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Montreal Canadiens: Ranking Marc Bergevin’s Five Worst Trades

By Ken MacMillan

Montreal Canadiens, Marc Bergevin (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
Montreal Canadiens, Marc Bergevin (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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GLENDALE, ARIZONA – DECEMBER 20: David Schlemko #21 of the Montreal Canadiens skates with the puck during the third period of the NHL game against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on December 20, 2018 in Glendale, Arizona. The Canadiens defeated the Coyotes 2-1. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
GLENDALE, ARIZONA – DECEMBER 20: David Schlemko #21 of the Montreal Canadiens skates with the puck during the third period of the NHL game against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on December 20, 2018 in Glendale, Arizona. The Canadiens defeated the Coyotes 2-1. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

4. Montreal Canadiens trade a fifth round pick for David Schlemko

The summer of 2017 was not the best time for Marc Bergevin as general manager of the Canadiens. He made some head scratching decisions that he is lucky did not cost him his job at the time – especially when the team tanked the following season.

One of those deals was shipping out a draft pick for left defenceman David Schlemko. It’s not the most terrible decision on the surface, but it is difficult to evaluate this deal in a vacuum. You see, in a short few weeks that summer, Bergevin let Andrei Markov walk via free agency, traded Nathan Beaulieu and Mikhail Sergachev and lost Alexei Emelin in the expansion draft.

That is all four left defenders who played games for the Habs the previous season. His idea to replace the departing players was to trade for Schlemko, sign Karl Alzner to a huge deal, try out Jordie Benn as a top pairing defenceman and give Mark Streit a chance to prove he still had something left at 40 years of age.

Schlemko played a total of 55 games with the Habs over the past two seasons, spent a stint in the minor leagues and was traded in a cap dump to the Philadelphia Flyers. Not only did he not work out, but if he wasn’t acquired, the Canadiens likely would have needed to keep Beaulieu or Markov which would have been a huge improvement.

Schlemko was proving to be one of the most well-traveled defensemen in the league when the Canadiens acquired him. Bergevin not only thought he could play for Montreal, but thought he would be an upgrade on the players he decided to move on from. He regrets that decision now.

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