Canadiens fire head coach Dominique Ducharme

An interim coach is expected to be announced later in the day ahead of the Habs' home game against the Washington Capitals on Thursday.

"We would like to sincerely thank Dominique for his work and contributions to the Montreal Canadiens organization. At this point in the season, we felt it was in the best interest of the club to make a change," Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes said in a statement.

Ducharme registered a 23-46-14 record in 83 regular-season games since being appointed as head coach in February 2021. He led the team to a 13-6 postseason record last year en route to Montreal's first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1993. The Habs lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games.

Despite having a promising 2021 campaign, Ducharme's exit comes on the heels of a very disappointing 2022 bid. Montreal starts the second half of the season marred in a seven-game losing streak — including a 7-1 loss Tuesday to the New Jersey Devils — and sits in the Atlantic Division cellar with an 8-30-7 record. Hughes himself only became general manager last month after Marc Bergevin was fired back in November.

Per NHL.com, "the status of assistant coaches Alex Burrows, Éric Gravel, Mario Leblanc, Trevor Letowski, Éric Raymond, and Luke Richardson remains unchanged" ahead of an interim bench boss being appointed.