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TAMPA, Fla. — There was a moment in Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin’s press conference on Sunday that might have perked up the ears of the Quebecois audience listening in.

“Ça serait le rêve ultime pour moi, puis je pourrais prendre ma retraite après,” Bergevin said en française.
Roughly translated, on his chance to deliver Montreal and Canada’s first Stanley Cup in 28 years, Bergevin said: “It would be the ultimate dream for me, and then I could retire afterwards.”
Bergevin, now 55, was known as one of hockey’s brilliant pranksters during his 1,191-game NHL playing career. So he wouldn’t be a stranger to a tongue-in-cheek comment or lighthearted moment.
But there is always usually a kernel of truth somewhere in any joke. And there have been rumblings behind the scenes, with one year remaining on his contract, that Bergevin may not be long for his role in Montreal.<div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="152"></div>
Managing the Montreal Canadiens is a job unlike any other in pro sports. You need to wear a suit of armor underneath your shirt and tie to go to the rink every day. The almost unrelenting criticism and second-guessing has to take its toll on even the most thick-skinned individual over nine years.
“It’s a different animal,” Blues GM Doug Armstrong told DailyFaceoff.com on Monday, a counterpart who has gotten to know Bergevin well. “I’ve been fortunate to work in two great hockey markets like Dallas and St. Louis and a lot of the pressure is internal. It’s hard to quantify Montreal – and I know this because I’ve worked with Guy Carbonneau and Bob Gainey and my father was a long-time scout for the Canadiens – but it just is different.<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="132"></div>
“You hear your successes and failures in two different languages. Toronto may have more national pressure in Canada, but there is no doubt Montreal is under the most provincial pressure.”
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And maybe, just maybe, that is why we saw Bergevin erupt in celebration at the Bell Centre last week when the Canadiens advanced to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1993.
Bergevin pumped his fists and jumped up and down in a refreshing display of emotion rare for typically buttoned-up hockey executives. Of course, Bergevin was thrilled his team was now on the precipice of Lord Stanley, but it also must have felt like vindication or validation in his belief and process after a near-decade barrage of bullets.
“I get a little emotional. I guess I wear it on my sleeve,” Bergevin said Sunday. “I care for these guys, I really do. I feel like – they’re not my kids – but we put this team together. I think there are only two guys left (Carey Price and Brendan Gallagher) since I took over, so it’s a team we have put together, and it’s rewarding to be where we are today.”<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="192"></div>
Cameras captured Bergevin whispering a personal message to Price at ice-level amid the on-ice celebration. Bergevin clarified to say that he hugged every player on the roster.
“I try not to forget anyone because I know how much they are important,” Bergevin said. “Either you play seven minutes or you play 27 minutes, you’re part of this team.”
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Armstrong has become a close friend and “big fan” of Bergevin, he said through a relationship that began with Hockey Canada at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. They didn’t cross paths previously. He said Bergevin showed the emotion that he was feeling internally in 2019 when the Blues advanced to the Cup Final for the first time in 49 years.
“It was great to see ‘Berge’ show it. You have to be true to yourself and who you are, and he’s always had that,” Armstrong said. “He may show it in his clothing. Or he’s one of the few guys our age who still wear long hair. I’d definitely be showing that off if I could.<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="3" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="176"></div>
“Look, there is nothing like working in a Canadian market. They expect success in Montreal, they expect to win. Those banners in the Bell Centre aren’t hung for division or conference championships. They’re for Stanley Cups, and their retired numbers are the Who’s-Who of hockey. There’s definitely more ghosts in Montreal than anywhere else.”
Like Bergevin did in Chicago in 2010, Armstrong won a Stanley Cup as an assistant GM in Dallas in 1999 before taking over in St. Louis. Like many other managers around the league, Armstrong admires in the Canadiens their big, heavy backend and their strength down the middle of the ice. But he pointed out Bergevin’s use of “draft equity” that stood out in the construction of this roster.
Bergevin acquired a lot of picks in trades and either made use of them directly – like selecting Alexander Romanov at No. 38 overall in 2018 after getting that pick from Chicago with Phillip Danault for Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise. Or he used the extra picks in his arsenal, like Washington’s third-round pick, that he sent to Armstrong in St. Louis last September for goaltender Jake Allen – who picked up Carey Price this season when the former Hart Trophy winner needed to re-tool his game.<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="4" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="210"></div>
Bergevin’s trade record is nearly impeccable, from Shea Weber for P.K. Subban to Alex Galchenyuk for Max Domi for Josh Anderson. The Habs still have 11 picks in July’s upcoming Draft – and that’s after burning some to bolster this lineup with Eric Staal and Jon Merrill, who are both playing in the Final.
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“He built up a lot of draft equity and now he’s reaping the rewards,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong commended Bergevin because, for whatever reason, fanbases now interpret teams as either “contender or rebuilding,” but the “reality is the league doesn’t work like that.”
“It’s an interesting dynamic, one or the other,” Armstrong said. “It can’t be like that all the time.”
Bergevin was comfortable retooling the Canadiens on the fly. He took a risk meddling in the middle of the NHL’s competitive muck, which was unpopular then, and now the Habs are on the brink of a 25th Stanley Cup.<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="5" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="154"></div>
Bergevin admitted in French he is “a bit nervous, a bit excited.” How could he not be?
“But most of all, [I’m] proud to have the opportunity to bring the Stanley Cup back to Montreal.”
That would quell the critics, Armstrong said, but only for a short time in Montreal.
“Regardless of what happens this series, he’ll be back in the crosshairs on August 1st,” Armstrong said, chuckling. “It’s the nature of the beast – it will either be about repeating or how they can get back there.”
Unless, of course, Bergevin rides off into the sunset – having tamed the beast of the Belle Province.