The Montreal Canadiens have fired head coach Dominique Ducharme, general manager Kent Hughes announced Wednesday. In addition, the Canadiens have named Martin St. Louis as the team's new head coach on an interim basis.
"We would like to sincerely thank Dominique for his work and contributions to the Montreal Canadiens organization," Hughes said in a press release. "At this point in the season, we felt it was in the best interest of the club to make a change."
Ducharme, who took the team to the Stanley Cup Finals last season, was the only coach fired on Wednesday as the team plans to retain assistant coaches Alex Burrows, Eric Gravel, Mario Leblanc, Trevor Letowski, Éric Raymond and Luke Richardson.
The Canadiens promoted Ducharme to head coach in February 2021 following the firing of Claude Julien. Prior to the promotion, Ducharme had been an assistant coach for two previous seasons in Montreal. Ducharme originally joined the Canadiens coaching staff in April 2018 after 10 seasons in the QMJHL.
During his time as Montreal's head coach, Ducharme put together a 23-46-14 record in 83 regular season games. In addition, the 48 year old compiled a 13-6 record in the postseason and led the Canadiens to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1993.
Meanwhile, St. Louis doesn't have any prior head coaching experienced, but did serve as the special teams consultant with the Columbus Blue Jackets under John Tortorella back in 2019. St. Louis played 16 NHL seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers, Calgary Flames and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018.
"We are very happy to welcome Martin to the Canadiens organization," Hughes said in a separate announcement. "Not only are we adding an excellent hockey man, but with Martin we are bringing in a proven winner and a man whose competitive qualities are recognized by all who have crossed his path."
Entering Wednesday, the Canadiens have a 8-30-7 record (23 points), which is the worst mark in the NHL. Montreal has lost seven consecutive games, including a 7-1 loss at the hands of the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
