Sabres to hire Marc Bergevin as associate general manager
Marc Bergevin, the former Montreal Canadiens general manager, will join the Sabres as the team’s associate general manager, which The Buffalo News confirmed Saturday night.
Jarmo Kekalainen works quickly.
Marc Bergevin, the former Montreal Canadiens general manager, will join the Sabres as the team’s associate general manager, which The Buffalo News confirmed Saturday night through an NHL source, after the Sabres’ 3-2 shootout win against the New York Islanders. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman first reported the news.
Marc Bergevin, then-general manager of the Montreal Canadiens, speaks with the media after a meeting of NHL general managers Tuesday, June 23, 2015, in Las Vegas.
AP file photo
The hire of Bergevin comes shortly after the Sabres announced Saturday afternoon that they had dismissed Jason Karmanos, who had held the same role and had been the general manager of the Sabres’ American Hockey League affiliate in Rochester since the spring of 2021.
It also comes five days after Kekalainen's promotion to general manager. Bergevin is Kekalainen's first front-office hire.
Bergevin, 60, has experience in coaching, scouting, player personnel and in management since he retired from the NHL during the 2003-04 season. He played in the NHL from 1984-2004, then worked with the Chicago Blackhawks from 2005-12 in scouting, coaching in player personnel and as assistant general manager, and helped the Blackhawks win the 2010 Stanley Cup.
He became general manager of the Canadiens in May 2012, a job he held until he was fired by the organization in November 2021, after the Canadiens began the season 6-15-2.
The Canadiens were 344-265-81 with Bergevin as general manager and vice president of hockey operations. In Bergevin's nine-plus seasons at the helm, the Canadiens reached the playoffs six times, including the Stanley Cup Final in a Covid-shortened 2020-21 season, falling to the Tampa Bay Lightning, four games to one in a best-of-seven series.
Bergevin's biggest trade was a one-for-one swap of Canadiens defenseman PK Subban for Nashville defenseman Shea Weber in June 2016. He also traded forward Max Pacioretty to Vegas in September 2018 as part of a deal for Tomas Tatar and Nick Suzuki, the current Montreal Canadiens captain.
Bergevin is currently senior advisor to Los Angeles Kings general manager Ken Holland, a role he has held since August 2022, when he worked with then-Kings general manager Rob Blake. He was retained in the Kings' front office after Holland became general manager in May.
Bergevin is also the general manager of Team Canada's entry into the Spengler Cup, a six-team international tournament that will be held Dec. 26-31 in Davos, Switzerland.