If recent hires teach us anything, it’s that the job title “Chicago Blackhawks assistant GM” is almost as promising as actually being the general manager for the ‘Hawks. Current GM Stan Bowman’s latest departed right-hand man is Marc Bergevin, the new GM for the Montreal Canadiens. You’d think the Habs would want a letter of recommendation/stamp of approval from Bowman, but apparently the job title was enough.
Bowman told Tim Wharnsby that he would have given Bergevin the thumbs up if Montreal’s Serge Savard asked, though.
“No, Serge did not call me on Marc and I didn’t talk to Serge at any time during this,” Bowman said. “But from what I know Marc had a least two interviews. Marc has been a hard worker and has lots of energy. People are not going to fool him because he should have quite a book on the talent out there.
“The last few years Marc has been a guy who has loved to watch any kind of hockey games. He has watched a ton of them - NHL, AHL, colleges, amateur and Europe. He’s been watching games on almost every night getting a good line on a lot of players and that’s a good asset to have.”
On one hand, Bowman’s direct interaction with Bergevin is hard to guess. Bergevin was his assistant for just one season, but the former NHL defensemen bounced around the Blackhawks organization for seven campaigns, so surely they worked together during other times.
Considering the annual raid on ‘Hawks front office talent, it’s hard to say how much Bergevin had to do with the team’s rise from offenders to contenders, but the Habs are banking on his ability to transform the franchise in a similar - if not quite as drastic* - way.
* - After all, the Habs aren’t that far from that run to the Eastern Conference finals and have players like Max Pacioretty, P.K. Subban and Carey Price in the mix.