Confirmed: Habs GM Bergevin negotiating with former NHL head coach to replace Julien

In case you missed it yesterday, former Montreal Canadiens forward turned media analyst Georges Laraque reported that Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin had flown to Russia to meet with former NHL head coach Bob Hartley about potentially coming to the team to replace current head coach Claude Julien.

Check it out:

Selon @GeorgesLaraque , Marc Bergevin aurait rencontré Bob Hartley en Russie pour voir son intérêt à devenir entraîneur du CH.
— 91.9 Sports (@919sports) December 2, 2019

Roughly translated, this reads:

According to Georges Laraque, Marc Bergevin reportedly met Bob Hartley in Russia to see his interest in coaching the CH.

Interesting. Especially if true. The thing is… Laraque doesn’t have the best track record reporting factual news. In fact, he’s reported straight up misinformation in the past.

Earlier today however, Russian hockey insider Igor Eronko confirmed that Bergevin and Hartley did have discussions, albeit not in person.

Check it out:

Avangard's president Maxim Sushinsky told TASS that Marc Bergevin never met Bob Hartley here in Russia, although they talked by phone. Hartley said to Bergevin he's not going anywhere #Habs
— Igor Eronko (@IgorEronko) December 3, 2019

Okay… so they spoke over the phone, but Hartley either declined Bergevin’s offer or there was no offer the begin with? Which is it?

UPDATE:

Eronko clarifies his previous erroneous report:

Just talked to Bob Hartley. He says Avangard's president misunderstood him because of bad English: 'I'm getting a million of phone calls from Montreal. It's very sad because they have a coach. No one from the Montreal Canadiens have called me. And I'm happy with Avangard' #Habs
— Igor Eronko (@IgorEronko) December 3, 2019

So they never talked and Laraque simply made it up? Sounds about right…