Here's an article by Jonathan Willis in The Edmonton Journal:

Marc Bergevin’s name has featured prominently of late as a potential candidate for the top job with the Montreal Canadiens.  Who is he, and why do many feel that he’s ready to take the reins of a National Hockey League team?

Current Position: Assistant General Manager, Chicago Blackhawks (2011 – Present)

Previous Position: Director of Player Personnel, Chicago Blackhawks (2009 – 2011)

Other Experience: Bergevin was a third round pick of the Blackhawks back in 1983 and had a long and well-travelled NHL career that saw him play 1271 games between the regular season and the playoffs for nine different NHL clubs.  In that span he’s had a long list of current NHL broadcasters, coaches and executives as teammates or coaches.  For example, as a rookie Bergevin was on the same team as Sharks’ G.M. Doug Wilson, Ducks’ G.M. Bob Murray and Director of Player Personnel Rick Paterson, Kings’ coach Darryl Sutter, Grand Rapids’ coach Curt Fraser, former ‘Hawks coach Denis Savard, broadcasters Ed Olczyk, Steve Ludzik and Darren Pang and the whole group was coached by long-time ‘Hawks executive Bob Pulford.

Bergevin retired in the summer of 2004, and joined the Blackhawks’ professional scouting staff in 2005-06.  By his third season with the team, he’d been elevated to Director of Professional Scouting; in his fourth he served as an assistant coach on Joel Quenneville’s staff.  He then took the role of Director of Player Personnel and was promoted to Assistant General Manager once Kevin Cheveldayoff left to run the Winnipeg Jets.

What has this candidate done that makes him warrant consideration?  In his capacity as Director of Player Personnel, Bergevin was responsible for monitoring the development of the Blackhawks’ prospects, as well as overseeing both the professional and amateur scouting groups.  It’s quite early to judge the majority of his work, but one item worth mentioning is the 2011 selection of overage forward Andrew Shaw out of the OHL – Shaw has already played 35 NHL games, scoring 11 times, and will be considered a successful pick even if he never laces up skates again.  He’s dialed in to the NHL game – a quick Google archives search over the last five years shows him in a plethora of rinks, both AHL and NHL, as he scouted for the Blackhawks, and there are going to be very few NHL’ers he hasn’t watched in person the last few seasons.  He had a reputation as a prankster going back to his playing days and general manager Stan Bowman describes him as “very well-connected, he’s a people person, he’s got excellent relationships with agents and other people in hockey and his network is vast because of his playing days; he played for a number of teams, so he’s got a lot of background on coaches and players.”

What are this candidate’s negatives?  Two items in particular stand out to me.  The first is experience: Bergevin has only been an assistant general manager for a single year and only been in a top executive role for three.  He certainly has a ton of knowledge from his playing days, but that’s not a lot of time upstairs.  The second is some concern about his ability to manage the salary cap; it was less than one year ago that Bowman said that Bergevin “is honest in admitting that he doesn’t have a complete grasp of numbers and the salary cap, but he doesn’t say, “Oh, I can’t do that.” He takes it as a challenge to learn it.”  The attitude is certainly commendable, but at best that’s a backhanded recommendation for a general manager.  In the same vein, the travel schedule of Bergevin’s junior team meant that his “formal education ended at grade 11;” while education isn’t the deciding factor in what makes a good G.M. many other candidates come from law or business backgrounds and it’s fair to suggest that this will be considered.

Anything else worth noting?  The Montreal-born Bergevin is fluently bilingual, which naturally is one of the reasons that his name has come up as a potential G.M. for the Habs.  Bergevin never won the Stanley Cup as a player but did win a gold medal at the World Championships in 1994 and won two Calder Cups in the AHL.  He did get a Cup ring for his role in the ‘Hawks victory in 2010.

My personal take: I wouldn’t feel comfortable hiring Bergevin for the top job at this point in time.  He’s still relatively new to the number two role in an NHL organization, and the fact is that the salary cap and the CBA are things a general manager should understand intimately first-hand.  Stan Bowman’s comments suggest that Bergevin is still picking that stuff up.

His quick rise within the Hawks' management ranks underlines three things: He is competent, adapts quickly to a new role and has strong interpersonal skills (See communication skills)! Those close to him are amazed by the contacts he has made over the years. On talk radio today, a colleague of his stated that every rink he visits, AHL, Junior or NHL, he knows everyone and they're all glad to see him when he arrives. He knows, off the top of his head, more players in the NHL and aspiring to be in the NHL than anyone else in the league. At the drop of a dime, he can give you all their personal stats and give you an assessment of what type of player they are.

Beyond these skills which are, IMO, essential to a GM -- who must be able to evaluate talent (both within his ranks and around the different leagues), find dancing partners in order to make a trade when necessary and have the respect of both those around him and throughout the league -- Bergevin should master the ramifications of the CBA. However, it was almost a year ago that he admitted he wasn't in control of the numbers pertaining to the CBA and made it a challenge to learn it. Today, who's to say he isn't much closer to having learnt it? For him to roll off stats by rote, his memory must be quite developed. besides, there's a new CBA around the corner and EVERYONE will have to get up to date.

Moreover, Montreal is assembling a whole new management team and who's to say someone can't come on board to advise Bergevin as a number cruncher? I'd rather have someone who can assess talent correctly, know who is dead weight and have other GMs answer the phone when he calls. Knowing the players might prevent trades like the Gomez trade, for example...

Bergevin played in the NHL and knows what it takes to play at that level.

Lastly, I'm certain Bergevin won't take the job (if it is offered to him) in a market like Montreal unless he feels he is ready for it and the management organigram allows him the tools necessary to do the best job he can...

He's young and may bring a dynamic removed from older philosophies that no longer match the new NHL...

I'm more and more interested by this guy. You?