But the best time to do it would have been last week when Dominique Ducharme would have had a week of practices to put his stamp on team.
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• Montreal Gazette
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This is the third column I have written in the last two weeks about the Canadiens firing Claude Julien, but the first to be published.
When the Canadiens cancelled a scheduled practice two Mondays ago and announced that GM Marc Bergevin would speak with the media at noon, I was pretty sure Julien was gone, so I had the column written that morning and ready to hit publish when the news broke.
I was wrong.
It seemed like the perfect time to make a coaching change because the struggling Canadiens had a six-day break in the schedule and it would have given the new coach time to work on changes he might want to make to the system, or the lines, during what would be like a mini-training camp.
When the Canadiens announced this past Monday that they weren’t going to practise until 2 p.m. in Ottawa after a 3-2 OT loss to the Senators Sunday night, I figured again that Julien was gone and updated the column I had written the week before and was just waiting to hit publish.
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Again, I was wrong.
Then on Wednesday morning, the news finally came that Julien had been fired and that assistant coach Dominique Ducharme would take over as head coach on an interim basis. Associate coach Kirk Muller was also fired with Alex Burrows replacing him on the coaching staff after being an assistant coach with the AHL’s Laval Rocket for the last three seasons.
“We feel our team can achieve high standards and the time has come to make those changes,” Bergevin said in a statement Wednesday morning when the coaching change was announced.
The best time for the change was last week — but better late than never, I guess.
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After a great 7-1-2 start to the season, it had become obvious something was seriously wrong with the Canadiens and, after going 2-4-2 in their last eight games, a playoff spot no longer looked certain.
Every coach in every sport has a shelf life and Julien’s time had expired. Too many players were unhappy and it was showing on the ice.
Lack of ice time wasn’t sitting well with some top players as Julien continued to roll four lines.
Phillip Danault, with zero goals in 18 games, has been playing like someone upset that news was leaked he reportedly turned down a six-year, US$30-million contract offer during the off-season.
Making Tomas Tatar — the Canadiens’ leading scorer last season and one of the most popular players in the locker room — a healthy scratch for one game and then benching him in the third period and overtime of another probably didn’t go over well with players when the team was struggling to score goals.
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Paul Byron, an alternate captain and highly respected veteran, was placed on waivers and then on the taxi squad in a salary-cap saving move.
Victor Mete’s agent rocked the boat when things were still going well for the team, making the defenceman’s trade request public.
Veteran Artturi Lehkonen, another popular player, was made a healthy scratch for the last two games.
Goalie Carey Price hasn’t responded well to having Jake Allen challenge him for the No. 1 job and has a 5-3-3 record with a 2.95 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage.
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“I think we’re pretty much all up in our own heads right now,” Nick Suzuki said after the OT loss to the Senators Sunday. “I think just overthinking it. Playing not to lose and that’s never a good thing to do. At the start of the season, we were real energized and everyone was having fun. That just got away from us.”
Coaches need to make tough decisions, but when those decisions lead to so many unhappy players and the losses keep piling up, it’s time to make a change.
Enter Ducharme, who was hired by the Canadiens as an assistant coach three years ago and has basically been the head-coach-in-waiting since then.
Burrows will bring a fresh voice and a positive attitude behind the bench as Ducharme’s assistant. Burrows only retired as an NHL player three years ago, so the players know him, will be able relate to him, and vice-versa. A positive, fresh voice can only help the Canadiens at this point.
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Former Canadiens forward Dale Weise had Burrows as a teammate for three years with the Vancouver Canucks and had him as an assistant coach with the Rocket last season. Weise tweeted Wednesday that he loved Burrows as a teammate and that as a coach he was very detailed and great working with the power play.
The power play is one of the major things the Canadiens need to fix, ranking 20th in the NHL with an 18.2 per cent success rate with Muller in charge.
The head coach’s job is Ducharme’s to lose. If the Canadiens do well, the interim tag will probably be lifted.
If they don’t do well, the finger will then need to be pointed directly at Bergevin, who is on his third coach in nine seasons as GM.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMif2h0dHBzOi8vbW9udHJlYWxnYXpldHRlLmNvbS9zcG9ydHMvaG9ja2V5L25obC9ob2NrZXktaW5zaWRlLW91dC9zdHUtY293YW4tcGxheWVycy1mb3JjZWQtY2FuYWRpZW5zLWdtcy1oYW5kLWluLWZpcmluZy1vZi1qdWxpZW7SAa0BaHR0cHM6Ly9tb250cmVhbGdhemV0dGUuY29tL3Nwb3J0cy9ob2NrZXkvbmhsL2hvY2tleS1pbnNpZGUtb3V0L3N0dS1jb3dhbi1wbGF5ZXJzLWZvcmNlZC1jYW5hZGllbnMtZ21zLWhhbmQtaW4tZmlyaW5nLW9mLWp1bGllbi93Y20vYTRhZWFlYWQtYjQwOC00MzIzLWE3NjctMzA4ZTAyZjM0NjU3L2FtcC8?oc=5
2021-02-24 19:52:30Z
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