Montreal Canadiens move on from more of their amateur scouts
By Omar L
The Montreal Canadiens are continuing to revamp their scouting staff as they choose not to renew more of their scout’s contracts.
Marc Bergevin has continued to stick to his word that there will be changes among the Montreal Canadiens scouting staff. It started with Steve Ludzik who announced on social media that he wouldn’t be returning to the team. Ludzik had served as the team’s amateur scout in Ontario having a hand in the decisions to draft Victor Mete, Will Bitten, and Michael Pezzetta.
TVA Sports broke the news yesterday night that Ludzik wouldn’t be the only one. According to the article, the Montreal Canadiens have confirmed that Pat Westrum, Andy Bezeau, and Alvin Backus would not have their contracts renewed at the end of the month. Of the four to be let go, Westrum was with the organization the longest working with the Habs since 2006.
Bezeau, on the other hand, was only with the team for this season.
The Montreal Canadiens now have 11 scouts remaining. What effects this has on the team’s success on the podium is still yet to be seen, but it’s interesting that they continue to make changes ahead of the big event in Dallas. However, fans should be reassured that the Habs aren’t taking this draft lightly.
Not only did they have extensive at the main Scouting Combine, but the Habs also set up two of their own. It helps that Trevor Timmins will still have access to whatever reports those four came up with over the course of the season. Although there are fewer minds to break down each of them, that may be a good thing.
Perhaps these decisions were also a way to lessen the saturation among scouts as well as reconstruct the staff. If so, the Habs may deserve an optimistic thumbs up on this one.
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