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Report: Canadiens Interview Patrick Roy For Open GM Job

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Montreal Canadiens Patrick Roy

According to TVA Montreal Canadiens reporter and analyst Renaud Lavoie, the Canadiens have interviewed former Montreal Canadiens and hall of fame goaltender Patrick Roy for the open general manager position with the Habs.

 

 

Translated from French:

“This meeting had been planned for a long time since Geoff Molson called Jacques Tanguay (President of the Remparts de Québec) to ask his permission to speak to Patrick Roy,” Lavoie said on Saturday.

“Why did he (Roy), therefore, deny at a press briefing on Thursday that he was meeting the Canadiens on Friday? 

“I spoke to him today and he mentioned to me that he wanted to protect the Canadiens in that process,” Lavoie said. “He didn’t know if he had the right to say that he was indeed a candidate and finally the Canadiens told him that it was okay to mention him.”

Ever since the Montreal Canadiens fired Marc Bergevin as their general manager and hired Jeff Gorton as their executive vice president of hockey operations on November 28, former Canadiens goalie Roy has been rumored to be a candidate to replace Bergevin as the new Habs GM. Roy himself, immediately intensified that speculation on Dec. 3 when he let the public know how interested he was in finally returning to the Canadiens organization.

“Since 1993, the team has been running in circles,” Roy said when speaking to Le Journal de Québec. “What do they have to lose by giving me the chance to see what I can do with this club? At the same time, I understand the situation. The club is owned by Geoff Molson and he’s the one pulling the strings. It’s his team and at the end of the day, I might not be the guy for him. I accept that.”

Three days later, Gorton didn’t exactly warm up to the potential of the polarizing Roy as a GM candidate but by no means, ruled him out. 

“I’m just getting here, and just getting a feel for the organization and as we move forward,” Gorton said during his introductory press conference on December 3. “Figuring out how we’re gonna go about picking the general manager, we’re gonna look at everybody that we think could be a fit. So, I’m not gonna rule anybody out, I’m not gonna say yes or no to anybody, but certainly Patrick Roy, I heard that he made that statement, I know he’s a passionate guy, I know a lot of people that know him well, and I have obviously a lot of respect for somebody like that.”

Lavoie reported that Roy is one of a group of candidates that are all still being considered to replace Bergevin, who became a senior advisor to the general manager for the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday

“He’s one of the very good candidates in the process, but good candidates, there are a lot of them. We can think of Roberto Luongo, Daniel Brière, Mathieu Darche, Kent Hughes, Stéphane Quintal, Marc Denis. …I have not heard of a meeting that has gone wrong so far, quite the contrary. The level of respect towards each candidate is extremely high. A lot of people have been met, but we wanted to make sure that the CH side spoke to everyone. There will now be a second round of interviews.”

So when could Gorton name a new general manager?

“We will see how the process will progress, it will be maybe next week or maybe in two weeks,” said Lavoie.” But one thing is certain, there will be a general manager who will be appointed in January.”