Marc Bergevin is still hurting the Canadiens, and Utah benefits
In 2021, a few months before losing his job with the Canadiens, Marc Bergevin experienced some of his worst moments with the team, suffering a defeat in the Stanley Cup Final.
Indeed, the former GM panicked and made costly trades and signings for the club, which are still affecting the team today.
First, the signing of Mike Hoffman was really bad, with a high salary while he was on a professional tryout contract. Kent Hughes eventually managed to trade him to San Jose last summer.
A particularly painful trade was for Christian Dvorak. Bergevin paid a first-round pick in 2022 and a second-round pick in 2024. If we look at the list of the Canadiens' picks on June 28 and 29, something is missing:
- Montreal's 1st round pick
- Winnipeg's 1st round pick
- Colorado's 2nd round pick
- Montreal's 3rd round pick
- Minnesota's 3rd round pick
- Montreal's 4th round pick
- Montreal's 5th round pick
- San Jose's 5th round pick
- Montreal's 6th round pick
- Montreal's 7th round pick
- Edmonton's 7th round pick
- Washington's 7th round pick
With 12 picks, Kent Hughes and his team are in a good position, but if the Canadiens still had their 37th pick, the possibilities would be greater.
Looking at last year, the Canadiens had the 5th and 37th picks, in addition to the Panthers' 31st pick. They traded the 31st and 37th picks to the Avalanche for Alex Newhook.
Kent Hughes could similarly trade this year's 26th and 37th picks (if they still had the 37th pick) to move up and draft, say, the 18th pick.
Of course, during his more than 10 years as GM of the Canadiens, Marc Bergevin did many good things. Unfortunately, he panicked in the summer of 2021 after the final.
He certainly wanted to do well and bring back a competitive team as much as possible, but with the departures of Carey Price and Shea Weber, plus the loss of Phillip Danault, it would have been very difficult.
| POLL | ||
Do you think that if Marc Bergevin hadn't panicked in the summer of 2021, he would still be the GM of the Canadiens? | ||
| Yes | 129 | 32.1 % |
| No | 273 | 67.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
