Following his quiet sacking, Habs General Manager Marc Bergevin was praised by Brendan Gallagher, Jonathan Drouin, and Ben Chiarot. They applauded how close he was to the team, how passionate he was, how hard he worked. In short: they appreciated Marc Bergevin because he treated the team like a team, and himself like a part of the team.
In fact, a long time ago (under a different username) on HFBoards, I mused that Marc Bergevin probably sees his role as the Captain of the Habs organization and any success would come from his leadership but be credited to the whole team. That lens helped make sense of his unceasing loyalty to his front office staff and coaches — hockey professionals who would’ve been out fishing quarters from metro air vents if their work was to be judged on actual metrics like success and results. But not in Montreal, not in Marc Bergevin’s orbit.
Marc the Captain wore his heart on his sleeve and believed in the potential of his players and staff like a captain thinks his fourth line teammate can Do More and Hit Somebody. 1
Marc the Captain identified with Carey Price and Shea Weber because he saw himself and his old captains in them and he saw just what they’re capable of achieving single-handedly. Never mind that those highs were increasingly rare and behind them, never mind that it is a foolish plan to expect the Best Case Scenario. As a captain you always have to expect and demand more from your players, it’s part of the M.O.
Marc the Captain went down with his ship, just one week before his sacking he stated (boasted?) that Trevor Timmins (Assistant GM and Amateur Draft lead) and Dominic Ducharme (Head Coach) were not at fault for the bad results and that if there was any heat it should be placed upon his broad shoulders.
Many in the Habs ecosystem dutifully repeated this line without challenging him on what he really meant by “it’s not on them, it’s on me”, a reliable phrase he’s used before to deflect heat off his team.
I argued that it was the height of hypocrisy to say “it’s on me” and then avoid making the hard decisions needed to rectify the problem. Maybe you really don’t think Dominic Ducharme is the problem but if you’re assuming responsibility for the results and the results are not there, you need to either acquire a player to fix the problem (impossible) or fire Ducharme despite not wanting to fire him.
That’s the point of taking responsibility and swallowing the bitter pill: it’s bitter for a god-damned reason.
That’s the story of BargainBin Bergevin, all talk, all confusing talk, all incomprehensible talk but when it came to making tough decisions that didn’t suit his vision, he totally avoided them.
He avoided firing former head coach Michel Therrien the many times Therrien needed firing until the relationship was well past tenable.
He avoided acquiring the players he needed to improve the team because he’d always balk at the cost.2
He avoided acquiring good depth players for playoff runs because he didn’t want to pay the price — instead he rummaged in the BargainBin for the likes of Steve Ott and Dwight King which lead to abortive one-and-dones.
He made big trades alright, but he did them because he wanted to, not because he didn’t want to.
He wanted to trade Subban
He wanted to trade for Drouin
He wanted to trade Galchenyuk
He wanted to trade Pacioretty
This was a man who was meticulously building the team he wanted to. He whiffed on many free agency offers (Brad Richards, Duchene, Panarin, Lucic, Tavares, etc.) but not once was he backed into a trade.
Everything he did in building this team, he did with conviction.
So what happened after he “won” those trades and got his man? The team didn’t get better. In fact it kept getting worse and if it was not for the curiosities of playing during a pandemic the team would’ve fallen outside of a playoff spot for five years in a row — a record of futility in Habs history.
What you see in the latter years of the below table is totally and wholly Bergevin’s team. Particularly from 2016 onward, after he had jettisoned Subban and proudly boasted that Weber improved the Habs — this team was in Bergevin’s image.
The team that won six playoff rounds in nine years while generally spending freely and with no owner-imposed constraints. That will be six playoff round wins in ten years once this abortive season is over.
The team that either missed the playoffs entirely or lost in the first round six years out of nine. That makes only three years of nine (now: ten) where the team Bergevin assembled tasted playoff success.
Is it harsh to look at playoff series wins rather than playoff appearances? I don’t think so. In the years the Habs made the playoffs they spent to the cap or very close to it, so you’d expect a return on investment: win four games out of seven against another playoff team. If you can’t do that, how can you claim the season was as success?
Marc Bergevin was a general manager who surrounded himself with people he handpicked to support him, and built a team with players he handpicked to suit his tastes.
Unfortunately for the viewer, Marc Bergevin has bad taste in clothes and in assembling winning hockey teams. And now he’s gone.
Well, most of them — let’s get to that later.
They’re not available! This isn’t playstation! The prices were too high!