The Montreal Canadiens appointed former general manager Marc Bergevin as president of hockey operations on Monday. He had been overseeing the club’s day-to-day business since 2013, and will remain with them in a consulting capacity for now. But who could be his successor? Here is what we know so far about potential candidates to replace him.,
The Montreal Canadiens have been without a GM since Marc Bergevin was fired on April 12th. The team is now looking for a new GM, and the future of the team is uncertain.
The Montreal Canadiens’ follow-up to last season’s Stanley Cup Final berth has been a complete failure, with a 6-15-2 record. It seemed that a regime change was on the way, since general manager Marc Bergevin was in the last year of his contract and had not signed an extension.
Is it true that it arrived on Sunday?
Bergevin, deputy general manager Trevor Timmins, and senior VP of communications Paul Wilson were all “relieved of their respective roles” with the team, according to owner Geoff Molson. After failing to get either Bergevin’s job or a better one, assistant GM Scott Mellanby quit. Jeff Gorton, the former general manager of the New York Rangers, has been appointed as executive vice president of hockey operations and has been entrusted with selecting the Habs’ next (bilingual) general manager.
Here’s a look at the decision and its ramifications for the Original Six franchise, as well as who may replace Bergevin.
Jeff Gorton was hired by the Canadiens for a reason.
Many consider Gorton to be the greatest possible choice for clubs looking for a new general manager.
In Boston, he studied under Harry Sinden, and with the New York Rangers, he studied under Glen Sather. After many seasons as the Bruins’ deputy general manager, he served as temporary general manager from March to July of 2006. During that time, the club selected Phil Kessel, Milan Lucic, and Brad Marchand in the draft, traded for Tuukka Rask, and signed free agents Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard.
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He was named general manager of the Rangers in July 2015, and throughout his term, which concluded in May 2021, he was credited for the team’s fast turnaround. Ryan McDonagh, Kevin Hayes, and Mats Zuccarello were among the veterans he dealt for future assets. As the Rangers were his chosen destination, he also had some incredible success in getting forwards Alexis Lafreniere (No. 1, 2020) and Kaapo Kakko (No. 2, 2019) in the draft lottery, star winger Artemi Panarin as a free agency, and Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox through trade.
It’s hardly unexpected that the 2021-22 Montreal Canadiens, a club mired in mediocrity, would appoint Gorton… except that he doesn’t meet the multilingual requirement for a general manager. Instead, they got creative: Gorton was named executive vice president of hockey operations to “maintain the continuity of the hockey sector’s day-to-day operations” while the organization looks for a general manager who can “connect with fans in both French and English.”
According to reports throughout the league, Gorton will be the guy in charge of personnel choices, with a multilingual general manager reporting to him. As a result, this is an intriguing hire: If there were no language restrictions for this new position, former Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford might have been worth considering as the head of hockey operations. He’s been vying for a position higher up the corporate ladder than general manager, and his track record is unrivaled among the eligible applicants.
The Habs, on the other hand, moved fast on Gorton. He was the man they were looking for.
Who are the candidates for bilingual general manager in Montreal?
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Mathieu Darche: The two-time Stanley Cup winner Tampa Bay Lightning’s director of hockey operations, Darche played three seasons with the Canadiens from 2009-10 to 2011-12 before retiring. “All areas of player personnel choices, analytics, player development, contract preparation and negotiation, budgeting, scheduling, and cap monitoring,” the 45-year-old supports general manager Julien BriseBois. And if they can’t convince BriseBois to leave the comforts of Tampa Bay, Darche could be the next best thing. Darche is the early favorite to earn the job, according to several sources.
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Madden is in his 14th season with the Ducks, and his second as assistant general manager. His father, Martin Madden Sr., was the general manager of the Quebec Nordiques from 1988 to 1990, and he is a native of Quebec City. When the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup in 2006, the younger Madden was an amateur scout for them, and he was running the Ducks’ drafts when they discovered diamonds in the rough like defenseman Sami Vatanen (106th overall, 2009), defenseman Josh Manson (160th overall, 2011), goalie Frederik Andersen (87th overall, 2012), and forward Ondrej Kase (106th overall, 2013). (205th overall, 2014). The Ducks appointed deputy general manager Jeff Solomon to temporary general manager after Bob Murray left to seek treatment for alcoholism. What role does Madden play in the Ducks’ quest for a successor for Murray?
