Hickey: Canadiens' poor draft historical past led to whiff on Patrice Bergeron

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What would life had been like if the Canadiens had the foresight to draft Patrice Bergeron in 2003?

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Through the years, the Canadiens have been pilloried for overlooking — some would say ignoring — Quebec expertise.

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Because the flip of the century, the Canadiens have chosen just one Quebec participant within the first spherical. They used the 18th general choose in 2009 to pick Louis Leblanc, who scored 5 objectives and added 5 assists in 50 NHL video games earlier than returning to Harvard to finish his enterprise diploma.

That was the newest in a sequence of miscues involving first-round draft picks from Quebec.

In 1982, the Canadiens used the nineteenth choose on Alain Héroux, who by no means made it to the NHL. Three years later, they chose José Charbonneau. Chosen eleventh general, he solely performed 71 NHL video games. Éric Charron performed 130 video games after he was the twentieth choose in 1988 and Éric Chouinard, the sixteenth choose in 1998, performed 71 video games.

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Montreal compensated for the whiff on Chouinard by deciding on Mike Ribeiro, François Beauchemin, Andrei Markov and Michael Ryder within the later rounds of the 1998 draft.

These previous experiences might need made the Canadiens cautious when Bergeron was accessible in 2003, however there was nothing in his file to recommend he was a high prospect.

He by no means performed above the AA degree whereas rising up within the Quebec Metropolis suburb of L’Ancienne Lorette. He was a fifth-round choose within the QMJHL and performed just one full season with Acadie-Bathurst, however that one season supplied a touch of the participant he would develop into within the NHL. He had 23 objectives and 73 factors and added 15 factors in 11 playoff video games, however his it was his plus-23 ranking that stood out.

Each staff within the NHL took at the least one cross on Bergeron earlier than the Boston Bruins chosen him forty fifth general. The next September, he stunned everybody by claiming a spot on the Bruins’ roster as a 19-year-old rookie.

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The 2003 draft was an excellent one. Marc-André Fleury went first general to Pittsburgh and different notables included Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski, Jeff Carter, Eric Staal, Ryan Suter, Zach Parise and Shea Weber.

When the numbers guys redrafted the Class of 2003 a couple of years in the past, Bergeron was No. 1.

The Canadiens? That they had an OK choose at No. 10 with Andrei Kostitsyn and struck out at No. 40 with Montreal Rocket centre Cory Urquhart who by no means reached the NHL. They picked up Max Lapierre and Ryan O’Byrne in later rounds, however the very best choose that 12 months was goaltender Jaroslav Halak within the ninth spherical.

When Bergeron introduced his retirement this week, he left behind a Hockey Corridor of Fame legacy as presumably the very best two-way participant in NHL historical past.

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Bergeron appeared in 1,294 video games, scoring 427 objectives and 1,040 factors. He added 50 objectives and 128 factors in 170 playoff video games and he scored the Cup-winning aim because the Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks within the 2011 Stanley Cup last. He gained two Olympic gold medals and gained the Selke Trophy because the NHL’s high defensive ahead a file six instances.

The Bruins had been more durable to play in opposition to with Bergeron within the lineup and that was evident on this 12 months’s playoffs. A again damage compelled him to overlook the primary 4 video games and the Bruins, who racked up a file 135 factors within the common season, had been upset by the Florida Panthers within the opening spherical. A clearly hobbled Bergeron solely performed the final three video games of the sequence.

Whereas the Bruins tried to coax him into taking part in yet one more 12 months, Bergeron stated his physique advised him it was time to stop after 19 seasons.

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“It was taking loads longer now, I couldn’t simply put the gear on and soar on the ice,” he stated.

“I wished to play the sport on the highest degree that I may and felt like I wished to sort of go away on high of my sport,” Bergeron advised a gathering of reporters this week within the aptly named Legends restaurant on the TD Backyard. “I simply knew it was time.”

Sooner or later, Bergeron might be again within the sport as a coach or common supervisor, however for now he’s content material to dedicate his time to his younger household. He and his spouse, Stéphanie, have 4 kids, the oldest of whom is seven.

“It will likely be a pleasant change to simply have the ability to be the Uber driver for the household for a bit of bit and simply chill out,” Bergeron stated.

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