Lefebvre fired as head coach Habs’ AHL farm team

Montreal (CP) — Sylvain Lefebvre was fired Tuesday as the head coach of the American Hockey League’s Laval Rocket, the farm team of the Montreal Canadiens. Lefebvre had coached Montreal’s AHL affiliates the last six seasons, two of them when the team was located in St. John’s as the Icecaps. Canadiens’ general manager Marc Bergevin made the announcement.

“I would like to sincerely thank Sylvain for his loyalty, his hard work and his contribution to the Montreal Canadiens’ organization over the past six seasons with Hamilton, St. John’s and Laval,” Bergevin said in a statement. “Challenges are extremely demanding as a head coach in the AHL, and Sylvain and his group had to overcome several difficult situations over the years.

“The decision to remove Sylvain from his coaching duties was a difficult one because I have a lot of respect for him and I consider him to be an excellent coach.”

Laval (24-42-7-3) finished last in the North Division this season and was winless over its final 12 regular-season games (0-10-1-1).

Montreal farm clubs made the AHL postseason just once in Lefebvre’s tenure. That was last season, when the Icecaps were bounced in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs.

The status of Laval assistant coaches Donald Dufresne, Nick Carriere and Marco Marciano — who all had been with Lefebvre in St. John’s — will be determined once a new head coach is hired.