Canadiens fire goalie coach Stéphane Waite
Waite #Waite
An hour after a 3-1 win over the Ottawa Senators Tuesday night at the Bell Centre, Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin announced he has fired goalie coach Stéphane Waite .
Waite, who had been with the team since 2013, has been replaced by Sean Burke, who will become the team’s director of goaltending. Before joining the Canadiens, Burke will be required to undergo a mandatory 14-day COVID-19 quarantine. Marco Marciano, the goalie coach for the AHL’s Laval Rocket, will work with the Canadiens’ goaltenders during that period.
The news comes as a surprise since following the Canadiens’ morning skate Tuesday, new head coach Dominique Ducharme talked about the work Waite had done with Carey Price over the last few days to help him get his game back on track. The firing also quickly took the spotlight off Ducharme’s first win as an NHL head coach after losing his first two games.
“He worked on a lot of things with Stéphane Waite,” Ducharme said about Price Tuesday morning. “I’m not going to go into detail about it. It’s very specific work that Stéphane does with our goaltenders. We feel that (Price is) ready, both physically and mentally. That’s why he’s in goal tonight. We aren’t worried. We know he’ll bounce back.”
Price did bounce back, making 26 saves against the Senators Tuesday night, improving his record to 6-4-3 with a 2.96 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage.
Price had allowed five goals in his previous start, a 6-3 loss to the Jets last Thursday night in Winnipeg (the sixth goal was an empty-netter). Price has allowed five goals in four of the 13 games he has played in this season and before Tuesday night had given up 14 goals in his previous three games, while going 0-2-1. Price now has a 2-4-1 record in his last seven games.
Backup goalie Jake Allen has a 4-2-2 record this season with a 2.12 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage.
When asked after Tuesday night’s game what he had been mainly focusing on during his work with Waite over the past few days, Price said: “Stopping pucks. Just keeping things simple and letting the game come to me.”
The goalie added: “I’m just thankful to get back in the net and get that opportunity to get another crack at it. The whole time it’s just been focusing on the process and keeping things simple and the guys played very well in front of me tonight to help me out.”
Burke, 54, was hired by the Canadiens in 2016 as a professional scout for the Western region. He also worked as a goaltending consultant for the team.
Before joining the Canadiens, Burke spent six seasons with the Arizona Coyotes, serving as a goaltending coach and director of player development before being promoted to assistant GM on July 10, 2012.
Burke spent 18 seasons as a goalie in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils, Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes, Vancouver Canucks, Philadelphia Flyers, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings and the Coyotes. He also played for Team Canada at the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics, winning a silver medal at the 1992 Games in Albertville.
Last Wednesday, Bergevin fired head coach Claude Julien and replaced him with Ducharme. The Canadiens GM fired associate coach Kirk Muller at the same time and promoted Alex Burrows to assistant coach. Burrows had been an assistant coach with the Rocket.
Tuesday night’s win improved the Canadiens’ record to 10-6-5 and they are in fourth place in the all-Canadian North Division.
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