‘My job is to stay positive,’ says Canadiens owner Geoff Molson

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Marc Bergevin had recovered from COVID-19 on Sunday when he learned that he had been fired as general manager of the Canadiens.

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“Yesterday the COVID-19 passed and I waited,” team owner / president Geoff Molson said Monday when asked about when to fire Bergevin. “That is part of the situation that you have to deal with.

“I often joke, sometimes I’m going to write a book about what it’s like to be in my position because every day, every hour, something changes and you have to adapt,” added Molson. “But you also have to be very confidential. Marc and I had a great conversation yesterday and he fully understands what was going on and knows what it is like because he did it for nine and a half years. So I don’t think you should at all interpret that there was, at all, any disrespect for Marc. In fact, for nine and a half years I don’t think that even if you asked him you would find any situation where he was disrespected. In any case, he has been respected and I still have a lot of respect for him. “

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But Molson wasn’t happy with the direction the team was headed this season, going 6-15-2 heading into Monday night’s game against the Vancouver Canucks, so he decided to fire Bergevin and the assistant general manager Trevor Timmins on Sunday one day. after Scott Mellanby resigned from his position as assistant general manager.

“I made this decision because it was necessary,” Molson said. “Our start to the season was unacceptable for the Montreal Canadiens and something had to be done to change direction.”

Molson thanked Bergevin, Timmins and Mellanby for their work, noting that the team that made an “extraordinary journey” to the Stanley Cup final last season was built by Bergevin. But Molson added that the Canadiens had several consecutive seasons with average performances and came very close to being eliminated by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the playoffs last season after falling behind 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.

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The Canadiens finished 18th in the NHL overall standings last season and they finished 24th the previous season. They were fortunate enough to enter the playoffs both years due to a shortened schedule and new playoff formats due to COVID-19. The Canadiens missed the playoffs both seasons before COVID-19 hit.

Bergevin was in the final year of his contract and in his 10th season as general manager. Molson said he started having talks with Bergevin last year about a possible contract extension and they spoke again after the Stanley Cup final. It wasn’t until September that Molson said he decided it was better to wait than sign Bergevin to a contract extension at that point because he had a lot to think about the future direction of the team.

Now Jeff Gorton, hired Sunday as executive vice president of hockey operations, and whoever is hired as the next general manager will be managing the Canadiens.

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Molson said he wants them to set new standards of excellence in hockey operations and improve the way the team is run both on and off the ice, including being better at selecting and developing players and doing more to support and assist them. to be successful in such activities. a demanding market. Molson, with team medics, has also begun the process of formalizing a medical performance team that will focus on how players are doing off the ice, including resources for players and staff across the organization at all areas related to the well-being and mental health of athletes.

“There will always be low times, there will be normal times and there will be high times,” Molson said. “My job is to stay positive, my job is to support hockey people, my job is to make tough decisions like yesterday.

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“Do I go to bed at night feeling good about making difficult decisions? No, I don’t know, ”he added. “But I do and we are having a new beginning and I am looking forward to it. So it’s part of my job and I love my job and it’s going to continue. My job is also to have a role in the community and that will continue. My job is to introduce diversity into the organization and that will continue. And my job is to oversee the people who are going to manage hockey operations and that will continue as well and I am not one to interfere with hockey operations. But to be able to have a full perspective on this market and take the business side and integrate it into the hockey side, someone has to do that and it’s fun. “

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Here’s some more of what Molson had to say during his hour-long press conference Monday at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard.

On finding a new GM and how long it will take:

“There is no doubt that it will be an exhaustive search and we are going to search everywhere to find the right person. But I still believe that the sooner the better. But it won’t be at the expense of an exhaustive search, for sure. There are some great candidates out there that some of you are already talking about. I have not yet asked any team for permission to speak to anyone. But the first step is to research and put together a list and we’ll take it from there. But there is no doubt that the investigation will be thorough. “

Would you be willing to wait until the end of the season to find the right GM?

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We’ll cross that bridge when I get there. But I don’t think we will rush to do anything if we think there will be a better candidate available in the offseason. I think we will choose the best candidate no matter what happens ”.

Would you be willing to do a rebuild?

“I hear from our fan base all the time and you get a mixed set of comments from the fan base. But whatever decision (Gorton and the new GM) want to bring to the table, I will support whether it is the right thing for the Montreal Canadiens to do to be a great team in the long run. I am not afraid of that word and I think our fans would not be afraid of that word either. I am a good listener and ask a lot of questions and try to inform my opinions. And if that is what they propose to me, I would take it all very seriously.

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“I have never interfered with hockey decisions. I have always been someone who asks many questions, finds a way to be supportive and today you see me making a difficult decision and it is probably because I have reached a point where I am no longer supportive. Until then my role is to help when they need it. My role is to offer my own perspective and to generate enough questions to make me comfortable with the direction in which they are headed. “

On adding diversity to Canadians:

“I’m particularly referring to the hockey operations side because, as Grupo CH, we have a fairly diverse group of people and we have a lot of diversity programs and training programs to educate our employees. But I think on the hockey side there is a great opportunity to introduce different perspectives into the organization and that will only make us stronger and make us make better decisions, and I really believe that. It is not easy to do, but it is certainly a priority and with the arrival of this new management team, I think we will be in a much better position to make that happen. “

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