Marc Bergevin will have finally spent a little more than nine and a half years as general manager of the Montreal Canadiens. Throughout his reign, the Canadian has had its ups and downs. Bergevin, however, was never afraid to make bold decisions in the hopes of helping his team take top honors.
Here are the key dates in Bergevin’s reign.
May 2, 2012
Marc Bergevin becomes the 17e general manager of the history of the Canadian, succeeding Pierre Gauthier, dismissed a little over a month earlier.
May 17, 2014
While supporters dream of a 25e Stanley Cup, the momentum of the Canadian is curbed in the first game of the Eastern Final, when Chris Kreider falls and violently collides with goalkeeper Carey Price, who falls in battle. Deprived of his star goalie, the Canadian will drop the flag in six games against the New York Rangers.
Aug 2, 2014
Just before a session in front of a referee, the Canadian finally awarded an eight-season, US $ 72 million contract to flamboyant defender PK Subban, the most lucrative contract in the team’s history.
June 24, 2015
Carey Price wins the Vézina and Hart trophies, as the Canadian has just had his best campaign since 1989 with 50 wins and 110 points. However, his playoff run was hampered by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round.
Feb. 26, 2016
Having a flair for good deals in transactions, Marc Bergevin gets Phillip Danault from the Chicago Blackhawks in return for veterans Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise. Danault will ultimately become one of the best centers on the circuit evenly.
June 29, 2016
A shock wave hits Montreal. Popular defenseman PK Subban is traded to the Nashville Predators for Shea Weber. Several supporters are unhappy to see their favorite leave the Montreal organization, less than a year after he pledged $ 10 million to the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
February 14, 2017
Marc Bergevin shows the exit door to coach Michel Therrien after a union of more than four seasons, even if the Canadian is still at the top of his section. Despite collecting 103 points at the end of the season, the second among the best during Bergevin’s reign, the Habs dropped their flag in the first round of the playoffs.
June 15, 2017
A year after drafting Mikhail Sergachev, the Canadian sacrificed his best hope to secure forward Jonathan Drouin from the Tampa Bay Lightning and immediately awarded him a six-season, $ 33 million contract. Drouin is seen by some as the best Quebec striker to don the French uniform since Guy Lafleur. Time will not prove this bold prediction right.
1er july 2017
Marc Bergevin turns to the free agent market and accumulates errors. He hires defenders Karl Alzner and Joe Morrow, after having turned his back in particular on Andrei Markov. Forward Alexander Radulov also avails himself of full autonomy and leaves the ship, while the Canadian seems to be taking a step back. The day after a long day, Bergevin nonetheless struck an eight-season, $ 84 million deal with Carey Price, making the star goaltender the highest-paid player in the team’s history.
April 9, 2018
During his end-of-season assessment, the Canadian’s worst since 2000-2001, Marc Bergevin insisted that his team had suffered from an attitude problem. He will start what he will call ” reset (Reset) during the following months, refusing to go for a complete rebuild.
June 22, 2018
For a second time in his reign, Marc Bergevin is the third general manager to speak in the NHL Draft. Bergevin caused some surprise by preferring the young Finnish center Jesperi Kotkaniemi to the robust American striker Brady Tkachuk, who nevertheless has the typical profile of the players Bergevin loves.
September 10, 2018
In the early morning before the golf tournament marking the start of the Canadiens’ camp, Marc Bergevin trades his captain Max Pacioretty to the Vegas Golden Knights. He gets in return a second round pick, Tomas Tatar and Nick Suzuki. This will be another good move from Bergevin during his reign.
April 6, 2019
The Canadian played his only meaningless game of the campaign, as Ryan Poehling scored three goals before adding the winning net in a shootout in a 6-5 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Despite collecting 96 points, the Canadian missed the playoffs for a second straight season and a third time in four years.
1er july 2019
Marc Bergevin tries the big blow by depositing a hostile offer to the center Sebastian Aho, of the Hurricanes of Carolina. Bergevin is betting that the Hurricanes won’t want to pay Aho more than $ 21 million in a year. Everything turns against Bergevin when the Hurricanes make fun of the situation. The owner, Tom Dundon, recalls that he has deep pockets. Bergevin would later learn that Dundon also has a long memory.
1er august 2020
At the heart of a campaign to be forgotten when the season is interrupted on March 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian finally obtains the luxury of participating in a qualifying series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The team caused the surprise and eliminated the Penguins six days later. The Canadian will then be eliminated in six games by the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern quarter-finals, but the future looks bright.
February 24, 2021
After a great start to the campaign, Marc Bergevin felt the carpet slipping under the feet of his troops and he dismissed head coach Claude Julien and his partner Kirk Muller, ceding the reins of the team to Dominique Ducharme. A few days later, goaltending coach Stéphane Waite also lost his job, learning the news during the second intermission of a game.
June 24, 2021
Artturi Lehkonen scores in overtime, and the Canadiens knocked out the Vegas Golden Knights in six games to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1993.
July 7, 2021
The Canadian saw his run come to an abrupt end in Game 5 of the Final, having never really been matched against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
July 23, 2021
The Canadian finds himself in embarrassment after selecting Logan Mailloux in the first round of the NHL Draft, at 31e rank. Mailloux had, however, asked the teams a few days earlier to ignore it, claiming not to deserve this honor a few months after being condemned by the Swedish justice for having taken a photo without the consent of his partner during a sexual act and the ‘have shared with teammates.
September 4, 2021
A week after watching the Carolina Hurricanes make a hostile bid for Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who was a free agent with compensation, the Canadian announces that he will not match the offer by around $ 6.1 million. The departure of Kotkaniemi puts an end to a stay where the young Finn will never have lived up to expectations, after a hopeful debut.
November 28, 2021
With the Canadian having his worst start to the season in nearly 80 years, Geoff Molson finally ended Marc Bergevin’s reign by firing him along with his right-hand man, Trevor Timmins. The day before, Bergevin’s other deputy, Scott Mellanby, had tendered his resignation, apparently after being excluded from the race to be his successor.