Is Dominique Ducharme over his head?

[AlexGretzchenvid]

Covid season. Chalk it up as a last ditch effort to make money and move on.

 

[AlexGretzchenvid]

Guys, it’s a Covid season, the NHL is going to put effort into selling hockey in areas that otherwise don’t make as much money as other teams.

the Habs are irrelavant. Biggest offseason in history for Bergevin. This is a practice year/ throw away year.

molson said 3-8 years.. we are just about at year 3...

 

[kthx]

Imo they could surprise some teams in playoffs with Claude but I dont see it happening anymore.

 

[BruinsBtn]

I have a hard time believing Montreal would be this bad if they'd just kept Julien.

Ducharme has seemed extremely underwhelming to me.

It was a pretty bizarre move, especially after Julien led them to a huge upset win over Pittsburgh last year. All I can think of is that Bergevin truly believes he has a Stanley Cup-caliber roster.

 

[covfefe]

I’m questioning whether Dom is employing his own systems at this point.

And yes, as mentioned, Bergevin remains our biggest impediment to success, with his peanut brain, lacklustre depth trades and emphasis on character. Nearly dead last in TF W% - that speaks volumes about the “character” on this team.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

Bergevin tried to replicate what happened in 16/17 when the team was struggling and he made the coaching change - they were much better after that and won the division.

But clearly this has nothing to do with coaching. Mediocre team is mediocre.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

I said it at the time letting go Julien was a huge mistake... very much seems to be true

 

[Habsfunk]

There were signs after Ducharme was hired he was having an impact on the team. The transition game and special teams both seemed vastly improved. But the last few weeks, the team has looked like it did under Julien. They're doing that stupid drop pass that has never worked on the power play and stil going for the stretch pass on breakouts, which leaves the D hung out to dry.

 

[Jeremy2020]

how does bergevin keep surviving?

 

[barbu]

how does bergevin keep surviving?

By having a boss even more incompetent than him.

 

[Karl Eriksson]

They don’t have the offensive firepower to make up for the average D and goaltending. If Price and Weber were playing like they were 5 years ago, I think the Habs would be in first or second place in the North.

 

[Hockeyholic]

No. The team just stinks. There's no player that keeps coaches up all night. Worried about what they'll do to them.

Maybe Prime Price?

 

[Not The One]

how does bergevin keep surviving?

Fans (and this board) were pretty much unanimously saying he had a terrific off-season. Virtually every player he acquired is doing really well : Toffoli, Anderson, Perry, Edmunson, Allen.

Clearly there are a few younger players who haven't progressed as fast as we hoped (Suzuki, Kotkaniemi, Mete) and some key veterans are having difficult seasons (Price, Weber, Drouin). Not sure you can blame either Bergevin or Julien/Ducharme for that.

 

[jfhabs]

Julien is a very good coach that was replaced with an unknown, so the firing was probably a bad idea. That said, wasn't the team trending that way with Julien already after a hot start?

Lots of outsider say this. Julien was a good coach. Perhaps he will be a good coach again for another team. Firing him was the right decision. Replacing him with Ducharme, I'm not a fan on. We'll see when it's all said and done.

 

[abo9]

They were 25th in the league last year. That is a basement team.

They definitely improved their roster in the summer, but people obviously forgot they were not a good team last year. Is anyone really surprised?

Lots of people forget the 25th place thing just because Montreal made the playoffs on a technicality after Price beat the Pens in a 3 of 5 series


That said, they added quite a lot during the off-season (2 top-6 forwards in Toffoli/Anderson, a PP specialist in Perry, Edmunson, Romanov to shore up the LD as well as expecting some progression from young players like Kotka and Suz). I thought they would be tight in the wildcard/playoff race, which they are. And the acquisitions have blown expectations: Toffoli and Anderson are Montreal's best goalscorers, Edmunson could be our best LD, Allen is not looking ridiculous as other backup goalies have in the past.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Now looking like he might not be brought back after this season.

 

[Rebels57]

Now looking like he might not be brought back after this season.

Firing Julien was baffling then and looks worse now.

 

[CartographerNo611]

Its the GM... its cliche but building a roster down the middle is successful. Building from the 4th line and wingers is not recipe for success.

 

[Gjman2019]

Ducharme is ok.....Less drama with the young players with him in charge......Romanov and CC quietly getting lots of minutes and not having to worry about being in the press box for making a mistake...

The analytics that i look into have dropped a bit but not by that much since the coaching change........

Habs were analytics darlings under Julien to his credit , but man he was the worst with young players.....

 

[Maplebeasts]

I don't think so. Bergevin and Molson are the problems. Ducharme simply does not have the horses.

 

[Weztex]

It's worth noting that Ducharme have been coaching a badly depleted lineup in the last weeks. Montreal being an average team to begin with, missing all of Gallagher, Weber, Price, Drouin, Byron and Tatar/Danault leaves him with a roster that probably wouldn't make the playoffs whoever the coach is.

It is way too soon to judge Ducharme at this point. I'll reserve my judgement until he gets a training camp of his own.

 

[NYRangers3061]

I would say no.

Source: I’m from the future, trust me.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Don't.