News Article: Geoff Molson re-affirms confidence in Marc Bergevin, will not hire a president of hockey operations

[WeThreeKings]

Why? I don't give a **** what language the CEO/GM of Costco speaks! I care what products they're trying to sell me.

At the end of the day, when the Montreal Canadiens fail again - doesn't it matter to you if Bergevin says next year they'll be better, in french?!?!

 

[MasterD]

At the end of the day, when the Montreal Canadiens fail again - doesn't it matter to you if Bergevin says next year they'll be better, in french?!?!

Changes everything. Soothes my soul.

 

[MasterD]

If a general manager is not bilingual they are not qualified to be general manager of the Montreal Canadiens .

Bergevin is bilingual, doesn't make him qualified.

 

[Kriss E]

Meh...I think the tide starting turning on MB after the Subban bridge deal.

Which is basically the start of his tenure here lol.

I'm sure whoever replaces him will have a grace period, probably just as short.

Even I created an appréciation thread for Bergey after the 2014 season.

 

[Habs10025]

It's not a must. It's a privately owned company and the person who owns that company can do whatever the hell they want.

Ownership have decided if your not bilingual your not qualified to be general manager of the Montreal Canadiens . As you stated it's ownerships team / business making it their decision to make . To be considered for the position of general manager of the Montreal Canadiens in a francophone province being bilingual is a must.

 

[overlords]

It's not a must. It's a privately owned company and the person who owns that company can do whatever the hell they want.

This is not, in fact, how running a company works.

 

[Habs10025]

Bergevin is bilingual, doesn't make him qualified.

He's more qualified than those who are not bilingual.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Ownership have decided if your not bilingual your not qualified to be general manager of the Montreal Canadiens . As you stated it's ownerships team / business making it their decision to make . To be considered for the position of general manager of the Montreal Canadiens in a francophone province being bilingual is a must.

Not sure about that but I do believe the coach needs to be bilingual. The GM? They may value a bilingual guy yes but not sure they are married to the idea. Maybe Molson is but we won't know this until we hire a new GM.

 

[MasterD]

He's more qualified than those who are not bilingual.

Wrong. If we had a real french speaking president to face media, we could easily have an english speaking GM. It's just politics, not a requirement for the job.

 

[417]

Even I created an appréciation thread for Bergey after the 2014 season.

Fair enough...I might be conflating the Subban bridge-gate with the Subban 72M contract extention-gate.

 

[Habs10025]

Wrong. If we had a real french speaking president to face media, we could easily have an english speaking GM. It's just politics, not a requirement for the job.

Montreal Canadiens will not hire a non bilingual general manager . The province of Quebec is a francophone province to be considered for the position of general manager of the Montreal Canadiens being bilingual is a must.

 

[malton]

Montreal Canadiens will not hire a non bilingual general manager . The province of Quebec is a francophone province to be considered for the position of general manager of the Montreal Canadiens being bilingual is a must.

It's been a must for the last little while.

But if major football clubs can have managers that don't speak the native tongue surely a hockey team in Canada can.

Just hire a translator.

 

[JoelWarlord]

I don't think things would have have worked out different if he had signed 7 x 7.

That Subban and Habs marriage was never going to last. In fact, had they caved and signed him to that deal, it might have made things worst.


From a trade asset perspective...sure.

But I just meant, either way, a divorce was inevitable.

Yeah I think you're right that ultimately in either universe he still gets traded. I do think the bridge deal was a pretty big factor in causing the rift, but I guess that's a bit tautological given they pushed for a bridge because they didn't trust him in the same way St. Louis and LA trusted Pietrangelo and Doughty.

Even if the relationship was never going to work out, it's still very poor asset management in my opinion and I think they could have got far more in a trade in the 7x7 scenario. I bring it up not because I really want to re-litigate the Subban situation, but because it remains relevant when that Bergevin duality of nuking relationships with important players through being a tight-ass while handing out big money deals the second Drouin/Anderson/Shaw were traded here hasn't gone away.

Domi puts up 72pts and they nuke the relationship and trade him for a middle six winger they overpaid. Oh well, at least it was for the sake of committing to Danault and Kotkaniemi in the top 9, right? Well no, turns out he's just going to nuke the relationship with Kotkaniemi while also pissing off Danault and then lowball and lose them both (I don't think they should have kept Danault but why nuke relationships to keep him then balk over 500k?) and then trade the pick we got for Kotkaniemi for Dvorak, who is basically just Lars Eller Premium™ who we traded away for no reason five years ago.

Out of a list of players including Domi, Danault, Kotkaniemi, and Anderson, Bergevin decided that Anderson is the only one he's willing to go out of his way to commit to and keep. It's genuinely baffling.

 

[Draft]

Wrong. If we had a real french speaking president to face media, we could easily have an english speaking GM. It's just politics, not a requirement for the job.

Or... we could get real crazy and have a bilingual GM and an anglophone AGM to be in charge of the draft and talent evaluation. Maybe even one anglophone AGM for each role. Oh wait, the result is the same.

Timmins can't speak French worth a lick and he's still managed to suck. Mellanby no different.

The problem isn't language, it's personnel.

 

[Habs10025]

It's been a must for the last little while.

But if major football clubs can have managers that don't speak the native tongue surely a hockey team in Canada can.

