With the announcement that Luke Richardson was hired as the new defensive coach
 for the Montreal Canadiens, it finally rounded out what the coaching staff
will look like for next season. With the Dominique Ducharme hiring as an
additional assistant coach and bringing in Joel Bouchard for the AHL squad,
it's clear upper management knew it was time to improve the quality of coaching
 with the team. However, will the new coaches and learning from a bad season
lead to better results?Defensive Development & Forward Chemistry

For Richardson, who has experience as an AHL head coach and NHL assistant
coach, he has the task of coaching a defence corps that will be missing its
number-one defenceman in Shea Weber for at least the first half of the season.
The Habs'; defence corps is short on high-end talent but plentiful in players
who are better suited for the bottom pairing. 

Jeff Petry becomes the de facto number-one in Weber's absence, but filling out
the rest of the roster, particularly the top four, will be a challenge.
Developing the likes of Noah Juulsen and Victor Mete is one of the top
priorities, as they will have plenty of opportunities this upcoming season to
play a lot of minutes. The defence was pretty bad last season, and no one's job
 should be safe.Shea Weber (Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports)

Up front, the Habs really struggled with chemistry last season. A lot of the
forwards had trouble playing together and most of them struggled mightily
throughout the year. Some players like Brendan Gallagher and Paul Byron have
the ability to play with just about anyone and unsurprisingly, they were the
only two forwards to meet expectations. 

It was clear Max Pacioretty missed having Alexander Radulov on his line and
tried to adapt his game to play like his former teammate, but it resulted in
his worst offensive season in years. Jonathan Drouin struggled as a centre and
the position change really hindered his game, especially early on. Others like
Artturi Lehkonen and Charles Hudon had the effort but were snakebitten all year
 long. This year's training camp will be key in determining who deserves a
roster spot and getting everyone on the same page.Is the Coaching Any Better?

One of the biggest challenges with coaching is getting the most of players, as
well as getting the team to come together. For whatever reason last year, the
Habs struggled to adapt to Claude Julien's system. On one side of it, the Habs
really didn't jell as a team, and the lack of talent didn't help. In Boston,
Julien was given much more to work with player-wise, and this year';s edition
of the Habs was poorly constructed by Marc Bergevin. 

For Julien, though, adjustments need to be made on what kind of system the team
 needs to play. The Habs don't have superstars to whom they can give free rein,
 so structure will be key, as will improving their ability to make plays with
more speed and precision. Too often, the Habs played sloppy hockey and
certainly a lack of chemistry contributed to that. It was only later in the
season that some players were able to jell and play well together.Claude Julien
 (Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports)

For this year's coaching staff, on paper, they look improved. Replacing J.J.
Daigneault and Dan Lacroix with Ducharme and Richardson appears to be a step
up. When Julien took over, he oddly didn't bring in any of his own assistants.
The only holdovers from last year are assistant coach Kirk Muller and goalie
coach Stephane Waite. 

After the disaster last year, it was obvious that a change in voices behind the
 bench was necessary, particularly on the defensive side. For Ducharme, it
appears he is being groomed as a potential heir apparent, and it will be
something to watch this season on how Julien uses him as the third assistant on
 the bench.All About Results

At the end of the day, it's all about results. However, in the case of the
Habs, proper development of their young players is the next best thing. If the
team experiences another losing year but their young players take notable steps
 forward, it will be easier to swallow. The Habs aren't expected to be good and
 with Weber out, those expectations have lowered even more. On paper, the Habs
don't ice anywhere close to the best team in the league, let alone their
division. Unlike their division rivals in Tampa Bay, Toronto and Boston, Julien
 and his staff aren't working with an overabundance of talent, so the pressure
is on to squeeze the most they can out of this roster.  

The post Canadiens'; Coaching: Has it Improved Enough? appeared first on The
Hockey Writers.

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