The end of reign is seldom pleasant. The leader loses his influence. His collaborators flee. The tongues are loosened. Everyone speculates on the candidates for succession. Comes a point where the process is irreversible, and the leader is dethroned.
So were Marc Bergevin’s last hours with the Montreal Canadiens. Isolated from the club due to COVID, he learned in the media that his boss was meeting suitors for his post, revealed Louis Jean of TVA Sports.
An embarrassing situation.
And unfair.
Yes, the Canadian is going through a miserable season. Yes, the club needs new leadership. Yes, divorce was inevitable. The fact remains that for nine and a half years, Marc Bergevin has dedicated his life to the Habs. He managed the club in a difficult environment, the emergence of social media, which made him the most exposed GM in club history. “I will not teach you anything by saying that this course was not a long calm river, and that at times, one would have believed to be in a good episode of television series”, he wrote Sunday.
Marc Bergevin had his faults. Don’t worry, I’m getting there. But he still deserved a more honorable exit from the stage than the one imposed on him this weekend.
Marc Bergevin was a peerless talent assessor. While at the helm of the Canadiens, he acquired Phillip Danault, Jeff Petry, Paul Byron, Joel Armia, Joel Edmundson and Brett Kulak for three times nothing. His hires of Tyler Toffoli, Ben Chiarot and Corey Perry, at low cost in the free agent market, allowed the Habs to reach the Stanley Cup final. He also got good returns for Max Pacioretty and P. K. Subban.
Did he lose the Mikhail Sergachev-Jonathan Drouin trade? Did he miss the success of Andrei Markov? Probably. But no one hits home runs every time. The important thing is the average. Bergevin’s was very good.
What was the problem then? Recruitment and its twin brother, development. The record of the Canadiens’ last ten drafts is disastrous. I have already written extensively on the subject. The last time was at the beginning of the month. You will find the link below.
Read “The problem is not Dominique Ducharme”
Of course, Marc Bergevin does not spend his winter in the arenas of Moose Jaw and Pardubice. There are limits to blaming it for all recruitment errors. On the other hand, he kept his chief recruiter, Trevor Timmins, who was also fired on Sunday too long. His loyalty will have been fatal to him.
For years, Bergevin covered up Timmins’ bad decisions with smart deals. Except that tinkering cannot become a business strategy. In the long run, it’s doomed to fail. The Canadian has just hit the wall. Yes, young people have joined the training to replace veterans who have left or are injured. Eleven players aged 25 or under wore the blue-white-red uniform this fall. It’s a lot.
The quantity is there.
The quality ? Not really.
The GM is gone. The deputy GM is gone. The chief recruiter is gone. The house is razed, it must be rebuilt.
The question Geoff Molson must ask himself is how to rebuild. According to the original plans, or on a new model?
In the first option, the Canadian would hire a GM specializing in talent assessment. What Marc Bergevin was. What Pierre Gauthier was before him. And before, before him, André Savard. Ideally, this candidate would come from recruitment. Like the ex-GM of the New York Rangers, Jeff Gorton, hired by the Canadiens as executive vice-president, hockey operations, “to ensure the continuity of the daily operations of the hockey sector” during the process of hiring the future GM. . We should know the exact nature of his role in relation to the future CEO on Monday. Gorton has found his share of nuggets in drafts and trades. In addition, he experienced the beginning of the reconstruction of the Rangers. An asset, the Canadian being entangled in spite of himself in a youthful turn which is not going very well.
In the other option, Geoff Molson would rather hire someone with knowledge in hockey, obviously, but also in business management. A visionary. This is the preferred model in baseball, where only one of 30 general managers is a former major league player.
I prefer the second option. I very much hope this is what Geoff Molson had in mind when he said in his Sunday press release: “The time has come for a change of leadership in our hockey department, which will bring new Vision. ”
The person who will succeed Marc Bergevin will have to be gifted. Unifying. Positive. Well aware of the latest scientific advances, especially in psychology. It will have to define the identity of the team on the ice. Not just for next year. Nor the next one. For the next generation. As the leaders of the St. Louis Cardinals did, in 2011, with the delivery of a 117-page work guide, The Cardinal Way.
Like Theo Epstein, who is not a former player, did in Chicago, with The Cubs Way. Like Pep Guardiola, a former player, did as head coach in Barcelona, Munich and Manchester.
Who is the typical Canadian player? What are its values? How to spot these values among the junior prospects? What place should science be given? In recruiting, in negotiations, in a match? What sets the Canadian apart from other teams on the ice? How to promote work between recruiters and developers? How to install a positive corporate culture within hockey operations, in a context that promises to be difficult for the next five years?
Yes, the Canadiens need good talented assessors.
But entangled as it is, the Habs above all need a visionary DG.
Now it’s up to Geoff Molson to find his Theo Epstein.