The Montreal Canadiens are hiring Frenchmen for the first time, signaling a change in the organization’s strategy. The Habs will hire four players from France, including two assistant coaches and one scout to help with recruitment efforts.
The Montreal Canadiens are going to hire French. The team is currently in search of a new head coach and general manager, but has not yet decided on who will be the team leader. Read more in detail here: montreal canadiens.
The Montreal Canadiens, according to owner Geoff Molson, are a two-person job.
After reaching the Stanley Cup Final last season, the Canadiens have plummeted to a 6-15-2 start this season. Marc Bergevin, the general manager of the Montreal Canadiens since 2012, was fired on Sunday.
Assistant general managers Trevor Timmins and Scott Mellanby have left the firm in the last few days as part of a major reorganization.
Jeff Gorton, the former general manager of the New York Rangers, has been appointed as executive vice president of hockey operations on a long-term deal. Molson, on the other hand, said that “he’s one of the two individuals who will do the job” of bringing the Canadiens back on track.
Gorton is an English-speaking executive appointed by a team that has a long history of hiring bilingual coaches and general managers because “we have to respect the language in our home market, but we also have [English-speaking] supporters all across the globe,” according to Molson.
As a result, Gorton will employ a general manager who speaks French to operate alongside him.
“The two of them will collaborate to make smart judgments for the organization’s benefit. When anything team-related needs to happen, the general manager must be the last person in charge of making the choice and being accountable for it “Molson said.
While Molson has yet to request permission from other NHL clubs to meet with their executives, names like Tampa Bay Lightning director of hockey operations Mathieu Darche and ECHL Maine Mariners GM Daniel Briere — both former Canadiens players — are already being linked to the job. When Gorton was in New York, Briere’s squad was a minor league affiliate of the Rangers.
Molson said, “I really feel this company needs a new start.” “At the management level, not at the team level.”
From a successful spell as a player personnel executive with the Boston Bruins to the general manager’s post with the Rangers from 2015 through 2023, the Rangers are off to a new start. Gorton was credited with assisting in New York’s fast reconstruction, which was bolstered by several draft lottery victories and players like Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox opting to play in the city.
“Nobody in hockey is flawless,” Molson added, “but I look at [the Rangers] now and they appear to be doing quite well, so he must have done something well.”
The Canadiens’ owner said he sought advise on hiring Gorton from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.
He remarked, “Someone like Gary has a valuable viewpoint.”
Molson views the new management structure as an opportunity to develop inside the company. On Monday, he discussed forming a medical staff devoted to players’ mental health, a move prompted by the fact that star goaltender Carey Price had missed the whole season so far after joining the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program.
Molson also mentioned a commitment to more diversity in the organization’s hockey operations.
“On the business side, we have a very varied set of employees and a number of diversity initiatives. However, on the hockey side, there is a significant chance to bring in new viewpoints. It is not simple to do, but it is a top priority “he said
Molson said that he would respect the input of his new two-headed executive committee while remaining out of the team’s day-to-day hockey operations. That applies to both their choice on head coach Dominique Ducharme, who signed a three-year deal through 2024 before the season, and the Canadiens’ overall strategy.
“At this time,” Molson remarked, the Canadiens don’t need a new start at the player level. Molson isn’t frightened of rebuilding if Gorton and his general manager want to demolish what Bergevin accomplished.
“I’m not terrified of that term, and I don’t believe our fans are either,” he remarked.
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The “mathieu darche” is the new head coach of the Montreal Canadiens. He will be replacing Michel Therrien, who was fired after the team’s loss in game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
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