Sylvain Lefebvre Joins Canadiens Organization As Hamilton Bulldogs Head Coach

J.J. Daigneault will join the Montreal Canadiens as an assistant coach under new head coach Michel Therrien, the team announced Friday. Daigneault has been an assistant coach with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL the past five seasons. Therrien praised Daigneault in a statement.

Daigneault is a Montreal native, and spent his playing days with Vancouver after being selected No. 10 overall in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft. He began coaching in 2005 with the ECHL’s Phoenix Roadrunners, acting as assistant coach and director of player personnel. Hartford made the playoffs every year he was with the organization.

SB Nation’s Travis Hughes called Cunneyworth’s removal as head coach in May “a move that literally everybody could have seen coming”; his tenure as the Canadiens’ head coach lasted just 50 games, in which Montreal compiled an 18-23-9 record. But the team retained him as an assistant, and indicated that the future head coach would decide whether Cunneyworth -- and, likely, Ladoucer -- would stay on with a new staff.

It would seem that Therrien has made that decision.

Habs fans at Canadiens blog Eyes On The Prize are unhappy with the move. Therrien is one of the worst coaches in recent franchise history, only better than former Anglophone scapegoat Randy Cunneyworth. To say they would have preferred a fresh face instead of Therrien is an understatement.

Stick with our StoryStream for more on the Habs’ hiring of Michel Therrien. For more on the Canadiens, be sure to check in with Habs Eyes On The Prize.

He rode Pittsburgh to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2007-08, but was famously fired midway through the following season. His replacement, Dan Bylsma, led the Penguins to a Stanley Cup after Therrien’s firing.

The hiring would obviously be a huge one for new Montreal general manager Marc Bergevin. He’s made a number of high-profile hires since taking the job May 2, including assistant general manager Rick Dudley and director of player personnel Scott Mellanby. The head coaching position is the biggest, and it appears as though he’s made his decision with Michel Therrien.

For more on Mellanby and the Candiens, head over to the SB Nation blog Habs Eyes On The Prize.

A press release at the official Canadiens website announces that Rick Dudley will be named the assistant general manager. The release also states that assistant general manager Larry Carriere will receive a contract extension. Canadiens executive vice president and general manager Marc Bergevin had this to say:

For all news and information regarding the Montreal Canadiens, please visit Habs Eyes on the Prize.

Robinson denied he was interested in the Habs job, according to a report in the New York Post.

The Habs apparently need to look elsewhere for their new head coach.

Cunneyworth was a midseason hire for the Habs last season, promoted from the head position at Montreal’s AHL affiliate in Hamilton. He took over for Jacques Martin and was immediately chastised by the community for not speaking French. There were calls for him to be fired immediately, regardless of the impact he may have had on the ice, and in the end, when the Habs finished at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, the writing was on the wall for Cunneyworth.

Bergevin has been a member of the Blackhawks organization since retiring as an NHL player in 2004. He’s served many roles with the club, from pro scout to assistant coach to director of player personnel to assistant general manager. Chicago general manager Stan Bowman wished him luck as a member of the Canadiens.

For more on the hire of Marc Bergevin, stick with our StoryStream. For everything on the Canadiens, visit our blog, Habs Eyes On The Prize.

As if the success on the ice isn’t enough, due credit should be given to guys like Stan Bowman and John McDonough for their ability to help their people advance their careers. Surely, Cheveldayoff and Bergevin deserve kudos for the hard work they’ve put in, but the Blackhawks have helped them along the way.

Bergevin fits many of the (at least) perceived requirements for Montreal’s top job. He speaks the language (French, that is). He’s from Montreal. He’s spent plenty of time learning how to run a hockey organization. He started out as a scout after his retirement, and moved into the front office for the Blackhawks -- the team that drafted and with which he spent most of his NHL career -- in 2009.

McGuire, one of NBC’s hockey analysts, has been reported by multiple sources as the man just missing out on moving to Montreal.

Apparently there’s no reason to worry, though, as McGuire’s reportedly just fine staying where he’s at.

The man taking on that task is Marc Bergevin, the former assistant general manager for the Chicago Blackhawks, according to a report from the Chicago Tribune.

It’ll be interesting to see how Bergevin fits in considering Jansky didn’t seem optimistic about his chances to get the job when running down possible candidates:

Holders of by far the most Stanley Cup championships in NHL history, owners of the most recognizable colors in hockey, boasters of a proud history that evokes nostalgia in two languages, it’s been a while since they’ve created the kind of memories to which their fans were once accustomed.

Since the Canadiens last won the Cup, which was once considered their birthright:

There’s no word on if Gauthier got word of his dismissal through an English or a French conversation.

The Canadiens, two seasons removed from a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, have plummeted to the bottom of the Eastern Conference this season. Gauthier fired head coach Jacques Martin in mid-December after the team got off to a slow start, but under interim boss Randy Cunneyworth, the team could not return to form.

Seriously.

As Gauthier said in his midseason press conference:

The language war is continuing in Montreal this Monday, two days after the local hockey club hired a unilingual head coach in Randy Cunneyworth. The poor guy doesn’t speak French, and while he may be extremely qualified for the position, it seems that his English-only misfortunate will be enough for him to lose his new gig.

Here’s Canadiens owner Geoff Molson in a press release today:

Cunneyworth just sat there next to his boss without understanding a word.

For millions of Quebecois this weekend, the firing of Jacques Martin, and in turn the hiring of the Anglophone coach in Cunneyworth was more than just a hockey decision. In fact, for many it wasn’t a hockey decision at all. It was a slap in the face.