Montreal Canadiens Hire Michel Therrien For A Second Time

The Montreal Canadiens have chosen their new head coach and its Michel Therrien who last coached the Canadiens from 2000 to 2003 when he was replaced by Claude Julien. Therrien is far from the first coach to be given a second chance at coaching the Montreal Canadiens, all together six men have been invited back for a second try including Newsy Lalonde, Leo Danderand, Cecil Hart, Claude Ruel and Bob Gainey.

The announcement ends weeks of speculation over who would take over the coaching position, popular choices included former goaltender all-star Patrick Roy and former NHL coach Marc Crowford.

While he hasn’t been coaching since the Pittsburgh Penguins fired him just weeks before their Stanley Cup run in 2009 Therrien has remained busy as a television personality for the National Hockey League.

Taking over for the Canadiens couldn’t come at a better time, fans across Quebec were outraged this past season when the beloved franchise fell to 31-35-16, finishing last in the Eastern Conference and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

In December Jacques Martin was fired and Randy Cunneyworth was made interim coach which angered Quebec natives who did not approve of a non-French speaker holding the post for the first time in almost forty years.

During his first stint with the Montreal Canadiens Therrien racked up a 77-77-36 record.

When Michel Therrien took over the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2005 their performance improved by 47-points and in 2007-2008 he took the team to the Stanley Cup finals where they lost in six games to the Detroit Red Wings.

In the 2008-2009 season the Penguins fell apart and Dan Bylsma eventually took over coaching duties.

In his 462 NHL coaching appearance his teams have a winning record of 212-182-68 and a winning playoff record of 21-16.0