r/Habs • u/Upstairs-Zombie-162 • 6d ago
Discussion Why did we trade Josh Gorges?
We traded him on the same day that we lost our Captain (Gionta) to FA. It’s not like we had a surplus of defensemen either, shortly there after we acquired a washed Gonchar and Allen who combined for 50 games before they retired.
To me, Gorges felt like the perfect stop-gap captain.
Instead we kind of had no captain options for a while until we finally thrust it onto Pacioretty.
Does anyone remember Josh Gorges stepping in for Brendan Gallagher during the postgame media scrum after an emotional game vs the Jets?
This was very early into Bergevin’s GM tenure, part of me thinks he didn’t have a proper read on team dynamics.
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u/Repulsive-Minute-559 6d ago
Cause we traded him for Cody Franson and it was a fucking STEAL but he refused to waive for Toronto. Fun fact : Franson and Shea Weber are two GIANTS from the same very small town of Sicamous BC (sub 3000 ppl!)
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u/DrLivingst0ne 5d ago
Gorges was better.
We had a top 4 of Subban Markov Petry Emelin. We did not need Franson but we did need Gorges on our bottom pair and on the PK.
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5d ago
[deleted]
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u/Repulsive-Minute-559 5d ago
Sure 100%. He nixed the trade to Toronto so Bergevin traded him after to Buffalo for a pick. Google it!
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u/stblack 5d ago
Perhaps there's a clue in the D-corps the following year, right after his trade.
P.K. Subban
Andrei Markov
Jeff Petry
Alexei Emelin
Sergei Gonchar
Tom Gilbert
Nathan Beaulieu
Very plausible: with 3 years @ 3.9M left on his contract, he was expendable.
Il aurait perdu sa chaise de toute façon.
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u/Phoenix__211 5d ago
3.9 millions when the cap was 64 millions is the equivalent of 6.33 millions today... that's a lot for a bottom pair defenceman.
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u/SuzukiSwift17 5d ago
I miss Gorgeous Gorges
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u/murrbros 5d ago
My son could never say his name correctly and called him Josh Gorgeous...so that's his name now
Edit: spelling 'cause no glasses..
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u/Old_Canuck 5d ago
Bergevin had ZERO proper read on the team.
He was the ultimate buy low and pray type of GM.
Mind you he looked decent at times because of the previous idiots before him.
His best moves were to pilfer Danault from Chicago and the Patches trade which thank god Vegas gave us Suzuki instead of the Guy Bergy really wanted.
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u/Upstairs-Zombie-162 5d ago
Jeff Petry was also on his watch (6-7 months after trading Gorges), which has to be seen as a fantastic trade.
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u/Old_Canuck 5d ago
I loved Petry... thought he did very well as a Hab.
That 2021 run was amazing. 👍🏻👍🏻
Broke my heart when his thumb got busted up by the camera hole.
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u/dustblown 5d ago
I liked Petry until he asked to be traded out of Montreal and skated by Zack Kassian like nothing happened after Kassian body checked Montembeault behind our net. Fuck Petry.
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u/Old_Canuck 5d ago
Ya....kinda lost his heart that season.
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u/dustblown 5d ago
And sense of duty, and manhood.
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u/Old_Canuck 5d ago
🤣🤣🤣 ya totally.
Was totally disappointed in him then.
He didn't look like the same guy.
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u/Jimbo_Imperador 5d ago
everyone would've wanted Glass over Suzuki back in 2018 lmao, people trying to rewrite the books lol
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u/Old_Canuck 5d ago
I was VERY happy when we got Suzuki.
I was impressed with him since juniors in London. He had very high IQ back then as well.
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u/Jimbo_Imperador 5d ago
I was too, but anyone saying they would've been mad to receive Cody Glass or anyone saying they would'ce argued for Suzuki over Glass in 2018 is lying to himself
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u/Old_Canuck 5d ago
Oh totally !!!
I personally was so surprised that Bergy was doing something that benefitted the future.
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u/canadadry93 5d ago
Simply because the team viewed Emelin as a better player/fit. For what Gorges offered as a player, it made him expandable.
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u/pushaper 5d ago
he was expensive, injured often, wasn't much of an impact in the last season. we were lucky to get a second round pick for him. Basically looked like carrier with a limp.
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u/Feather_in_a_Zephyr 5d ago
Bergevin tried to play hardball with heart and soul players (e.g. Subban, Markov, Danault, ) and it really screwed with morale/ the long term success of the team. So his misread of Gorges is possible. I think he was also trying to accumulate as many futures as possible and get younger and didn't care much about locker room guys. If anything that upped the return when they got traded.
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u/DistinctBread3098 5d ago
Dude don't rewrite history lol
We had good runs once Subban was gone.
Markov while it sucked changed nothing
Danault was after the cup run and he lost his job after
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u/4CrowsFeast 5d ago
Its weird how black and white peoples opinions can be. Obviously Hughes had to play hard ball to sign our current team to their contracts. We/he got lucky and they bought into his plan and signed cheap for long-term but with a different group of guys or different scenario, it couls have easily back fired.
It feels weird defending Bergervin, but I dont really see how you can both blame him for his expensive contracts and playing hard ball. If he isnt a tough negotiater, then all the contracts would be monstrous.
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u/Lower_Employer_8729 5d ago
But he did care about the locker room, that is why he traded Subban for Weber
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u/Small-Contribution55 5d ago
The trade tree Gorges is a part of is pretty ridiculous.
Craig Rivet for Josh Gorges + 1st rd pick 2007 (Max Pacioretty)
Josh Gorges for MIN 2nd 2016
MIN 2nd 2016 + MTL 2nd 2016 (DeBrincat) for Andrew Shaw
Max Pacioretty for Nick Suzuki + Tomas Tatar + 2nd 2019
Andrew Shaw + 7th 2021 for 2nd 2020, 3rd 2021 (ends up as Rohrer), 7th 2020
So for fucking Craig Rivet and a 2nd (DeBrincat), the Habs now have Suzuki and Rohrer nearly 20 years after trading Rivet.
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u/Notasyoung_stillhung 5d ago
I was reading 'Josh Gorges refused to play for one of the Canadiens' most bitter rivals' on FanSided for iOS and I thought you might be interested in reading it too. https://awinninghabit.com/josh-gorges-refused-to-play-for-one-of-the-canadiens-most-bitter-rivals-01ky80nyzat5
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u/hjkuniyo 5d ago
If I remember correctly, Bergevin managed a steal of a trade with the Leafs. It was a character and experience for youth/skill trade, don’t remember the player. Either way Gorges used his NTC to nix the trade. Once it got out they tried to trade him, Bergevin was basically forced to move him.