Montreal Canadiens fire head coach Dominique Ducharme | Globalnews.ca

The Montreal Canadiens have fired head coach Dominique Ducharme.

“We would like to sincerely thank Dominique for his work and contributions to the Montreal Canadiens organization,” General Manager Kent Hughes in a statement issued Wednesday.

“At this point in the season, we felt it was in the best interest of the club to make a change.”

Assistant coaches Alex Burrows, Éric Gravel, Mario Leblanc, Trevor Letowski, Éric Raymond and Luke Richardson will remain part of the club.

The organization is expected to announce the next head coach later today.

The news comes one day after the struggling club returned from the All-Star break and was pummeled by New Jersey on Tuesday night. The Devils came to the Bell Centre while on a seven-game losing streak, only to snag a 7-1 blowout victory.

Ducharme hadn’t been in the role for even a year. He took over from Claude Julien as interim head coach in February 2021, after a two-year stint as an assistant coach.

The Joliette, Que. native was officially given the top job a few months later after the Habs squeaked into the playoffs for what ended up being a historic run. The team made it to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1993, but ultimately lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

READ MORE: Call of the Wilde: Price, Petry, and a Blue Jackets win over the Canadiens

After summer passed, the Canadiens returned to the ice only to have a season that has so far been riddled with injuries, absences and a string of losses.

The Habs have given up 33 goals in losing their last five games. They have lost seven straight, including two in overtime, and 13 of their last 14 (with four OT losses).

—with files from Global News’ Annabelle Olivier and The Canadian Press

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