The Canadian | Six candidates for the post of head coach

The new head coach of the Canadiens will be announced in the coming hours and a few candidates appear to be the most likely to land the job. The Press selected six. The order is not significant.

Simon Olivier Lorange
The Press

patrick roy

Certainly the most popular choice with the public, the former star goaltender has just been left aside for the position of general manager of the Habs. Would we prefer to repatriate him behind the bench? His experience of three seasons in this role with the Colorado Avalanche left a mixed impression. After a sensational debut campaign that won him the Jack Adams Coach of the Year trophy in 2014, his team missed the playoffs two seasons in a row. Then, a few weeks before training camp, in 2016, he caused a surprise by submitting his resignation. Since 2018, he has been back in the QMJHL, with the Quebec Remparts, of which he is the head coach and general manager.

Joel Bouchard

Another that several Habs supporters would like to see return to the fold. Recognized as a fine pedagogue who has a strong influence with young players, he was for three years at the head of the Laval Rocket, the Canadian’s school club in the American League, before accepting an equivalent role last summer. with the San Diego Gulls, an affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks. The circumstances of his departure have never been officially clarified. He would have refused an assistant position to Dominique Ducharme before leaving for San Diego once his contract at Laval ended.

Guy Boucher

Guy Boucher’s rise has been phenomenal. After only three seasons at the head of the Voltigeurs de Drummondville, in the QMJHL, he was appointed head coach of the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Canadiens’ training club in the American League at the time. In 2010, after just one season with Hamilton, he made the jump to the NHL, when the Tampa Bay Lightning made him their head coach. In Tampa, he reached the Eastern Conference Finals in his freshman year, but the adventure lasted just under two and a half seasons. He then headed for Europe and, after three years with HC Bern, he returned to Canada to take the reins of the Ottawa Senators. They also reached the Eastern final in his first year in office, but again, the experience was interrupted in less than three years. Since his dismissal in 2019, he has been an analyst at RDS.

Alain Vigneault

After Michel Therrien and Claude Julien who each led the Canadiens twice, will it be Alain Vigneault’s turn? It was in Montreal that the latter had his first job as head coach in the NHL from 1997 to 2000. After this half-fig, half-grape experience, at the heart of a dark period in the history of the Habs, he became one of the most respected members of his brotherhood. From 2006 to 2021, he successively, and almost without interruption, led the Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers, who fired him last fall.

Pascal Vincent

Vincent spent 11 years as head coach in the QMJHL before graduating in the NHL as an assistant with the Winnipeg Jets. Five years later, he accepted the position of head coach of the organization’s farm club, where he also spent five seasons. He is now an assistant with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Benoit Groulx

Another veteran of the QMJHL, who has won the President Cup three times, he has been behind the Syracuse Crunch bench for six years, a training club for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the American League. The name of the Quebecer is often mentioned to explain the successes of the Lightning, in particular because of the quality of the development of the players.