Montreal Canadiens: Geoff Molson Has Offered Marc Bergevin a Contract Extension

Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin has had an interesting tenure with the Habs.

There are times when he looks great, like many trades he has made over the years. Getting Shea Weber for P.K. Subban turned out fantastic. Acquiring Max Domi and two years later trading him away both worked out for the best.

Perhaps no trade was better than moving Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise for Phillip Danault and a second round pick that became Alexander Romanov.

Yet, the pieces of the puzzle don’t always seem to fit. When the Canadiens missed the playoffs in 2018, then narrowly missed out again in 2019, and then were sellers at the 2020 trade deadline, there were plenty of fans that were fed up. He was approaching ten years with the team and they were about to miss the playoffs for the third consecutive year. Was it time to move on?

Then, a global pandemic took over the world and the NHL eventually settled on an expanded postseason which would include the Canadiens. They upset the Pittsburgh Penguins before falling to the Philadelphia Flyers.

This season, an odd Canadian Division was formed to limit travel between countries and the Habs snuck into the postseason thanks to an incredible start.

Again, Bergevin’s offseason moves like acquiring Josh Anderson, Tyler Toffoli, Jake Allen, Joel Edmundson and Corey Perry looked smart. But the team barely made the playoffs in a weak division. He made great moves but it didn’t seem to fit together.

Then the playoffs started and the Canadiens made a run to the Stanley Cup Final.

There are still fans that don’t think he is doing a good job as the team’s general manager but in a 12 month span the Canadiens beat the Penguins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights in playoff series. All four of those teams are Stanley Cup hopefuls but they couldn’t beat the Canadiens in a playoff series.

So is the team any good or is it just built for playoff hockey? Fans continued to debate this into the Stanley Cup Final.

Complicating things is the fact Bergevin is entering the final year of his contract with the organization. He said early in the summer that he would honour the contract and then see where things go from there.

According to Pierre Lebrun of TSN, Molson has reached out and offered Bergevin a contract extension in July. The two did not agree to terms on a new contract so it leaves us wondering if Bergevin is entering the final year as the team’s general manager and if he wants it to be the final year of his tenure.

It will be an interesting storyline to follow but you hope it doesn’t become a distraction for the team. If Bergevin is going to be back in 2022-23, hopefully the two can agree to terms before this season starts.

If he won’t be back, the organization should announce their transition plan shortly to avoid this story becoming a distraction in the regular season. Obviously they can’t fire a GM whose team just went to the Stanley Cup Finals, but if Bergevin does not want to re-sign, it’s fine to announce this will be his final year before he steps away.