Marc Bergevin was fired three years in the past at this time by the Montreal Canadiens and fully disappeared from the media glare, ultimately settling into an gratifying gig with the Los Angeles Kings.
The intense life-style change of going from the fixed public highlight as Habs GM for practically a decade to near-obscurity as senior adviser with out a public profile with the Kings whereas dwelling in Redondo Seaside, Calif., effectively, that fits Bergevin simply advantageous.
“I’ve no regrets about my time in Montreal,” Bergevin advised The Athletic this week. “It was an awesome 9 and a half years, and I’ve nothing however optimistic recollections. However there may be actually a highlight there.
“Right here, you go to Starbucks to get your espresso within the morning and no person is aware of who you’re.”
Which is precisely what he wanted. Three years to decompress.
“After I left Montreal, I bear in mind pondering I wished to be a GM once more immediately, however wanting again, it will have been the flawed factor for me to leap again proper in,” Bergevin stated. “I wanted this time to reenergize.”
It’s not like he’s been sitting on his arms. He’s working full-time for Rob Blake, advising and touring and doing regardless of the Kings GM wants. However he’s been in a position to do it within the shadows.
In his first media interview since his firing in Montreal on Nov. 28, 2021, Bergevin touched on a variety of matters with The Athletic.
Let’s dive in.
Rejecting a Canadiens extension
Bergevin says Habs proprietor Geoff Molson approached him with a contract extension proper after the group reached the ’21 Cup Remaining. His contract was expiring a 12 months later.
“I made a decision that for me, it was finest to maneuver ahead,” Bergevin stated. “Time had come. It was good for each of us to maneuver in a unique route. Geoff was excellent, particularly reasonable. However I advised him, ‘Geoff, I’m going to complete my final 12 months that’s left after which I’m going to maneuver on.’ He was good with that. He understood.”
The truth was that Bergevin was just about fried by one of many sport’s most demanding jobs. And never simply from a hockey perspective.
“COVID took a toll on me — not bodily, however as you realize Montreal, Quebec, was actually strict with the principles on COVID, and all my children have been within the States,” Bergevin stated. “There was a 14-day quarantine then (as soon as coming into Quebec). I didn’t see my children for nearly a 12 months.
“When Geoff made me the supply, I simply felt there was no gentle on the finish of the tunnel. The entire COVID factor for me beat me up, mentally, not seeing my children.”
Because it seems, with Shea Weber enjoying his final NHL recreation in that 2021 Cup Remaining and Carey Value lacking nearly the entire following season, the top of an period for Bergevin’s group was taking place much more shortly than anybody would have predicted. A 6-15-2 begin to the season led to Bergevin’s firing.
“I knew a change was coming (as a result of they’d mutually agreed it was his final season), however it’s all the time a shock although you put together for it,” Bergevin stated. “It was completed the correct means from Geoff’s facet.”
The toll of the job
Earlier than Bergevin landed in Montreal as Habs GM on Could 2, 2012, he was identified in hockey circles for his humorousness. Throughout his enjoying profession after which working his means up the scouting ranks with the Chicago Blackhawks, he was the lifetime of the occasion.
That is the man who as soon as picked up a plant strolling out of a GMs assembly in Florida to keep away from the cameras.
That is one artistic method to keep away from being noticed. #Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin hides behind a plant and (nearly) slips proper previous everybody. pic.twitter.com/XHEk12Ev2Z
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 6, 2017
However a decade in that Habs job, by all of the drama, chipped away at that personable, humorous man. The pressure of the job was evident on his face by the top.
“Yeah that’s honest,” Bergevin stated. “And it’s not such as you change as an individual, however you’re extra in your guard since you really feel like you may have a highlight on you each second of the day. And all the things you stated may very well be picked aside. So that you’re extra in your guard.
“However truthfully, I loved each second of my time there in Montreal. Although there have been instances I didn’t really feel like I did. However now that I can look again after a couple of years, yeah.”
He feels the nice strikes outweighed the errors, however sure, clearly, there have been errors.
“Trying again I really feel our common was fairly good,” he stated.
Dealer Bergevin
One of many traits of Bergevin’s time in Montreal was smaller to medium strikes that ended up being useful. All of them add up.
Buying Marco Scandella for a fourth-round choose from the Buffalo Sabres, then flipping him to the St. Louis Blues seven weeks later for second- and fourth-round picks.
Getting Brett Kulak from the Calgary Flames for Matt Taormina and Rinat Valiev.
One which wasn’t seen as huge on the time: Getting Phillip Danault and a second-rounder from Chicago for pending UFAs Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann. That second-round choose grew to become Alexander Romanov.
