Canadiens have reached out to 3 former players for open GM position.

The Montreal Canadiens are still looking for a general manager, but it may be that the search is finally underway in earnest.

Since the firing of now former Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin, and a significant portion of his staff along with him, there have been a ton of names linked to the vacant GM position in one of hockey's biggest markets. We've heard everything from Patrick Roy to Vincent Damphousse, but perhaps now for the first time we have an actual idea of who the Canadiens are officially looking at for the role.

On Sunday National Hockey League insider Pierre LeBrun revealed that Canadiens have now started reaching out to rival teams around the league to request permission to speak to certain executives that are already under contract. LeBrun revealed that process is now officially underway and perhaps more importantly revealed 3 names that he believes the Canadiens have requested to speak to.

#1 Roberto Luongo.

A native of Montreal who speaks both French and English fluently and is beloved by fans all across the league. This would no doubt be a very popular choice in spite of his relative lack of experience, but with a veteran executive life Jeff Gorton running the show, having an inexperienced GM becomes less of a hurdle for the organization to deal with.

#2 Daniel Briere.

A former Montreal Canadien in his own right, albeit very briefly, Briere like Luongo is fluent in both French and English. Briere is also a popular figure in the Montreal market given that he is a native of Quebec, but he has even less experience in an NHL front office than Luongo does. That being said Briere does run the day to day operations for the Maine Mariners of the ECHL, so he is no stranger to running a hockey team.

#3 Mathieu Darche.

It's hard not to imagine that Darche is anything other than the favorite to win the job at this point. Not only has his named been on the radar since the moment Bergevin was fired, but he currently helps run one of the most successful franchises in the NHL, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Darche was promoted to Director of Hockey Operations for the Lightning back in 2019 so he has had considerable influence on that teams success, and as a former member of the Montreal Canadiens he would no doubt be welcomed with open arms.