PLEKANEC’S CLASSY GOODBYE
Trade handled well by Bergevin
Maybe, just maybe, Marc Bergevin is getting better at his job.
The Canadiens general manager made a good trade Sunday, sending veteran centre Tomas Plekanec to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for forward Kerby Rychel and defenceman Rinat Valiev — two young prospects who have been playing for the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies — along with a second-round pick at this year’s NHL draft. The Canadiens also sent forward Kyle Baun, who had been playing for the AHL’s Laval Rocket, to Toronto and TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported Montreal will retain 50 per cent of the remaining $6-million salary cap hit for Plekanec.
The Canadiens now have four second-round picks at this year’s draft and nine picks overall.
But what’s just as important for the Canadiens moving forward is Bergevin didn’t burn any bridges with Plekanec — not like when the GM told fans he wasn’t shopping P.K. Subban and then traded him to Nashville or the final “first come, first served” contract offers he made to Andrei Markov and Alexander Radulov, who both told him to take a hike and went elsewhere, talking about the lack of respect the GM had shown them.
This time, the dapper GM handled Plekanec the way the classy veteran deserved to be handled after 13 seasons with the Canadiens, posting 232-373605 totals in 981 regular-season games. Only seven men have played more games with the Canadiens — one of them being Markov — and with the Leafs having 18 games remaining on their schedule, Plekanec will finish this season with 999 career games if he stays healthy.
Plekanec — who can become an unrestricted free agent July 1 — didn’t rule out the possibility of returning to Montreal next season to play his 1,000th game and actually had nice things to say about Bergevin Sunday.
“He’s got to do what’s best for the organization,” Plekanec said. “That’s what he did. I really appreciated when we chatted. I didn’t know anything about what’s going to happen, when it’s going to happen or where.”
When asked if he had spoken with Bergevin about the possibility of returning to the Canadiens next season, Plekanec said: “We touched on that. But as you know, it’s going to happen on July 1, I guess. Up until then …”
At least the ending to Plekanec’s story in Montreal — even if he doesn’t return next season — is a happy one. He might even win a Stanley Cup with a young, offensively explosive Maple Leafs team that can use his veteran leadership and experience along with his solid two-way play as a centre who can win key faceoffs and kill penalties.
In Rychel, the Canadiens are getting a physical, six-foot-one, 213-pound left-winger who was selected in the first round (19th overall) by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2013 NHL draft and had 10-20-30 totals in 55 games this season with the Marlies. The 23-year-old has played 37 NHL games with the Blue Jackets, posting 2-10-12 totals.
In Valiev, the Canadiens are getting a six-foot-two, 208-pound defenceman who posted 5-10-15 totals in 40 games with the Marlies and was plus-14. The 22-year-old Russian, who was selected by Toronto in the third round (68th overall) at the 2014 NHL draft, is pointless in 10 career NHL games.
It’s hard to believe Bergevin is going to keep his job after this season’s disaster in Year 6 of his five-year plan in which Bergy’s Law meant anything that could go wrong would go wrong. But it certainly looks like owner Geoff Molson will keep Bergevin since he’s allowing him to make deals ahead of Monday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline.
“I always said that my wish was to play for the Montreal Canadiens,” Plekanec said. “But at the same time, I knew the situation and I’m very excited going to the Toronto Maple Leafs. It’s a talented team that’s going to be in the playoffs and I got to turn the page just like that over a day, which is obviously hard. But I’ll do my best.
“It’s 15 years of my life,” he added about his time in the Canadiens organization. “It’s my home, my kids go to school here, their first language basically is French . ... But again, I’m going to a team that’s going to be in the playoffs and having a chance to play for a Stanley Cup. It’s awesome.”
As for Bergevin, Plekanec said: “I can’t thank him enough for the way he respected me and we talked. Over the years, and not just this year but every single year, I can’t say enough good things about Marc. Personally, I think he’s doing a great job with this team and he’s going to do a great job over the summer, too, to make this team really, really good for next season.”
Spoken like a player who really wants to come back to Montreal.
Even if that doesn’t end up happening, nice job, Bergy.