Bouchard can consider his future now
President/head coach/GM’s next stop could be with Laval, or possibly the Habs
We should be finding out sooner rather than later now if Joël Bouchard will, indeed, be joining the Canadiens in some capacity.
Bouchard’s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada saw their season come to an end Sunday afternoon with a 2-1 road loss to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in Game 6 of the QMJHL’s President’s Cup final. The Titan advance to the Memorial Cup tournament, while the Armada will find out if Bouchard — their president, head coach and general manager — will be moving on.
Bouchard is considered a favourite to become the next head coach of the AHL’s Laval Rocket or land in another position as part of the Canadiens’ management team. The Rocket head-coaching job has been vacant since Sylvain Lefebvre was fired last month after the Canadiens’ top farm team missed the playoffs for the fifth time in six years.
Bouchard won the Ron Lapointe Trophy this season as the QMJHL’s top coach after leading the Armada to a leaguebest 50-11-7 record. The Armada advanced to the President’s Cup final for the second straight season after being swept last year by the Saint John Sea Dogs.
The Armada have been Bouchard’s baby since he put together a group seven years ago to purchase the Montreal Juniors and move the franchise to Boisbriand.
Before Friday night’s 5-3 home loss to the Titan in Game 5, Bouchard was asked about the possibility of leaving the Armada and responded: “At the end of the day, it doesn’t come down to leaving here. It’s seeing what’s next and I don’t know what it’s going to be, to be very honest, and I’ll never leave here in my heart. I’m an owner here ... it’s my team and they’re my boys. So it’s not even a discussion about leaving … I’m not leaving.”
But he probably is — at least physically.
The Canadiens have already hired Dominique Ducharme, who was head coach and GM of the QMJHL’s Drummondville Voltigeurs, as an assistant coach. Ducharme and Bouchard are longtime friends and were both instrumental in Team Canada winning the world junior championship this year — Ducharme as head coach and Bouchard as part of the Hockey Canada management team. They are considered two of the brightest hockey minds in Quebec and it would be in the Canadiens’ best interest to lock them both up — especially since owner Geoff Molson has made it clear being bilingual is a priority when hiring a head coach or general manager.
Ducharme certainly appears to be the heir apparent to Canadiens coach Claude Julien, while Bouchard could possibly fill the same role to GM Marc Bergevin.
When asked if he prefers coaching or managing, Bouchard said: “I always think it’s coaching. Even in management you’re coaching. You’re coaching your coaches, you’re coaching your staff, you’re coaching your scouts, you’re coaching everybody and you’re still coaching the players. Obviously at a different level as a coach. But I’ve been lucky to get to experience it all. I’ve been in junior for 10 years, I’ve done all the positions — assistant coach, head coach, GM, owner, president — and I’m blessed and lucky to have that package.
“Sometimes I have a meeting with myself. The GM and the coach ... I think it’s good to corner myself on some situations.”
The Armada got off to a slow start in Sunday’s game. They were outshot 12-3 in the first period and they were trailing 1-0 after 20 minutes on a goal by Titan captain Jeffrey TruchonViel. The Armada was much better in the second period, outshooting Acadie-Bathurst 12-5, but the Titan’s Samuel L’Italien scored the only goal. Drake Batherson scored for the Armada at 17:15 of the third period and the Ottawa Senators’ fourth-round pick at the 2017 NHL draft was the QMJHL’s leading playoff scorer with 13 goals and 20 assists for 33 points in 22 games.
Titan goalie Evan Fitzpatrick, selected by the St. Louis Blues in the second round of the 2016 NHL draft, stopped 29 of 30 shots, while Armada goalie Émile Samson allowed two goals on 25 shots.
For the second straight game, the Armada’s Alex Barré-Boulet and Alexandre Alain were held off the scoresheet. Barré-Boulet led the QMJHL in scoring and was league MVP during the regular season with 53 goals and 63 assists for 116 points, while Alain finished third with 44 goals and 43 assists for 87 points. Neither player was selected at the NHL draft, but Barré-Boulet recently signed an entry level contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Alain did the same with the Canadiens.
“He’s a pro in his approach … he’s changed tremendously the last two years with us,” Bouchard said about Alain, who was named the QMJHL’s scholastic player of the year. “He’s been progressing at a very fast pace. He’s a hard worker. He’s a hell of a student also studying medicine. We’re really happy and proud that he got a contract with the Canadiens. It’s very well deserved.”
It looks like Bouchard could now be the next one to sign with the Canadiens.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t come down to leaving here. It’s seeing what’s next and I don’t know what it’s going to be, to be very honest, and I’ll never leave here in my heart.