Let’s get things straight, Marc Bergevin had every right to give an interview to an English-speaking media outlet, more specifically to journalist Pierre LeBrun, in order to analyze his reign with the Montreal Canadiens.
He didn’t do it for you and me or for the readers of The Athletic. The one and only reason he gave this interview was to make sure all NHL owners knew his side of the story. Because if at the start, many observers (me first and foremost) expected that he would quickly find a job as general manager, quite the opposite happened.
The perfect storm
Marc Bergevin managed to get the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021. I’ve heard 100 times that the Canadiens didn’t deserve to be there, but they still beat the Maple Leafs, even though they were shooting trailing 3-1 in the first round, the Jets in four and the Golden Knights in six.
Unfortunately, things started to go downhill quickly after that. They lost the final to the Lightning in five games. Shea Weber retired and Logan Mailloux was drafted in the first round by the team, sparking a scandal that shook the foundations of the Bell Center. In addition, the Hurricanes allowed themselves to make a hostile offer to Jesperi Kotkaniemi.
We also learned almost at the same time that Carey Price was probably going to miss part of the start of the following season due to a knee injury. Enough to quickly forget the beautiful series run. In short, even before the start of the 2021-2022 season, we knew that the carrots were done.
An interesting offer
Despite everything, Geoff Molson presented Marc Bergevin with a three-year contract extension which, according to what was circulating in the NHL at the time, would earn him $3 million per season. This offer was obviously below Marc Bergevin’s expectations, and that largely explains why he did not accept it. Subsequently, the team had a terrible start to the season and Geoff Molson decided to thank his general manager.
Marc Bergevin then joined Kings as a consultant to general manager Rob Blake. He is still waiting for an opportunity to become GM of an NHL team again.
Kotkaniemi had to leave
Marc Bergevin also returned to the departure of Jesperi Kotkaniemi in his interview with The Athletic, confiding that the Finnish player told him he wanted to leave. The one nicknamed “KK” had received a hostile offer of $6.1 million for one year from the Hurricanes.
You don’t need to be a great analyst to understand that this hostile offer was a gift from heaven for Marc Bergevin. He could easily justify that he could not match the offer of his first round pick in 2018. In doing so, he could automatically correct a major mistake, namely having selected him third overall. I can confirm to you that Marc Bergevin thought about matching this hostile offer from the Hurricanes, but fortunately, he was not stubborn.
Still, the selection of Logan Mailloux damaged his reputation in the NHL and still seems to be an obstacle. This surely explains why he did not want to dwell on this decision in his interview with Pierre LeBrun. He knows very well that this file will follow him for a long time. Now the question is whether this article from The Athletic will allow him to convince an owner any time soon.
