Canadiens: In Other News… Ducharme Axed, Rocket Fight for Playoffs

Ducharme Gets the Axe, Martin St. Louis Enters as Canadiens Free-Fall Continues

Going into the 2021-22 season, expectations were high for head coach Dominique Ducharme after taking the Canadiens all the way to the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals the year before, in a magical Cinderella run helmed by a vintage Carey Price and timely, youthful offense. With a fresh three-year deal in hand and a familiar staff around him, it seemed as though the Canadiens would at least be able to put up a fight if not compete for a playoff spot directly, with an initially promising lineup.

That hasn’t happened.

Instead, every cliché you can name to describe a bad or struggling sports franchise can be applied to the Canadiens, and Ducharme and the few members of his staff who remain have seen just about everything a coaching staff can see over the course of a professional hockey season, including well, being laid off, replaced by a former longtime NHL star in St. Louis. From fringe AHLers like Brandon Baddock and Cameron Hillis finding their way into the Canadiens lineup as Covid and injuries wracked the team, to basically every new addition made by former GM Marc Bergevin during free agency, not working out, Ducharme leaves the Canadiens with a less than ideal 23-46-14 record over his short tenure.

Even with Ducharme gone, the Canadiens are in absolute free-fall right now and it doesn’t seem as though there’s much to stop them from slipping farther. Heading into last Tuesday nights matchup against the New Jersey Devils, the Habs were fresh off their bye-week and icing a mostly healthy roster for the first time in months. The Devils had been struggling heavily after a solid start to the season and had an unproven journeyman in goal in 29-year-old Jon Gillies.

Yet, in spite of peppering Gillies with 27 shots, Montreal only managed one by him as they were crushed 7-1. Going into Thursday’s match against the Capitals, there was little to suggest the Habs weren’t destined for a similar fate against a potent and star-studded Capitals lineup, and well, they ultimately played up to those odds. Going forward, it remains to be seen whether St. Louis can ultimately right what has long been a rapidly sinking ship in Montreal.

Laval Rocket Continue Unlikely Push for Playoff Spot

In reality, both the ECHL’s Trois Rivieres Lions and the AHL’s Laval Rocket should’ve been destined for a similar fate to the Canadiens this season. The trickle-down effect that most injury plagued NHL teams suffer from is something the Habs and their affiliates are no stranger to, and it’s resulted in some less-than-ideal campaigns from what were once promising teams. The 2017-18 Canadiens weren’t a fantastic team by any stretch of the imagination, finishing with a paltry 29-40-13 record in spite of a breakout campaign from Brendan Gallagher and backup goalie Antti Niemi.

Compared to the Rocket, however, they looked like a Stanley Cup contender. In what was their first season after the move from the St. John’s IceCaps, an initially promising start for Laval quickly gave way into a season ending 12-game losing streak (yes really) and a ridiculous 51 different players seeing the ice. In the following seasons, former Habs GM Marc Bergevin continued his reputation for lack of affiliate support before former head coach Joel Bouchard finally brought the Rocket into a somewhat competitive state.

After jumping ship to coach the San Diego Gulls, new head coach Jean-Francois Houle has picked up where Bouchard left off, as the Rocket have continued to bring exciting hockey to the table in spite of all the complications from their parent club. In a notable change of pace from season’s prior, Bergevin inked 15 or so players to AHL-only contracts, an unheard-of number in the league as we know it today. Ultimately though, this has benefited Laval greatly, as they’ve still been able to ice a competitive roster, behind the likes of Kevin Poulin, Gabriel Bourque, Danick Martel, and Kevin Roy.

With a 18-13-3 record this season, the Rocket sit 8th in the Eastern Conference with the fewest games played in the AHL, having eight games in hand on the 9th place Charlotte Checkers. While it seems like top scorers in Laurent Dauphin and Ryan Poehling will be with the Canadiens for the foreseeable future, the Rocket should continue to put up a fight and potentially sneak into the AHL playoffs for the first time in team history.

Trois Rivieres Lions off to Solid Start in Inaugural Season

Head coach Eric Belanger ad GM Marc Andre Bergeron certainly had their work cut out for them when assembling what would become the Trois Rivieres Lions, the Canadiens first ECHL affiliate since the now defunct Brampton Beast changed affiliates to the Ottawa Senators after the 2017-18 season. The Beast had managed a few solid campaigns behind a potent offense comprised of the likes of David Vallorani, David Pacan, and Brandon Marino, as well as continually solid play from Zach Fucale in goal. In spite of continued roster issues stemming from call-ups to the Laval Rocket, the Lions currently sit fourth in the Eastern Conference and second in the North Division with an 18-12-2 record, benefiting from a talented and potent roster comprised of ECHL regulars.

Free agent acquisitions in Olivier Archambault, Alexis D’Aoust, and Shawn St. Amant have picked up where they left off after mostly missing last season due to the Covid-19 pandemic and have continued to establish themselves as top scoring options who can be relied upon night after night. Phillipe Desrosiers has stepped up massively in goal with a 12-3-0 record and 2.77 GAA, and overall the Lions have given the city of Trois Rivieres the hockey team they’ve long been waiting for, and the city has embraced them quickly and passionately. Going forward, it seems as though the sky is the limit for the Lions as they look to build on what has been a largely successful start to their inaugural season.

Alexandre Tremblay Continues Love for the Game in 19th Professional Season

Now for the usual bit of ancillary content, every once in a while, I stumble upon a player profile that reminds me of exactly why I love the game of hockey in the first place, more specifically the obscure and lesser-known side of it. I’ve talked in passing about the likes of Trevor Jobe and Nick Niedert, who both played for 30+ teams over the course of their career as they defined the term journeyman, but this player is of a more homegrown variety. Alexandre Tremblay was a talented, if undersized scoring forward coming out of the QMJHL in the late 90s, and in almost every scenario should’ve disappeared into the eon of top junior players who just never made it professionally.

Instead, Tremblay, at 42 years old, is still chasing his pro hockey dream as he enters his 19th season with Thetford Assurancia of the LNAH, whom he has played for since 2015-16. Tremblay’s career is of a variety that I am largely unfamiliar with, having spent it largely in the second division of European leagues, in this case the NLA’s Swiss-B league. Leagues like these are ones I am mostly, if not entirely unfamiliar with, but regardless, Tremblay established himself as one of the league’s top scoring threats over a 10-year career, coming oh so close to Swiss-A promotion time and time again.

In between, the Beaupre native managed a few brief stints in the AHL, SM-Liiga, and Swiss-A league totaling 41 games, with 12 goals and 4 assists. While the LNAH has experienced financial difficulties related to Covid-19 over the past few seasons, the league has managed to keep things going for 2021-22, and as he enters his 19th professional season, it seems as though Alexandre Tremblay, is hoping for a similar continuation, of a long and winding pro hockey journey.