The serenity and legacy of Marc Bergevin

Several proverbs teach us that the passage of time alleviates pain and soothes pain. In an interview marking the third anniversary of his dismissal as general manager of the Canadiens, Marc Bergevin gave us a very good example.

At the very beginning of 2022, just a few weeks after losing his job as GM in Montreal, Bergevin accepted a position as senior advisor to general manager Rob Blake with the Los Angeles Kings. He still holds these positions. Extremely discreet since this breakup, Bergevin granted his very first interview to colleague Pierre Lebrun, from the site Athletic.

As time eases the pain and pain, the former general director of the CH now describes his dismissal as a sort of joint decision taken in a climate of harmony.

Bergevin explains in particular that he had refused a contract extension offer which had been submitted to him by Geoff Molson after the 2021 Stanley Cup final. He then simply decided to move on because, explains- he, the demands of the position of GM of the Canadiens and the inability to see his children during the pandemic had sapped his energies.

He also adds that Molson has done things well when he was fired and the owner of the Canadian always supported.

This revision of history is very different from the chaos that reigned within the organization in the fall of 2021 in the weeks preceding his departure, which constituted a perfect example of a long business relationship ending in a fishtail.

According to reliable information collected at the time, Bergevin had refused the contract offer presented by Geoff Molson because it was insufficient and the duration of the proposed agreement was far from constituting a vote of confidence.

Knowing he was living on borrowed time, Bergevin had emptied his office of his personal belongings several weeks before his dismissal. And long before being dismissed from his position, he had learned that his deputy Scott Mellanby had been approached by the owner to replace him and then dismissed. Adding insult to injury, an executive from an opposing team then told him that Jeff Gorton had been hired by Molson and that even though Geoff Molson had not yet told him, he was indeed fired.

All this to say that we have rarely seen a team leader being pushed out in such an incredible way.

Will Marc Bergevin ever become the general manager of an NHL team again? When we analyze his record objectively, we must recognize that he has not done a bad job.

During the first five years of his mandate, from 2012 to 2017, the Canadian experienced his most successful period since the early 1980s. And if Carey Price had not been injured by Chris Kreider in the third round of the playoffs in the spring 2014, the team would have had an excellent chance of defeating the New York Rangers and making the Stanley Cup Final.

Forced to work with one hand tied behind his back due to the prolonged poor performance of his recruiting director, Trevor Timmins, Bergevin miraculously managed to keep his head above water by multiplying exchanges, which often turned to his advantage .

In 2017, realizing that the organization was heading straight for a wall due to the poor performance of its amateur scouting department, Bergevin began piling up draft picks. To use a phrase from the baseball world, he wanted to give his scouts more at-bats to give them a chance to hit the ball safely more often.

It was therefore he who truly undertook the reconstruction of the Canadian. In its last four drafts, from 2018 to 2021, CH selected 12 players in the first two rounds and five others in the third round.

These four drafts notably produced young people like Jesperi Kotkaniemi (an error), Alexander Romanov, Jordan Harris, Cole Caufield, Mattias Norlinder, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, Kaiden Guhle, Luke Tuch, Jakub Dobes, Logan Mailloux, Oliver Kapanen, Joshua Roy and Jayden Struble. Arber Xhekaj was also signed as an undrafted free agent in 2021.

We’re talking about an impressive contingent of around fifteen players talented enough to play in the NHL. If this impressive correction work had not been done upstream, Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes would have found themselves facing a veritable desert when they arrived in Montreal. What’s more, Gorton and Hughes had a real haul (in number of draft picks) when they first came to the table in 2022.

Incredibly, three years after his departure, the players inherited from Marc Bergevin’s administration still constitute more than two-thirds of the team. And seven of those players are among the team’s top eight scorers.

Since their arrival, Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes have added two players through the draft: Juraj Slafkovsky and Lane Hutson. With the player development process typically taking three to five years, other names will obviously be added to this list.

Gorton and Hughes also added five other players to the roster through trades. And so far, their record shows that it is far from easy to hit home runs every time you come up to bat, even when you sacrifice important assets. Here’s what it looks like:

• Forward Kirby Dach, in return for whom CH had to give up a 1st round pick (13th overall) and a 3rd round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks as well as young defenseman Alexander Romanov to the Islanders;
• Forward Alex Newhook, in return for whom the CH gave up a 1st round pick and a 2nd round pick to the Colorado Avalanche;
• Defenseman Justin Barron, obtained from the Colorado Avalanche for forward Artturi Lehkonen;
• Defenseman Mike Matheson, obtained from the Pittsburgh Penguins along with a 4th round pick for defenseman Jeff Petry and forward Ryan Poehling;
• Forward Emil Heineman obtained from the Calgary Flames along with a 1st round pick for forwards Tyler Toffoli and Tyler Pitlick, as well as a 5th round pick.

Three years later, Marc Bergevin seems peaceful and fulfilled by the life he leads in California. Great good for him.

On the other hand, the patience that fans have shown towards Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes is starting to seriously fade. Let us at least wish them successes equivalent to those of their predecessor.

And above all, let us hope that they do not experience such a bitter end.