Coach inspires confidence from behind bench, Allen says
Players impressed with Ducharme's positive attitude and attention to detail
As the backup goalie, Jake Allen got a close look at how head coach Dominique Ducharme runs the Canadiens bench.
“Dom's very controlled, the bench is very under control,” Allen said Friday when the Canadiens held their exit interviews after losing the Stanley Cup Final to the Tampa Bay Lightning. “Just the atmosphere that he brings to the bench ... some benches on teams that I've played for are loud ... it takes away from your game a little bit.
“But I think the way Dom runs our bench and the positivity that's on our bench ... yeah, there are times where you get frustrated, a bad call, things like that. That happens to every team. But the positivity and just the feel around the bench is always that feel of confidence. Even when I was sitting there and I had no control over anything that happened on the ice, I could just feel the positivity, that confidence building and building through the playoffs. Didn't end the way we wanted, but it was truly a pleasure to be there first-hand, up close and personal to watch it.”
On Tuesday, Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin rewarded Ducharme with a three-year contract extension that runs through the 2023-24 season and took the interim tag off his job title.
Like Allen, veteran forward Corey Perry was impressed with the job Ducharme did.
“He's to the point,” Perry said. “He gets his point across and he's definitely, definitely detailed and structured, and that's everything you want from a head coach. He'll talk to you and let you know where you stand, and I can't say enough about him. He did a tremendous job for us.”
Ducharme described his relationship with his players as respectful.
“Having success as a team is a partnership,” he said. “We're not there against the players ... we're all here for the same reason. I want every one of them, individually, to have success, but mostly that's our job collectively having success. At the same time, we all have our job to do.
“We talked about that with the players. We're putting in the plan, we're adjusting the plan, we show the direction, what we want to do. Their job is to get into that and bring their own individual skills, their personality as a player within our team structure.
“Working daily with them, I said all along that it was a great group. I like things to be really clear, and to communicate with them and making sure that we're all on the same page. So I think relations with the group were very good.”
Ducharme said he expects to have coaches Luke Richardson and Alex Burrows back behind the bench with him next season and he wants to add a third assistant coach.
Ducharme added that it's uncertain what role director of goaltending Sean Burke will play next season.
“Sean's going to be with us, but is he going to be daily every day with us, moving his family here, or is he going to keep working with the team, the organization from Arizona,” Ducharme said. “Then from there, we might have to look at a goalie coach in that situation.”