- Selon Sportsnet...
- Martin Madden Jr est trop INTROVERTI pour être DG du Canadien de Montréal...
- Et pour être DG tout court...
The assistant general manager of the Anaheim Ducks is known as arguably the best evaluator of amateur talent in the NHL.
Close to two dozen prospects chosen under his watch since 2009 have played over 100 games in the world’s best league -- no other team in the NHL has done as well in this department -- and many fans are clamouring for him to bring those skills to a Canadiens team that will likely be drafting very high this summer and could be on the precipice of a rebuild.
While we see Madden Jr. as the optimal replacement for Trevor Timmins, who was in charge of Montreal’s last 17 drafts before he was fired on Sunday, we’re not sure he’d leave Anaheim for a sideways move. The Seattle Kraken tried to pry him away in 2021, but he opted to stay in Anaheim under executive VP of hockey ops and GM Bob Murray.
What’s interesting is that when Murray resigned and enrolled in an alcohol abuse rehabilitation program following an investigation into his “improper professional conduct,” it wasn’t Madden Jr. who replaced him.
“That’s probably because he’s spent almost all of his hockey career touring junior rinks and plucking out talent and never really entering rooms and dealing with pro hockey players,” a source said to us. “He’s a very nice man, but he’s more of an introverted man and I’m not sure how that plays with being GM in Montreal and in the role it appears they’re looking to fill.
“His track record is definitely impeccable, but he also hasn’t been too involved, if he ever has, in negotiating and signing contracts for players and dealing with rival GMs and so on.”
Still, Gorton has.
And even if there’s been some overlap between both men’s skillsets, Madden Jr. has to be considered a candidate.
Whether or not he can fulfil other business duties of the role and sufficiently relate to the public -- and to his players -- is in question.