The news of the dismissal of Marc Bergevin arouses strong reactions as far as Lausanne, while a former prospect for the Montreal Canadiens questions the methods of player development during the era of the former general manager.
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The links of this Swiss club with the Habs are particularly numerous. There are five former members of the organization, not counting goaltender coach Cristobal Huet and director of hockey operations … Petr Svoboda!
Although Lausanne is having a so-so season and several aspects had to be corrected in training, Bergevin and the CH slipped into the conversations last Monday, the day after the big announcement.
“I saw a post on Instagram that said Patrick Roy should be the Habs next GM. I spoke about it briefly with Michael Frolik, ”says Jiri Sekac over the phone.
“I discussed it a bit with Tim [Bozon], mentions Mark Barberio. I am not completely surprised. He had been there for almost 10 years. “
Both Sekac and Barberio had good words for their former CEO.
“He’s always been honest with me,” said Barberio, who signed a one-year, two-part deal with CH in the summer of 2015. He gave me a chance to play with the Canadiens. When I signed my first contract in Montreal, he didn’t guarantee me anything. I had a good camp and he told me I had to go to St. John’s for now, but that I would come back if I continue to play well. Two months later, he kept his word. And I ended up having a one-part contract. ”
“We had a very good relationship. He’s the man who gave me the opportunity to play in the NHL. He was polite. I never had a problem with him, I understood that hockey was a business», Underlines Sekac, traded by Bergevin after only 50 games with the Canadiens in 2014-2015.
Tim Bozon’s speech contrasts with that of his two teammates. His relationship with Bergevin is more … “complicated”. His story sounds the alarm bells for Canadians’ approach to developing the organization’s young talent. An approach that Geoff Molson himself promised to change.
“Barely two years after my illness, he didn’t even want me in the organization anymore. He was not patient, he wanted to dump me instead of giving me a real chance. ”
This is what sets the tone.
To narrowly escape death
Attacker chosen in the third round during Bergevin’s first draft at the helm of CH in 2012, Bozon did not have it easy. In March 2014, he was hit hard by severe meningitis which plunged him into an almost fatal coma and caused him to lose 40 pounds in hospital.
Bozon would like to point out: the event was managed with class by Bergevin, Trevor Timmins, Rick Dudley, Larry Carrière and Martin Lapointe.
“It was after that it got a little complicated,” he continues.
After recovering from this grueling episode that forced him to start from scratch, Bozon played a final year in the junior ranks at the age of 20, with the Kootenay Ice in the Junior Western League. It was the following year, during the 2015-2016 season, that he made the leap to the professional scene by joining the St. John’s IceCaps.
There, everything starts to go wrong.
“I injured myself from training camp on a shoulder,” explains the Frenchman. I had a hard time coming back from that. There was competition with the 2013 draft picks. I was often left out. I was sent to ECHL. I spent a year at the hotel. I was never allowed to find an apartment.
“I felt really pressured.”
Bozon nevertheless ended the season strong in the American League, so much so that he came out pumped up from his end-of-year meeting.
“I had good feedback from the managers in St. John’s and from head coach Sylvain Lefebvre. I was excited to be training in the summer to come back and build on it. ”
A shocking call
Next stop: the World Hockey Championship, where he represents France.
“I got injured just before the tournament started and didn’t look good. But after that I get a phone call from my agent [Rollie Thompson] like what Marc doesn’t want me anymore. He doesn’t even want me to go to development camp in June.
“He actually wanted to break my contract.”
A call that will cut your legs.
“It was the cold shower,” says Bozon. I was very, very surprised considering the discussions I had had with the staff, that I had finished well and that they were eager for me to come back. “
What’s more, Bozon expected more patience from the organization. After all, he was fighting for his life just two years ago.
“They tell me that after only 40 games in the American League,” he laments. We didn’t even want me to come to training camp in September, I was made to understand that I was not welcome.
“I fought and said it was out of the question.”
Bozon reports to training camp and tries to maintain an exemplary attitude, although he has to pound on his pride.
“All my friends, all the other players in the organization were asking me why I was in Group C, why I did not participate in intra-team matches. Later I was traded [aux Panthers de la Floride], but I was never given a real opportunity with the Canadiens. ”
Methods to change?
One might think that Bozon is on a crusade against Bergevin and the CH organization.
However, on the phone, we ironically feel a certain restraint in his words. The Frenchman tries to weigh his words while remaining honest.
“I don’t want to speak ill of the organization, nor of Marc,” he explains.
Bozon however defends the hopes drafted by Trevor Timmins.
“I think every draft year Timmins and the scouts did a good job of selecting the best players, but then it’s how you develop them, how you give them confidence and time that I think poses. problem.
“In my draft year, everyone was talking about a really strong vintage with Charles Hudon, Sebastian Collberg and Dalton Thrower, but in the end, there is none that really broke through.
“The same after in 2013 and 2014 with the Scherbak, the McCarron, players with great potential. Have they been well developed? I think the question arises. ”
During his press briefing on Monday, Geoff Molson spoke of the need to provide tools to and support hopefuls in the Montreal market.
“You have to be patient and put the players in good condition,” says Bozon. Play them to their full potential and don’t try to turn talented players into plumbers. ”
An increasingly unattainable dream
For the sake of objectivity, it should be mentioned that Bozon never made the CH lie after his exchange.
He failed to break into the Panthers’ organization and he never really took off in Europe afterwards.
Still, it’s harder to give Canadians the benefit of the doubt when it comes to development in light of its history.
At 27, Bozon still hasn’t let go. The idea of playing in the NHL still occupies his thoughts.
“As long as I’m a hockey player, I keep the faith,” he says. It is clear that I am realistic with myself. It’s more and more complicated, I’m getting older, but there are players who at 28, 29 or 30 have managed to make the NHL out of nowhere.
“We have a good example in France, that is, Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, who succeeded at the age of 29.”
It is also questionable whether, had it not been for his meningitis, Bozon would have reached his full potential.
“There is no reason why I would not have tasted at least one game in the National League if I had not been sick, says the striker of the Blues on the international scene. If I compare myself to the players at the same time in the junior who broke into the NHL and who are successful … I don’t see why I wouldn’t have had one.
“I played with Sam Reinhart. Against Chandler Stephenson. With and against Dryden Hunt, who is with the Rangers.
“I can name so many and I’m like, ‘Why not me?’ At the time, at the same age, I was as successful, if not more successful than them. ”
However, with “ifs”, we go to Paris.
“I try not to think about it too much, because it is useless, finally, admits the principal concerned. But I tell myself it’s a shame, because I could have played at least a few games, that’s for sure. “