Montreal Canadiens Hire Therrien to Coach
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A.J. Messier/NHLI via Getty Images(MONTREAL) — The Montreal Canadiens hired Michel Therrien as head coach of the team for the second time. Therrien coached the Canadiens for parts of 2000-2003 before being replaced with now Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien.
Therrien, 48, had a 77-77-36 record during his first try with the team. During the 2001-2002 season he led the Canadiens to the second round of the playoffs. Still, Therrien thinks he’s better equipped to coach this team now.
“When I got here, I was 38-years-old, I came through junior and the American Hockey League and then, from one day to the next, I found myself behind the bench of the Montreal Canadiens. It seemed to go too quickly,” Therrien said. “I had never played in the NHL so I didn’t know what it felt like to go to Boston, to go to Buffalo, to experience those rivalries. I was trying to coach the team based on the experience I had at the time. But I obviously feel far better prepared today than I did when I was 38.”
Therrien last coached in the NHL for Pittsburgh during the 2008-2009 season. He was fired late in the season and the Penguins went on to win the Stanley Cup. The previous season, he led Pittsburgh to the Stanley Cup finals but the team lost to Detroit.
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