Call of the Wilde: Montreal Canadiens – Montreal Reception Card Changes | The Canadian News

As the news kept coming in by the hour on Saturday, it became clear again that a game story about the Canadiens in Pittsburgh had to be shelved again for the biggest news of the day.

Montreal’s season is in turmoil and giant changes at the front office look imminent.

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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Montreal Canadiens have received permission to speak with Jeff Gorton. Friedman doesn’t think it’s for the role of general manager, even though that’s the role Gorton would covet if he went back to hockey.

Right now, the New York Rangers pay Gorton, who fired him as general manager in 2019 during his contract. Gorton now works for the NHL Network as an analyst, which is obviously something to do until he finds an opportunity again to be in the NHL as a general manager.

There is speculation that Gorton could be Montreal’s director of hockey operations. This is a very similar job to GM and, in some cases, it is murky who has the power in the structure. Each team appears to have a different structure with the positions of GM and president or director of hockey operations.

If Habs owner Geoff Molson still felt indebted to general manager Marc Bergevin in any capacity, and didn’t want to fire him for the worst 22-game start in the franchise’s 112-year history, then this would be one. option for Molson. They suggest that Bergevin and Gorton will now share hockey decision responsibilities.

I’m not sure this will appease the fanbase, who probably don’t want Bergevin to be a part, in any way, of rebuilding this franchise. There would always be questions, as fans would wonder if Gorton was under Bergevin.

There’s really only one way to find out, and it’s obvious. If Bergevin remains the ultimate boss, the two are looking to upgrade the defense with another Karl Alzner. If Gorton is making the decisions, then they are looking to improve defense with a discus engine like Andrei Markov. Bergevin has never made a serious move to move pucks in his entire tenure as general manager. He has never sought to replace Markov with another player of his skill set. If that happens suddenly in year 11, we have our answer.

Gorton, if he were to become general manager, would be an excellent choice. He has done a great job in his career. He has been successful for Boston and New York as a general manager, making many crafty moves in his career.

If Gorton came to Montreal to join Bergevin, it would be a familiar scene for Gorton. When John Davidson came to New York as chief of hockey operations, he said he would not get in the way of Gorton’s general manager’s decisions and would work alongside him. We all know this is impossible and ultimately there has to be only one boss.

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If Gorton and Bergevin said they would work together as director of hockey operations and GM, then just wait to see how the team is built to find out who the one and only true boss is.

Gorton may also begin his tenure as an assistant general manager, as Scott Mellanby offered to resign from that position Saturday night. Mellanby is now free to pursue other opportunities. Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reports that Mellanby had talks to take on the role of general manager or the hockey operations role. After that, LeBrun reports that Mellanby was out of the running for any job. Gorton enters. Gorton working with Bergevin to start is a possible scenario, before Bergevin is relieved of his duties later.

There is also the possibility that Molson may not be able to give up Bergevin and his loyalty to him. This can happen when a family, rather than a consortium, runs a franchise. That head of the family can lead the club down a single path for much longer than any consortium would allow.

Other scenarios are possible, for example, that Gorton is speaking with the Habs to take over as CEO. Another scenario is that Gorton is not talking to Canadians. A final scenario is that Gorton will become a co-GM with a new French-speaking GM hired as well to keep the copase situation for those who care about the language in the province. There really isn’t an experienced French GM available, so this idea has some merit because the next Canadiens GM must have done the job sooner.

Let’s speculate like we’ve been around the block a bit about how the ‘spread the rumor’ game goes, because we’ve been around the block a bit. It makes sense to spread the Gorton rumor to calm down a bit, because he’s getting so restless in Montreal. So logic says the Habs are talking to Gorton.

After that, if a journalist is going to ask if it’s because of Bergevin’s job, the answer will never be true, because you just can’t be honest at the time, since Bergevin doesn’t have classes to know that he’s being fired through the media. . Any kind of rumor like this must be mostly murky about the details.

So Part 1: Is Gorton Talking To Montreal? Yes, almost 100 percent. Part 2: Will Gorton Finally Get The Hockey Operations Job And Not GM? That’s a 50-50 proposition, as no journalist is going to release such a specific scoop this early in the rumor game.

So we as viewers keep watching, happy to learn that Bergevin will get help or his walking papers.

If I had a bet in Las Vegas for all the money, I would say that Gorton will immediately come to work with Bergevin until he is familiar with the inner workings of the franchise, then he will take over as director of hockey operations when Bergevin is relieved. of their duties. When that happens, a Francophone will be hired to be general manager with Martin Madden in Anaheim as the most likely candidate.

It should also be remembered that Molson once said that the Canadian DJ should speak French. If you still believe that, then this looks like a Gorton and Madden partnership, with Madden as the voice of the media and the two making the decisions together. Molson ticks all the boxes because Gorton is experienced, Madden is French speaking, and they are both excellent hockey men.

Everyone is happy except the two men when they can’t agree on who they should select fourth overall, and they’re not sure who’s really in charge at the moment.

Stay tuned because these stories get very fluid very quickly.

Brian Wilde, a Montreal-based sports writer, brings you Call of the Wilde on globalnews.ca after every Canadiens game.