Following the 2011-2012 season, Marc Bergevin was tasked with managing the Montreal Canadiens. He took on a team that had finished last in their conference, were in a rut, and needed new life. Since then, he has turned the team around by getting into the playoffs twice in as many years, facing the Senators in a first round loss in the lockout shortened year 2012-13, then going on an inspiring and well fought Eastern Conference Final run before getting ran over by the Rangers. Literally.
Bergevin has brought this team to a contending level. He is the master of seeking out low risk, high reward, player, despite catching some bad apples. He is a no-nonsense GM and that is exactly what is needed to run the Montreal Canadiens.
Bergevin had a long career spanning 20 years as a dependable defenseman. He wasn’t flashy, he wasn’t the best, he could scrap, but most of all he was sturdy and a good addition to any locker room. He played in over 1000 games and when he retired in 2004, he was in the top 100 for most games played. He has since been bumped to 105, but who cares? He still played in all 1191 of them, plus 80 more playoffs games.
Bergevin’s playing style mirrors his managing style in some ways. He was a tough guy who understands defense, as well as having a long playing career for his handbook on how to be a general manager. As a general manager, he is also savvy, cool and collected – and let’s not forget, he does have some cool dance moves. SHAKE IT.
He started his general manager apprenticeship with Chicago right after his retirement by starting out as a scout. He was then named assistant coach in 2008. He won the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2010. Next summer he was promoted to assistant general manager, working under Stan Bowman to learn as much as he could. It is safe to say that he learned a big amount spending almost a decade changing the organization from a league-wide joke to two-time Stanley Cup winning club.
When he was lured away to the Habs in 2012, he did an overhaul of the coaching staff and managing team. This brought new life to the team. He immediately started correcting many of Pierre Gauthier’s and Bob Gainey’s mistakes. And man were they bad. Over the last two years he has made a slew of trades including picking up Dustin Tokarski, Michael Ryder, Mike Weaver, Dale Weise, among other minor deals. In free agency he has signed Brandon Prust to a four-year deal, and Daniel Briere to a two-year deal, and while that was a bust excluding some key playoffs and clutch goals, he made it right in the 2013-14 offseason by shipping him to the Colorado for P.A Parenteau, a younger playmaking right winger, something needed when the Canadiens let Brian Gionta walk. And while some of his moves were far from perfect, Douglas Murray, and acquiring George Parros. The jury is out on trading away Josh Gorges to the Buffalo Sabres. No general manager is perfect and they can’t make all the right moves. His trade-deadline move acquiring Thomas Vanek for Sebastien Collberg has been one of his best so far, and just goes to show how savvy he is. Granted it was Garth Snow on the other end, and he probably could have gotten John Tavares or Michael Grabner if Bergevin told Snow he looked good that day, but hey, can’t win them all. But his moves so far have been great to build a true contender.
His free agency moves, including this past off-season, have been excellent. After trading Raphael Diaz to the Vancouver Canucks for Dale Weise, another great addition, the Habs were lacking a right handed defenseman past P.K. Subban and Mike Weaver. So Bergevin made it his priority to get a second-pairing right-handed defenseman and did so, picking up Tom Gilbert in free agency. This move should greatly help the Habs defense and powerplay units, giving Subban a little, and I mean little, break on minutes, and allowing Gilbert to be the #2 of the 1-2 punch on the right side. Bergevin also picked up Manny Malholtra, not a household name, but well known around the league for his outstanding face-off numbers, posting a 59.4% rating in the face-off circle in 2013-14, rating him second in the NHL.
His internal dealings with players have been fantastic. Probably his best deal was inking Max Pacioretty to a six-year, $4.5 million per year contract extension. As a two-time 30 goal scorer, and raring for more, Pacioretty will be one of the best salary cap bargains in the game. He also locked down superstar goaltender Carey Price to a six-year, $6.5 million per year contract, just about average for elite goalies now, but still a great deal for a gold medal winning Olympian. Some of his other deals include signing David Desharnais and Lars Eller to identical four-year, $14 million contracts, as well as inking Peter Budaj to a two-year contract extension, We can’t forget, of course, the P.K. Subban situation. This was a summer-long affair and Bergevin admirably stood his ground for most of the summer. In the end, Subban ultimately won the standoff, getting locked to a mammoth eight-year, $72 million deal, placing him as the highest paid player in the Habs history. And while I don’t necessarily agree to the big dollar signs, I am more than happy that Bergevin locked up Subban long term, and continued the success of the franchise.
Another area where Bergevin and Co. have succeeded is drafting. So far, the Habs have a lot of good prospects under their wings waiting to fly. And this is in almost every position. At goalie he has picked up Zachary Fucale (36th overall, 2013) in the 2nd round of the 2013 NHL Draft, one of the QMJHL’s best goalies. On defense, he hasn’t picked up much aside from Dalton Thrower (51st overall, 2012), Brett Lernout (3rd round 2014) and Kyle Koberstein (4th round 2014) but this is because Nathan Beaulieu, Jarred Tinordi, Greg Pateryn, Mac Bennett, Josiah Didier, Magnus Nygren, Darren Dietz, and Morgan Ellis were al in the organization from the previous management. But Bergevin has excelled at forward, drafting Alex Galchenyuk (3rd overall, 2012), Micheal McCarron (25th overall, 2013), Nikita Scherbak (26th overall, 2014), Jacob De La Rose (34th overall, 2013), Connor Crisp (71st overall, 2013), Sven Andrighetto (86th overall, 2013), Martin Reway (116th overall, 2013), Tim Bozon (64th overall, 2012) and others. Trevor Timmins and his team of scouts deserve a lot of credit for accumulating such an impressive rookie pool while only working with a top 5 pick once (Alex Galchenyuk, 2012, 3rd pick overall). Bergevin promoted him to Director of Amateur Scouting when he was hired in 2012.
The future is definitely bright in Montreal. The 2014-15 season is looking like a good one with a solid line up. And while Bergevin does have some tough decisions to make regarding next summer’s RFA and FA in the organization, it should be interesting to see how his biggest summer yet will go. Bergevin was also named a finalist for the GM of The Year in the 2013-14 season. Michel Therrien was locked up to a four-year extension. The organization is finally starting to be a contender after so many years of losing. The days of wondering if we were somewhat like the Leafs are over. The days of Scott Gomez, Tomas Kaberle, Mike Komisarek, Doug Murray, and the oh so many others, are over. Bergevin is not the type of GM to hand over millions of dollars for nothing, and this is exactly why Bergevin is looking to be a long term fixture in the Habs, helping them bring back the glory days, and finally bring the Stanley Cup back to Montreal, in Canada, where it belongs.
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