Assistant coach Alex Burrows will not return to the Canadiens next season, but is expected to land another position within the organization.
This was revealed Monday morning by TVA Sports hockey expert Renaud Lavoie. Lavoie said that the former player wants to spend more time with his family, so he has chosen to leave his seat. He will, however, remain a consultant within the team, Kent Hughes confirmed at a press conference on Monday. Thus, he will spend time with both the development team and the coaching group.
Burrows was hired to work on the coaching staff of the Laval Rocket, the Habs’ American Hockey League affiliate, in 2018-19. The 43-year-old became an assistant with the Canadiens on Feb. 24, 2021, the day coach Claude Julien was fired and replaced by Dominique Ducharme. The former forward remained with the team when Martin St-Louis took over behind the bench.
Now, the organization will have to identify successors to Burrows, as well as former Rocket pilot Jean-François Houle. According to TVA Sports, which learned of the news from reliable sources, Stéphane Julien, Pascal Vincent, Louis Robitaille, Serge Aubin, Gilles Bouchard, Carl Mallette and Sylvain Favreau are among the potential candidates. Some of them were spotted in Las Vegas, where the National League draft took place Friday and Saturday, and met with the Canadiens management represented by John Sedgwick and Vincent Lecavalier. Moreover, Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes corroborated the information by adding that a second round of interviews will be held, this time in his presence and that of Jeff Gorton.
Additionally, Favreau will be attending the Nashville Predators development camp as a guest instructor.
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