Bergevin on July 1: the day you make your biggest mistake

CTV Montreal: No big splash for Habs GM Marc Bergevin defended making just one major move on the first day of free agency in the form of the trade.

Marc Bergevin said he only made one trade on July 1st, aka Free Trade Agent day, because he was afraid of overpaying for talent.

Bergevin told reporters on Thursday that July 1 is when many GMs make their biggest mistakes, and used the Phil Kessel trade as an example.

"If you look at history in the NHL, the biggest mistakes are made in early July. Worst contracts, guys who underperform. The biggest mistakes are July first. you have to be careful," said the General Manager of the hockey team.

The only trade he made was exchanging Brandon Prust for Vancouver's Zack Kassian.

Prust has been with the Canadiens for three years and has one year left on his contract before becoming an unrestricted free agent.

Kassian also has one year left, but he will be a restricted free agent when he turns 25.

Despite playing only 41 games last year Kassian also outscored Prust, at 10 games to Prust's four.

Bergevin said he will continue to work on making player choices that can improve the Habs' scoring possibilities.

"We're going to try and make our power play better, which will bring some offense," said Bergevin.

"We have some young players who we drafted who have some offensive flair."

Only one player on the current roster has yet to sign a contract: Alex Galchenyuk.