Stu Cowan: Habs take first steps to get franchise back on track

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I guess it was finally enough for Geoff Molson and the Canadiens’ group of owners.

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The Canadiens owner / president announced in a statement Sunday that general manager Marc Bergevin, assistant general manager Trevor Timmins and Paul Wilson, senior vice president in charge of public affairs and communications, “have been relieved of their duties. “.

That’s a polite way of saying they were fired.

A 6-3 win over the Penguins on Saturday in Pittsburgh wasn’t enough for Molson to delay his decision with the Canadiens at his worst start in franchise history and 29th overall in the NHL with a record. from 6-15-2. and a 0.1% chance of reaching the playoffs, according to Sportsclubstats.com . The Canadiens haven’t been able to win two games in a row all season.

Molson also announced that former New York Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton has been hired as executive vice president of hockey operations “to ensure the continuity of daily hockey operations during this process.”

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That process will likely include finding a bilingual GM to replace Bergevin. Molson has made it clear in the past that he wants his general manager and head coach to be bilingual.

It certainly appears that Molson will take a step back in his control over hockey operations after Bergevin briefed him directly. You have to wonder if that was Molson’s choice, or if he was pressured by other members of the ownership group to do so and the wheels fell out of the franchise just four months after advancing to the Stanley Cup final.

That’s one of the questions Molson can be asked on Monday at 11am when he gives a press conference at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard.

When Molson was asked last year about not having a hockey operations director, he said, “I have no intention of hiring another hockey president. There are very few teams in the NHL that do this and there are many reasons for it. Marc is one of the most respected GMs in hockey. He is also now among the most experienced and will continue to inform me. He is very well surrounded by people with a lot of experience, which includes, without naming them all, the likes of Scott Mellanby, Martin Lapointe and John Sedgwick. There is a culture in the whole team, and around Marc, not to be afraid to question the decisions we make. “

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Mellanby resigned as an assistant general manager on Saturday, while Lapointe (director of player personnel and amateur scouts) and Sedgwick (vice president of hockey operations and legal affairs) remain on the team.

Monday will be the first time fans and the media will hear from Molson since the Canadiens’ controversial decision to select Logan Mailloux in the first round of the NHL Draft in July.

It was surprising that the Canadiens made a draft pick that would attract so much negative attention after building such a positive vibe en route to the Stanley Cup final. It was even more surprising that Canadians seemed unprepared for backlash by recruiting Mailloux, who was charged with libel and offensive photography in Sweden after secretly photographing a woman involved in a sexual act with him and then sharing the photo. and his identity with his fellow SK Lejon. Mailloux had resigned himself from the draft, saying he didn’t deserve to be selected, but the Canadiens still chose him.

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One day after selecting Mailloux, Timmins still wasn’t ready to answer questions about the decision, and part of that must fall to Wilson. There was 20 seconds of silence from Timmins after being asked why the Canadiens believed Mailloux earned the right to be drafted when the player himself did not.

Timmins said Molson approved of the decision to recruit Mailloux, noting: “Geoff Molson is aware of everything that is going on in our organization and this was a hockey decision and we will leave it at that.”

Molson waited five days after the draft before finally making a statement on the decision to recruit Mailloux and then selected a small group of reporters who would be invited to ask him questions at a Zoom conference. Again, part of that decision must rest with Wilson, along with the decision that Bergevin only give one-on-one interviews to selected journalists last weekend.

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It will be interesting to see if there is more transparency with the Canadiens moving forward.

It appears that everything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong for the Canadiens since the Stanley Cup final, beginning with the draft and including Captain Shea Weber’s career likely coming to an end due to injuries, Carey Price entering the program of NHL / NHLPA player assistance for substance use after off-season knee surgery, Joel Edmundson was off-season from the start of training camp with an undisclosed injury, along with the loss of players like Phillip Danault and Corey Perry, who played key roles during the playoff race.

There are a lot of things the Canadiens need to fix to get this franchise back on track.

The first steps were taken on Sunday.

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