The Problematic Legacy of Former GM Marc Bergevin: A Closer Look at Contract Signings

It is evident, almost a year and a half after his departure, that the team’s former general manager, Marc Bergevin, left a problematic legacy.

As a negotiator for trades, Bergevin proved to be very competent, mostly succeeding in his trades during his tenure with the Habs. Its only notable hitch was the exchange of Mikhail Sergachev to Tampa Bay in return for Jonathan Drouin.

However, when it comes to contract signings, Bergevin has been miserable. Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic recently demonstrated how disastrous the contracts signed under his leadership have been.

An image presenting the performance of each contract currently in force in the organization shows that all the agreements signed by Bergevin, which are still in force today, have a very negative value in terms of production.

The team’s four worst contracts, Brendan Gallagher, Josh Anderson, Mike Hoffman et Joel Armia, were all granted by Bergevin. On the other hand, all the contracts signed by Kent Hughes since his arrival in Montreal, with the exception of that of Rem Pitlickshow a positive return in relation to their salary.

Thanks to Hughes’ hard work, the Habs are now ranked 26th in the league in terms of contracts, a significant improvement from 32nd the previous year under Bergevin.

The most worrying thing is that this list of bad contracts signed by the former CEO of CH during his career does not stop there.

Here is a list of contracts that have aged badly as well:

Bergevin’s only good shots were those of Brendan Gallagher in 2014 (6 years x $3.75 million), Carey Price in 2012 (6 years x $6.5 million), Max Pacioretty in 2012 (6 years x $4.5M) and also add Tyler Toffoli in 2020 (4 years x $4.25M).

Credit : The Athletic