The Canadian golf tournament, during which interviews are conducted to the sound of a dynamic jazz orchestra, generally under bright sunshine, always brings its share of optimism.
CH is still first in the standings at this time of the year, new players are coming and always giving rise to a lot of hope, others are leaving the team without us ever really regretting them, at least publicly, in short, it is an annual event conducive to media hype.
A few days before the Canadian’s next golf tournament, presented on Monday, let’s remember some famous quotes. Some have obviously aged poorly…
Last year’s tournament, under the new administration, was less rich since the main players in the reconstruction went there in sobriety, without fear of recalling the reality that the team was facing. No promise of success, no exaggerated compliments to a young person.
There were these tournaments canceled by the pandemic. Let’s dive back into 2018. The Canadian has just traded captain Max Pacioretty to the Golden Knights in exchange for Nick Suzuki, Tomas Tatar and a second-round pick.
How quickly things change in the world of hockey. Suzuki did not get a job with the team that year, but centers Max Domi, Phillip Danault, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jordan Weal and Nate Thompson have not been with the club for quite a while and Suzuki has not played on the wing for a long time in Montreal. Hats off to Bergevin, however, for this smoking gun. Contrary to what he once claimed, number one centers can be found through trades.
A year earlier, in 2017, Marc Bergevin had just acquired Jonathan Drouin in return for young defender Mikhail Sergachev. The latter having only played four matches (without brilliance) at the start of the previous season, at 18, his departure was not really highlighted. We only talked about Drouin.
Drouin amassed 186 points in 321 games in Montreal, for an average of 48 points per season if we bring his total back over a season of 82 games. Sergachev is coming off his career-best season with 64 points. You could almost call him the Lightning’s number one defenseman. And he won the Stanley Cup twice with his powerful team. It was nevertheless a transaction applauded by all at the start. You can’t win them all…
The 2017-2018 season also marked a major transition in defense with the departure of Andrei Markov, Nathan Beaulieu and Alexei Emelin. In probably the most memorable quote at a Canadian golf tournament, Marc Bergevin said his defensive brigade was superior to that of the previous year.
The arrival of young attackers also raised a lot of hope for Bergevin.
That year, the Canadian finished 28th in the general ranking, with… 32 points less than the previous year.
In 2015, after several unsuccessful attempts, we wanted to give Alex Galchenyuk the chance to establish himself at center, in his fourth season in the NHL.
Galchenyuk was quickly moved back to the wing, but he still had a career-best season with 30 goals, the only time he had more than 20 goals in a season. Three years later, he was traded for Max Domi.
In 2014, it was necessary to identify a new group of leaders with the departure of captain Brian Gionta.
Umm…how should I put it?
When he took office in 2012, Marc Bergevin had to wait several months due to the lockout. The season only started in January. In the meantime, he devoted his energies to spying on the organization’s top prospects at the Hamilton Bulldogs camp.
There was Gallagher. After him, not much. We also notice that he did not mention Louis Leblanc, despite being the team’s popular first choice three years earlier.
Former GM Doug Wilson was blamed for not winning the Stanley Cup in San Jose. However, he made the Sharks a power between 2005 and 2019, among other things thanks to the acquisition of Joe Thornton. San Jose still reached the final in 2016 and the final four in 2019, 2011 and 2010. It may have clung to its core a little too long, hence the state it finds itself in today today San Jose and his successor Mike Grier, but he was one of the best general managers in the League for a dozen years. Today, the new boss in Pittsburgh, Kyle Dubas, has just integrated him into his group of managers as a special advisor.
1- Alexandre Pratt evokes a major reconstruction, but not the one we think.
2- David Reinbacher and Logan Mailloux will be the headliners at the rookie tournament. The Canadian unveiled its list of participants on Friday. Details from Guillaume Lefrançois.
3- The Rouge et Or women’s rugby team from Laval University hopes to continue its overwhelming domination this season. Nicholas Richard narrates.
