The Montreal Canadiens is not going well. They have started making changes already with general manager Marc Bergevin being fired and his assistant Trevor Timmins also shown the door.
We will surely see some trades of veteran players in the coming months before the trade deadline on March 21st. Players like Ben Chiarot, Brett Kulak and Chris Wideman, who are on expiring contracts are sure to be dealt. Pretty much anyone else on the roster over the age of 25 could be used as trade bait to build for the future as well.
But who will be coaching this team in the future?
Dominique Ducharme took over as the head coach last February when Claude Julien was fired. Ducharme helped guide the team to the Stanley Cup Final but with things so bleak this season it doesn’t look great that he will be back next year. So far, his regular season record with the team is 21-36-10 in 67 games.
That is a 64 point pace over a full season. Even with a run to the Stanley Cup Final thrown into the middle of that, it is hard to fathom Ducharme returning for the 2022-23 season.
But if he is out, who will take over? The Canadiens won’t be going down the road of hiring another assistant like they did with Ducharme. They also lost Joel Bouchard from the organziation to the San Diego Gulls, but could they reconcile? It seems unlikely they would let him leave the club only to then try and promote him a few months later.
We do know, whether we agree or not, that the head coach must be able to speak French in order to communicate with the local media. There is no point in arguing with this inevitability, so we have to keep the candidates to those who speak French.
Who are the best candidates for the job when Ducharme is inevitably let go at season’s end?