The former Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin recently did an interview with Pierre Lebrun with the Athletic, and it revealed a few things, notably that Bergevin had planned to end his time with the Montreal Canadiens that year, had he not been fired during the season.
It is true that 2021-22 was the final year of Bergevin's contract, and that the GM and team had not been able to reach a contract extension. It was going to be the 10th year of running the team for Bergevin, who took over from Pierre Gauthier, who had a short but tumultuous time as Canadiens GM.
Gauthier was notable for firing bilingual coach Jacques Martin and hiring the English speaking Randy Cunneyworth, which was widely criticized. He also executed the rare trade during a game, with forward Mike Cammalieri leaving part-way through a game after being traded to the Calgary Flames.
If you talk to Montreal Canadiens fans today, there will likely be a large variety of opinions on Marc Bergevin's nine year tenure in the position. Numerically, it seemed to be pretty successful, with the Canadiens making the playoffs in six of the nine years.
One thing that could be deeply criticized was Marc Bergevin's drafting. Towards the end picks like Cole Caufield and Kaiden Guhle have looked like great picks, but looking back at the first few years has been rough. Nathan Beaulieu, Michael McCarron, Nikita Scherbak, Noah Juulsen and Ryan Poehling are all first round picks that fell flat.
But Bergevin made up for it by being quite a strong trader, and a General Manager that was not afraid to make the unpopular decision. He switched struggling Alex Galchenyuk for struggling Max Domi, and Domi had a fantastic year for the Canadiens. And the Canadiens still have Josh Anderson, who was later traded for Domi, while Galchenyuk is no longer in the league and Max Domi is not a Blue Jacket anymore.
And who could forget the P.K. Subban for Shea Weber trade? Both were high end defenders, but many questioned why you would acquire an older, more physical and likely to decline defender for a younger, explosive, offensive fan favourite.
However, Weber went on to captain the team, fix the culture that was in the locker room and lead the team to the Stanley Cup Final while being 'wrapped up like a mummy.' And Weber was a member of the newest class into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
And possibly his best move was to trade captain and offensive leader Max Pacioretty to the fledgling Vegas Golden Knights for a haul, including current Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki. Obviously Suzuki is still one of the biggest pieces on the Canadiens, while Pacioretty was traded for good ol' future considerations and has been a rental the past couple of years.
Although sometimes his trades would not work out. Anderson has been a lot more miss than hit in his time with the Canadiens. Like the 2017 trade deadline, where Bergevin tanked the Canadiens' playoff hopes by acquiring Dwight King, Steve Ott, Andreas Martinsen and Brandon Davidson. Moves which just aged and slowed down the team.
And then, of course he executed the infamous Mikhail Sergachev for Jonathan Drouin trade. Sergachev became a big part of the Tampa Bay Lightning's defensive group and won multiple Stanley Cups, while Drouin struggled with consistency during his time as a Canadien.
Bergevin was fired just months after making the Stanley Cup Final, and with this news, it seems to make a little more sense. If Bergevin made it clear he wasn't returning, this would give the team the opportunity to hire a new general manager in the season, and get them more up to speed with the team before the busy and crucial off-season.
Bergevin finished his tenure with a winning overall record, and a Stanley Cup Final appearance. He now is a senior adviser for the L.A. Kings, but says he hasn't ruled out a return to the GM chair if someone gives him the chance.