The Montreal Canadiens are continuing to prepare for the 2026-27 season, which is less than three weeks away, and after a handful of signings over the last week, it appears that a change is coming off the ice.
For the last four-and-a-half seasons, the Canadiens have been rolling with pretty much the same coaching staff. Martin St. Louis as the bench boss, while Stephane Robidas and Trevor Letowski have served as assistants, along with Alexandre Burrows, although he departed his role following the 2023-24 campaign.
After five seasons as an assistant coach, Trevor Letowski's time behind the bench has come to a close, according to Sportsnet's Eric Engels.
Montreal Canadiens make change behind the bench, add two-time Stanley Cup champion
On Thursday night, Sportsnet's Eric Engels reported on social media that Trevor Letowski is stepping down from his role as assistant coach with the Montreal Canadiens as he wishes to spend more time with his family. Additionally, Engels added that the Canadiens are hoping that they can keep Trevor Letowski in the organization in some capacity.
With Letowski's departure, the Canadiens had an opening behind the bench and it didn't take long for Martin St. Louis and the team's front office to find a replacement for the 49-year-old.
According to Eric Engels, the Canadiens will be hiring two-time Stanley Cup champion Derek Lalonde to their coaching staff next season, one day after he left his role with the Toronto Maple Leafs following changes made by their new head coach, Jim Hiller.
"The Montreal Canadiens are hiring Derek Lalonde to join their coaching staff as an assistant. He will be replacing Trevor Letowski, who's decided to step off the bench to have more time with his family. It's the Canadiens' desire to keep Letowski in the organization." Engels said in a post on X on Thursday evening.
The Montreal Canadiens are hiring Derek Lalonde to join their coaching staff as an assistant. He will be replacing Trevor Letowski, who's decided to step off the bench to have more time with his family. It's the Canadiens' desire to keep Letowski in the organization.
— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) July 8, 2026
Under Lalonde, the Toronto Maple Leafs finished the season with top-ten penalty kill in the National Hockey League with a success rate of 81.2 percent, three percent better than the Montreal Canadiens, according to StatMuse.
Derek Lalonde's coaching history
Lalonde, a native of Brasher Falls, New York, brings plenty of experience to the Canadiens' bench. From 2002 to 2011, he served as an assistant coach in the NCAA (Division 1) with Ferris State University and the University of Denver.
Following three years in the USHL, Lalonde finally got his first opportunity in professional hockey, joining the ECHL's Toledo Walleye as their head coach in 2014. From there, Lalonde quickly climbed the ranks in professional hockey - two years as HC with Toledo, two years as HC with the AHL's Iowa Wild and in 2019, was hired by the Tampa Bay Lightning to become their new assistant coach on Jon Cooper's staff.
The 53-year-old spent four years with the Tampa Bay Lightning, helping them win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021. The work he did with the Lightning didn't go unnoticed around the National Hockey League and in 2022, 27 years after he began his coaching journey in NCAA Division 3, Lalonde was hired as the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings.
Detroit was hoping that Lalonde would be the right person to lead them back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2016, but unfortunately that wouldn't happen. On Boxing Day 2024, his third season with the Red Wings, Lalonde was fired by the club and replaced with Todd McLellan.
Lalonde would then go on to join the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 2025-26 season as an assistant coach, as mentioned. The Maple Leafs finished the regular season with a 32-36-14 record, which had them in last place in the Atlantic Division & second-last in the Eastern Conference.
Lalonde's hiring earns him unique place in Montreal Canadiens history
After 116 years with strictly Canadians behind the bench, both as head coaches and assistants, Derek Lalonde becomes the first American coach in the history of the Montreal Canadiens, according to Elite Prospects. The first time fans will see him behind the bench will be on Saturday, September 19th in one of the club's split-squad preseason contests against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Expect the Montreal Canadiens to make the Derek Lalonde hiring official in the coming days, with the club hoping that he can work his penalty killing magic with this group and get them into the top-ten in the National Hockey League by the end of the 2026-27 campaign.