The Montreal Canadiens fired head coach Dominique Ducharme on Wednesday. After general manager Marc Bergevin and his right-hand man Trevor Timmins, Ducharme becomes the third known figure in the team to lose his position since the start of the season.
Posted at 2:48 p.m.
Updated at 3:00 p.m.
The team confirmed the news, first revealed by TVA Sports, in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. It also specifies that assistant coaches Luke Richardson, Alex Burrows, Trevor Letowski, Éric Raymond, Éric Gravel and Mario Leblanc will remain in their positions, and that Ducharme’s replacement will be named later in the day.
Dominique Ducharme’s first term as a pilot for an NHL team therefore ends after only 83 games spread over two seasons. His combined record is 23 wins, 46 losses and 14 losses in overtime or shootout.
This performance is weighed down by the campaign of misery that CH is currently experiencing, one of the worst in its long history. Stuck at the bottom of the general classification, the club have won only 8 of their 45 games this season, and only 2 of their last 22.
However, the Quebec coach’s record in the season is nuanced by the unexpected course of his team during the last playoffs. Heading for a quick first-round elimination against the Toronto Maple Leafs, CH not only won three games in a row to surprise their old rivals in the Queen City, but they went on to knock out one after the other. the Winnipeg Jets and the Vegas Knights, en route to their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals in 28 years. The Habs finally lost in five games against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Success
Dominique Ducharme, 48, first made his mark by experiencing success as a coach in the junior ranks. In 2013, he won the Memorial Cup with the Halifax Mooseheads, whose offense was then led by Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin.
He then led Team Canada to back-to-back World Junior Championship finals. A heartbreaking shootout loss to the United States earned his squad silver in 2017, but he got his revenge in 2018 and came home with gold around his neck.
The following summer, the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, Claude Julien, made him one of his assistants. This collaboration lasted two and a half seasons, until Julien’s dismissal in February 2021. The CH had started the 2020-2021 campaign with a bang, shortened to 56 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but quickly lost his way to go. Judging that his team needed a “new voice”, Marc Bergevin then promoted Ducharme as head coach.
Under his leadership, the team experienced a checkered end to the season, undermined in particular by a string of injuries: 15 wins, 16 losses and 7 losses in overtime or in shootouts.
The playoffs came, however, the stars aligned and the Habs had their best moments since Ducharme’s appointment.
The latter also had to isolate himself from the rest of the club for a few days after contracting COVID-19 at the start of the semi-final against the Golden Knights. His assistant Luke Richardson had taken over until the end of the series, and Ducharme had regained his position in the final.
Fall
The fall experienced by the Canadian in recent months is certainly unheard of in the NHL, or even in professional sport.
In terms of the workforce, the off-season was short, but devastating for the management of the club. We learned that defender Shea Weber’s career was probably over, a fact that has since been confirmed. Center Phillip Danault signed with the Los Angeles Kings, and wing Corey Perry signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Center Jesperi Kotkaniemi has accepted a hostile offer from the Carolina Hurricanes. And goalkeeper Carey Price underwent knee surgery which should allow him to start the season on time; here we are at the beginning of February and he still hasn’t played a match.
Other major absences were deplored. Joel Edmundson, an important member of the team’s defense, has not played all season with a back injury. Paul Byron, whose offensive touch isn’t what it used to be but who remains a valued veteran on the team, missed the first 43 games.
To make up for all these departures and absences, Bergevin acquired replacement players who had mixed impacts. Injuries and COVID-19 have affected the whole team at one time or another: only Nick Suzuki has played the first 44 games of the calendar in full.
The defeats piled up again and again. On November 28, Geoff Molson, president and owner of the organization, showed the door to Bergevin and Timmins. Jeff Gorton was first hired as vice-president of hockey operations, then Kent Hughes accepted the position of general manager.
During his first press briefing, Gorton said he planned to keep Dominique Ducharme in the job at least until the end of the season. But beyond the defeats and the tumble in the standings, clues suggested an accelerated end to the reign, even if the head coach has a contract still valid for two more seasons after this one.
The counter-performances began to follow one another at an accelerated pace. The effort deployed was no longer that of a committed group. The message, obviously, was no longer getting through.
Thus ends the strange reign of Dominique Ducharme, who will never have had the opportunity to lead the team for a full season, let alone during a so-called “normal” season.