Hope for the Habs and Canucks: Teams Who Change Coaches In-Season Often Win Stanley Cups
The Montreal Canadiens finished the 2020-21 season with a 24-21-11 record, good for 4th place in the North Division. The Habs would go on to beat Toronto, Winnipeg and Vegas to advance to the Stanley Cup Final. Unfortunately, the team would ultimately lose the series to Tampa Bay 4-1.
The Canadiens have had a rough 6-17-3 start, and sit in 7th place in the Atlantic Division. Their fall from grace proved to be too much for the Molson family, the franchise’s owners. On Nov. 28, 2021, the Canadiens fired GM Marc Bergevin, assistant GM Trevor Timmins and senior VP of public affairs Paul Wilson. Montreal’s ownership decided to bring in Jeff Gorton as an executive VP of hockey operations and retain coach Dominique Ducharme for the time being.
The Habs aren’t the only struggling NHL club to dismiss senior managers in the early part of the season thus far. The Vancouver Canucks, who had a poor first two months with a 9-15-2 record, followed Montreal’s lead. After suffering their 10th loss in just 13 games, on Dec. 6, the Canucks relieved GM Jim Benning and head coach Travis Green of their duties.
During the past 12 years, four teams have gone on to win the Stanley Cup after firing their head coach during the regular season. At the beginning of the 2018-19 season, the St. Louis Blues fired coach Mike Yeo after a 7-9-3 start and replaced him with Craig Berube. Berube coached the Blues to their first Stanley Cup trophy ever, a win over the Boston Bruins.
The Pittsburgh Penguins made coaching switches twice, in 2009 with Dan Bylsma and Mike Sullivan in 2016. Both changes resulted in Stanley Cup victories. In the middle of the 2011-12 season, the L.A Kings fired coach Terry Murray and hired Darryl Sutter. Sutter took the 8th seeded Kings to the finals and earned the franchise its first Stanley Cup.
The Canadiens previously sacked longtime coach Claude Julien late last season, on Feb. 24, 2021 and promoted assistant Dominique Ducharme to head coach. Ducharme led the Habs to the Stanley Cup Final, so Montreal may be willing to give him more time to improve the team’s win record. The Canadiens still got close to a Cup, even if they failed to clinch it, after their in-season coaching change.
Of course, not every franchise that fires a coach or GM will see any immediate improvement. The Buffalo Sabres have gone through six head coaches, four team presidents and three GMs during the last decade. One of these coaches was Dan Bylsma. After leading the Penguins to a Cup championship in 2009, Bylsma failed to repeat that feat with his new club. The Sabres hired him as head coach in 2014, hoping he’d rekindle some of his previous magic. Unfortunately, Buffalo didn’t make the playoffs during his two coaching seasons and the team’s owners fired him after just two years in town.
Changing coaches and even GMs in-season doesn’t always work, but the gamble can pay off and often does.
-Jeff Dahlberg
Twitter: @JeffDahlberg3