More details on the firing of Claude Julien and Kirk Muller including when the decision was made
Just 18 games into the 2022-21 season, the Montreal Canadiens have decided to shake things up. After a great start, the team has been pretty terrible recently, losing five of their last six games and looking utterly confused at times on the ice. As a result, head coach Claude Julien and associate coach Kirk Muller have been shown the door. Dominique Ducharme, who was an assistant coach, takes over as bench boss on an interim basis while the club has hired Alex Burrows as an associate coach.
"Marc Bergevin informed Claude Julien this morning of the coaching change," said TSN's Pierre LeBrun. "My sense is the Habs GM still saw effort on the ice but also saw a confused team. Wanted to intervene before the downward spiral got out of control. Again, speaks to the expectations set for this season."
Expectations are indeed high after a number of roster changes during the offseason. However, Renaud Lavoie with TVA Sports said last night's loss to Ottawa was not the final nail in the coffin for Julien and Muller.
"I'm told that last night loss was not the final straw for Claude Julien and Kirk Muller," said Lavoie. "The decision to let them go was made before and the plan was to announce it today."
Julien had one more year left after this season on his five-year contract with the Habs that paid him $5 million per season. That is guaranteed money and he'll get that unless he takes another coaching position with another NHL team. If it is for less than $5 million, Montreal must make up the difference.
Social media is rife with comments that Julien is taking the fall for goaltender Carey Price, who is not having a great season so far (5-3-3, 2.95 GAA, .893 save percentage). Certainly Price's play has been a factor in the Canadiens latest skid, but it seems following the team's good start, their system was figured out and coaching staff did not adjust. Can Ducharme do better? We'll have to wait and see.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex Tuch | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Owen Power | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Drew Helleson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jirí Kulich | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Isac Lundestrom | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Johnston | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Trevor Zegras | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||