Whatever happened to Ducharme?

[The Great Weal]

It just shows how terrible he is when he couldn’t win 2 games in a row despite trying his utmost best to win games.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

I doubt he was rich before this contract. He would be middle class (maybe?) if it wasn't for Bergevin making him rich.

He got a once in a lifetime opportunity, I would be thankful since he obviously didn't have the capabilities to be a good hockey coach.

This is really silly. You can thankful about the opportunity and still have regret/gripes. Obviously Ducharme isn't going around thinking 'Wow, I suck and I'm glad they gave me a shot!' Like, what the f***? The post sounds as delusional as he does.

 

[tazsub3]

i would love to have someone in the media to grow a pair and haded to him after and about that interview.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

To his defence, they could have told him that the plan was to develop de younger players and that they are the ones that need the icetime.

That being said, he should have read the room and understood that with the key pieces of his team were not the veteran player anymore but the youngsters.

Ducharme played the players that executed his system the best. The problem is, nobody understood the system. I feel like Ducharme learned too much from Julien. When the coaching change was made, nothing except the name behind the bench changed. At least Julien had the respect of a lot of guy.

He was losing every game anyway. Did he really need to be told that?

 

[Twisted Sinister]

He was losing every game anyway. Did he really need to be told that?

It takes a special kind of idiot to not understand what everyone else seems to know.

Makes sense that a dinosaur regime hired a dinosaur coach that couldn't figure what was 2+2 was.

 

[HuGort]

He was an odd case for sure. He was great in Halifax and Drummondville. Halifax had stacked team but I don't think anybody from the Voltiguers ever made NHL. Won Gold in U18 and WJC. Took Habs to Cup final then totally tanked.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

I was among those excited that both of them were brought in. Turns out, it was much ado about nothing.

I was too. You win some and you lose some.

 

[Habs13]

He was an odd case for sure. He was great in Halifax and Drummondville. Halifax had stacked team but I don't think anybody from the Voltiguers ever made NHL. Won Gold in U18 and WJC. Took Habs to Cup final then totally tanked.

Price and Weber coached the Habs to the final - not Dumbdom.

 

[HuGort]

Price and Weber coached the Habs to the final - not Dumbdom.

So Weber was big part of playoff run after all?

 

[Fixxer]

I remember Ducharme stating, after the playoff run, where he told his players to keep training because the off-season was short. While it looked like a good idea, I think the players were gassed when the season started and they didn't recover before a while. By mid-season, some players had started to turn the corner when Ducharme was shown the door. Dom Ducharme did experience the highs and lows of MTL in a short span. Anyway, with the new management, they brought in their guy (St-Louis) and honestly, a change was needed! Thanks Dom for the playoff run! Sorry for the tough follow up.

 

[Runner77]

You are there to lead the ship and you are staring off mumbling in the corner in your bellboy suit.

« Bellboy, can you please take extra good care of this car? »

 

[Mrb1p]

Man, I just read this article.

Is this guy the biggest idiot ever? Yikes man, yikes.

Insane ego.

 

[Kimota]

I‘ve mentioned this elsewhere but there’s two things that can be true at once:

1) He got screwed with the loss of players via OS, FA, injuries and covid.
2) He managed the situation poorly.

Unless he or some whistleblower can prove HuGo screened their calls and locked their doors whenever he wanted answers, howTF could DD really be that clueless to the direction of the team? As a manager myself, I still expect guidance from my executives so that I can manage my own team but if I’m unclear, I go to them to get direction.

Honestly, this speaks volumes about his inability to communicate. He has his mind set to something, such as his broken system, but refuses to listen to the team and change something. In turn, it could had been his own stubbornness that prevented him from showing the initiative in selling himself to HuGo.

End of the day, he was dealt a bad hand, sure, but he was still a terrible coach and worse communicator. Things got bad for MSL also once everyone got traded and Allen was gone for the year. Difference is the team didn’t stop trying to actually play.

But I mean he was a good coach before this. It's not like suddenly he wasn't trying to make them good. I bet you that he had sleepless nights trying to come up with gazillion of solutions to jumpstar the group. That's where I think that pressure got to him, it was too much for him and it badly clouded his judgment.

But you're right in that he was a bad communicator and ultimately he had bad judgment. When he chose to let KK out of the line up in the playoffs, it was a terrible call. KK was playing well and we were trying to win and I heard that KK asked to be traded right after. It was a lack foresight development-wise. This was the year and the playoffs they should have doube-shifted young guys like KK to give them the most experience as possible. This was my exact philosophy before the playoffs. Because I was like we're not winning this, might as well give our kids all the ice we needed. Not to mention, KK had been great in the playoffs the year before, he was like a man possessed. He is gonna give his all no matter what.

Ultimately DD was not the coach needed for this situation at the time. Martin St-Louis was. The fact that Ducharme said "nodody told me that we were in a rebuild, if so I would have done things differently" (aka played the kids) shows that. Whereas Marty played Barron in OT, remember. Although my main blame lies at the feet of Bergevin. If I had been him I would have told DD to not scratch KK. MB didn't give a f*** about development. We all know that, now.

 

[Kennedys]

The DD era is something we're all trying to forget. And leave me alone with the "we made it to the SCF"

 

[sandviper]

So Weber was big part of playoff run after all?

It was reported during the playoffs, I believe on the radio and written somewhere but after game 4 in the Leafs series, Weber, Price, Staal and Perry (probably others like Edmundson and Petry, but the other four was public) had a closed door team meeting and spoke to the team about how these opportunities are hard to come by and may not come again. Something to that effect.

