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The Montreal Canadiens fired their head coach, Dominique Ducharme, yesterday after a 7-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes (among many, many other losses). Ducharme, who was in the first of a three year contract worth $1.7 million per season, took over from Claude Julien, who is still getting paid $5 million by the Habs in the last year of his contract that ended prematurely.
Dominique Ducharme has been relieved of his head coaching duties.https://t.co/wSdkwrOMXC
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) February 9, 2022
Martin St. Louis
It only took a couple hours for the Habs to find their interim replacement, however, as they called on Tampa Bay Lightning franchise legend Martin St. Louis to be their head coach for the rest of the season and potentially beyond. Mr. Leg Day was last in the NHL in 2015, playing for the New York Rangers under assistant GM at the time Jeff Gorton. Gorton is now the VP of hockey ops (aka running the show) in Montreal and has brought MSL in again.
The Canadiens have named Martin St. Louis interim head coach.#GoHabsGohttps://t.co/L4K3X65tsS
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) February 9, 2022
In terms of MSL’s actual qualifications or experience as a coach, there’s not much. He’s coached his son in AAA U13 in Connecticut for the last few years, and worked as a special power play consultant for the Columbus Blue Jackets during the Tortorella years, but now makes the big jump all the way to the NHL. MSL’s playing resume speaks for itself and I think the biggest thing the Habs want to get from him is a lot of time with Cole Caufield, who was rushed to the NHL out of college. Caufield has split time between the NHL and AHL this season, and only has three goals in 36 games across the two leagues to his name.
On the unexpected, unconventional Martin St. Louis hire as Canadiens interim coach:@JoeSmithTB spoke to John Tortorella: "They're going to love him" https://t.co/z9xnxeQIjL
— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) February 10, 2022
And I spoke to the prep coach that's been working with him the last five years: https://t.co/cwrwoKS6av
St. Louis’ current assistants are Alex Burrows, Luke Richardson, and Luke Letowski.
Vincent Lecavalier
There has been a lot of reports among the french media that St. Louis won’t be the only former Bolt making his way into the Habs organization. One reporter in particular said to expect Vincent Lecavalier to be announced as assistant GM:
“I am told that Vincent Lecavalier will be appointed assistant to GM Kent Hughes at the #CH. We are talking about an announcement TOMORROW. #Habs #Canadiens”
On me dit que Vincent Lecavalier sera nommé assistant au DG Kent Hughes chez le #CH. On parle d'une annonce DEMAIN. #Habs #Canadiens
— Marc-Olivier Beaudoin (@MOBeaudoin1) February 9, 2022
However, another reporter got a hold of Vinny, who wants to stop the rumors and says he’s happy staying in Florida!
Vincent Lecavalier to @LangloisMario on a possible hiring in Montreal:
“I stay in Florida. [... ] I’m fine here. I didn’t get there in my head. [... ] I want to stop the rumours.”
On the assumption that he is appointed assistant GM on Thursday:
“That’s not true.”
Vincent Lecavalier à @LangloisMario sur une possible embauche à Montréal:
— Simon-O. Lorange (@SO_Lorange) February 10, 2022
«Je reste en Floride. [...] Je suis bien ici. Je ne suis pas rendu là dans ma tête. [...] Je veux arrêter les rumeurs.»
Sur l'hypothèse qu'il soit nommé assistant-DG dès jeudi:
«Ce n'est pas vrai.»
So there you have it, from the man himself, Vinny has chosen Florida.
Poll
Will Martin St. Louis coach the Habs beyond this season?
Lightning Links
Seattle Kraken and women’s hockey reporter — who you’ve definitely seen in these morning links before — Marisa Ingemi was suddenly fired by the Seattle Times after only a little under six months in the new job. The Times did not give an explanation as to why Marisa was fired. After the firing, 70 members of the Seattle Times staff signed a petition with their union to find out.
“Ingemi, several staffers at the Times told Defector, was well liked by colleagues in the newsroom. Based on reader response to Barrett’s tweet, it’s safe to assume that readers liked her work too. Newsroom staffers at the Times confirmed that her stories did good traffic.”
“I just want people to know that I was not warned about this and I didn’t do anything wrong,” Ingemi said. “If there was legitimately a problem, I wish they would have told me that. I would have taken it very seriously and my track record shows that. To this very moment, I do not know what I did to cause being fired.”
The Seattle Times suddenly fired Kraken beat reporter Marisa Ingemi, and her former colleagues want to know why.https://t.co/yqmr2pWN4c
— Defector (@DefectorMedia) February 10, 2022
Shoutout to JT Brown, who’s making waves in the broadcasting industry!
BREAKING: Everett Fitzhugh and J.T. Brown will become the first all-Black broadcasting booth in NHL history on Feb. 17 when the Seattle Kraken play the Winnipeg Jets. @TheVoiceFitz @JTBrown23 #SeaKraken https://t.co/0lQkGMX6rJ
— Ryan S. Clark (@ryan_s_clark) February 10, 2022
And last, Alexey Lipanov is playing with the Texas Stars now after coming up from the ECHL.
Alexey Lipanov, who Dallas acquired in a trade with Tampa Bay last week, makes his @TexasStars debut tonight, wearing number 26.
— John Peterson (@JohnPetersonVOX) February 10, 2022