Just hire a translator.

Using your standard ownership could hire someone from Russia or China who couldn't speak french or english and just hire a translator.
Montreal Canadiens will not hire a non bilingual general manager .

To be considered for the position of general manager of the Montreal Canadiens being bilingual is a must .

 

[Kriss E]

Fair enough...I might be conflating the Subban bridge-gate with the Subban 72M contract extention-gate.

It was a big point of discussion, I was strongly against it but still gave him the benefit of the doubt on his ability to manage.
He didn't take a lot of popular decisions his first season with the bridge deal, signing plugs, bringing Therrien in, extending DD..
But most were still patient.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Ownership have decided if your not bilingual your not qualified to be general manager of the Montreal Canadiens . As you stated it's ownerships team / business making it their decision to make . To be considered for the position of general manager of the Montreal Canadiens in a francophone province being bilingual is a must.

I understand that it is currently a requirement - all I have been saying is it doesn't have to be. It is only one because the current owner of the Montreal Canadiens is a spineless loser.

 

[malton]

Using your standard ownership could hire someone from Russia or China who couldn't speak french or english and just hire a translator.
Montreal Canadiens will not hire a non bilingual general manager .

To be considered for the position of general manager of the Montreal Canadiens being bilingual is a must .

If the best possible GM came from Russia and only spoke Russian then I would be all for it.

I could care less what language the GM speaks.

I just want a proper direction for the team with the best staff possible.

 

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

They will just transfer their hate onto someone else. The hate speech toward Bergevin skyrocketed after he fired Therrien.

90% of this management is rotten and 75% of the players are overpaid and in the wrong chair.
Because of the manager himself. Ofc the hate will switch to someone else , this team has been shit for 5 years+

 

[Habs10025]

If the best possible GM came from Russia and only spoke Russian then I would be all for it.

I could care less what language the GM speaks.

I just want a proper direction for the team with the best staff possible.

Ownership does care about the francophone non english speaking fans , If you don't care thats fine but its not your team or decision to make.

 

[The Real Timo]

If the best possible GM came from Russia and only spoke Russian then I would be all for it.

I could care less what language the GM speaks.

I just want a proper direction for the team with the best staff possible.

I can guarantee that a russian only speaking GM would be more accepted than one that only speaks english. But who do we have in mind here? I am game, let's bring a russian dude.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Ownership does care about the francophone non english speaking fans , If you don't care thats fine but its not your team or decision to make.

No they don't care about any of their fans in that sense - what they and their shareholders care about is the viability of the product and its profibility.

They are convinced that having a bilingual GM and coach is more profitable than having a successful team. To this point, they are correct. However, if the fan base was unified in a direction of wanting the best team, best personnel, committing to a rebuild and actually deciding to compete - they would change how they operate.

Unfortunately, there's too loud of a minority of the fan base that puts language of those positions above the actual success of the team. We saw it with Cunneyworth - he was rightfully terminated for being bad, but before he had a chance to be bad, a bunch of loud people threw a joke of a protest and said they'd stop buying Molson products and Geoff caved immediately.

That wasn't to serve the francophone fans, it was to serve his stakeholders and protect the profits of himself and those who have shares in the Canadiens & Molson Coors.

If Molson sold the team to a richer owner, with deeper pockets and less reliance on what the hell the shareholders thought, we can have a unilingual coach or GM easily.

 

[Habs10025]

No they don't care about any of their fans in that sense - what they and their shareholders care about is the viability of the product and its profibility.

They are convinced that having a bilingual GM and coach is more profitable than having a successful team. To this point, they are correct. However, if the fan base was unified in a direction of wanting the best team, best personnel, committing to a rebuild and actually deciding to compete - they would change how they operate.

Unfortunately, there's too loud of a minority of the fan base that puts language of those positions above the actual success of the team. We saw it with Cunneyworth - he was rightfully terminated for being bad, but before he had a chance to be bad, a bunch of loud people threw a joke of a protest and said they'd stop buying Molson products and Geoff caved immediately.

That wasn't to serve the francophone fans, it was to serve his stakeholders and protect the profits of himself and those who have shares in the Canadiens & Molson Coors.

If Molson sold the team to a richer owner, with deeper pockets and less reliance on what the hell the shareholders thought, we can have a unilingual coach or GM easily.

Montreal Canadiens reside in a fracophone province to be general manager of the team being bilingual is a must .
If you don't agree or like it that's fine but that's how it is and isn't going to change.

 

[Habs Halifax]

90% of this management is rotten and 75% of the players are overpaid and in the wrong chair.
Because of the manager himself. Ofc the hate will switch to someone else , this team has been shit for 5 years+

75% of the players are overpaid? I think you are falling towards exaggeration to prove your point. I think Price, Gallagher, Drouin, Savard are overpaid. You probably got others on the list but that would be marginal at best. It's not 75% bud but we are loosing games so as always, it's going to be presented as it being worse than it really is.

 

[Mcdonaldz]

Montreal Canadiens will not hire a non bilingual general manager . The province of Quebec is a francophone province to be considered for the position of general manager of the Montreal Canadiens being bilingual is a must.

even if you say it 100 times lol are you actually trying to provide information, like do you think we’re learning something here buddy with your valuable privileged information that you got