Marc Bergevin sat at the helm of the Montreal Canadiens for more than NINE years. During that time, Bergy waved goodbye to the likes of P.K. Subban, Max Pacioretty and Phillip Danault but he also managed to draft and acquire young pieces that define the Canadiens of 2024. In this video we explore the highs and lows of the Bergevin era; from Mikhail Sergachev to Cole Caulfield. #nhl #montrealcanadiens #habs
I’ll never forget their Cup run. It was magical.
I personally believe that we would look at Bergevin’s tenure a lot differently if they don’t have that run in 2021. Obviously it got touched on here, but their inability to draft truly stunted the team for a long time and wasted a generational goaltending talent (even with a couple solid playoff runs sprinkled in)
Aside from reaching for KK, the Habs were decidedly average at drafting. Takes a lot of luck to find impact players outside the top 20.
Maturing as a habs fan for me was realizing this guy is just not it at all. Kept all the guys I liked but wasn’t doing anything to make us a winner until it was pretty much too late but then Carey stood on his head in 2021 to give him something to hang his hat on
Trevor Timmins should have been fired the second bergehoule took over as GM. Timmins had two to 4 good draft picks in his career with the team and the rest were just bombs
Yeah he stank and git a shorthened season playoff run twice in 2014 and covid by price but other than that just like our entire franchise he stunk
Thank god the new GM has a better vision and has surrounded himself with a much better team to scout and were starting to see this come to life go Habs go
You deserve far more subscribers, this is excellent work. Long, long-time Habs fan and you've aptly captured the ups and downs of this era. Boy, that Sergachev deal was brutal, but you gotta give Bergevin credit for Domi/Galchenyuk and Pacioretty/Suzuki.
As a habs fan I enjoyed your video. You did a great job. Fair and Factual. I can say that up until current management was in place a lot of great players were traded for the "now" Segachev and Ryan McDonough were two that bit us hard in the ass. I hope you make more videos.
Thanks for tuning in. The journalist in me wants to keep things relatively objective. Opinion seeps through here and there, but stay tuned. Much appreciated.
Yup, nice delivery
There was a big shift because back then, there was no such thing as reconstruction. The pressure to deliver was high.
@@MontrealJunior Doing our next video on Brian Burke in Toronto.
The burger Van era in Montreal was a strange one. Saved by one of the best goalies of the 2010s and unable to bring in or draft a true superstar is a disappointment for the Habs. It’s not a fair statement to say but if you took away Price from them, I truly believe he wouldn’t have lasted long in Montreal
Kind of what happens when you’re the owners drinking buddy, you stay longer by accident
7:23 It's a bit of a myth about Subban's defense. He was somewhat spectacular blunder prone when carrying the puck which gave the impression he was all offense but generally (other than the blunders) he was defensively sound, physical, good along the boards and won his share of puck battles. I find Matheson commits more blunders and is not as good physically.
I’m not going to say Bergevin was amazing, because he had many flaws as a GM, but he was very good at managing assets when compared to guys like Gauthier and Gainey before him. Also, he set this team up to succeed with the youth movement he began in his final two seasons. That includes his ruthless pick of Mailloux, which was, ultimately, the best choice at that time of the draft. If he didn’t take that guy, someone else would have eventually. That being said, it was time to move on from him at exactly the time he was let go. I’ll look back at his tenure fondly. Gauthier destroyed the future of this franchise and Bergevin left this team with far more than he started with.
Great video. I found myself saying “hey, I remember him” and “hey, I remember that” a few times. Go Habs.
Thanks for tuning in. Much appreciated!
The fact that he got us Suzuki, drafted Caufield and somehow managed to get us a cup finals is enough. Yeah it wasnt always peaches and cream but better tenure than what we had for the previous 10-15 years.
I think that’s a fair way of looking at it. Think it’s also fair to look at it him with certain judgements, but I came into writing this video under the impression that his tenure was a complete gong-show and I no longer have that opinion
Same thing can be said about Gainey/Gauthier era which left Price, Subban and Pacioretty and brought the team to 2010 conference final. Overall, Bergevin relied too much on Price (however important the goaltending position may be), realized too late his team lacked talent & offense and/or failed to bring offense in the first half of his tenure. With Hughes/Gorton, they know, they can't just rely on Suzuki, Caufield, Guhle and have that "once in playoffs,anything can happen" mentality. They know they need to to continue adding talent to the core to build a contending team every year.
Overall, Bergevin made some EXCELLENT individual moves, but his reign is still a failure because he failed to bring the team to a better place than when he took over. (Dont bring up the cup final because that was a flash in the pan with some luck)
@@moloi99I wouldn’t give Gauthier much credit tbh the guy was an absolute mess
He got us Guhle as well
You got a new subscriber bro. Nice work keep posting 🥇👍
Thanks for watching! Much appreciated.
