The Montreal Canadiens have fired their goaltending coach, Eric Raymond, and replaced him with Marco Marciano, who has been working with the Laval Rocket since the team’s inaugural season in 2017-18.
Bringing In Marciano
The decision was made by the entire organization according to Jeff Gorton, the executive vice president of the Canadiens.
“It was an organizational decision we made to have a new voice, and to move forward,” explained Gorton, “Marco has history with our goalies, and some success, so we just felt at this time that it was the right move.”
The netminders have struggled in Montreal this season, to the tune of a team-wide .896 save percentage, among the bottom-10 results in the NHL. This is in stark contrast to their goal scoring ability, which is top-10 in the league.
Jacob Fowler, who has since been returned to the Rocket, sported a .902 save percentage in his short time with the team, while fellow rookie Jakub Dobes is currently at .890. Veteran Samuel Montembeault, on the other hand, has produced a very underwhelming .868 save percentage, among the worst numbers in the NHL.
It would be unfair to say Montreal’s only problem is goaltending, as they’re yet to refine their defensive strategies, which leads to an unreasonable number of odd-man rushes for their opponents on a nightly basis. That being said, there’s no doubt the goaltenders have cost them several games this season, a situation that took on much more importance given the chaotic playoff race in the Eastern Conference.
The Montreal Canadiens are likely to make the playoffs, especially since their odds are nearing 70%, however, the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are just six points behind them in the standings, with one game in hand.
Simply put, the Habs cannot afford to leave any more points on the table, which surely contributed to the decision to mix things up among goaltending coaches.
“We just made a decision that it was the right move at this time,” said Gorton. “Eric is in his last year, it is similar to Marty [St-Louis] and Dom [Ducharme] when we made that switch. We thought probably weren’t going forward with Eric at the end of the year. We think a lot about Marco, about what he’s done down there.”
In other words, it was just a matter of time before Marciano took over from Raymond, and the Habs did not see the value in waiting until the former’s contract ran out.
For a team embroiled in a hotly contested playoff race, it seems to be a smart, proactive approach.
As for Marciano, he’s spent the better part of the decade coaching goaltenders in Laval, and has had to deal with some very complicated arrangements that featured three, if not four goaltenders in the rotation.
And yet, all the goaltenders that have worked with him have had nothing but good things to say about his calm, yet insightful approach.
It’s also important to note that other NHL teams were circling the Rocket, hoping the Canadiens would allow them to poach Marco directly from the AHL.
“Marco is an intelligent guy, he works hard, he has a good rapport with his goalies, everybody that we know speaks highly of him,” said Gorton. “We’ve had interest around the league for Marco, and we sort of held him back, so we just felt it was his time.”
Montreal Canadiens Coaching Impact
While Gorton was all business on Wednesday, head coach Martin St-Louis took a slightly different approach, given that he had just lost one of the trusted members of his staff.
“It’s an organizational decision,” said St-Louis. “I’m a young coach. I adore people, so it’s hard to see a person like that lose his job. But, I have a lot of respect for the decisions that have been made, so I have confidence in that aspect of the situation, especially since it’s the first time I have to go through this as a young coach. “
St-Louis would go on to admit goaltender is not his strong point, a refreshing attitude from a head coach.
“I said it before, it’s the one position that I don’t really know,” explained St-Louis. “I would have to watch 10,000 hours and really dive in to understand what this coach does well, or what that coach does well. I don’t know Marco that way, but, I think he’s got a great rack record, he’s done great work, and he knows the goalies. In the meantime, he’ll be helping our goalies here.”
Marciano, 42, will carry the interim tag for the rest of the season, as did St-Louis when he originally accepted the job on February 9, 2022. If all goes well, he can expect a long-term contract at the end of the season.
