After an embarrassing loss that had a lot of fans in Montreal talking, the Canadiens have made a move that not a lot of people will find shocking. The Montreal Canadiens have fired head coach Dominique Ducharme. The organization announced Wednesday that, after an 8-30-7 record this season, it’s time to make a change. An interim coach has not yet been named by the team. Assistant coaches Alex Burrows, Éric Gravel, Mario Leblanc, Trevor Letowski, Éric Raymond, and Luke Richardson have not been released, as of this report.
Related: Matthews Will Be Back In Maple Leafs Lineup After Knee to the Head
The firing comes not long after the Canadiens signed the coach to a three-year contract following the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021. Ducharme took over for Claude Julien in February of 2021, after a completely revamped Marc Bergevin roster failed to get off to the best start. Ducharme came in, turned things around quickly — allowing the team to creep into the playoffs — and the Habs went on a tremendous run in the postseason.
Ducharme shouldn’t be blamed for all of the struggles of the Canadiens this season. As Eric Engels correctly points out, Ducharme had “been dealt a horrible hand and even worse luck – a brutally short turnaround from the Stanley Cup Final in July, season-long injuries to his best players and having to put more bodies in COVID-19 protocol than any other team in the league.” The Canadiens were never going to be as good as they were to finish 2021.
And, even if a coaching change was inevitable, with a new executive team running things and expected change ahead of this year’s trade deadline, speculation was that the Canadiens would usher in more change during the offseason. A coaching change was likely, but most believed Ducharme would make it to the end of a meaningless season.
Canadiens Needed to Do Something
That said, Tuesday’s loss — a 7-1 beating at the hands of a not-terribly competitive New Jersey Devils team– was among the worst losses of the season and talk was that many players were quitting on the coach. The Canadiens must have felt they needed to make this change immediately for the sake of the locker room and who was still going to be on the roster when the deadline came and went.
The Canadiens currently sit in last place in the NHL and are expected to be major sellers heading into this year’s trade deadline.
Next: Montreal Canadiens Potentially Interested in Jakob Chychrun
Pingback: Canadiens' Plan Seems Obvious After Martin St. Louis Named New Coach
Pingback: Canadiens’ Plan Seems Obvious After Martin St. Louis Named New Coach – Hockey 1 on 1