Are the Habs targeting Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron?

Something tells me this one probably isn't going to happen, but man what a blow up this would cause in 2 different cities and in 2 different countries.

There has been a lot of talk this season surrounding the future of Boston Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron, one of the most well respected forwards in the entire National Hockey League. It makes sense, Bergeron has been a member of the Boston Bruins for the entire length of his career in the NHL and is playing out the final season of his current deal with the Bruins.

Some have suggested that Bergeron will merely sign an extension when the time is right, some have suggested he may look to retire at the end of the season, but now there may be a 3rd option that has emerged. On Saturday night National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman revealed that the Montreal Canadiens have targeted a curious candidate as they look to rebuild their front office after sweeping changes last week, player agent Kent Hughes.

"So Jeff Gorton had an interesting comment... one of the things he talked about was the possibility of somebody different as a GM, maybe an agent," said Friedman on Saturday. "The person who I believe they are interested in who is an agent is Kent Hughes. He's born in Montreal, he is bilingual, now in the Boston area so there is a connection to Gorton from both of them being around there. Among his client list include Patrice Bergeron, Kris Letang and formerly Vincent Lecavalier."

Hughes is currently representing Bergeron in the NHL and there is good reason to suspect that the Canadiens would be interested in bringing him in on a new deal to finish out his career in Montreal. Bergeron speaks French, a massive asset in the Montreal market, but perhaps more importantly is a native of L'Ancienne Lorette, Quebec and has been a beloved figure in that province for his entire career.

As much as the Canadiens may want to make this happen however, and at this time that remains only conjecture based on their interest in Hughes, there is reason to believe that Bergeron himself may not love the idea. 

Bergeron has stated on the record that he grew up watching the Quebec, Nordiques, which makes sense given that he grew up in a suburb of Quebec City, and given the rivalry between the two teams that likely means he grew up hating the Montreal Canadiens.

"I was always a Nordiques fan and I kind of followed Colorado after that because it was the same team, right?" said Bergeron back in 2015. "I was not very happy with the ’96 [Stanley Cup] win. I was happy, but disappointed it was the same guys but they moved to Colorado."

"If we would have waited one more year we probably would have …" said Bergeron before cutting himself off.

As many long time Nordiques fan will be able to tell you, one of the key components of that Stanley Cup win for the Avalanche in 1996 was the fact that the Montreal Canadiens traded goaltender Patrick Roy to the Avalanche. If Bergeron is still thinking about that moment 20 years after the fact, he might not be so crazy about the idea of playing for the Nordiques' long time rivals.