Great video ... top
seventh game ..dont forget it most excited i have been in many years
Great video
Thanks for watching, pal
Hindsight is always 20/20. The reality is every GM in the league takes a gamble or two, some work out, and some don't. I think Bergevin was a kickass GM. He had his vision, and obviously that creates tension because the hockey media exists to complain, sell narratives, blow things out of proportion. Any other team in the league would be lucky to have him. Guy knows the game, respect
Remember when Deshairnais was our number 1 center for like 4 seasons?
He was bad at contracts chased away radulov and markov right when the hsbs werw trying to contend
The Markov contract negotiation was something I contemplated diving-in on, but with all this substance it didn't make the cut. Was definitely disrespectful to say the least.
Kind of a controversial opinion, but I honestly liked Marc Bergevin. He brought us to the Stanley Cup final and Conference final which no GM have done since our last cup in 1993. I thought he was really good at making trades and getting the best player back. Apart from the Drouin deal, which I really understand at the time, he really had done way more steal than got robbed. His asset management was I thought excellent. I also thought he had a really good flair at bringing really strong depth forward and defense. He brought us a lot of very good character guys which helped us massively overcoming on paper better teams in the playoffs. His biggest critisism was by far his drafting. Which to be fair the poor drafting (mostly in the 1st round) really is the reason why I think they couldn't get the next step. We really could of use a star player at that time, which we couldn't draft. But, really how much is poor drafting really the GM's fault? The scouts have obviously way more knowledge about the prospects than the GM do and he have to rely on their opinion a lot. Of course you could say he could of fired Timmins earlier or wathever. But, I wouldn't put too much weight on the poor drafting on Bergevin. Saying all that I think his time was due, I'm really happy with the new management team and their new vision. But, Bergevin I think was a bit unfairly hated when in reality he did a lot more than any GM have done in the past decade for the habs
Bergy was pretty good 👍
Losing Danault was terrible
People give bergevin and now Hugues too much credit for certain things , when Timmins is the man who build that team . It was timmins that was scouting Suzuki as he was spotted in Owen sound multiple times prior to that trade and he wasn’t there for the Owensound caviar ,bergevin didn’t even know who he was . Timmins has been in situation where he was pressured to make bad picks as a draft , like when the crowd was chanting Leblanc Leblanc Leblanc or when Gainey told him to pick Fischer and Kostitsyn. But yet anything decent on this habs team for the passed 15 years all the way to today , is in most part the work of timmins , caufield, Suzuki, sergachev, mcdonagh, Monty, primeau, Gallagher , price, pacioretty subban, xhekaj, Guhle, Harris, struble and the list goes on and on , all that without drafting 1st overall and rarely picking in the top 10 in all those years with the habs. Timmins also arguably had the best year as a head scout in a single draft when he drafted mcdonagh, pacioretty and subban with his 3 first picks I think the habs did great when hiring Hugues who has done every jobs in hockey but I’m 100% sure Timmins would orvis a far superior ass gm/head scout than any guy in the league
Not sure how far you made it, but I did point to the Habs' scouting department and their role in building the team's youth. Tried to keep it Bergy-focused, but I think Timmins and scouting staff deserve equal blame/credit. No doubt there were disagreements on certain players. 2007 was a fantastic year, 100%. But 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2015 certainly were not. To excuse Timmins entirely I think is unfair.
ok.. but i dont even think suzuki is that good - guy gets like what 20 goals a season? 27 maybe? like ... i love his work ethic and defensive game, but he's just not a franchise player - which is fine, his contract is good.
@@catmelvin997 Suzuki scored 33 this year and he’s only 24-years-old. His best season yet and there’s still plenty of room for improvement, but even if this is his ceiling, he’s a great piece to have.
@@WhatsHappeningHockey ya ya no i love the guy and i think - like for the price tag - hes a million times more valuable than say Marner or Jt or wtv. I just dont think he's like a wow, "show me" type of franchise player, like he wont make or break a game, hes no david Pastrnak, he's just a really solid player you can build around
I've never been a fan of Suzuki but he grew on me and he's actually really cluch when he needed to be. Not the most productive but he will make you win game when playoffs come, kind of like bergeron. And please don't disrespect my man Kostitsyn like that. The guy was an animal when he wasn't hangover
That Sergachev trade was catastrophic. How the Fuck do you trade for drouin, what an absolute waste of a trade and contract drouin was. Absolutely zero heart and no drive
Very very easy to say 8 years later. At the time Drouin had unlimited potential for growth. That just didnt pan out. (I personnaly think Sergachev is also a bit overated giving he has always been in the shadow of Hedman and Mcdonaugh, with a stacked team, time will tell but i dont think he is a top 15 D in this league)
Bergevin didn't give Montréal anything while being GM. And he's responsible for Price's ridiculous contract for 10.5M for 8 years and Price abandoned the team before the end of his contract because of injuries.
we cannot be 100% mad about his tenure but he made the canadiens stagnant for too long, instead of trying to go all in when carey price and subban were on their primes
I call it mixed results. Not a lot was said about the fact that the Canadiens lost Weber and Price to injury. Weber would never play another NHL game after that loss in the finals. Price barely played the following year and his time playing is done . And last but not least their best face off centreman Phillipe Danault signs as a ufa with the LA Kings. Habs were NOT going to recover from these three majors losses player wise.