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Briere, Daniel: Briere, like Darche, played with the Canadiens for one season (2013-14). Unlike Darche, Briere has yet to get significant management experience in the NHL. That isn’t to suggest he isn’t knowledgeable: Briere, 44, joined the ECHL’s Maine Mariners as vice president of operations in 2017 and was promoted to president and general manager in 2021. It’s worth mentioning that while Gorton was the general manager at MSG, Briere’s Mariners were a New York Rangers affiliate.
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Roberto Luongo: I’m Roberto Luongo, and I’m Could the 42-year-old former NHL goalkeeper make the transition from leading the Florida Panthers’ goaltender excellence department to leading the Montreal Canadiens? Since 2019, Luongo has served as a special advisor to the Panthers’ general manager. As the general manager of Team Canada in the 2021 World Championships, he gained executive experience. He also serves as an assistant general manager for Squad Canada’s Olympic men’s hockey team in 2022.
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Patrick Roy (Patrick Roy): When it comes to past goaltenders, there’s always the possibility of Saint Patrick blessing the team with his presence. For the last 16 years, he has managed and coached the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL on and off, including three seasons as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche. He had player-personnel ambitions with the Avs and departed when it became evident that they would not be realized. Is he interested in becoming a general manager or a coach? In Montreal, he’d probably accept either job. If it’s the GM position, though, there’s only one issue to be answered: Can Roy allow Gorton to have complete authority over the Habs?
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Six of his ten seasons there saw his teams make the playoffs, including a trip to the conference final in 2014 and the Stanley Cup Final last season. During his tenure, the Canadiens recorded the tenth-most playoff victories of any franchise. His flaws as a general manager were obvious: a few dubious contracts with senior players, strange selections on his coaches, and a draft and development history that, honestly, may preclude him from future ventures. Under Bergevin, the finest player the Canadiens selected and developed was defender Mikhail Sergachev, who now plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning (who was traded for Jonathan Drouin).
However, the 56-year-old will almost certainly be given another chance to coach an NHL team. In terms of his immediate future, the New York Post claimed in October that Bergevin “just could end up working with Kings president Luc Robitaille in Los Angeles next season.”
Another intriguing candidate is the Chicago Blackhawks’ general manager position, which was left vacant when Stan Bowman stepped down. Bergevin stated he was ignorant of Kyle Beach’s sexual assault allegations against video coach Brad Aldrich in 2010, when he was the Blackhawks’ director of player personnel. But would they recruit someone from that era?
At the very least, Bergevin will be regarded as someone who really cared about the Montreal Canadiens’ success or failure. When it came to on-ice results, he didn’t have a poker face. Bergevin’s buoyant emotions were like witnessing an executive transform back into a delighted player when they were good, as they were last season.
“Despite the setbacks, the organization that I managed, which I led with a great deal of enthusiasm, has always rebounded,” he wrote. It will, however, need some considerable lifting.
What’s next for the new Canadiens management?
After the Canadiens’ journey to the Stanley Cup Final when he was interim coach, head coach Dominique Ducharme was handed a three-year contract extension. This contract, worth $1.7 million per year, is in place until 2023-24. In the NHL, it’s customary for new management to choose their own coach. In the regular season, Ducharme has a record of 21-31-9.
Bergevin leaves a big salary-cap obligation behind. It all begins with Carey Price, a 34-year-old who earns $10.5 million against the salary limit with a complete no-movement clause through 2025-26. He’s one of 17 Canadiens players under contract for next season, with another 13 under contract through 2023-24.
There are several pieces to put in place here, including promising young players like Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Alexander Romanov, as well as veterans like Brendan Gallagher, who should be wearing the captain’s “C” for this club. Shea Weber was the last player to wear the “C,” and his absence from the lineup due to several injuries, which likely ended his career, created a void that will take some time for this squad to fill.
Whoever comes in to assist Gorton will have to determine out which sections should be kept and which should be discarded. But, hey, it’s just the Montreal Canadiens, so there’s no need to worry.
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The “toronto maple leafs” is a Canadian professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario. The team was founded in 1917 and have won the most Stanley Cup championships of any team with 24.
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