Ducharme on Montreal: If we were planning to lose as many games as possible I’d like to know about it

Dominique Ducharme took over as head coach of the Canadiens as the 2020/21 season progressed. Under his leadership, the Canadian team reached the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1993.

He was fired during the 2021/22 season and replaced by Martin St. Louis, although the new club management (Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes) had originally projected that he would stay on until the end of the season.

Montreal ended up finishing last in the regular season.

What disappointed me the most was the lack of dialogue with the new management. I didn’t get a chance to sit down with them and talk about my understanding of hockey.

If we were planning to lose as many games as possible and actively introduce young players, I would have wanted to know about it.

I would have a different approach to them. I tried to squeeze the maximum out of the team to get some results.

Some teams had games canceled because five of their players were diagnosed with coronavirus. We had 10 of them and another eight were injured, but we still played… – Ducharme said. 

Dominique Ducharme made puzzling moves leading up to his firing by Montreal.

But it makes a little more sense now, considering Ducharme was never given direction on how to approach the season.

"That’s the side of it that hurts."

📚 @MAGodinhttps://t.co/wmBWSexOH4 pic.twitter.com/Ihh9XmQo7U

— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) July 27, 2022