I understand the frustration. That was an epic collapse. A lot of mistakes were made. However, the worst thing you can do as an organization is compound them by making more mistakes while trying too hard to correct your previous ones.

The type of mistake that the Habs have made, a team can completely recover from. You cannot recover from Scott Gomez, at $7.3 million, not getting a goal in almost a season, but you can recover from your goalie being injured. You can recover from Jeff Petry getting injured. You can recover from not getting a top-six forward fast enough. You can recover from signing about three lines worth of third liners. None of these errors hurt 2017.

Let's assess what the Habs’ problems are and how they, this summer, have made an attempt to correct them.

I don't believe they have the right coach in place, but now they have a man who can help whoever is at the helm. Michel Therrien's best time with the Habs was when he had Gerard Gallant at his side and we can see now in Florida what Gallant can do. Now, Therrien has Kirk Muller at his side. Muller will manage the forwards and the power play. More than that, he will manage the personal relationships, as Gallant also did. That go-between is a good idea; sort of a good cop, bad cop scenario. Muller, who has the title of associate coach, has head coach experience as well and he will be able to help with in-game bench management and be another voice that will say, when David Desharnais hasn't gotten a point in 34 games on the first power play unit, "Hey, maybe that's not working," slightly faster.

Here we have Bergevin not firing his head coach as would be conventional, but addressing the issue by basically saying two minds are better than one. It's a great decision because Therrien needs a foil. He can be a bit of a bull dog. If you have four assistant coaches but they are all of one mind - Therrien's - you really only have one coach there, don't you?

What has Bergevin done to correct the biggest issue, which is that the Habs didn't have a .915 backup goalie for Carey Price? The answer is nothing, and that's what the answer should be. You don't spend a lot on backup goalies in a tight cap world. You just can't. The sacrifice you make to have a great backup is felt down the roster, where that money isn't being spent on a defenceman or a forward. If Price suffers another injury, then Bergevin will leap into action for relief, but he can't do that now. That would make no sense. So the biggest reason that the Habs suffered last year, the injury to Price, cannot be preemptively handled. You wait and you hope. That's all there is. Bergevin shows intelligence with his inaction on this front.

The biggest need that the Habs have right now is top-six forward help to get some scoring. Year after year, the Habs are around 16th in the league in goals for. You're just not going to win the Cup with that average performance. Last year, he rolled the dice on projects Zack Kassian and Alexander Semin. They didn't work. That could not have gone more wrong, with both not making it even to December. This year, he won't try that again. I believe you can make the argument that Bergevin has made mistakes, but he is smart enough to learn from them and not repeat them.

July 1 approaches. Bergevin will hunt for a top-six forward among the unrestricted free agents. This doesn't mean he will land one. In fact, I bet he doesn't, but when he doesn't, please look at the contracts the unrestricted free agents were given. If David Backes is getting five to seven years at the age of 32, do you really think that is a smart signing? Often the smartest thing that you do is the thing that you don't do. If he doesn't land one, then they'll hope that someone on the roster like Artturi Lehkonen or Sven Andrighetto can step in and improve. That's going to frustrate many, but it's still smarter than Backes: good for two years and then perhaps an albatross for four.

That brings us to Andrew Shaw, who the Habs just acquired for two draft picks. Shaw is an NHLer. He has Stanley Cups. He was instrumental in winning those Cups with a gritty, in-your-face style that annoys the opposition, much like Brendan Gallagher does. The two draft picks who were given up have a one-in-eight chance of being anyone of any importance in the league. There is so much consternation over second round picks when they so often don't make the league. “Yeah, but PK Subban was a second rounder.” Yes, he was. There have been great ones, but that doesn't change the math. The math is terrible when it comes to a second round pick making the league. The math is perfect that Shaw will contribute to the Habs for the next half-dozen years. Keep in mind, this player was only even available because the Hawks are so tight to the cap that they couldn't keep him. Shaw has played with Toews, so he has the ability to play with anyone in any role. He also has good power play skills, being his annoying self in front of the net. He's not the second liner you want in a bona fide way, but he can fill the role in a pinch. For me, you brought in a warrior on a team that got described too often last season as having a non-ice pack game.

The other deal was moving Lars Eller. This is a player I believe played his best hockey in the playoffs, so I don't like this deal. I feel Eller, when given the role of shutting down the other's team's best, can do an exceptional job. You need that in the playoffs. I know I am in the minority on this, but I think this is a big loss. He absorbed hard minutes starting in the defensive zone with poor linemates against the other team's best players. Not a lot of easy in there, but he handled it. Bergevin said the arrival of Phillip Danault ended the need for an Eller on the team. Danault is no Eller. I think Bergevin has made a mistake here, but again, not one that destroys the chance for success next year.

In the draft, I felt certain they were going to look for scoring help, but when you have a chance to get the youngest winner of the OHL's defenseman of the year award in the league's history with the ninth pick, you take him. Sergachev is an outstanding pick by the Habs here. He will be a first-pairing defenceman for years to come. Timmins and Bergevin did extremely well. Logan Brown at the ninth spot was a bit scary, actually. The one thing you want to make sure that you do is not get surprised. Brown could be a gem, but he could also be a bit of a surprise. Not Sergachev. He will be a great NHL defenceman. A lock NHLer. That's good management.

So what's the problem beyond the carry over frustration of last season? You can check off every issue that the Habs had last season as being taken care of except the signing of a top flight first or second line forward, and that is what Bergevin is working on now.

I remain confident in this general manager. And here is the biggest reason for my confidence...

He refuses to do a massively stupid thing out of impatience and pressure. He refuses to go for it in a stupid way. Yes, that has made him conservative. Yes, that has frustrated the impatient. However, let's evaluate those before him: $7.3 million for an already clearly deteriorating Scott Gomez while losing a star in the making in Ryan McDonagh is not a Bergevin error. Acquiring Tomas Kaberle who couldn't even get regular shifts for the Boston Bruins in their Cup run, then struggled in Carolina is not a Bergevin error. These errors destroy your hopes for a long time. They're core pieces and you can't get your core wrong. The Habs may have won the Cup if they had McDonagh instead of the Rangers, or at least they would have made the Cup final for the first time since 1993. Some errors cost so bad, but not Bergevin's. They're always minor mistakes. That's smart management: conservative, but smart.

Added to his challenge, this is a hard market. Many players don't want to come here because of the fish bowl they live in, the taxes they pay, the weather they endure, the French language they can't speak or read. This makes Bergevin's job harder. He's in the foxhole with Therrien and I don't get that, but he's a good GM.

I think the Habs will have a huge bounce back year if Price stays healthy. I think they'll move from 16th in goals scored in the league to much higher with an improved power play under the guidance of Kirk Muller. So that's the promise of more goals scored and fewer goals allowed. I believe what happens when you allow fewer and score more is WIN. The Habs will win far more next season and, if Price is healthy, make a strong run in the playoffs.

I feel this even before July 1, and if Bergevin does acquire a top-six forward on that day then that's another reason that the goals will be better than 16th in the league.

Put me down for hockey in May.