Bergevin acknowledged that he was taking a risk in signing Radulov, who had two previous stints with the Nashville Predators.
Selected by Nashville in the first round (No. 15) of the 2004 NHL Draft, he had 47 goals and 102 points in 154 regular-season games with the Predators. Radulov the NHL at the start of the 2012-13 season, choosing to play in Russia after being suspended by the Predators for violating curfew during the 2011-12 season.
"What happened in the past, happened in the past," Radulov said from Italy via conference call. "I really want to come back and play in the best league against the best players, to compete and obviously try to win the Stanley Cup."
Before making his decision, Bergevin spoke to Shea Weber, the Canadiens' newly acquired defenseman who was Radulov's teammate in Nashville, and Sergei Fedorov, Radulov's GM with CSKA Moscow.
"[Weber] talked to me about when he was with [Radulov] in Nashville; it was not a character issue but a maturity issue," Bergevin said. "He was younger, he was 22 or 23 at the time, and Sergei said, 'Now, he's one of my leaders. He's my captain. He's got a wife and a kid and he wants to come back in the NHL.' And my scouts, we watched him a lot in the KHL this year and he's one of the hardest-working kids, so we're taking a risk, but hopefully the reward is big."
Radulov had not spoken to Weber but appreciated his teammate's endorsement.
"Well, 'Thanks, Shea!' You can say that," Radulov said. "Yeah, thank you, Shea, and I'll do everything to make sure everybody's happy."
Radulov had 23 goals and 65 points in 53 games last season to help CSKA advance to the Gagarin Cup Final. He had 169 goals and 492 points in 391 KHL games.