The Montreal Canadiens have a lot of things on their to do list this offseason. Host an NHL Draft. Make 14 picks at that draft. Clear out cap space. Make the team resemble an actual NHL team more next season than they did last season. Figure out if franchise icon Carey Price will ever play hockey again.
They were thrown a bit of a curveball when Luke Richardson was hired as the Chicago Blackhawks new head coach. Now, they need to hire a new assistant coach who can run the defence this offseason as well.
According to Sportsnet Insider Elliotte Friedman, Richardson isn’t the only off-ice managerial piece that will leave the organization this offseason. Apparently, Sean Burke has also taken a job elsewhere and will be heading off to join the Vegas Golden Knights in their front office.
Montreal Canadiens director of goaltending Sean Burke is joining the Golden Knights, according to @FriedgeHNIC. Unsure if he is going to become the new goalie coach, but Mike Rosati was expected to meet with Bruce Cassidy.
— Danny Webster (@DannyWebster21) June 25, 2022
Burke had a unique role with the Canadiens, as he was head of their goaltending department. He wasn’t the goalie coach, but a step above as he oversaw all of the goaltenders in the organization and not just the NHL duo. The official title for his role was Director of Goaltending.
He was also a pro scout focusing on the western conference for the past four seasons, before taking on this goaltending department role. When Stephane Waite was fired in March 2021, Burke kind of took over as the de facto goalie coach once again to close out the season. Eric Raymond was hired as the goalie coach for the 2021-22 season and Burke returned to his goalie consultant role.
Burke’s role was a bit of an untraditional one as not every team in the league has a Director of Goaltending in the organization. It will be interesting to see if someone else is brought in to replace Burke, or if current goalie coach Eric Raymond just sees his role expanded with the organization.
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