Montreal Canadiens announce four-year extension for Michel Therrien
Rewarding the coach for a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Montreal Canadiens announced a four-year contract extension for Michel Therrien on Saturday. The deal starts in a year, keeping the head coach under contract through the 2018-19 season.
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“We’re very happy to have agreed to a contract extension with Michel Therrien for multiple seasons,” Montreal GM Marc Bergevin said in a press release. “Michel is an accomplished and experienced coach who has instilled a culture of hard work in our organization while helping develop our young players.”
Hired as the Canadiens’ head coach in 2012, Therrien has posted a 75-42-13 record in two seasons with the team. A year after seeing the team get knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, Montreal pushed the New York Rangers to six games in the 2014 conference finals despite an injury to star goaltender Carey Price.
With young players like P.K. Subban, Max Pacioretty and Alex Galchenyuk giving Montreal a solid core, Therrien will now be tasked with taking the team to the next level and beyond.
“This decision reflects our desire for stability and consistency within our hockey operations department,” Bergevin said.
Prior to becoming the head coach of the Canadiens, Therrien was the Pittsburgh Penguins’ coach from 2005-09. He led the team to the Stanley Cup Final in 2008, but was fired in the middle of the 2009 season before Dan Bylsma led Sidney Crosby and company to a championship.
Therrien was also the head coach in Montreal for a previous stint in the early 2000s. After taking over in the middle of the 2000-01 season, he led the Canadiens to the second round of the playoffs in his only full year before getting fired midway through a poor third season.