HabsWorld.net --
The Habs will have a change behind the bench next season. Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reports that the team is set to hire Derek Lalonde as an assistant coach. Lalonde will be taking the place of Trevor Letowski, who is stepping away from the bench to spend more time with his family.
Lalonde immediately brings some experience behind Montreal’s bench. While remaining coaches Martin St. Louis, Stephane Robidas, and Roger Grillo are all in their first NHL coaching jobs, Lalonde has spent time as an NHL assistant coach and as a head coach and has been coaching in some capacity in hockey for 30 years.
His first NHL opportunity came in 2018 when he joined Tampa Bay as an assistant after spending two years as head coach with AHL Iowa. Lalonde spent four years with them before getting a head coaching opportunity with Detroit. Lalonde spent parts of three seasons with them, with the Red Wings posting an 89-86-23 record before being let go in the 2024-25 season when Todd McLellan took over late in the year.
Lalonde spent last season in Toronto as an assistant on Craig Berube’s staff and interviewed for their head coaching role but wasn’t offered the position. Jim Hiller is now the bench boss with the Maple Leafs and brought in an entirely new staff, resulting in Lalonde losing his job. The Habs are clearly moving quickly to get him.
He will be taking the place of Letowski on Montreal’s bench. Letowski spent the last five years as an assistant for the Habs, dating back to Dominique Ducharme’s tenure behind the bench. Letowski unofficially seemed to be the lead assistant for the Canadiens, briefly stepping in as interim head coach back in 2024 when St. Louis stepped away for family reasons.
He’s the second assistant coach in recent years to step back for family reasons, the other being Alex Burrows. Burrows remains with the Habs in a development role and Engels noted that the organization wants to keep Letowski in the fold. Accordingly, they’re likely to offer Letowski some sort of similar role.
