Montreal Canadiens: Not much to worry about with Dominique Ducharme
Dominique Ducharme was one of the new faces the Montreal Canadiens added, and it looks like the Ottawa Senators want to make him their next coach.
The Montreal Canadiens and their summer revamp did not only involve their players. How the team played is and always will be equally as important as who laces up their skates each night and Marc Bergevin chose to change things up there. That involved the hiring of former Halifax Moosehead head coach Dominique Ducharme and Luke Richardson to handle the defence.
Ducharme was a hot name coming out of the QMJHL. He coached Team Canada before at the World Juniors and had a lot to do with the development of his young players in Halifax. Jonathan Drouin can attest to that as he had Ducharme as a coach during his time with the Mooseheads with the 2012/13 season being a clear stand out as that was the year they went all the way and won the Memorial Cup.
Since then, Ducharme has been a beneficial part of the Habs offence making the departures of Jean-Jacques Daigneault and Dan Lacroix worth it.
Who knows what the goal is for Ducharme in the NHL but he’s doing well for himself in his first year as an assistant coach. However, you know deep down there is a desire to take control of the entire thing. Claude Julien looks to be part of the Montreal Canadiens for some time unless things go completely south down the line.
Ducharme can be patient and wait as other head coaches have done such as Jon Cooper in Tampa or Jeff Blashill in Detroit as they were head coaches of the AHL affiliates until a door opened. Or he could take an opportunity elsewhere with another organization. According to Pierre Lebrun, Ducharme may have a window for the latter.
A lot is coming from the general managers’ meetings down in Florida and Lebrun dropped a nugget of information that he believes the Ottawa Senators might take a look at Ducharme over the summer.
Per Pierre LeBrun on RDS, the Ottawa Senators might take a look at the #Habs Ducharme for their head coaching vacancy
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla) March 6, 2019
Pierre Dorion controversially, based on optics, let go of Guy Boucher last week and has former assistant Marc Crawford leading the bench on an interim basis.
Based on what the Senators need in a head coach, Ducharme does fit the bill. He’s a new younger face that can bring new ideas to the organization. Additionally, he’s a coach who values offence and honing the skill of his players, something Boucher rarely did in Ottawa being a defence-first coach.
The Sens are likely to have a bunch of prospects in their lineup over the next two seasons as well and Ducharme’s history with younger players is another attractive asset.
Here’s the thing, why would Ducharme leave? This is not to discredit him at all but he’s about to finish his first year as an assistant head coach in the NHL. Jumping onboard of an open position now would seem a little premature. There is a sense of developing within coaching as well as many current head coaches spend time as assistants first to understand the noise of the NHL learning from some of the tendencies of the individuals they work under.
Think of Dallas Eakins when he made the jump from the Toronto Marlies (AHL) to the Edmonton Oilers. He admitted himself later that he wasn’t ready for that and couldn’t find a way to get his players to buy in. Different circumstances definitely as Eakins spent time in a professional league and the Oilers managerial team aren’t the best, but it’s a quick example.
Here’s another thing, if Ducharme would leave, why would he go to the Ottawa Senators.
The general manager is making countless decisions to either harbour the will of their involved and wild owner Eugene Melnyk or to save his own job, the team is light years away from being competitive, and you run the risk of wearing the goat horns constantly as everything you do will be under a microscope to the point where you might not have complete control of what you want to do as a coach.
Boucher is a defensive coach and the management group in Ottawa “suggested” he change things up to create more offence to entertain the fans. Who wants that?
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It’s no surprise that the Sens may want to speak to Ducharme and even if the Montreal Canadiens allow it, there is no cause for concern. There are several aspects of the decision process, and I’m not sure if anything Ottawa has to offer at the moment is worth the hoopla that comes with it.
It’ll be interesting to see what comes out of this, but the odds are not not too strong here