Canadiens fire Claude Julien with Dominique Ducharme taking over
Bergevin #Bergevin
The Canadiens announced Wednesday morning that head coach Claude Julien and associate coach Kirk Muller have both been fired.
Dominique Ducharme has been named interim head coach, while Alex Burrows, who was an assistant coach with the AHL’s Laval Rocket, has been added to the Canadiens’ coaching staff.
After getting off to a 7-1-2 start this season while scoring 44 goals, the Canadiens were looking great and Montreal fans were excited. Bergevin’s off-season player additions had given the team a big boost and for the first time in a long time it didn’t seem like a question of if the Canadiens would make the playoffs, but how far they might go once they get there.
After going 2-4-2 in their last eight games and with the playoffs no longer looking like a sure thing in this condensed 56-game season, Bergevin decided to make the coaching move.
“I would like to sincerely thank Claude and Kirk for their contributions to our team over the past five years during which we worked together,” Bergevin said in a statement released by the team. “I have great respect for these two men whom I hold in high regard. In Dominique Ducharme, we see a very promising coach who will bring new life and new energy to our group. We feel that our team can achieve high standards and the time had come for a change. ”
The Canadiens are coming off a 5-4 shootout loss to the Senators Tuesday night in Ottawa and are in fourth place in the all-Canadian North Division with a 9-5-4 record, only three points ahead of the fifth-place Calgary Flames (9-9-1). The top four teams make the playoffs.
The Canadiens’ next game is Thursday night in Winnipeg against the Jets (8 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).
Ducharme has no head-coaching experience in the NHL, but joined the Canadiens as an assistant coach for the 2018-19 season.
Before joining the Canadiens, the 47-year-old Ducharme had been head coach of the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads and Drummondville Voltigeurs and was also head coach of Team Canada at the 2017 and 2018 World Junior Hockey Championships, winning silver and gold medals.
Canadiens owner/president Geoff Molson has made it clear in the past that the Canadiens must have a bilingual head coach and Ducharme fits that bill.
Julien, 60, has one more season after this remaining on his five-year, US$25-million contract.
After Game 1 of their first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers last August in Toronto, Julien was rushed to hospital by ambulance while suffering from chest pains and required surgery to stent a coronary artery. He missed the rest of the series, which the Canadiens lost in six games, with Muller taking over as interim head coach.
“It’s always meant a lot for me to be doing this,” a healthy-looking Julien said about his job at the start of this season. “I don’t think there’s ever been a time that I’ve ever taken this job for granted. Especially feeling extremely fortunate that I’ve been doing it for this long.
“Having gone through what I went through this summer in the bubble, it could have gone either way,” he added. “It could have been the last time I was behind the bench, yet here I am today through a pandemic and everything else feeling fortunate to be able to continue to do the job that I love doing. And that’s the reason I’m still doing it is because I love it. I’ve always enjoyed coaching and being a part of a group, so that hasn’t changed.”
This was Julien’s second stint as head coach of the Canadiens.
Feb. 14 marked the fourth anniversary of Julien being hired by Bergevin as head coach, taking over from Michel Therrien when the Canadiens had a 31-19-8 record and were in first place in the Atlantic Division. Julien had been fired as head coach of the Boston Bruins a week earlier after leading them to a Stanley Cup championship in 2011.
The Canadiens got off to a 13-1-1 start that season under Therrien, but were 1-5-1 in their last seven games and had been shut out three times in the last five games when Bergevin decided to make the coaching change.
This is a similar scenario now with the Canadiens’ offence stalling after getting off to a fast start.
Julien led the Canadiens to the playoffs in his first season, but they were upset by the New York Rangers in the first round. The Canadiens have not won a playoff series since, although they did win a qualifying-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins last season before losing to the Flyers in the first round.
Since taking over from Therrien, Julien had a 129-113-35 regular-season record.
The Canadiens haven’t won a playoff series since 2015, when they beat the Ottawa Senators in the first round before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round.
scowan@postmedia.com
twitter.com/StuCowan1