Dominique Ducharme was fired as coach of the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday.
His replacement will be announced later Wednesday. Ducharme went 23-46-14 in 83 games over two seasons.
Montreal (8-30-7) is last in the NHL standings after reaching the Stanley Cup Final last season, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games.
"We would like to sincerely thank Dominique for his work and contributions to the Montreal Canadiens organization," general manager Kent Hughes said. "At this point in the season, we felt it was in the best interest of the club to make a change."
Montreal lost its first five games to begin the season and fired GM Marc Bergevin on Nov. 28 after a 6-15-2 start. Jeff Gorton was hired as executive vice president of hockey operations and hired Hughes, a former player agent, as GM on Jan. 18.
Hughes said one of his first decisions would be regarding the status of Ducharme, who was promoted after Claude Julien was fired Feb. 23, 2021. Ducharme helped the Canadiens reach the Cup Final, but Montreal has lost seven straight games (0-5-2) and has struggled all season.
"Dom's the coach of this team," Hughes said at his introductory press conference on Jan. 19. "… I haven't had a lot of opportunity to think about everything. It's been kind of more of a reactionary 48 hours. But I certainly have beliefs about what a modern-day coach should be or have in terms of qualities, and I'm anxious to speak to Dom and learn more about him, and ultimately, we'll see where things take us from there."
Montreal has dealt with numerous injuries and has been without defenseman Shea Weber and goalie Carey Price this season.
Ducharme is the fourth NHL coach fired this season (Alain Vigneault, Philadelphia Flyers, Dec. 6; Travis Green, Vancouver Canucks, Dec. 5; Jeremy Colliton, Chicago Blackhawks, Nov. 6). Paul Maurice resigned as Winnipeg Jets coach on Dec. 17, and Joel Quenneville resigned as Florida Panthers coach Oct. 28 after being implicated in an independent investigation into the Blackhawks for allegations by former player Kyle Beach of sexual assault by then-video coach Brad Aldrich in 2010.
Entertainment Plaza - TV, Movies, Sports, Music, Soaps
http://almosthuman99.com
Babe Of The Month - Vote Now!
http://almosthuman99.com/polls/babes/babeofthemonth.html
Hunk Of The Month - Vote Now!
http://almosthuman99.com/polls/hunks/hunkofthemonth.html
No comments:
Post a Comment