Canadiens Bring Back Michel Therrien as Head Coach Marking His Second Tenure at Position

by Mike Cole on Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 9:19AM

The Montreal Canadiens have found their new head coach, and it's a name that will be quite familiar to Habs fans.

The club announced that they have hired Michel Therrien to become their next head coach.

The 48-year-old is returning to the Canadiens after spending seven years as a head coach in the organization from 1997 to 2003. That tenure included a stint as head coach at the NHL level when Therrien was hired to become the Canadiens head coach in 2000.

He was behind the bench for 190 games over the course of parts of three seasons, taking the Habs to the playoffs in 2001-02. Montreal defeated the Bruins in the first round before falling to the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference semifinals that season.

With the Canadiens stumbling to an 18-19-4-5 record in 2002-03, Therrien was fired by the Habs.

He returned to the NHL ranks just a couple of years later, taking the head coaching position with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pens got progressively better over the course of his three years in Pittsburgh, culminating in a division title and a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2007-08.

He was fired, however, in the middle of the next season.

The Canadiens appeared to have hired Bob Hartley last week, but the veteran NHL coach opted to join the Calgary Flames instead.

Photo via Flickr/jmd41280