Sylvain Lefebvre was recently relieved of his coaching duties at the head of the Laval Rocket, the American Hockey League farm team of the Montreal Canadiens. While the announcement of his replacement is pending, it’s an opportune time to take a look back at the history of the coaches behind the bench of the minor-league club, responsible for guiding the next generation of Canadiens players in their first forays into the world of professional hockey.
It’s worth remembering that the AHL is as much a training ground for coaches as it is for players. Most of these coaches came with some previous coaching experience, but normally not at the professional level, and others were simply retired hockey players.