Canucks: Alex Burrows lands coaching job with Canadiens

Hard work always pays off… right?

The Vancouver Canucks — who are currently sitting in sixth place (second last) in the all-Canadian North division — have lost eight of their last 10 games, but have decided to continue to ride things out and see what happens…

The Montreal Canadiens, on the other hand, — who have dominated the Canucks all season and are currently placed fourth in the division — have decided to cut ties with veteran bench boss, Claude Julien, after the club dropped its third straight game.

In the aftermath of the firing (which also saw Montreal sever ties with Kirk Muller), the Canadiens announced the hiring of interim General Manager, Dominique Ducharme. As well, Montreal called up their farm team’s (Laval Rocket) assistant coach, Alex Burrows, and offered him a coaching job in the National Hockey League.

The former Canuck great got into coaching immediately after he retired from the game of hockey as a player. He called it quits on July 6th, 2018 and announced that he would be joining Laval as he looked forward to a new chapter in his life.

Just like he did on the ice as a member of the Vancouver Canucks, Burrows gave it everything he had, and just like that, less than three years later… Burrows will take the bench for the first time as a coach in the NHL. He won’t be handed the reins as head coach, but it’s still a remarkable feat for the 39-year-old Pincourt, Quebec native.

Burrows was an undrafted player who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League. He played a total of 998 games, spending 12 seasons with the Canucks before playing his final two years with the Ottawa Senators.

He is the latest Canuck to be inducted into the Ring of Honour as his long storied career in Vancouver is filled with determination, passion and the absolute purest form of love for the game of hockey.

His chemistry with Daniel and Henrik Sedin will never be forgotten and he’ll always be remembered in Vancouver as the guy who “slayed the dragon”. He’s someone who definitely deserves everything he works for.

Although fans of his in Vancouver have had time to adjust to seeing Burrows on the “other side”, it’ll still be odd to see him behind the bench at Rogers Arena on March 8th… only this time he won’t be a player. It’ll be him standing behind his players on the visiting bench… against the Canucks.