Marc Bergevin’s Drafts Have Set Up Montreal Canadiens To Be Great For Years
When Marc Bergevin took over as general manager of the Montreal Canadiens in 2012, he overhauled the organization’s scouting department. It was not so much that he fired everyone and brought in new guys, he just took advantage of the team’s deep pockets, and hired several new people in management roles that would scout young players, professional players, and assist in the development of the prospects.
Though too much praise or blame is laid at the general manager’s feet based on an organizations draft history, there is no question he is the one with the final say.
Trevor Timmins is the director of amateur scouting for the Montreal Canadiens, and has quite a fine track record. What is looking to be most impressive, and perhaps not so coincidental, is that Timmins three drafts with Bergevin as his boss could be some of his best work yet.
Nov 28, 2014; Buffalo, NY, USA; Montreal Canadiens center Alex Galchenyuk (27) during the game against the Buffalo Sabres at First Niagara Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports
The first draft choice Montreal made after hiring Bergevin was a huge one. The team was awful in 2011-12 and held the third overall pick in the 2012 draft. Staring at them was an extremely talented Alex Galchenyuk who had played just three regular season games the year before, and failed to score a single point.
Talk about going out on a limb. It obviously didn’t scare Bergevin and his gang of scouts, as they took Sebastien Collberg with their second round pick, and he too had not scored a single point the previous season. Collberg was not injured, he was just caught in a strange numbers game in the Swedish Elite League. Good enough to play in the top league at 17 years old, but not good enough to get much ice time at that level.
Fast forward two and a half years and Galchenyuk is the top scorer from the 2012 draft, while the Edmonton Oilers who picked Nail Yakupov first overall must be shaking their heads at not taking the big lanky center that appears to be improving every day.
Collberg has not developed as quickly as Galchenyuk, but was dealt to the New York Islanders at last year’s trade deadline for Thomas Vanek. Islanders GM Garth Snow proudly exclaimed he saw Collberg as a first round talent in 2012, and still did the day he acquired him from the Habs.
The Canadiens grabbed hulking defenseman Dalton Thrower with their next pick. He has been injured all season, but was great in the WHL last year with the Vancouver Giants where he has scored 39 points in 42 games.
Sep 25, 2014; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens left wing Charles Hudon (75) before the game against Colorado Avalanche at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports
The Habs then took Tim Bozon in the third round, a guy who has since scored 183 points in 149 games in the WHL with the Kamloops Blazers and Kootenay Ice. Bozon also miraculously bounced back from meningitis last summer to score 23 points in 17 games this season.
Though Habs picks Erik Nystrom and Brady Vail were not signed and were let go by the organization, their fifth round pick was a steal. With the 122nd overall selection, the Habs grabbed Charles Hudon from the Chicoutimi Sagueneens.
Hudon is an extremely smart and skilled two way player who twice cracked Team Canada’s roster at the World Junior Hockey Championships. He maxed out at 76 points in 57 games with Chicoutimi and the Baie Comeau Drakkar last season, but is on a torrid pace with the Hamilton Bulldogs this season.
Hudon currently leads the Bulldogs – and the entire American Hockey League – in scoring with 27 points in 25 games. His hockey sense and defensive abilities were supposed to produce a fourth line role player at best when he was taken. However, since turning pro, Hudon looks more like Patrice Bergeron than Guy Carbonneau.
All told, the 2012 draft may become a great one for the Montreal Canadiens. Producing a potential elite talent in Galchenyuk as well as Hudon, Thrower and Bozon has the makings of a huge day in Habs history. The 2013 draft however, may be looked back on with far greater fondness.
Jun 30, 2013; Newark, NJ, USA; Michael McCarron poses for a photo after being introduced as the number twenty-five overall pick to the Montreal Canadiens during the 2013 NHL Draft at the Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
The Habs first round pick that year was Michael McCarron. Though he struggled last season with the London Knights, McCarron is tearing up the Ontario Hockey League this season. His 15 goals already top last year’s total, and his 29 points in 21 games represents an enormous improvement from a year ago. Also, consider that his offense isn’t even his biggest asset. McCarron’s size is what is going to make him a great NHL player one day. At 6’6” and 225 pounds McCarron dominates play along the boards and in front of the net in the OHL, and will be able to do so for many years in the NHL as well.