“I discovered from Rick Dudley,” Bergevin stated. “He stated as soon as to me, ‘Berg, you may’t go for the house run on a regular basis. Typically you make your group higher a bit of bit right here, a bit of bit there. And ultimately you get to the place you need to be.’ I all the time stored that in thoughts. I believe we did that in Montreal. We hit plenty of singles.”
Clearly, he additionally swung for the fences on some trades, together with P.Okay. Subban for Shea Weber in June 2016.
“P.Okay. was an excellent participant, however we wanted one thing totally different,” Bergevin stated. “To get Shea Weber, you had to surrender a fairly good asset. I believe it labored out for each groups. As a result of each groups went to the Remaining. Nashville did with P.Okay. (in 2017), and we did with Shea.
“When a commerce is made, each GMs suppose it’s going to work out for his or her groups, however I believe one of the best ones are those that do really work out for each groups.”
Bergevin was invited by Weber to his current Hockey Corridor of Fame induction, which was particular for him.
“I’m glad that I went,” Bergevin stated. “I advised him, ‘I’m honored you’re asking me to go.’ And he stated, ‘Berg, I would like you to be there.’ That meant lots to me.”
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The Carolina supply sheets
The Habs made large information on July 1, 2019, once they signed star heart Sebastian Aho to a suggestion sheet. The five-year, $42.295 million was front-loaded and principally made up of signing bonuses, together with $11.3 million in July 2019 and $9.87 million in July 2020. The gamble for Montreal was that Hurricanes proprietor Tom Dundon wouldn’t have the abdomen to pay that cash up entrance. However Dundon didn’t blink.
On reflection, Bergevin thinks he might have completed it otherwise.
“Aho was the correct participant to provide a suggestion sheet to, however I want it will have been a unique supply sheet,” Bergevin stated. “Would I take that again? Sure. However truthfully, on the time, we thought we’d get the participant primarily based on the signing bonuses, which (Tom) Dundon matched. It ended up being an excellent contract for them.
“Lesson discovered, truthfully. Lesson discovered. If I ever change into a GM once more, that’s a lesson I can use shifting ahead if it occurs.”
The supply sheet additionally made mortal enemies, on the time, of householders Dundon and Molson. That fueled Carolina’s revenge supply sheet on Jesperi Kotkaniemi in August 2021, a one-year, $6.1 million deal.
The Habs didn’t match.
“He wasn’t going to do a long-term take care of us as a result of he wished a change of surroundings,” Bergevin stated of Kotkaniemi.
And effectively, the Canadiens didn’t really feel Kotkaniemi was value $6.1 million. So that call wasn’t onerous.
Carolina GM Don Waddell did attain out to see if a commerce may very well be labored out as an alternative. The rumor on the time was that Bergevin tried to get a younger Seth Jarvis again.
“That’s true,” he confirmed.
Waddell, not surprisingly, didn’t need to transfer Jarvis, who was drafted thirteenth the earlier 12 months.
Drafting Kotkaniemi third within the 2018 draft was a choice fueled by a determined want at heart for the Habs. Clearly taking him one spot forward of winger Brady Tkachuk, who went subsequent to the Ottawa Senators, is hard to digest for Habs followers now.
“I look again at that, truthfully, if you happen to bear in mind, Brady had a extremely robust season at BU,” Bergevin stated. “He didn’t rating for a very long time. The skating was a problem. On the time in Montreal, all I might hear is (Filip) Zadina, Zadina, Zadina … as a result of he was enjoying in Halifax (of the Quebec League).
“Clearly, now you’ll say, ‘Tkachuk, effectively in fact.’”
However the necessity to draft a middle was actual.
“We didn’t have any centermen, and we have been taking a look at a man that was a tall, lanky heart,” Bergevin stated. “He had some good hockey as a 17-year-old. I want KK one of the best. I believe there’s extra there, however time will inform.”
Drafting Mailloux
Bergevin’s final draft as Habs GM introduced his most controversial second, gorgeous the hockey world by taking Logan Mailloux thirty first in 2021.
Mailloux had requested NHL groups to not draft him after experiences surfaced that he was convicted and fined in a Swedish court in December 2020 for disseminating offensive pictures. He had taken a photograph of a lady performing a intercourse act with out her consent and circulated it amongst some teammates.
The Habs took him anyway. Bergevin on the time described what Mailloux had completed as “unacceptable,” however many felt, as The Athletic’s Arpon Basu wrote, that the choose signaled that for the Canadiens, “Bettering their hockey group is extra vital than primary, frequent decency.”
The story has died down over time, partly as a result of it appears like Mailloux has put in work to enhance and educate himself. He stays a part of the group, has performed six NHL video games and is at present with AHL Laval.
