Canadiens Hockey

Martin St-Louis and Dominique Ducharme had lunch together last year
Jennifer Davis
Martin St-Louis and Dominique Ducharme had lunch together last year
Credit: Getty Images

Dominique Ducharme was replaced by Martin St-Louis in February 2022. It had been less than a year since Ducharme took control of the Habs bench, at that point.

Marc Bergevin's departure changed everything, of course.

What you need to know (and probably already do) is that St-Louis and Ducharme know each other. They played together at the University of Vermont and have kept in touch over the years.

Ducharme has already said he doesn't want anything to do with St-Louis, since every coach who loses his job is replaced by someone else. That's part of the game when you're a pilot.

He'd said it before, but now the Vegas assistant has repeated it to Michel Beaudry, who wrote an article in the Journal de Montréal about his discussion with Ducharme.

Need more proof?

Michel Beaudry reports that the two men went out to eat together last year. We imagine they talked a bit about the Habs, but clearly there was no bitterness on Ducharme's part.

I wished him good luck, and it was sincere. – Dominique Ducharme

Obviously, Ducharme is happy in his new life (having the chance to be in the Golden Knights organization, in Vegas, must be something), but he would still have liked to have had the chance to talk more to Kent Hughes before losing his job.

But he's not bitter about the Canadiens, a club that ultimately gave him his chance. He knows that losing your job is part of the game when you're a coach.

Of course, we all understand that Martin St-Louis is equipped to work with Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton to bring the Habs to the promised land one day. But still: Ducharme took the Flanelle to the finals in 2021.

Even if he probably wasn't the right guy for the job, that's worth something, isn't it?


Overtime

– It's all in the details.

– Patrick Roy: a few changes to his roster behind the bench. [THN]

– He'll get comfortable.

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