Report: Canadiens to Name Michel Therrien as Head Coach

Written by Rick Stephens, AllHabs.net

MONTREAL, QC. — The Montreal Canadiens are set to announce Michel Therrien as their next head coach according to Darren Dreger of TSN. The announcement could come as early as Tuesday afternoon. The position of head coach is currently vacant as Randy Cunneyworth was demoted to assistant coach by Marc Bergevin in one of his first acts as general manager on May 2.

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The 48-year-old Therrien is a native of Montreal — he was last behind a NHL bench in 2008-’09 as head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins.  He was fired after 57 games being replaced by Dan Bylsma.  Four months after his hiring, Bylsma would lead the Penguins to with the Stanley Cup defeating the Detroit Red Wings.

Therrien has been a pro scout for the Minnesota Wild for the past two seasons.

This would be Therrien’s second stint in Montreal after a leading the Habs to a 77-77-37 record between 2000 and 2003. Four other coaches have returned to coach the Canadiens a second time namely Newsy Lalonde, Cecil Hart, Claude Ruel and Bob Gainey.

Therrien’ coaching style is defense-first and he demands discipline and adherence to the system from his players.  He has been able to turn young players into NHL’ers and during their development has relied on his defensive philosophy to scrape out a few wins.

Known as “the Bulldog,” Therrien is very much an ‘in-your-face’ coach describing himself as “intense.”

Here’s a Thierrien press conference from his days in Pittsburgh: