Montréal Canadiens coaches (rank them)

[the valiant effort]

The spazzoids melted down when rookie PK sat a couple games early on, but Martin undeniably played a positive role in helping PK establish himself. In the second half of PK's rookie year when they were chasing beloved 7th place Jacques played the hell out of him in all situations. It’s too bad the next regime didn’t watch any tape before contract negotiations.

 

[Sorinth]

MSL shouldn’t be in any list that includes Martin, Julien, Vigneault, Therrien. Like or dislike these guy, they all real NHL coaches not a PR Stand In.

If there was a PR hire it was actually Therrien's second stint. Molson went out and said the next coach will speak French, and so Therrien got the job.

 

[Habby4Life]

If there was a PR hire it was actually Therrien's second stint. Molson went out and said the next coach will speak French, and so Therrien got the job.

Therrien the only French speaking coach? I wasn’t found of him either but he was a real coach.

 

[Sorinth]

Therrien the only French speaking coach? I wasn’t found of him either but he was a real coach.

Real coach or not he was hired for PR reasons unlike MSL.

 

[Tyson]

7. St-Louis
10. Ducharme
2.Julien
6. Therrien
9. Cunneyworth
3.Martin
5. Carbonneau
4. Gainey
1. Vigneault
8. Tremblay

 

[Fish on The Sand]

How would you rank those Habs coaches?
From the most competant, to Mario Tremblay.

- St-Louis
- Ducharme
- Julien
- Therrien
- Cunneyworth
- Martin
- Carbonneau
- Gainey
- Vigneault
- Tremblay

Obviously, the worst is Mario Tremblay AINEC, but how do you order the rest?

I think interim coaches should be ruled out, so no Cunneyworth or Gainey.

From best to worst I'd say

1) Martin
2) Vigneault
3) Julien
4) Carbonneau
5) Ducharme
6) St. Louis
7) Therrien
8) Tremblay

 

[Sorinth]

I think interim coaches should be ruled out, so no Cunneyworth or Gainey.

From best to worst I'd say

1) Martin
2) Vigneault
3) Julien
4) Carbonneau
5) Ducharme
6) St. Louis
7) Therrien
8) Tremblay

What's the argument for Ducharme ahead of St. Louis? In the one season they had the same team and MSL did way way better, and overall MSL has a better record.

 

[HuGort]

How would you rank those Habs coaches?
From the most competant, to Mario Tremblay.

- St-Louis
- Ducharme
- Julien
- Therrien
- Cunneyworth
- Martin
- Carbonneau
- Gainey
- Vigneault
- Tremblay

Obviously, the worst is Mario Tremblay AINEC, but how do you order the rest?

Gainey probably best but just didn't want the job.

Cunneyworth probably worst. Tremblay did do a few good things.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Therrien number one! Tremblay number one!

America? Phtooey!

 

[Fish on The Sand]

What's the argument for Ducharme ahead of St. Louis? In the one season they had the same team and MSL did way way better, and overall MSL has a better record.

I mean, at that point we're just in full on shit soup, so it doesn't matter, but Ducharme at least had the Cup run.

I also think we're a better team than our record shows right now, and I think coaching is a big reason for that.

 

[HabbyGuy]

MSL shouldn’t be in any list that includes Martin, Julien, Vigneault, Therrien. Like or dislike these guy, they all real NHL coaches not a PR Stand In.

#1 Martin
#2 Julien
#3 Vigneault
#4 Carbonneau
#5 MSL
#6 Gainey
#7 Therrien
#8 Cunneyworth
#9 Ducharme
#10 Tremblay

Marty also has plenty of room to move up the list as well.

 

[HabzSauce]

S-tier
Therrien

Decent-tier
Carbonneau
Martin
Julien
Gainey

Crap-tier
MSL
Conneyworth
Ducharme

Wasn't a fan around Tremblay & Vigneault's time.

 

[JianYang]

How would you rank those Habs coaches?
From the most competant, to Mario Tremblay.

- St-Louis
- Ducharme
- Julien
- Therrien
- Cunneyworth
- Martin
- Carbonneau
- Gainey
- Vigneault
- Tremblay

Obviously, the worst is Mario Tremblay AINEC, but how do you order the rest?

I wont rank st louis yet and I won't count the interns either.

1) Martin - he had a couple strong years. The 2010 team made the playoffs while markov had a long term injury. Made the semi finals and got good mileage out of veterans on defense like spacek, Gill and hamrlik. Cammalleri and gionta did well under him too. Made the semis in 2010, and took Boston to game 7 ot in 2011 despite missing markov pretty much all year. Finished the 2011 season 7th in pk and PP

2) Therrien - Probably not a popular choice but he had structure and buy in for the first 3 years or so. The 2014 team was one of my favourites and the 2013 team had strong defensive numbers no matter if it was price or budaj in goal. 2015 team won the division.

