Golden Knights confirm the hiring of Dominique Ducharme

On Wednesday evening, the Vegas Golden Knights announced the hiring of Dominique Ducharme as assistant coach. The announcement comes just over 24 hours after Renaud Lavoie shared the rumor on BPM Sports.

There was a hole to fill behind the Golden Knights bench → https://t.co/N6Q0ebvCVk

– DansLesCoulisses (@DLCoulisses) July 11, 2023

In fact, the rumor had been spread by JiC, then Louis-Phillipe Guy and then Renaud Lavoie.

The Golden Knights also announced that they had hired another man to fill the same position as Ducharme. He is former NHL forward Joel Ward, who retired in 2018.

We are thrilled to announce that Dominique Ducharme and Joel Ward have been named assistant coaches for the Golden Knights!!!! 👏

Congratulations, Dominique and Joel! #VegasBorn

Full details⬇️https://t.co/MILmieIHbj

– 🏆 – Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) July 12, 2023

It’s funny to see Ducharme join the Golden Knights; he contracted COVID-19 during the series against Vegas in 2021! You’d think he’d want to have better memories of Vegas.

All kidding aside, this is great news for Ducharme. He had success in his first season at the helm of the CH, but it all fell apart without Carey Price the following year. I seriously think he deserves this second chance.

Vegas loves Quebecers, so this is a great opportunity for Ducharme.

For his part, Joel Ward was already acting as an assistant with Henderson’s Silver Knights in the AHL since 2020. It’s a nice promotion for the man who finished his career in a Sharks uniform.

Ward has already acted as assistant coach with the Golden Knights for one game in 2021, replacing a coach suffering from COVID-19.

Both men were hired to replace Ryan Craig, who will become the Silver Knights’ new head coach, as well as Misha Donskov, who announced his departure from the team after winning the Stanley Cup.