Bergevin responds to the Maurice handshake controversy
Maurice, who has been the head coach of the Jets for a long time, shook hands with members of the Canadiens coaching staff but not with the rest of the team. Many people immediately interpreted this as an act of disrespect, which Maurice has categorically refuted.
Although Maurice was quick to defend himself after the criticism, which mostly came from social media rather than the Canadiens themselves, general manager Marc Bergevin was eager to refute the notion that Maurice had done anything wrong when he delivered his own press conference on Saturday. Bergevin began the news conference by making a statement on the subject without being asked.
"Just wanna make sure that those rumors or those saying around the media that Paul Maurice lacked respect for the Montreal Canadiens for not shaking the players hands, it's not at all," said Bergevin on Saturday. "It's a coaches decision, they shook hands between each other and that's the right thing to do and after that it's up to the coaches if they wanna do the players or not. But Paul Maurice has been in the league a long time and there's no way that he showed the Montreal Canadiens any disrespect. Like me and Chevy we shook hands and that's how it works, GM and GM, coaches and coaches, and players and players."
