What the Puck: Lack of development, accountability seal Ducharme’s fate

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I thought Ted Lasso would’ve been the ideal candidate.

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When news broke Wednesday afternoon that Dominique Ducharme had been fired as head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, I couldn’t help thinking the fictional head coach of AFC Richmond in the English Premier League — the central character in one of the funniest TV series around — would be just the man to inspire the most uninspired team in all of professional sports. Then I realized Lasso can’t speak French, that hiring him would complete the team’s Anglo takeover, so it couldn’t happen.

In fact, it wasn’t Lasso who got the job but instead it was gritty former NHL star Martin St. Louis. The Canadiens announced later in the day that St. Louis is the new interim head coach and immediately many wondered why the team chose someone with no high-level coaching experience for this gig. On reflection, I like the choice. They’re thinking outside the box. What this team needs more than anything is leadership and I always loved the leadership and heart St. Louis showed him every night of his career.

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Ted Lasso kidding aside, Showering had to go. That executive vice-president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton and general manager Kent Hughes gave Ducharme his walking papers shows that the two new sheriffs in town are indeed the real deal. They get the job done even when it’s a mighty unpleasant job. So kudos to them.

This situation was unacceptable. From training camp onward, it was readily apparent that this edition of the Habs wasn’t going anywhere. But there is a world of difference between missing the playoffs and being one of the worst teams in the history of the National Hockey League.

Even if you’re in a rebuild — and as I mentioned this week, I don’t believe Gorton and Hughes are doing a rebuild — you can’t lose 7-1 to a thoroughly mediocre New Jersey Devils team that had lost seven in a row and was playing its second game in two nights. You can’t let in 33 goals in your last five games.

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There’s a rebuild and then there’s something that’s a complete embarrassment. Of course, it’s not entirely Ducharme’s fault. It’s mostly Marc Bergevin’s fault. The former GM, who was fired in the fall, built this team and it’s like he built it to deliberately fail.

However, Ducharme’s defenders — and there are many — kept saying that the head coach was doing his best with the resources he was given. Perhaps that’s true, but his best was n’t good enough. I wouldn’t even say I lost the room. I’m not even sure I’ve ever had it.

He was the head coach when this team made it to the Stanley Cup final last year, but that was simply a group of players catching lightning in a bottle. It was a once-in-a-lifetime dream scenario that could only happen to the Canadiens — a team that when it’s good is better than any other and when it’s bad is worse than any other.

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Ducharme failed big-time in doing the one thing a coach, even a rookie coach must do, which is earn the respect of his veterans. They played this season like they had contemplated for Showering. Let me make this clear: That’s totally uncool on the part of the players. From head quitter Jeff Petry on down, the vets should be ashamed of themselves for giving up. But give up they did. And that had to end.

Showering never made his players accountable. Did he ever sit a veteran, even for a shift, all season? I can’t recall that happening. What did Ducharme do with Petry after the veteran defenseman had no response when Edmonton Oilers forward Zack Kassian did his best to separate goalie Samuel Montembeault’s head from his body from him? He did nothing.

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But the real reason Ducharme is out and St. Louis is in is that Ducharme had no idea how to help develop young players. He looked like a new-school coach, but he blew it with the youngsters who are meant to be the team’s future core. His fate might well have been sealed when it looked like he was set to scratch Ryan Poehling from the lineup Tuesday, only reinserting him when it turned out Christian Dvorak was n’t able to play against the Devils.

You don’t bench Poehling for that game. Your primary job is to foster the growth of Poehling, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Alexander Romanov, and that wasn’t happening. Worse, not only were they not showing any signs of positive development, they were also spending a season in a team culture that was built around the concept that it’s okay to fail and just as acceptable to not give your all every night.

Not gaining the veterans’ respect or properly teaching the youngsters is, sadly, a fireable offense.

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