Former general manager’s fingerprints all over the Canadiens
Monday was team photo day for the Canadiens at the Bell Centre.
Only six players in the photo were with the team three years ago when the Canadiens advanced to the Stanley Cup final before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning: Nick Suzuki, Brendan Gallagher, Josh Anderson, Cole Caufield, Joel Armia and Jake Evans.
That’s why that Cup run probably seems like a very long time ago to Canadiens fans and also to Evans.
“I guess I’m at the point now where years are somewhat blending together,” Evans, now in his fifth season, said after the Canadiens practised Monday following the team photo. “I’ll have to ask guys: ‘Were you there for that?’ Guys like Savy (David Savard) and Devo (Christian Dvorak).
“I guess it wasn’t expected after that year,” Evans added about all the changes to the team. “But it is a little bit weird now when you see a lot of guys you used to play with on all these different teams.”
Among those in Monday’s team photo who weren’t with the Canadiens in 2021 were Jeff Gorton, the executive vice-president of hockey operations, general manager Kent Hughes and head coach Martin St. Louis.
This Canadiens’ rebuild started on March 28, 2021, when owner/president Geoff Molson decided to fire Marc Bergevin after he had spent 10 seasons as GM and hire Gorton.
A big reason why the Canadiens had to rebuild was because of Bergevin’s dismal record with his first-round draft picks. Between 2012 and 2018, Bergevin’s first round picks (in order) were Alex Galchenyuk, Michael Mccarron, Nikita Scherbak, Noah Juulsen, Mikhail Sergachev, Ryan Poehling and Jesperi Kotkaniemi.
Sergachev was the best of the bunch, but Bergevin traded the defenceman to the Lightning in exchange for Jonathan Drouin a week before drafting Poehling. Bergevin’s decision to take Kotkaniemi with the third overall pick in 2018 instead of Brady Tkachuk — who went to the Ottawa Senators with the fourth pick — will continue to hurt the Canadiens for years to come.
But Bergevin did make some good draft picks after 2018 and they were in Monday’s team photo and will be part of this rebuilding process. Caufield was Bergevin’s first-round pick in 2019, Jayden Struble was his second-round pick that year and Rafaël Harvey-pinard was a seventh-round pick the same year. Kaiden Guhle was Bergevin’s first-round pick in 2020 and Joshua Roy was a fifth-round pick that year.
It was also Bergevin who acquired Suzuki from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for Max Pacioretty. Cody Glass was the player Bergevin really wanted to get from Vegas in exchange for Pacioretty, but getting Suzuki instead has worked out very well.