As is always the case when a team is racking up losses, all eyes are on the head coach. Except that in this case, Dominique Ducharme signed a three-year contract this summer. All this while Claude Julien is touching his last year of salary with the organization.
And, small detail, Ducharme led his team to three Stanley Cup victories four months ago.
Read the article Marc Bergevin at La Presse: “I’m the boss of hockey”
In short, the conditions have already been more favorable for a change of coach …
“Think about it properly,” recalls Marc Bergevin, in a telephone interview with Press, Saturday afternoon. We make it to the final. During the summer, I decide not to babysit Dom and I go look for “whoever”. How do you think the media and fans would have reacted? “He’s really silly. What is he doing there? ”. ”
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, PRESS ARCHIVES
The head coach of the Canadian, Dominique Ducharme
“Dom hasn’t lost his ‘room’ in four months. They are the same players as in the final, minus three or four and the injured. If your coach has been here for four years, you can say he lost his “room”. But if this is the case now, the players will have to look in the mirror and tell themselves that we will not change coaches every six months. ”
The weight of the final
Rarely does a finalist team miss the playoffs the following year. Rare, but not unusual. It happened just last year with Dallas. Unexpected finalists in the bubble in Edmonton in the summer of 2020, the Stars missed the playoffs by four points.
Bergevin has not commented on the Stars’ situation, but believes that participation in the final has left its mark.
It’s our lack of execution, our lack of “focus” on what has made us successful in the past. I see that, but then what caused it? Lots of things are possible. Like DG, you try to find the reason. There is no book, go to such and such a page and the answer is there.
Marc Bergevin, general manager of the Canadiens
“But normally, a team that makes it to the final will play until June 10. Us, it ended on July 10 [NDLR : le 7 juillet]. Already, on June 10, clubs tear up. I saw him at the camp: the guys had no energy, no commitment. Add the wounded and it snowballs. ”
The injured are indeed part of the mitigating circumstances. Carey Price, Shea Weber and Joel Edmundson were mainstays of the team on their journey to the final. The team also suffered losses, including that of Phillip Danault, who were not adequately replaced. Professional recruiting probably has the most successful aspect of Bergevin’s reign, but so far his summer 2021 harvest has been low.
Christian Dvorak does not deliver the expected offensive performance, with 7 points in 19 games, but it is above all his differential of -16 that makes people talk. Bergevin reminds however that the goals granted in an empty net hurt him; the opponent has effectively scored seven goals under these circumstances when Dvorak is on the ice, a peak in the NHL. “He’s a good player, an intelligent player. But his confidence is affected, ”said Bergevin.
About David Savard, “you come home Eddie [Edmundson] and that puts everyone in their chair. And he too played in the final, ”he replies.
Caufield on probation
We named these two newcomers, but we could have toured the team because there are so many players looking for each other!
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Cole caufield
But we had to focus on the case of Cole Caufield, probably the organization’s hope that has generated the most enthusiasm in a long time. CH failings in developing players have resurfaced in recent weeks, with Caufield’s slow start to the season, his dismissal at Laval, and his somewhat unexpected recall after just six games with the Rocket. In the end, it seems that his recall was mostly related to the circumstances.
“We have a tool that allows us to send it down. Then, with the injuries to [Mike] Hoffman, at [Cédric] Paquette, we were “short” so we brought him back. Despite our effort on Thursday, you saw a different energy from Cole. We will watch him closely, if he continues to play like that. Otherwise, we won’t keep it here. ”
Bergevin recalls, however, that in his eyes, it went without saying that the little right winger starts the season in the NHL. Left out at the start of the playoffs, he had been included in the roster for Game 3 of the series against Toronto and played the team’s other 20 games. He finished the playoffs at 3e Canadian rank with 12 points.
But after 10 games, Caufield had just one point and was often erased offensively. The young smiling boy from last spring, who had shared a pizza with Phillip Danault during a press briefing, had become a lot more sullen.
“When the series started, fans and the media wondered why he wasn’t playing. We played him, he played well. We couldn’t get him to start the season at the bottom. He took a step back. Now it’s in his hands. He performed against big teams in important playoff situations. ”
Mild symptoms
Bergevin was speaking to us 24 hours after receiving a positive diagnosis for COVID-19. “My back hurts mainly, my bones hurt. But things are going a little today. My wife is with me, and she does not have it, ”summed up the CEO. Bergevin is optimistic that he will be able to return to the team environment in 10 days, if of course he has no more symptoms. He will therefore not accompany the team on their trip of three games in four nights in the middle of next week. The Quebec government is effectively asking people with the virus to isolate themselves for 10 days. “To end your isolation, you must not have had a fever for 48 hours (without taking fever medication) and you must have improved symptoms for 24 hours (excluding cough and loss of smell which may occur. last longer), ”the government website read.