Leadership-wise, Weber was huge. He and Chiarot got cratered a lot during that run, but they do play like 30 minutes a night so I’ll cut them some slack.

That said, we didn’t have that run because of Ducharme; we had that run despite of him.

 

[Belial]

He lost the room, as easy as that.

 

[WeThreeKings]

It was reported during the playoffs, I believe on the radio and written somewhere but after game 4 in the Leafs series, Weber, Price, Staal and Perry (probably others like Edmundson and Petry, but the other four was public) had a closed door team meeting and spoke to the team about how these opportunities are hard to come by and may not come again. Something to that effect.

Leadership-wise, Weber was huge. He and Chiarot got cratered a lot during that run, but they do play like 30 minutes a night so I’ll cut them some slack.

That said, we didn’t have that run because of Ducharme; we had that run despite of him.

Their best series was against Vegas and it was Richardson coaching them there.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Ducharme being groomed by Julien and a GM like Bergevin who still wanted to win after the roster turnover was bad for Ducharme. Cup finals due to Covid circumstantial luck (don't got to go through Tampa) and then the injures.

Ducharme just didn't get it. He was pegged as a good development coach prior to his Habs days but what happened? Julien and his old ways and Ducharme didn't adjust. He only has himself to blame.

Their best series was against Vegas and it was Richardson coaching them there.

Agreed. Ducharme didn't coach any brilliance. The vets in the room did and a guy like Richardson helps. Ducharme don't get any credit for that run with me.

Even with Richardson, I do recall him not playing Caufield on 5/3 or 4/3 situations. That's just dumb

 

[BLONG7]

He was losing every game anyway. Did he really need to be told that?

This notion he was left in the dark? Hilarious...................everyone knew he was done. It was a matter of time....and it happened.....Sorry Dom, you just plain sucked. He will always be known as the guy who could only get 1 goal in 35 games out of Caufield................

 

[OldCraig71]

He lost the room, as easy as that.

He couldn't find it?

 

[Habs Halifax]

I was among those excited that both of them were brought in. Turns out, it was much ado about nothing.

Most if not all were happy about it. Why wouldn't we? They had good pedigree. Ducharme needs to get back to the basics and then work his way to the AHL. Might have to coach in the Q again.

Ducharme was an authority coach in the Q. In the NHL, he was a Julien wannabe and didn't earn his way there. Reminds me of Dallas Eakins... remember that feud with Hall on the Oilers?

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

This notion he was left in the dark? Hilarious...................everyone knew he was done. It was a matter of time....and it happened.....Sorry Dom, you just plain sucked. He will always be known as the guy who could only get 1 goal in 35 games out of Caufield................

Imagine if Caufield goes on to score between 40-50 every year.

A constant reminder of just how badly he failed.

 

[Belial]

He couldn't find it?

He paid cash

 

[Saundies]

Yeah that interview is so bad.

"Nobody talked to me about the new direction."

Do you not have eyes, Dom? Do you not have a phone you can pick up and call your boss and ask him what's going on?

"If the plan was to lose the most games we could and to play the young players, I would have liked to have known because I would have had a different approach with them."

This is literally what's wrong with his, Julien's, Therrien's, etc mentality in one line. He correlates playing young guys more with losing. That's their whole philosophy, and why we couldn't develop anybody for shit.

Yes, that can definitely be true, especially when a lot of your roster is young. But the NHL is getting younger and younger more and more. Young guys are having huge roles on their teams, stepping up in big situations. The playoff run alone last year should have showed him that, and it didn't.

I get that at the beginning of the year, we were trying to win/make the playoffs. Cool. But after January? Hell, even December? We were done. Make adjustments, TALK TO YOUR BOSS. DO. SOMETHING.

I'm as diehard of a Habs fan as they come (I'm on here most days, aren't I?) but last year was the least amount of hockey I've watched since I became a fan. It was unbearable. They couldn't defend, couldn't score, couldn't do anything. And he was at the helm.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Yeah that interview is so bad.

"Nobody talked to me about the new direction."

Do you not have eyes, Dom? Do you not have a phone you can pick up and call your boss and ask him what's going on?

"If the plan was to lose the most games we could and to play the young players, I would have liked to have known because I would have had a different approach with them."

This is literally what's wrong with his, Julien's, Therrien's, etc mentality in one line. He correlates playing young guys more with losing. That's their whole philosophy, and why we couldn't develop anybody for shit.

Yes, that can definitely be true, especially when a lot of your roster is young. But the NHL is getting younger and younger more and more. Young guys are having huge roles on their teams, stepping up in big situations. The playoff run alone last year should have showed him that, and it didn't.

I get that at the beginning of the year, we were trying to win/make the playoffs. Cool. But after January? Hell, even December? We were done. Make adjustments, TALK TO YOUR BOSS. DO. SOMETHING.

I'm as diehard of a Habs fan as they come (I'm on here most days, aren't I?) but last year was the least amount of hockey I've watched since I became a fan. It was unbearable. They couldn't defend, couldn't score, couldn't do anything. And he was at the helm.

And the shift when MSL came on. The games were enjoyable, the young players were making plays, the brand of hockey was exciting. They didn't end up winning a whole lot of games but the product was better and the end goal was way more attractive.

Losing while playing Armia 18 minutes a night and Caufield is chipping pucks in, is just stupid.