from Brendan Kelly of the Montreal Gazette,

I love the passion of the Habs debate, but this is crazy. I feel like there’s a level of bitterness to the discussion of the Canadiens this summer that’s unprecedented and, honestly, most of that anger is coming from the fans in the pro-Bergevin camp.

They simply cannot accept any criticism of Habs general manager Marc Bergevin or his team. It is downright bizarre.

I have been a journalist for a very long time, mostly writing about arts and culture. Yet, I have never seen anything like the abusive commentary that has been tossed my way since I started writing What the Puck in this space at the beginning of 2016. I’m a big boy and can handle it, but still....

Whatever happened to civilized debate? Let me just say this loud and clear, once and for all: I am a Habs fan. You can’t take that away from me. You can say I’m an idiot — as you often do — but you can’t say I don’t love the Canadiens.

What is odd is this notion that you can’t be a Habs fan and be vehemently opposed to the direction the team’s going in. Some claim I have invented this division amongst Habs fans. But that’s absurd.

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