The Habs had three second round picks in 2013, and all three players will be returning to the World Junior Hockey Championships for a second consecutive year this winter.
Sep 15, 2013; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens goalie Zachary Fucale (70) during the warm-up session before the first period against Buffalo Sabres at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports
Jacob de la Rose is having a hard time scoring points with the Hamilton Bulldogs, but his hockey sense and intelligence on the ice made him the last cut at Canadiens training camp this fall. He may max out as a third line player in the NHL, but there is no question de la Rose has a long NHL career ahead of him.
Zach Fucale will backstop Team Canada for a second consecutive year at the World Jr. level, and this year will be fantastic experience as the games will be played in Montreal and Toronto. What better way to prepare for a career full of sellouts at the Bell Centre with a crowd that could turn on you at any moment, than to play in front of a sellout at the Bell Centre with a crown that could turn on you at any moment?
Fucale has perhaps the most decorated career of any player who has played in the long history of the QMJHL, and will finally turn pro next year with the experience of a Memorial Cup, President’s Trophy, at least the second most wins in QMJHL history if not the most, and two World Jr. tournaments.
Artturi Lehkonen is a very skilled forward who played a prominent role for Finland at last year’s event that resulted in a gold medal. He is a very skilled player who moved from his home country to Sweden to play for Frolunda this season. He has 11 points in 29 games in Sweden’s top league and will get his first taste of the Bell Centre atmosphere later this month as he tries to defend his World Junior title.
Connor Crisp was taken in the third round of the 2013 draft and though he scored twenty goals on two separate occasions in the OHL, it is his fists, and not his soft hands that may lead to a career with the Montreal Canadiens.
Crisp has just one assist in 13 games with the Hamilton Bulldogs this season, but is third on the team in penalty minutes with 50, even though he has only played in only half the team’s games.
Sep 23, 2014; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Boston Bruins center Carl Soderberg (34) is checked into the boards by Montreal Canadiens right wing Sven Andrighetto (58) during the third period at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports
Sven Andrighetto was also scooped up by the Habs in the third round of the 2013 draft, and he started to make the team look brilliant last week. After scoring 18 points in 21 games with the Bulldogs, Andrighetto was called up by the Habs last week, and has two points in his first two career NHL games.
Martin Reway and Jeremy Gregoire were also nabbed by the Habs in the late rounds of the 2013 draft and both went on to record over a point per game the next season in the QMJHL. Reway is a small skilled player who was the talk of the World Juniors a year ago after scoring ten points in five games, and will be back representing Slovakia this year.
Gregoire had a chance to make Canada’s team, and was invited to the summer evaluation camp, but has been injured all season and is yet to play a game for the Baie Comeau Drakkar.
It is a little early to analyze the 2014 draft, but one thing we can say for certain is the Montreal Canadiens stole Nikita Scherbak with the 26th pick in the first round. The Russian born player is as offensively skilled as anyone taken in the draft, and has displayed that by scoring 37 points in 26 games with the Everett Silvertips in the WHL this season.
It is difficult to say how much say Bergevin had in all of the draft choices over the past three seasons. It is possible he told Timmins to take over and do whatever he pleased at the draft table. As unlikely as it is that Bergevin was that hands-off over the past three drafts, if it is true, as least he had the foresight to allow Timmins do his thing.
So, no matter how much Bergevin had to do with each of these drafts, it was ultimately his decisions that led to these players being picked by the Habs. Every single transaction that is made by an organization has to be approved by the general manager.
No matter who you want to give the credit to, Bergevin, Timmins or the scouts on the ground, it doesn’t really matter. What does matter, is it appears the past three drafts have overstocked the Habs prospect cupboards and should make the Montreal Canadiens a fantastic team for many years into the future.