Michel Therrien has been relieved of his duties as head coach of the Montreal Canadiens minutes ago. General Manager Marc Bergevin has appointed former Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien as Therrien's replacement:
Claude Julien appointed head coach of the Montreal Canadiens.
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) February 14, 2017
DETAILS-> https://t.co/UfyNu0BCt7
While many fans have been calling for Therrien’s head from the moment he was hired, I approached with caution because his winning record was highly commendable. Despite being serviceable for the last several years, Therrien’s tactics seemed to have lost their effect on the players, who demonstrated recently that a change was indeed needed.
Here are Bergevin’s comments regarding his decision, as per NHL.com:
"I would like to sincerely thank Michel for his relentless work with the Montreal Canadiens over his eight seasons behind the bench, including the last five seasons when we worked together. The decision to remove Michel from his coaching duties was a difficult one because I have lots of respect for him. I came to the conclusion that our team needed a new energy, a new voice, a new direction. Claude Julien is an experienced and well respected coach with a good knowledge of the Montreal market. Claude has been very successful as an NHL coach and he won the Stanley Cup. Today we hired the best available coach, and one of the league's best. I am convinced that he has the capabilities to get our team back on the winning track,"
Below, you will find the reasoning that I outlined in yesterday’s blog regarding how the end of the line for Michel Therrien was written in stone:
Many are theorizing that general manager Marc Bergevin will surely offer his buddy Michel one last chance at redemption with a big trade (or two) between now and the March first deadline, and that’s understandable. However, Bergevin made significant changes to his roster last summer and apparently changed the atmosphere around the locker room by bringing in more “character… and “leadership…. He has given Therrien every opportunity to succeed…
And:
The bottom line is that there are absolutely no excuses for the way the team has performed. Poor preparation and execution cannot solely be placed on the shoulders of the players, though they are partly to blame for embarrassing efforts that we’ve come to witness far too often. A change is required, if only to shake things up and apply pressure on the players. It’s important for Bergevin to step in and do something- anything- to ensure that the team finishes the regular season on a strong note before the playoffs come around.
Note: Approximately 67% of the 1,182 respondents in yesterday’s poll were of the opinion that Therrien will be fired before the end of the regular season. Pat yourselves on the back; you were right!
67% of respondents in yesterday's blog: pic.twitter.com/hTnMMbwDmX
— Andrew Saadalla (@andrewsaadalla) February 14, 2017
More to follow soon.