Speculation Runs Rampant On Canadiens Coach Dominique Ducharme

Speculation that Montreal Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme has been or is about to be fired was running rampant Wednesday morning.

A day after another embarrassing loss for the Montreal Canadiens, head coach Ducharme did not address the media after the Canadiens practice Wednesday. Instead, per the request of the local media covering the Montreal Canadiens, it was Assistant Coach Luke Richardson who faced the music and fielded questions from reporters via Zoom.

Following a 7-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils, the Montreal Canadiens (8-30-7, 23 pts) are now mired in a seven-game losing streak (0-5-2) and remain dead last in the NHL. The Habs have allowed five goals or more in five straight games and are being outscored 40-13 during this current extended losing streak.

On Monday, following the team’s first practice in over a week, Ducharme gave an evaluation of what’s been going wrong for his struggling and demoralized team. He broke down what led to the majority of the Devils’ goals but what he said could apply to every loss during this current skid and it certainly fit the loss on Tuesday night.

“You can be defending a different way, playing a different D-zone coverage, for example. But when the puck is travelling and you have a chance to kill the play, to stall the play, to separate a guy from the puck, if you don’t do it — no matter what system you play — it’s going to crack.” Ducharme said. “No matter what system you play, if you turn the puck (over) at the blue line to give a breakaway, there’s no way to defend it. If you don’t execute with the puck and you give it away, you give it to the other team in bad situations, there’s no way to defend it. I think in the last few games it’s more that than anything else.”

Apparently, those coaching pointers fell on deaf ears or maybe purposely clogged ears because that’s exactly how things turned out against the Devils. Now the question is, will that be the last coaching breakdown Ducharme gives as head coach of the Montreal Canadiens?