You want to rebuild your house. Either completely raze the old one to build a new one, or else make in-depth renovations to the existing structure. You’re not going to draw this on a napkin and hand the tasks over to a jobber.
Either way, it’ll take you an architect.
It’s a bit the same in hockey.
Marc Bergevin was a good general manager to take actions which, when analyzed individually, favored the Canadian. He made some mistakes – and the move from Phillip Danault to Christian Dvorak is one of those we feel the most – but several decisions, taken in isolation, were the right ones. His record is frankly positive.
The problem is, over the nine years of his reign as CEO, Bergevin hasn’t really come across as an architect. Plans often changed and we searched for a common thread in its decisions for a long time.
However, to revive the Canadian, Geoff Molson went to look for another leader who, by his management style, is likely to be more of an architect. And in the construction industry, the architect does not work alone.
On the occasion of his first press conference as the Canadiens’ executive vice-president of hockey operations on Friday morning, Jeff Gorton was not going to tell us who he planned to hire as general manager, or which players he deemed necessary to get rid of, or promise the Stanley Cup to fans within five years.
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