Montreal Canadiens: Claude Julien Named Head Coach of Canadian Olympic Team
The Montreal Canadiens fired Claude Julien halfway though last season and replaced him with Dominique Ducharme.
It didn’t lead to much regular season success since the coaching change, though the team went on a magical, surprising run to the Stanley Cup Final last spring.
Julien was the team’s head coach from February of 2017 until February of 2021. He took over a team in 2017 that was well on its way to a playoff berth and guided them to a division title and then a first round playoff exit. He was fired last season after starting the year 9-5-4.
Dominque Ducharme was promoted from Julien’s assistant to the team’s interim head coach, but they stumbled throughout the rest of the regular season, going 15-16-7 with Ducharme behind the bench. Combine that with their 7-24-5 record this season and it isn’t a pretty record since Julien left town.
Julien is still under contract with the Canadiens through this season, which is probably why Ducharme still has a job. If they replaced him now they would be paying three head coaches, and no one wasn’t to do that.
Julien has been quiet since being fired, but he was just named the head coach of Canada’s Olympic team for the tournament that will take place next month. In fact, the puck drops a little less than four weeks from today, so it is a late addition for such a prestigious tournament.
The former Canadiens coach was hired three times midseason to take over an NHL team so he has some experience parachuting in and taking over a team on short notice.
He might have a top Canadiens prospect on his blue line as Kaiden Guhle is widely rumoured to be among those who will be repenting their country at this event.
Olympic management and coaches ✅
— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) January 14, 2022
Shane Doan will lead 🇨🇦’s Men’s Olympic Team as general manager, while Claude Julien will take the reins as head coach.@TeamCanada | #Beijing2022
Canada will play its first game in Beijing, China on February 9th. It will be the second consecutive event without NHL players present so it will be interesting to see what kind of Team Canada builds when it has some top prospects and veteran pro players playing in Europe to choose from.
Will Julien push for a more veteran team after he was often criticized for not leaning on his young players in Montreal enough? We will find out very soon.