Michel Therrien

Canada Michel Therrien


Date of birth	4th November 1963
place of birth	Montreal , Quebec , Canada
Nickname	Bulldog

position	defender

Career stations

1980-1981	Québec Remparts
1981-1982	Chicoutimi saguenéens
1982-1983	Longueuil Chevaliers
1983-1984	Nova Scotia Voyageurs
1984-1985	Sherbrooke Canadiens
1985-1986	Milwaukee Admirals
1986-1987	Baltimore Skipjacks

Michel Therrien (born November 4, 1963 in Montreal , Québec ) is a former Canadian ice hockey defender and current coach . Since May 2019 he has been the assistant coach of the Philadelphia Flyers in the National Hockey League . He had previously coached the Canadiens de Montréal (2000–2003 and 2012–2017) and the Pittsburgh Penguins (2005–2009) as head coach in the NHL .

Career

Player career

Michel Therrien grew up in Montréal, the only child of Jerry and Rachel Therrien, and was passionate about both ice hockey and baseball in his youth . He played on the Canadian junior baseball team and was offered a scholarship from Palm Beach Junior College to play as a second baseman. But he decided to go ice hockey.

In 1980 he was signed by the Québec Remparts from the Canadian Junior League Quebec Major Junior Hockey League . He played for two other teams in his three years in the league. With the Longueuil Chevaliers headed by head coach Jacques Lemaire , he was able to defeat the Laval Titan around Mario Lemieux , who soon became the superstar of the Pittsburgh Penguins , in the playoffs in 1983 .

After Therrien was not drafted by any NHL team , he switched to the professional field in 1983 and received a contract in the second-rate AHL with the Canadiens de Sherbrooke . He had a very successful season with the team and they won the Calder Cup in the playoffs . The team at that time included 19-year-old Patrick Roy , who was to develop into one of the best goalkeepers of all time over the next few years. Two more years followed for teams from the AHL and the IHL , but he had to realize that he didn't have the talent to make it into the NHL.

Coaching career

Canada Michel Therrien

Coaching stations

1991-1995	Titan de Laval
1995-1997	Prédateurs de Granby
1997-1999	Fredericton Canadiens
1999-2000	Citadelles de Quebec
2000-2003	Canadiens de Montréal
2003-2005	Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins
2005-2009	Pittsburgh Penguins
2012-2017	Canadiens de Montréal
since 2019	Philadelphia Flyers

In 1989, Therrien retired and worked for the telecommunications company Bell Canada . He also worked for a short time as an assistant coach at Titan de Laval and even stood behind the gang as head coach for three games, but his tenure with the team was only very short. In 1991 he returned to the Titans as assistant coach to Bob Hartley . Therrien stayed at this post for two years before replacing Hartley as head coach in the 1993/94 season. He continued the style of his predecessor, which preferred the physically tough game, and was successful. He won the LHJMQ championship and took part in the Memorial Cup finals with the team . In addition to many talented players, later NHL enforcers such as Georges Laraque , Gino Odjick and Sandy McCarthy were also in the ranks of the team.

During his time at Laval, Therrien caused a sensation when he fought with Alain Rajotte , the coach of the Granby Prédateurs , during a friendly. Therrien had fielded his youngest players, while Rajotte went to play with veterans. When the young players were presented and Rajotte tried to provoke Therrien with gestures, a fight broke out. A ten-game suspension was the result.

In 1995 he moved to the Granby Prédateurs as head coach. The Morrissette brothers had already owned the Laval Titan and when they left Laval and took over the Granby Prédateurs, they wanted Therrien on board again. In his first season he also led the Prédateurs to win the Memorial Cup, the most important ice hockey trophy in Canada in the youth field.

After another year in Granby, he was accepted into the organization of the Montréal Canadiens from the NHL in 1997 . This ended his "rule" in the LHJMQ junior league, in which he was able to win 72 percent of all games. But a new era began for him as he was appointed head coach of the Fredericton Canadiens , the Montréal farm team in the AHL. After two years, the team was disbanded and he worked for the new AHL farm team Québec Citadelles as head coach.

When the Canadiens NHL team weakened again during the 2000/01 season and Alain Vigneault had to vacate his chair as coach, Therrien took over the reins of the team and led it back into the playoffs the following year, but his tenure was already mid- season 2002/03 over again as participation in the finals was in danger again.

In the summer of 2003 he was signed by the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins , the Pittsburgh Penguins' farm team. Therrien immediately showed his skills and led the team to the finals of the AHL playoffs for the Calder Cup. After a good 2004/05 season, the team made a phenomenal start into the next season in autumn 2005 with 21 wins in 25 games. For the NHL team of the Penguins, however, it did not go well and coach Ed Olczyk was fired and Therrien was appointed as his successor. There he met Mario Lemieux again, whom he had met as an opponent in the juniors in 1983. However, Lemieux was now the team owner of the Penguins and also a player for a few months.

Therrien didn't manage to qualify for the playoffs during the season, but before the 2006/07 season he built a competitive team around young star Sidney Crosby , made up of talents like Yevgeny Malkin , Jordan Staal and Marc- André Fleury , but also consists of experienced players like Mark Recchi or Sergei Gontschar . With them he was able to reach the first round of the playoffs and was nominated for the Jack Adams Award as best coach in the NHL after the team was able to improve by 47 points compared to the previous season. Only three coaches in NHL history were able to help a team achieve greater growth within a year.

In the summer of 2007 he received a contract extension from the Pittsburgh Penguins until 2009 and the Penguins went as a co-favorite in the 2007/08 season . However, after Pittsburgh had a rather weak start to the season and had to fight for the playoff places in the first half of the season, the media were already speculating about a possible dismissal of Therrien. In addition, there were long-term injuries to top performers, such as goalkeeper Fleury and strikers Crosby and Gary Roberts . In the second half of the season it was Yevgeny Malkin and substitute goalkeeper Ty Conklin who put the team back on the road to success and in the end the Penguins qualified for the playoffs with second place in the Eastern Conference . In the playoffs, the Penguins managed to march through to the Stanley Cup final with only two defeats in the first three rounds. In addition to the young stars Crosby and Malkin, this success was also guaranteed by the recovered goalkeeper Fleury and Marián Hossa, who was only signed in March 2008 . In the following season Therrien did not succeed with the team, however, to build on these successes. After 57 games, the Penguins were only in tenth place in the Eastern Conference and five points from a play-off spot. In February 2009, Therrien was fired from his post.

After more than three years without a coaching post, he was hired again on June 5, 2012 as coach of the Montréal Canadiens, who had finished the previous season in last place in the Eastern Conference. In the 2012/13 season Therrien led the Canadiens back to the play-offs and won with the team the division title in the Northeast Division . In the vote for the Jack Adams Award for the best coach of the season, he was finally in fourth place and narrowly missed a nomination.

In February 2017, Therrien was fired as head coach for the Canadiens. The team was leading the Atlantic Division at the time, but had lost seven of their last ten games. As soon as he was released, Claude Julien was introduced as his successor, who had only been relieved of his duties with the Boston Bruins a week earlier . Julien trained the Canadiens with it - just like Therrien - for the second time in his career, and after Therrien's first dismissal in the 2002/03 season it was also Julien who succeeded him.

After a long break, he was introduced as assistant coach of the Philadelphia Flyers in May 2019 , where he will now work under head coach Alain Vigneault .