Montreal Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme is in isolation at his home as of today. This is due to irregularities in COVID testing. The news comes as the team prepares for its third game against the Vegas Golden Knights in the postseason. Arpon Basu of The Athletic revealed the news early Friday morning.
Dominique Ducharme is in isolation at home due to "irregularities in the covid testing". There will be further testing today.
— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) June 18, 2021
Canadiens Dominique Ducharme Isolated
Ducharme has had quite the ride as Canadiens head coach. He was named the top man behind the bench in February in a shocking move for the time. The team then struggled in the final portion of the season before claiming the North Divisions final postseason spot. Finally, they roared back against the Toronto Maple Leafs and swept the Winnipeg Jets. It’s safe to say that nobody would have predicted how the team and Ducharme would end up in their current spot. Clearly, something has clicked as of late as Ducharme looks very competent on one of hockey’s biggest stages.
Ducharme has been with the Habs since 2018 when the team executed a shake-up of their staff. It is hard to measure the impact of an individual coach on a team’s success, but it seems as though he has developed a good relationship with the players and a good sense of how to deploy them at this time.
What This Means
Basu notes two important things. First, that further testing will occur before the game this evening. Second, that Ducharme, like many team personnel, may have received their second vaccination more than a week ago. There is a window where the vaccine is not 100 percent functional, but it is still an important action to have taken. This may end up being nothing more than a false positive and it should hopefully not affect the rest of the organization if the majority have addressed their health adequately.
