Bergevin, who wanted to lock up Desharnais before he became eligible for arbitration this summer, said the centre knows he can play better.

“He’s still a young player and I expect him to rebound,” the GM said.

Bergevin said his overall game plan remains the same.

“I’m standing pat,” he said. “I made it clear from Day 1: I want to make this team good for years to come, not just for one year.”

But there will be some changes.

Defenceman Tomas Kaberle and his $4.25-million cap hit will disappear, although Bergevin said he will explore trading the Czech veteran before exercising his second amnesty buyout.

There will probably be a spot on the top two lines as unrestricted free agent Michael Ryder looks elsewhere for the first long-term deal of his career.

And Bergevin hedged on whether he would start work on a long-term deal for P.K. Subban, who left Monday to join Team Canada at the world championship.

Jarred Tinordi will start next season in Montreal, particularly since Alexei Emelin will miss the start of the season as he recuperates from knee surgery that has yet to be performed.

Nathan Beaulieu, Greg Pateryn, Gabriel Dumont, Michael Bournival, Sebastien Collberg and Danny Kristo are among the prospects who will get a good look at training camp.

And then there’s Louis Leblanc, the Canadiens’ first-round draft pick in 2009. Bergevin admitted that Leblanc — with 10 goals, eight assists and a minus-18 rating in 62 American Hockey League games — took a step back this season.

But Bergevin said he talked to Leblanc last week and that he’s still part of the Canadiens’ future.

“He knows he has to be better and he knows it’s a big summer for him,” Bergevin said. “It’s going to be up to him. But he’s a good young player that we hope one day will play here.”