Montreal Canadiens: This Could be Marc Bergevin’s Last Year as a GM

Yesterday was an extremely busy day for the Montreal Canadiens, as they did their exit interviews and reflected on this past season and their unbelievable playoff run.

However, it will only get busier in the next few weeks with the expansion draft on July 21, the entry draft on July 23 and 24, and the free-agency period starting on July 28. This means that general manager Marc Bergevin will particularly be busy this month, and most likely all summer long.

But what came as a shock was his response to whether or not he sees himself continuing in this role once his contract expires with the Canadiens at the end of the 2021-22 season.

“I have one more year on my contract, and I will honour that,” Bergevin said.

Although he has received a fair amount of criticism over his nine years as GM in Montreal, there is no doubt that he did an amazing job last offseason and this year to bring in Stanley Cup winners and veterans (Corey Perry, Eric Staal), as well as powerful offensive forces in Tyler Toffoli and Josh Anderson. He also went out of his way to bring in a defenceman when the team desperately needed one (Jon Merrill), as well as a help on the powerplay (Erik Gustafsson) when the Canadiens were struggling with it.

There is no doubt that without all these additions to the roster and the shuffling of the lines with these new members, the team probably wouldn’t have made it to the Stanley Cup Final.

After the Canadiens won the Western Conference Final, Bergevin had also said that if they were to win the Cup, he could retire. Of course, all of Montreal knows the GM has a good sense of humour, and that he didn’t seem entirely serious, but with the new information he shared yesterday, could this mean he will be looking to retire after his contract is up?

I would think it’s either that, or he will be looking for a different role within the Canadiens’ organization.

But what I don’t see, is him leaving the Canadiens to go work as a GM for another NHL organization. After all the work he put in to not only form the tightest team they’ve had in years, but also to get the furthest they have since he became GM, it wouldn’t make sense for him to look for work somewhere else, at least not for the same role.

“He built this team, it’s his team,” Ben Chiarot said about his GM. “He gets all the credit for bringing this group together. […] He was up for GM of the year for a reason, he did an unbelievable job, and all the credit goes to him.”

No matter what Bergevin decides to do at the end of next year, it’s clear that he did everything he could and wanted to do with the Canadiens.

So, whether that will be the end of his journey with them or not, he can call it a successful one. However, it’s far from being over. With a regular 82-game season back in October, there will be more than enough time to see more of Bergevin’s transactions in what could be his last year with the Canadiens.