Tampa cheated
Bergevin was good at finding those depth pieces but he could never really scout the skill level a top tier talent needed. He did draft Cole, guhle and got us suzuki. But it was sort of like bergevin the gm was great at scouting players like bergevin the player. But he could never really get those 1st line guys,
I’d say personally, that the terrible development and impatience of Bergevin with his players compared to his scouts and coaches were a down fall. He kept Lefebvre as head coach for six years, first 5 he missed the playoffs and in last year they were swept. While never producing any really good NHL prospects. He held onto coaches too long after they spiralled instead of relieving them and kept Timmins way too long considering his record
I remember calling him BergeHoule in 2018 and in the finals run I had so many people digging up that comment calling me an idiot And I said “a broken clock is right twice a day, just you wait” And boy oh boy did he prove me right again and those people blocked me and disappeared. He was never a good GM, he did the bare ass minimum and worst of all he wasted Carey’s prime Absolute dogshit
The team was mediocre, and was made to look somewhat impressive only by the play of their goaltender. When Price struggled or was injured it was obvious to everyone that without him the team was nothing. Any GM could have had playoff success with Price in net. What Bergevin did was squander the best years of Price, not upgrading the team when it desparately needed it.
Bergevin continued the Habs 20 plus year of mediocrity. We are now on year 31
it was 3-1
Bergy did alot of bad, but also alot of good. Gave us suzuki, caufield, guhle, mailloux for the future
why can't he just be the leafs GM - we need someone willing to shake things up - plus like it or not, when he was habs GM they were in the conversation, makin moves, makin headlines, its good man
He's a clowshow
Bergevin was without a doubt one of the most, if not THE most, inept and disastrous GMs in Montreal Canadien history. He was gifted the most dominant goalie for a decade who single-handedly made a laughingstock on the ice a playoff contender year after year. Take Price out of the equation and Bergevin would have been run out of town after 3 years. Instead, he ruined the franchise for a decade.
One of his biggest flaws was his failure to go 'all-in'. Relatively speaking, he played most of his seasons pretty safe. And on the contrary, had he gone 'all-in' and failed, it could've cost him the job earlier. I find his entire tenure so bizarre. Price was key to his success, no doubt; in a way, Bergevin wasted his prime. He's deserving of an abundance of criticism. But I don't think it was all bad. Comparing him to another Canadian team GM: I'd take Bergy in Montreal over Burkie in Toronto any day.
i highly doubt the habs would have 'Won a few cups' with another GM. Like price is good but wtv he's just a goalie, guy can only do so much. I would gladly have Bergy be the GM of my team
@@catmelvin997 I don't think anyone mentioned winning a few cups. But he sat on his ass doing nothing to improve a shit roster year after year while Price single handedly gave the team a chance to make the playoffs. Bergevin had no analytics team, no skills coach, no draft strategy, no plan or program to develop prospects and last but not least, hired his coaches from his pool of inept friends. A quota hire making quota hires.
@@hoserfella ok ok for sure. I just think that when u look at the Leafs right now its like ... ok their GM overpaid a bunch of players, kept a bad coach on bc they were already paying Babcock millions to do nothing, and idk? It seems like when the habs had that SCF run they were committed to playing "the right way" ; finishing hits, blocking shots, shutting everything down. I guess i just think, like he ok he had his faults, but at least he achieved something you know
@@catmelvin997 the Cup Finals run was played in the covid shortened season when they would have finished out of the playoffs any other year. Like I said, you give Price a run in the playoffs, he can get you places. But the fact remains they would never have been close to a playoff team if not for the relatively weak 6 teams they played exclusively.
Letting Markov walk was his worst move, Price kinda made him look less worse and he rode gaineys players, i could go on
1:38 That is probably the worst top 10 I’ve ever seen
If results matter. He's the best GM since Savard.
Isn't result what matter most in sports lol?
@@rocky_hockey6447 Yep
Thank god this guy is gone.
Mailloux is way better at his job than you are at yours...and all you seem to do is talk. Nobody wants to know the mistakes of your youth. We are too busy dealing with the mistakes of your adulthood.
Yeah, yeah. And we’re all busy dealing with your parents’ mistake from 52-years ago. People make mistakes; a natural part of life. Mailloux doesn’t have to be defined by his. Could be a great player, a great person moving forward. But Bergy’s decision was regardless a PR nightmare. Thanks for watching.
History will show Mailloux to be great pick. He will be really good for years to come and Habs fans can thank Bergevin for the risk he took on the pick