The Montreal Canadiens have cleaned house.
The team has announced on Sunday afternoon that they have relieved executive vice president and GM, Marc Bergevin of his duties. Assistant GM, Trevor Timmins and senior vice president of public affairs, Paul Wilson have also been let go from the organization.
In a corresponding move, the Canadiens appointed former New York Rangers GM, Jeff Gorton to the role of executive vice president of hockey operations.
Gorton previously served as GM of the New York Rangers from 2015 until May of 2021 before being fired along with team president John Davidson. Prior to his time with the Rangers, Gorton spent 13 years with the Boston Bruins in a variety of roles, including interim GM in 2005-06.
This Red Sunday does not exactly come as a shock.
The Canadiens currently sit second-last in the Atlantic Division less than a calendar year after making the Stanley Cup final. Despite some brief flashes of competence over the years, the team has never managed to build a sustainable model of success with Bergevin at the helm, while the scouting department, led by Timmins, served as perhaps the worst at evaluating first-round talent in the entire league.
Just two of the Canadiens’ eight first-round draft picks since 2012 remain with the team today. The lone survivor of the bunch to log NHL games is Ryan Poehling, who has seven goals in 37 career games. The other is Logan Mailloux, whom the team selected despite his camp publicly asking teams not to choose him after Mailloux was convicted of a sex crime earlier that year.
Moving forward, the Canadiens have pledged to work in tandem with Gorton to select a new GM who can “communicate with fans in both English and French”, limiting their options when it comes to a replacement before even beginning their search.
Needless to say, there’s never a dull moment in Montreal.