3) Carbonneau - he gets higher on this list because the 07/08 team was electric and easily the most entertaining team of the last 35 years. Top seed in the conference but I can't put him higher because things fizzled very quickly afterwards.

4) Vigneault - He was green but he was smart in hiring Dave King to be his right hand man. He had a good rookie season and the team made the 2nd round. He had another season where there was almost a miracle playoff birth after setting the league record for injuries and reeling off 7 straight wins at the end of the year.

5) Julien - I thought he was vanilla for the most part. Had a big upset playoff win against Boston in 04. His 2nd tenure had one good regular season followed by a disappointing playoff. 2020 covid playoffs were kinda nice too, I guess.

6) Ducharme - He had the finals run after Julien was let go, but that following season was just the worst hockey I have ever seen. His GM did him no favors but it was just an on ice disaster in every way.

7) Tremblay - He took over an 0-5 team and went on a heater right away for several weeks which propelled him to a playoff spot in his first year. However, he alienated his superstar goalie in the process and it is associated with the saddest days of me being a fan. That automatically drops him to the bottom.

 

[dcyhabs]

Almost all began their NHL coaching careers as rookies with the Habs, with little to no experience apart from Martin, but I couldn't stand his infamous "trap" system, highly popular at the time. Julien and Therrien were re-hired. Personally, they all were just as bad as the other, apart from Julien's second stint. They may have coached in the juniors, but I feel management left them hanging with little to no support. Some are former NHLers who gave coaching a try. Vigneault went on to become a very good coach elsewhere though. Either way, it's quite subjective. People are calling for MSL's head, but obviously he doesn't have the right ressources to bring them to glory.

I actually liked Vigneault. He had some interesting moves, like playing 3 D against Pittsburgh’s big line.

Some of those guys, like Carbonneau and Tremblay, could have been very good if they had learned in the minors. MSL would probably benefit, too, but it’s not going to happen.

A bunch of those coaches damaged good teams. St-Louis is not doing that, and he doesn’t have to win games for a year or two.

 

[dcyhabs]

I wont rank st louis yet and I won't count the interns either.

1) Martin - he had a couple strong years. The 2010 team made the playoffs while markov had a long term injury. Made the semi finals and got good mileage out of veterans on defense like spacek, Gill and hamrlik. Cammalleri and gionta did well under him too. Made the semis in 2010, and took Boston to game 7 ot in 2011 despite missing markov pretty much all year. Finished the 2011 season 7th in pk and PP

2) Therrien - Probably not a popular choice but he had structure and buy in for the first 3 years or so. The 2014 team was one of my favourites and the 2013 team had strong defensive numbers no matter if it was price or budaj in goal. 2015 team won the division.

3) Carbonneau - he gets higher on this list because the 07/08 team was electric and easily the most entertaining team of the last 35 years. Top seed in the conference but I can't put him higher because things fizzled very quickly afterwards.

4) Vigneault - He was green but he was smart in hiring Dave King to be his right hand man. He had a good rookie season and the team made the 2nd round. He had another season where there was almost a miracle playoff birth after setting the league record for injuries and reeling off 7 straight wins at the end of the year.

5) Julien - I thought he was vanilla for the most part. Had a big upset playoff win against Boston in 04. His 2nd tenure had one good regular season followed by a disappointing playoff. 2020 covid playoffs were kinda nice too, I guess.

6) Ducharme - He had the finals run after Julien was let go, but that following season was just the worst hockey I have ever seen. His GM did him no favors but it was just an on ice disaster in every way.

7) Tremblay - He took over an 0-5 team and went on a heater right away for several weeks which propelled him to a playoff spot in his first year. However, he alienated his superstar goalie in the process and it is associated with the saddest days of me being a fan. That automatically drops him to the bottom.

Therrien could coach when his ego was under control and his system worked early in the season. His teams always looked good at Christmas, declined going into the playoffs, and just kept declining.

Once he thought he was a good coach and his job was safe Therrien coached badly and burned assets.

 

[Jurivan Demidovsky]

Then why didn’t he get a job elsewhere ?

Claude Julien who

- Won a Cup
- Won a gold Olympic medal
- Jack Adams winner
- Most wins in Bruins history
- 667 wins in career (16th in NHL
history)

Does have a great CV

Some says is a sad list but 3 coachs on that list are in the top 20 in NHL history for coach in wins
- Vigneault (11th)
- Julien (16th)
- Martin (19th)

Dude, I'm judging by the "eye test", I lived through both coaches. It's Carbonneau for me. Plus Carbonneau has the highest winning percentage as a Habs coach on that list. Julien was good but very dumb decisions at times.

 

[Lshap]

Then why didn’t he get a job elsewhere ?

