It was Geoff Molson who decided the Canadiens needed to rebuild

When the Habs hired Jeff Gorton in November 2021, we wondered if the VP of hockey operations would decide that the club would go through a rebuild.

After all, during his years as GM of the Rangers, he did. And not only did he do it, his club sent a letter to fans explaining the process.

It couldn’t have been clearer.

We wondered if the Habs would be so clear if they rebuilt. And finally, even though the word “rebuild” wasn’t uttered by Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes from the outset, it quickly became clear that this was the case.

Eventually, the club’s directors said it too. And having a series about Crave with the word “rebuilding” in the title, let’s just say that’s also quite a clue, we agree.

All that to say, we were wondering who decided to rebuild. Did Jeff Gorton decide? Did Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton decide together? Did Geoff Molson make the decision?

And according to what Tony Marinaro said this morning on BPM Sports (during the Gilbert Delorme and Max Lalonde morning show ), it was indeed Geoff Molson, the club’s owner and president, who made the decision.

Marinaro, who attended the media premiere of the documentary on the rebuilding of the Habs, said that it was by looking at the standings after about 20 games in the 2021-2022 season (the one after the Stanley Cup Final) that he decided to rebuild.

So he fired Marc Bergevin, who was living with the rumors surrounding his future, Trevor Timmins and Paul Wilson to bring in Jeff Gorton. And from there, they chose Kent Hughes as GM for the remainder of the season.

So, with a mandate to rebuild, HuGo took control of the ship. And increasingly, the goal will be to make sure they get it right and become a great team.

Overtime

– Speaking of the series.

My column on new eight-episode series titled The Rebuild: Inside the Montreal Canadiens that will stream on Crave starting Sept. 18. Media members had a sneak preview of Episode 1 on Monday #Habs #HabsIO: https://t.co/uHwglu3q4O

– Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) September 10, 2024