"I would like to sincerely thank Sylvain for his loyalty, his hard work and his contribution to the Montreal Canadiens' organization over the past six seasons with Hamilton, St. John's and Laval. Challenges are extremely demanding as a Head Coach in the AHL, and Sylvain and his group had to overcome several difficult situations over the years. The decision to remove Sylvain from his coaching duties was a difficult one because I have a lot of respect for him and I consider him to be an excellent coach. I took the time to discuss the situation with Larry Carrière, and concluded that our development team needed a new direction in the head coaching position," said Bergevin.
The status of assistant coaches Donald Dufresne, Nick Carrière and Marco Marciano will be determined once the selection process of the new head coach is completed.
Sylvain Lefebvre, 50, was named Head Coach of the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Canadiens' AHL development team, on June 13, 2012. He was the Club's Head Coach during six seasons, from 2012 to 2018, in Hamilton with the Bulldogs, in St. John's with the IceCaps, and in Laval for the inaugural season of the Rocket in the AHL. Lefebvre was a Head Coach for 456 games in the AHL. As a player, Lefebvre spent six seasons in the Canadiens' organization, including three seasons in Montreal from 1989 to 1992 (200 regular season games).
