Meeting with reporters just hours after trading team captain Max Pacioretty to the Golden Knights on Monday, Canadiens' general manager Marc Bergevin dropped a mini bombshell, directly contradicting Pacioretty's claim that he never asked for a trade out of Montreal.
"Last season, there was a request where has asked for a trade," stated Bergevin. "I will not go into details, but that's a fact, yes."
Pacioretty and his agent, Allan Walsh, have vehemently denied in recent weeks that the five-time 30-goal scorer ever asked for a trade. However, Monday at the Canadiens' annual golf outing, Bergevin and team owner Geoff Molson said -- without providing details -- that was untrue.
"A request was made...months ago," Molson told reporters.
Walsh recently took to Twitter to explain that Pacioretty's only wish was to sign a contract extension in Montreal, and that the star winger -- coming off a down season with only 17 goals -- never requested a trade.
Obvious these “sources” are coming from the club. Max will always take the high road and repeats again, he is ready to sign an extension with Montreal TODAY. It was Montreal that traded Max to LA at the draft and it was a DONE DEAL subject to Max signing an extension with LA. https://t.co/KsLbJ6prJr
— Allan Walsh (@walsha) August 30, 2018
So, it is now a case of who do you believe?
"They asked for a trade, so, to me, a contract extension was not on the table," Bergevin said Monday.
Neither Pacioretty nor Walsh has commented yet following the deal in which the Golden Knights shipped veteran winger Tomas Tatar, top prospect Nick Suzuki and a 2019 second-round draft pick to the Habs. Walsh was finalizing a four-year, $28 million extension for his client with with Vegas GM George McPhee. He was due to become an unrestricted free agent next July, which was at the crux of why his relationship with the Canadiens became so acrimonious this past offseason, especially when the team announced it would not negotiate an extension with Pacioretty earlier this summer.
#Habs GM Marc Bergevin meets with media at team golf tourney after trading Max Pacioretty #HabsIO pic.twitter.com/TyXeTFRysE
— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) September 10, 2018
Bergevin acknowledged that Walsh was allowed to speak with the Golden Knights to begin contract negotiations before the trade was finalized. It was just at the recent NHL Draft that the Canadiens reportedly had a deal in place to trade Pacioretty to the Kings, but it fell apart when L.A. could not come to terms with the player on a new contract before the deal was consummated.
With bitterness building, it seemed inevitable that Bergevin would try and deal his captain before training camp opened later this week.
"You're not going to force a trade just because of that, but the timing worked out good for us," said Bergevin.
"For us, the key was in getting an A prospect. Getting Suzuki in this trade was the key."
When asked if Pacioretty had an attitude problem last year when the team struggled to a disappointing 71-point finish and the captain faltered on the ice, the Habs GM sidestepped the question.
"It was a team thing, and I'm not going to stand here and point fingers to Max Pacioretty about attitude," explained Bergevin. "As a team, we did not have the right one, and I want this to change."