Clash of the like-minded: The Bergeron-Esposito feud

Welcome to another edition of Blueshirts Briefs, a series profiling individuals who worked a short shift for the New York Rangers.

Michel Bergeron’s hiring as New York Rangers head coach in June 1987 was scrutinized well before he ever worked a game for the Blueshirts. The ink on his three-year contract was barely dry before general manager Phil Esposito was chastised by some media and fans for the price it cost to land the Montreal-born head coach.

Bergeron was under contract for two more seasons with the Quebec Nordiques when the Rangers came calling. Nordiques’ ownership allowed Bergeron to leave for Broadway, but only after the Blueshirts agreed to send $100,000 cash and a first-round pick in exchange. Esposito reportedly balked at including the pick but was persuaded to by his scouting staff.

“The next day,” Esposito told reporters, “all I read was that I had given Quebec too much for Michel Bergeron.”

Esposito and his Rangers’ bosses might’ve indeed been fleeced by the Nordiques, for it seems the head coach had already worn out his stay in Quebec City.

‘Le Petit Tigre’

A New York Times article on June 17, 1987, noted that Bergeron, always a hot-head and an especially sore-loser, established himself as an NHL head coach by yelling and screaming at his players (and opponents). Players then didn’t command the salaries and leverage they do now, and almost always came out losers in battles with management.

Bergeron’s reputation for being hard on his players, particularly young ones, preceded his arrival on Broadway and fueled his nickname, “Le Petit Tigre.” Some players even refused to play for him. Prospect Rick Bennett declined a contract offer from the Rangers, while two minor leaguers in the Blueshirts’ system passed on opportunities to join the team in New York, according to hockey historian Brian McFarlane.

“No thanks,” they reportedly told Rangers’ brass. “Bergeron has ridiculed us in the past. We don’t need any further humiliation.”

Even Bergeron’s mother acknowledged that her son’s competitive nature often (and easily) ignited his ferocious temper. She told the New York Times that when he was a teenager he was almost always the top student at the school he attended in Montreal. However, one month, after another student earned the honor, Bergeron beat him up.

Bergeron’s temperament suited the Nordiques fine when they were winning. In his first seven seasons as Quebec’s bench boss, he guided the Nordiques to a .500 record or better six times, including three straight seasons with at least 41 wins and 91 points and a first-place finish in the Adams Division.

In 1981-82, his Nordiques won 33 games and upset the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins, 46 and 43 victories respectfully, in the first two rounds of the playoffs. Quebec was swept in the Wales Conference Finals by the New York Islanders, who led the league with 54 wins and 118 points and went on to capture their third straight Cup.

After winning the Adams Division with 43 victories and 92 points in 1985-86, Quebec was swept in three games by the Hartford Whalers in the division semifinals.

The following season, the Nordiques dropped to fourth with a 31-39-10 campaign for 72 points but made the playoffs only because the Buffalo Sabres were putrid enough to miss securing one of the division’s four playoff slots. Quebec went on to avenge its embarrassing postseason loss to Hartford, ousting the first-place Whalers in the division semis, then took 41-win Montreal to seven games in the division finals before losing.

Despite his team’s success in the postseason, the 1986-87 regular season was Bergeron’s first losing campaign since taking over in 1980-81. Also, tensions between Bergeron and general manager Maurice Filion had grown to where Filion was granted permission by Nordiques’ ownership to negotiate a deal with the Rangers.

Bergeron denied a rift between him and management, although some who were close to the situation believe the final straw for Bergeron was when the Nordiques traded Dale Hunter to the Washington Capitals. Given Hunter’s fiery temper and competitive nature, it’s little wonder he was one of Bergeron’s favorite players. A week later, Bergeron was New York’s coach.

“After seven years (with Quebec) it’s time to move on,” Bergeron told reporters. “If Dale Hunter can leave, then anything can happen.”

In hindsight, one can’t help but wonder whether Esposito’s Rangers could’ve landed Bergeron for less than what they gave.

“I didn’t want to give up so much,” Esposito told reporters, “but my scouts and other people around me said, ‘Phil, you should do it.’ So I did it.”

Deja Vu

Thanks to the haul Quebec landed from the Rangers, Bergeron wasn’t exactly welcomed warmly by some of New York’s media and fans. However, the fiery coach had support in some circles thanks to his success with the Nordiques and his reputation for having zero tolerance for lackluster play.

The Rangers’ first year under Bergeron saw the Blueshirts finish in fifth place in the Patrick Division with a 36-34-10 record. New York’s 82 points equaled New Jersey’s output, but the Devils earned the division’s fourth and final playoff spot by virtue of two more victories (New Jersey finished 38-36-6).

While the team wasn’t bad, the relationship between Bergeron and Esposito grew to be. Bergeron blamed Esposito for poor player/personnel decisions. Esposito accused Bergeron of going over his head to complain to Madison Square Garden’s sports boss, Jack Diller. Esposito wanted to fire his coach but reportedly was rebuffed by Diller.

“The guy defied me at every turn,” Esposito told Frank Brown of The Hockey News. “Why, he even tried to begin trade talks by calling another team’s coach. That’s not insubordination? Then he goes over my head to Diller. More insubordination.”

Bergeron’s second season on New York’s bench was going fairly smoothly until a 3-10 stretch in March led to his firing with two games left in the regular season. The final straw came on March 29, 1989, with a 4-3 loss to the Red Wings in Detroit. New York fell to  37-33-8 with the defeat.

Many hockey pundits speculated that Bergeron was dismissed partly due to the team’s slump and his feud with Esposito, but mostly because he called his players “scared” after the match. This time, Diller didn’t stand in Esposito’s way. Esposito coached (and lost) the Rangers’ final two games before getting swept in four by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the division semifinals.

“There are so many behind-the-scenes things people don’t know about,” Esposito told reporters. “There were a lot of things over the course of the year. And there are some things, unfortunately, you can’t say.”

Bergeron had plenty to say after being axed.

“I feel it’s really unfair,” he told reporters, who noted he was visibly shaken by the dismissal, the first in his 18 years of coaching every level of hockey. “I never worked harder at coaching than this year. Phil’s taking the team at the right time. It’s healthy. But it’s a sad situation. I don’t want to hurt anybody.”

The New York Times reported that Bergeron was near tears with his players.

“He shook everyone’s hand, but he couldn’t say much,” said Brian Leetch, a rookie then. “And then he was gone.”

Bergeron coached one more season in the NHL after his dismissal by the Rangers, returning to Quebec in 1990 and overseeing a horrendous Nordiques club that finished with a 12-61-7 record. Meanwhile, the Blueshirts finished first in the Patrick Division and beat the Islanders in the division semifinals under Roger Neilson.

Hockey historian Bruce Cooper is quoted in 100 Things Rangers Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die: “Esposito and Bergeron were very much alike. Temperamental, sometimes intemperate, demonstrative, passionate, impetuous, ardent, ambitious, egocentric, self-indulgent, affable, and sentimental. Not surprisingly, neither man was good at taking a backseat to the other — nor to anyone else.”

As for that first round pick the Rangers gave to Quebec?  The Nordiques drafted Daniel Dore who played 17 games in the NHL so it didn’t work out for Quebec.  However, if the Rangers had kept the pick, players drafted later in the first round included Jeremy Roenick, Teemu Selanne, Rod Brind’Amour and Martin Gelinas.