The Montreal Canadiens brought in Marc Bergevin after they had enough of Pierre Gauthier as the team’s general manager. The Canadiens missed the postseason in 2012, after losing in the first round of the playoffs the year before. They brought in Bergevin who had been working under Stan Bowman with the Chicago Blackhawks for the previous seven years as a scout, assistant coach and assistant general manager.
It became apparent early on that Bergevin was going to target physicality while keeping a close eye on the salary cap when making signings and trades. His first few free agent signings were gritty players like Colby Armstrong, Francis Bouillon and Brandon Prust.