As fans saw throughout his NHL tenure, former Montreal Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien isn’t one to mince words. Now, he’s taking direct aim at the Habs’ rough start to the 2024-25 season.
In a Thursday op-ed for TVA Sports, the ex-bench boss argued that Montreal’s current roster is grappling with an “urgent attitude problem.”
“Beaten four times in a row and humiliated at home on Tuesday, the Canadiens have adopted unacceptable behaviour, and it is time to wake up,” wrote Therrien, who coached the Habs from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2012 to 2017, in the opening of his critique.
The 60-year-old noted that the team’s work ethic and attitude have slipped and that it’s up to current head coach Martin St-Louis to turn things around.
“The work ethic and attitude are not at their best; I don’t know the team internally, but coach Martin St-Louis does. He has a message to convey. A coach’s job is not to please everyone,” he wrote. “He has to make sure everyone performs. It’s a constant challenge, and you need the right personnel.”
Therrien compared St. Louis’ coaching style with his own, revealing how he would solve the team’s struggles after posting a 2-4-1 record to start the year.
“If I were St. Louis, I would focus on the bad starts to games. Here, we repeat ourselves. I would organize ourselves so that the club would come out strong,” he explained. “To achieve this, I set short-term objectives when I was coaching.”
Finally, Therrien turned his attention to individual performances, singling out defenceman Arber Xhekaj, who has been a healthy scratch for the past two games. Despite some calls for the young enforcer to get more ice time, Therrien, who was highly critical of forward Josh Anderson last season, is not convinced.
“On defence, Mike Matheson did the right thing by defending Justin Barron, who was hit by Jacob Trouba on Tuesday,” Therrien wrote, referencing an incident in the Canadiens’ recent blowout loss to the New York Rangers. “Would Arber Xhekaj have helped, and should he play more often? I doubt it.”
Therrien further critiqued Xhekaj’s presence on the ice, claiming that the 23-year-old, who has gone pointless through five games, has been underwhelming.
“On the ice, [Xhekaj] seems lost. He plays like a lamb, and we don’t see him, which doesn’t encourage his coach to use him,” he added.
With frustration mounting, the Habs will look to turn things around when they face the St. Louis Blues at the Bell Centre this Saturday.