Earlier this week, it was announced that the Montreal Canadiens would not be moving on from Claude Julien as head coach, despite three years sans playoffs for the organization. Sure, Julien still has a couple of years left on his deal and questions are obviously surrounding what the team will do this summer, but changing the coach isn’t one of them. In fact, Bergevin said he was surprised that media would ask about the status of his bench boss.
So, knowing the coach wasn’t going anywhere, when asked what GM Marc Bergevin might do, more specifically, if he would ever consider using an offer sheet to re-shape his struggling team, the GM gave an interesting answer.
Bergevin says he’s not closed the door on another offer sheet this summer as part of Montreal’s re-tooling process and that he doesn’t regret making an offer to Sebastian Aho this past offseason, even though the move didn’t pay off. Bergevin made a lot of headlines for the offer, arguably taking heat for offering a number that was easy for Carolina to match.
According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, Bergevin said, if an offer made sense and it was something the club felt like they should pursue, he would do it again.
Who Would He Go For?
The list of RFA’s this summer is not nearly as attractive as the list this past offseason. Perhaps no crop of RFA’s will ever be that good. Still, Matthew Barzal is out there and if Bergevin felt the need to make a splash, going after Barzal would certainly be one way to do so.
That said, there’s no hints the New York Islanders have any desire to let things get to the point with Barzal that the Canadiens would even have an opportunity to extend an offer. At best, this is unlikely, as would any offer sheet, for that matter.
Related: CBS Sports’ Pete Blackburn’s NHL Power Rankings for All Canadian Teams
