The Canadian will be on ice rink leave until his visit to Boston on Jan. 12. Even for training, as a preventive measure, the Habs will be forced into inactivity until January 6 inclusively. This also applies to the Rocket. However, it is not action that will be lacking in the upper echelons of the organization.
Over the next few days, Geoff Molson and Jeff Gorton, along with Bob Gainey and Michael Andlauer, will begin their first round of interviews in preparation for the hiring of the next CEO.
As of Wednesday, nearly ten candidates will be met for the first time by this committee. From this group, a few should be called for a second job interview.
True to what Gorton mentioned during his welcome press briefing on December 3, the quartet of makers will meet suitors from many walks of life.
Former players, management members of another formation, agents are part of the group. A contingent which includes two women. It is not impossible that other candidates will be added to this list.
The Journal presents a portrait of several people with the potential to get the job and what sets them apart.
Patrick Roy
56 years old
The former Canadiens goalie whose number 33 floats on the ceiling of the Bell Center no longer needs an introduction. He was already the public’s favorite when Geoff Molson, advised by Serge Savard, appointed Marc Bergevin to the post of Managing Director in May 2012. His track record is well stocked. As owner, general manager and head coach of the Remparts de Québec, he has been able to put together winning teams season after season. In 2005-2006, this work was rewarded with the Memorial Cup. From 2013-2014 to 2015-2016, he jointly held the positions of Vice President of Hockey Operations, General Manager and Head Coach of the Colorado Avalanche. It was in this last position that he won the Jack-Adams trophy, at the end of his first campaign. Over the past few weeks he has drawn the reflectors to himself by once again showing his interest in the job. “What do they have to lose by trying me?” He said.
Mathieu Darche
45 years old
For two and a half years, he has been working on his skills with Julien BriseBois, at the Lightning. His first two seasons as director of operations ended with two Stanley Cup wins. Darche was therefore in the front row to learn the inner workings of the trade and understand the new philosophies and ways of doing things to put together a winning team.
A Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University, he took advantage of the last campaigns of his career to get involved with the NHLPA. He knows all the cogs and small paragraphs of the collective agreement.
Moreover, in 2013, Lou Lamoriello, with whom Darche had spent a few months in New Jersey, predicted to the author of these lines that the Quebecer would have a bright future as a leader. “If the opportunity presents itself, and he is interested, I will make a place for him in our organization,” said the experienced hockey man.
Daniel Briere
44 years
After hanging up his skates at the end of the 2014-2015 campaign, the Gatineau resident returned to Philadelphia. For the next two winters, he served as Special Assistant to Managing Director Ron Hextall.
At the time, the Flyers also relied on Paul Holmgren as their hockey president. As a result, he is well aware of the dynamic and the relationship that could develop between the Canadiens’ next GM and Jeff Gorton, executive vice-president of hockey operations.
He knew Gorton for a few seasons in the Rangers organization. The Maine Mariners, an ECHL team now affiliated with the Flyers, were one of the Rangers’ club schools when Brière became vice president of operations in 2017.
Now president and governor of the Mariners, Brière is also part of the Flyers’ player development team.
Stephane Quintal
53 years
He is the most experienced of the candidates. For the past 10 years, he has held a position with the NHL Player Safety Office. His rating is therefore very good with Gary Bettman, Bill Daly and Colin Campbell and Stephen Walkom, the boss of officials.
In addition, he knows the hockey staff, chief executive officers, of the 32 teams on the circuit.
Therefore, if the job description of the Canadiens’ next GM is true to what Jeff Gorton described in his December 3 press briefing, Quintal could be his perfect complement.
“It will be a complementary system, a collaboration,” said Gorton, whose main quality is recruitment, both professional and amateur.
Quintal knows the Montreal market having played there almost half of his 1,037 games (507) in the NHL.
Emilie Castonguay
38 years old
She has already broken down an important barrier by becoming the NHL’s first player agent. Within the Momentum Hockey agency, she holds the positions of Vice-President and Director of Legal Affairs. It represents half a dozen players, including Alexis Lafrenière, brothers Mathieu and Pierre-Olivier Joseph, Antoine Roussel and Cédric Paquette.
Since she spent most of the winter of 2020-2021 in New York to negotiate Lafrenière’s first contract and frame her debut with the Rangers, she knows Jeff Gorton well.
She holds a finance-marketing degree from the University of Niagara and a law degree from the University of Montreal.
His tasks at the agency and his university career allow him to interpret the collective agreement on the tips of his fingers and to know the value and the aptitudes of each player.
Daniele Sauvageau
59 years old
A true pioneer of women’s hockey, her expertise is recognized from coast to coast. Leading the Canadian Women’s Team, she won gold at the 2001 World Championships and the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City the following winter.
In all, she has overseen six Olympics and a host of world championships. In addition to the position of Head Coach, she has held those of General Manager and Coaching Advisor for the Canadian team.
In 1999-2000, she became the very first woman to secure a coaching position in one of the country’s three junior leagues. She was then Gaston Therrien’s assistant at the Montreal Rocket.
She is the co-founder of the Carabins women’s hockey program at the Université de Montréal. She has been the general manager of this training since its first season, in 2008.
Kent Hughes
50 years
This player’s agent who grew up in the West Island of Montreal manages the careers of 21 NHL players, including Patrice Bergeron, Kristopher Letang and Anthony Beauvillier. He is the head of Quartexx Management, a firm based in Mont-Royal.
One of the most respected in his profession, he ranks 11th in terms of the amount of money in contracts managed.
Living in the Boston area for the past 20 years, he bonded with Jeff Gorton when the latter served as assistant general manager for the Bruins from 1999 to 2007.
In addition, while he was general manager of the Rangers, Gorton made Riley, the oldest of Kent Hughes, the 7th round choice of the New York squad in 2018.
Despite his years away from Quebec, he is still doing very well in French.
Marc Denis
44 years
He had an 11-season NHL career, primarily with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
He was the vice-president of hockey operations for the Chicoutimi Saguenéens for 11 years. Last November, he had to step down from his duties, which also included a seat on the executive committee and a role on the team’s board of directors, to take up the challenge offered to him by the government of Quebec: to chair the committee. Quebecois on the development of hockey.
His meticulous work in his role as Canadiens and NHL game analyst for 11 years has allowed him to know the players on the circuit inside and out: from players to governors, including coaches and general managers.
Thanks to this same position, he is familiar with the dynamics of the Montreal media.
Roberto Luongo
42 years old
Another who quickly passed over to the management At the end of his career. He hung up his leggings in the spring of 2019, after a second stint in the Florida Panthers uniform.
A few months later, he accepted the duties of Special Assistant to Managing Director Dale Tallon. A position he still holds, even though Bill Zito has since replaced Tallon.
It didn’t take long for Luongo to gain credibility. Hockey Canada gave him the role of General Manager, a mandate that led him to put together the pieces of the team that would eventually win the 2021 World Championship.
Luongo’s name was also circulating in Vancouver when the Canucks laid off Jim Benning, their GM for the previous seven seasons, in early December.
Even if the Quebecer played eight seasons with the Canucks, they preferred to turn to veteran Jim Rutherford.