The Montreal Canadiens just finished another successful draft, this time drafting a player everyone, including the management team, hoped for. With their fifth overall pick, the Canadiens drafted Ivan Demidov, which they have been coveting since before the 2023 Draft. That wasn’t the only news from the Habs over draft weekend; they also lost an assistant coach who will have to be replaced before the start of next season.
Canadiens’ Burrows Chooses to Step Down From Assistant Coaching Job
During the 2024 NHL Draft, Canadiens assistant coach Alex Burrows decided to step down to spend more time with his family. He played 12 seasons for the Vancouver Canucks from 2005-2016 before being traded to the Ottawa Senators in 2017 and finishing his career there in 2018. He amassed 205 goals, 409 points, and 1,134 penalty minutes as a player. He also played for Team Canada at the World Championship twice, scoring four points in 11 games, but never won a medal.
The Canadiens hired Burrows as an assistant coach for their American Hockey League affiliate, the Laval Rocket, in 2018. He held the job until Feb. 24, 2021, when he was promoted to assistant coach with Montreal. He had the position until this offseason when he decided to step down and take a lesser role as a player development consultant.
Canadiens Need to Find a Good Power Play Coach
When Burrows was hired, he was primarily used as the power play (PP) coach, and at that time, the Canadiens had one of the worst PPs in the NHL. It wasn’t all on Burrows; the team never had the talent to have a consistently effective PP, and it seemed like Burrows never wanted to change anything to make it better or change its look. It even reached the point last season where head coach Martin St. Louis stated he was helping run the PP, and Burrows was more the offensive coach. St. Louis was a good coach and took responsibility for protecting Burrows. Still, the PP was awful and never really improved, even when the Canadiens players started improving their overall play.
Related: Should the Canadiens Move on From Alex Burrows?
The Canadiens now have a chance to look for a coach who can help bring their PP along and improve it, which will help the team win more games and instill greater confidence in the young roster. It would be wise for management to bring in a successful coach who can also help St. Louis improve on the team offence, which was also one of the worst in the league the past few seasons. The PP would be a great start to improve on, and its success will trickle down to other aspects of the game and help the team get closer to their goal of making the playoffs this upcoming season.
Canadiens Have a Few Options to Choose From to Replace Burrows
The Canadiens can take many approaches to replacing Burrows. They could stay in the organization and promote one of the remaining assistant coaches in Laval. However, the Rocket are short coaches and must replace their head coach. They could look at their player development team and give Francis Boullion a shot, but he is a defenceman and was never a PP guy. They could look outside the organization at a former NHL head coach with Gerrard Gallant, Vincent Pascal, who was recently fired by the Columbus Blue Jackets, and Guy Boucher available. Any of these coaches would help the team immensely, especially with more experience behind the bench, which could also help St. Louis develop.
They could also hire a former player that coaches overseas with Andrei Markov, Tomas Plekanec, and Alexi Kovalev. Kovalev stated he would like an NHL job and contacted Montreal before. All three players have coaching jobs in Europe or Russia and have experience behind the bench since they retired. One of these Canadiens alumni being hired would excite the fans, and they all could help improve the PP. Kovalev and Markov have extensive knowledge of how a successful PP works. No matter who the Habs hire, if they stick to their mantra with players they play or acquire, they will hire someone to improve the team and make it successful.