Claude Julien who

- Won a Cup
- Won a gold Olympic medal
- Jack Adams winner
- Most wins in Bruins history
- 667 wins in career (16th in NHL
history)

Does have a great CV

Some says is a sad list but 3 coachs on that list are in the top 20 in NHL history for coach in wins
- Vigneault (11th)
- Julien (16th)
- Martin (19th)

Carbonneau is a lousy motivator. He's quiet and introspective, and can come across as indifferent to a locker room of young players. The guy's got a great hockey mind and definitely wanted to coach again, but he probably gave really bad job interviews.

He was hoping the Habs would call; they never did.

 

[Boris Le Tigre]

Carbonneau: “Me and Kirk can’t play all the games no more”

Lol

 

[Habby4Life]

I wont rank st louis yet and I won't count the interns either.

1) Martin - he had a couple strong years. The 2010 team made the playoffs while markov had a long term injury. Made the semi finals and got good mileage out of veterans on defense like spacek, Gill and hamrlik. Cammalleri and gionta did well under him too. Made the semis in 2010, and took Boston to game 7 ot in 2011 despite missing markov pretty much all year. Finished the 2011 season 7th in pk and PP

2) Therrien - Probably not a popular choice but he had structure and buy in for the first 3 years or so. The 2014 team was one of my favourites and the 2013 team had strong defensive numbers no matter if it was price or budaj in goal. 2015 team won the division.

3) Carbonneau - he gets higher on this list because the 07/08 team was electric and easily the most entertaining team of the last 35 years. Top seed in the conference but I can't put him higher because things fizzled very quickly afterwards.

4) Vigneault - He was green but he was smart in hiring Dave King to be his right hand man. He had a good rookie season and the team made the 2nd round. He had another season where there was almost a miracle playoff birth after setting the league record for injuries and reeling off 7 straight wins at the end of the year.

5) Julien - I thought he was vanilla for the most part. Had a big upset playoff win against Boston in 04. His 2nd tenure had one good regular season followed by a disappointing playoff. 2020 covid playoffs were kinda nice too, I guess.

6) Ducharme - He had the finals run after Julien was let go, but that following season was just the worst hockey I have ever seen. His GM did him no favors but it was just an on ice disaster in every way.

7) Tremblay - He took over an 0-5 team and went on a heater right away for several weeks which propelled him to a playoff spot in his first year. However, he alienated his superstar goalie in the process and it is associated with the saddest days of me being a fan. That automatically drops him to the bottom.

Like your list and rationale for each.

 

[David Suzuki]

Not sure how I'd rank the rest, but I feel pretty strongly Jacques Martin is number 1 as boring as he was. I was too young to see Vigneault coach us so I can't reasonably rank him. Maybe once we rehire him in a few years I can.

 

[Toene]

How would you rank those Habs coaches?
From the most competant, to Mario Tremblay.

- St-Louis
- Ducharme
- Julien
- Therrien
- Cunneyworth
- Martin
- Carbonneau
- Gainey
- Vigneault
- Tremblay

Obviously, the worst is Mario Tremblay AINEC, but how do you order the rest?

Julien
Martin
St-Louis (could jump to 1st depending on his next few years)
Carbo
Gainey
Ducharme
Cunneyworth
Therrien

I'm too young to remember Tremblay but I know he's one of the reason Roy left. Vigneault too I don't remember at all. The rosters sucked ass back then though, hard to judge.

 

[Paddyjack]

I would say winning game is a huge part of it, but at the same time, perceived competence must count too.
Like, Perron was a legit Pejorative Slur but still has a Stanley Cup in '89, because the real coaches were Gainey and Robinson. The fact that he has a cup doesn't change the fact that he suck ass

The Cup with Perron was in 86, while the 89 SCF was Pat Burns. And Perron did not get his Cup because Gainey and Robinson were the real coaches, it was because Jacques Lemaire was still coaching from upstairs without being seen.

 

[boompuffboom]

Jacques Demers.

screw all these other dinoplugs

 

[dcyhabs]

28 Habs coaches ranked by pts %;

List of all the Montreal Canadiens Coaches | Hockey-Reference.com

Get the list of all the Montreal Canadiens Coaches on Hockey-Reference.com

www.hockey-reference.com

View attachment 946885

It gives an indication, but some coaches, like Bob Berry, had relatively good records but still underachieved considering the team.

I'd rank the listed ones:

- Vigneault - I would have liked him to stay longer
- St-Louis - At least he doesn't seem to be breaking too many players.
- Julien - meh
- Gainey - great player, pretty good GM, OK coach
- Martin - not a bad coach, somewhat of a dinosaur, good assistant.
- Carbonneau - could have been good if he'd done the time in the minors.
- Cunneyworth - one rough season
- Tremblay - Could have been good if he'd learned coaching in the minors and avoided feuding with his start player.
- Ducharme - The team was terrible, hard to evaluate his coaching
- Therrien - He was a much better technical coach than he gets credit for, but much worse at everything else.