“It’s good to see the younger man has completed the mandatory issues, to earn a second likelihood,” Bergevin stated, declining to say anything on the matter.
I believe his determination to not say extra comes right down to the regrettable determination involving different individuals round him within the group. Most notably, in fact, possession signed off on it.
Regardless of the case, if Bergevin is to change into an NHL GM once more at some point, he must reply this query in additional element as a part of his interview course of together with his subsequent NHL proprietor.
What he left behind
Present Canadiens management inherited good younger gamers, corresponding to Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, but additionally, it have to be identified, some hefty contracts in Brendan Gallagher and Josh Anderson.
However Bergevin feels he left Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes first rate items to rebuild with.
“I by no means traded a first-round choose after I was there,” Bergevin stated. “Not that I wouldn’t, however I didn’t. And you may take a look at the draft picks I left them. And I’m pleased with that. I didn’t put that franchise in a nasty spot. Individuals may argue that, however I don’t know the place you’ll argue that.”
Gallagher’s six-year, $39 million extension, signed in October 2020 and expiring in 2027, is one some would level to, though he’s had a renaissance season in 2024-25.
“He had three years of 30 targets in a row (earlier than signing the extension),” Bergevin stated. “You must pay for that. Each GM typically provides one or two years an excessive amount of in contracts.”
And sure, the Carey Value contract remains to be on Montreal’s books by 2026. Bergevin signed Value to an eight-year, $84-million extension July 2, 2017.
In fact it was too a few years, however the various was to let one of the best goalie on the earth stroll a 12 months later.
“You needed to signal him, however then accidents … no person knew that — he didn’t know that — would occur,” Bergevin stated.
Earlier than the extension was signed, did different groups name to gauge the place issues have been with Value to see if a commerce was doable? Like possibly on the draft?
Nope.
“No person ever referred to as,” Bergevin stated. As a result of it was apparent the Habs have been going to do all they might to signal Value.
Life with the Kings
As senior adviser, Bergevin travels to scout video games and spends time with the Kings teaching employees each week.
“I’ll are available most days and be a part of all our discussions as a bunch,” Bergevin stated. “I’ll watch different video games, different groups, for both trades or free company.”
Final week, Bergevin went to video games in Vegas, Utah, Philadelphia and Chicago.
Bergevin performed with Blake and Kings president Luc Robitaille on Canada’s world championship gold medal group in 1994. They remained shut afterward.
The Kings employed him in January 2022.
“They wished a unique set of eyes,” Bergevin stated.
“Marc has been a terrific addition to our employees,” Blake stated through textual content. “Actually enjoys the scouting side of managing. Has a busy journey schedule the place he watches many dwell video games with very thorough experiences on gamers who could or could not match with us. His welcoming persona permits him to work together with the teaching employees every day. Sharing his ideas on our group and what’s taking place across the league.”
GM interviews
Bergevin has interviewed for 3 GM openings since leaving Montreal: in Toronto in Could 2023 when Brad Treliving was employed, in Pittsburgh across the similar time in 2023 when Kyle Dubas was employed and in Columbus this previous offseason when Waddell obtained the gig.
“When groups attain out, it’s all the time good to do it,” Bergevin stated.
Treliving was all the time the front-runner for the Toronto job, however Bergevin appreciated interviewing with Leafs president Brendan Shanahan.
“I knew Toronto a bit higher due to my days with Montreal,” Bergevin stated. “However Tree is an effective normal supervisor. After the announcement was made with Tree, I bumped into Shanny and stated, ‘Thanks for the chance.’
“There’s no onerous emotions that I wasn’t picked. It’s a enterprise. I needed him one of the best.”
So what’s subsequent?
Little doubt there might be extra GM interviews, however whether or not or not that produces one other GM gig stays to be seen.
“I’m in an excellent place right here with Blakey and the employees. I actually am,” Bergevin stated. “If it seems that I keep right here for 3, 4, 5 years as an alternative, I’m actually good with that. However do I need to attempt once more? I believe we did sufficient good issues in Montreal to have one other crack at it. However that’s not my determination.
“I’ve by no means stopped working for the reason that day I obtained let go. I’ve stayed actually in contact with the sport and the gamers.”
No matter what the longer term holds, he’s now higher in a position to admire his time as Habs GM.
“Geoff Molson was all the time supportive,” Bergevin stated. “I’ve nothing however respect for him. And I want one of the best of luck in Montreal. As a result of they’ve an awesome fan base, nice possession, and I do know Kent and Gorts, and so they’re good individuals. I want all people there one of the best. I actually imply that.”
(Photograph: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Photographs)
