Canadiens fire Therrien, bring back Julien
Bergevin tried to change the culture, then the coaching; he knows what could be next
Say this about Marc Bergevin: By ripping the guts out of his Montreal Canadiens, he’s showing plenty of them himself.
But does being bold — at least in the past year — necessarily equate to making the smartest moves? We’re about to find out.
Consider this: In less than eight months, Bergevin:
traded away P.K. Subban, a former Norris Trophy winner who was embraced by the community for, among other things, pledging to donate $10 million to the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
fired head coach Michel Therrien — who is said to have supported the Subban deal to change the culture in the Habs’ dressing room — and replaced him Tuesday afternoon with former Boston Bruins bench boss Claude Julien who, like Therrien, will be leading the Canadiens for a second stint.
These are the types of storylines you’d expect to find in the pages of a Hollywood script. Instead, they are being authored out of the Montreal offices of a general manager who now has the spotlight squarely on his shoulders.
No longer can Subban’s huge personality be blamed for the Habs’ shortcomings, nor can disgruntled fans claim Therrien’s conservative ways are holding the team back from reaching its potential.
This is now on Bergevin, sink or swim. No more excuses.
Admittedly, the savvy Bergevin could not have predicted that allworld goalie Carey Price would be mired in a slump, one reflected in a Canadiens swoon that has seen the team lose six of their past seven games. Nevertheless, when you pull the trigger on these types of franchise-altering decisions, the statement you are making is clear: The window to win is now.
As such, Bergevin becomes the man on the hottest seat in all of la belle province, even with his team still on top of the Atlantic Division with 70 points — and, apparently, he knows it.
Within a couple of hours of Montreal announcing the hiring of Julien, a number of NHL executives told Postmedia News they expect Bergevin to be active in the two weeks leading up to the March 1 trade deadline. Much of the speculation revolves around forwards Matt Duchene of the Colorado Avalanche and Martin Hanzal of the Arizona Coyotes, although the asking price for both are said to be quite steep.
How the final two months of the season play out — and what moves, if any, the Habs GM makes to augment his roster — could very well dictate Bergevin’s future with the Canadiens.
Of course, the players need to absorb part of the blame. During the summer of 2016, there were rumblings out of Montreal that the team’s leadership core was growing tired of Subban’s flamboyant ways and welcomed the leadership Shea Weber would bring from Nashville.
Then on Tuesday came speculation that the same group of players had perhaps grown weary of Therrien’s tactics and thirsted for change.
Are we to believe Subban and Therrien were the sole reasons for the Canadiens underachieving? Of course not. That leaves the question: Are the inmates running the asylum? And at what point do the guys lacing up the skates become accountable?
Whether you agree with Bergevin’s moves or not, he hasn’t been shy in making waves. But if success doesn’t follow, Bergevin might be the one waving goodbye.
Having said that, the fact the Bruins dismissed Julien just eight days earlier likely accelerated Therrien’s departure. The chance to scoop up a Stanley Cup-winning coach like Julien who is familiar with the rigours of coaching the Canadiens probably was too delicious to ignore.
“Claude Julien is an experienced and well-respected coach with a good knowledge of the Montreal market,” Bergevin said in a released statement. “Claude has been very successful as an NHL coach and he won the Stanley Cup. Today we hired the best available coach, and one of the league’s best. I am convinced that he has the capabilities to get our team back on the winning track.”
Perhaps the most headscratching aspect of this coaching move involves the Bruins. When Boston defeated the Canadiens 4-0 on Sunday, it marked Therrien’s final game behind the Canadiens’ bench. In the wake of the loss, the Habs asked permission from the Bruins to talk to Julien.
Why would the Bruins even consider doing that? Why, oh why, would you grant your most bitter historical rivals — the Canadiens — the opportunity to scoop up one of the most respected bench bosses in the game, a proud man who will want to crush you for firing him just one week earlier?
Sure, Bruins president Cam Neely hasn’t seen eye to eye with Julien in the past dating back to 2010, when then-GM Peter Chiarelli refused the suggestion of upper management to fire the coach. Even so, allowing Julien — a man who certainly has an axe to grind with the Boston hierarchy — to go to your biggest enemy is a questionable decision.
Back in 2003, the Habs fired Therrien and replaced him with Julien. On Tuesday, history repeated itself.
“I came to the conclusion that our team needed a new energy, a new voice, a new direction,” Bergevin said.
If Bergevin’s decisions don’t work out, ownership one day might be seeking a new direction — one that doesn’t include him.