Top 10 | Bergevin’s shooting stars

Professional recruitment is, in the almost unanimous opinion, a department where Marc Bergevin excelled. Paul Byron was claimed on waivers, Phillip Danault was bought for nothing, Ilya Kovalchuk cost him virtually nothing… However, no general manager has a success rate of 100%. A glance at 10 shooting stars from the Bergevin era.

Simon-Olivier Lorange
Press

Davis drewiske

Previous team: Los Angeles Kings

Transaction: acquired on April 2, 2013 for a choice of 5^e draft round

We start strong with a name that has undoubtedly marked the collective imagination. A few days before the transaction deadline, Bergevin gets his hands on a reservist he “had been watching for a while”. “We jumped on it because the asking price suited us,” he adds. A defensive back, Drewiske did well in his first games, but was struck out at the very end of the season and in the playoffs. The GM nevertheless grants him a new two-year contract, at a low price it is true, but the American will not play a single game in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Drayson Bowman

Previous team: Carolina Hurricanes

Transaction: hired as a free agent on October 2, 2014

After appearing in 176 games in Carolina, Drayson Bowman had to look for a job after the change of coach at the Hurricanes sent him out of work. The Habs therefore offered him a professional try at training camp, and the young veteran did well enough to take his chance and land a contract. In an interview at PressKirk Muller, who led the Canes the previous season, said of Bowman he had “NHL-class speed and skill.” In Montreal, head coach Michel Therrien offered a … different reading. The forward spent the season in the American League, and after three small games with the big club, he was never seen in the NHL again.

John Scott and Victor Bartley

Previous Teams: Arizona Coyotes and Nashville Predators

Transaction: three-team exchange, January 15, 2016, which notably sent Jarred Tinordi to Nashville

John Scott was THE big star of the moment in the NHL. The badass, not very gifted with a puck on his stick, was the subject of a campaign led by supporters around the circuit who, by voting massively for him, sent him to the All-Star game. Two weeks before the event, the winger switched from the Coyotes to the Canadian in a tripartite transaction, so it was the Habs he represented at the annual classic! His new team, however, demoted him to the American League and only recalled him for one game, in April, his last before his retirement. As for Bartley, who dragged a “real” CV of a hundred games with the Nashville Predators, his career with the CH was still limited to 10 games. He signed a contract with the Minnesota Wild during the offseason, but no longer played in the NHL.

Stefan Matteau

Previous team: New Jersey Devils

Transaction: acquired on February 29, 2016 against Devante Smith-Pelly

It is rare for two eliminated teams to trade players at the trade deadline. Yet that’s what the Canadian and the New Jersey Devils did in February 2016. Press, at the time, speaks of “two players at a crossroads”. Stefan, Stéphane’s son, did not yet have a first-round choice (29^e in 2012) than the label. His low usage and starving production in New Jersey betrayed his status as a support player, valued more for his toughness than his hands. His 12 games with the Canadiens that season were his only ones in Montreal. He continued his career, however, spending most of his time in the minor leagues. He is now involved in the organization of the Colorado Avalanche.

Mike brown

Previous team: San Jose Sharks

Transaction: claimed on waivers on February 29, 2016

In 2016, Marc Bergevin did not hide his game at the transaction deadline. His team was getting fucked up, and he wanted that to change. Hours before getting his hands on Matteau, he called forward Mike Brown on waivers. The American did not leave any doubt about his role: in 14 games, he struck 56 hits and threw the gloves 3 times. However, it was no coincidence that the veteran in his early 30s had been left unprotected by the Sharks. In the summer, the Habs did not offer him a new contract, and neither did the 29 other teams in the league. Montreal was therefore his last stop in the NHL.

Andreas Martinsen

Previous team: Colorado Avalanche

Transaction: acquired on 1^er March 2017 against Sven Andrighetto

Heading into the playoffs in 2017, Bergevin has one obvious goal: to add muscle to his club. This is how he acquired, in quick succession, Dwight King, Steve Ott and Andreas Martinsen. The three catches end in as many failures. The first two are fairly well known, but the same cannot be said of Martinsen. In its March 2 issue, Press writes that the new number 37 will become the first Norwegian in history to play for CH. This will be his only achievement. “I’m going to bring a physical presence and try to be a very good player for the last two lines,” said the main concerned in an interview. Goes for the first portion, but not for the second: limited to two games in the playoffs, the alluring colossus is traded the following October.

Jakub jerabek

Previous team: Vityaz from Podolsk (KHL)

Transaction: hired as a free agent on 1^er May 2017

It’s not Jakub Jerabek’s fault if his arrival in Montreal coincided with the departure of the first four left-handed defenders from the Habs organization chart. Completely unknown to the North American public, this small-sized offensive defender first cut his teeth with the Laval Rocket, with some success, before being recalled by the Canadian. He was no worse than his entire team, but obviously his style was not suited to the NHL. The experiment ended after 25 games, when Marc Bergevin sent it to Washington in exchange for a modest fifth-round draft pick. He lifted the Stanley Cup a few weeks later with the Capitals. He returned to the Continental Hockey League (KHL) after two seasons on our side of the Atlantic.

Rinat Valiev and Kerby Rychel

Previous team: Toronto Maple Leafs

Transaction: both acquired on February 25, 2018, with a choice of 2^e round, against Tomas Plekanec and Kyle Baun

A two-for-one here, because they were on the same plane heading for Montreal. While the 2017-2018 season had long been classified in the ray of broken dreams, the CH gave Tomas Plekanec a flower by sending him to Toronto, where he could at least play in the playoffs (insert an elimination joke here fast). In Press at the time, the journalist Jean-François Tremblay wrote: “For some, the choice of second round is the central part of the transaction. […]. That said, neither should the two players obtained: striker Kerby Rychel and defender Rinat Valiev be neglected. Rychel, a former first-round pick, had been on Marc Bergevin’s radar for a while. And Valiev was said to be the victim of too much hope in defense in Toronto. They played four and two games respectively with the Habs before being traded to the Flames in two separate transactions. That of Valiev on the other hand made it possible to get hold of Brett Kulak.