MONTREAL - Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes announced Wednesday afternoon that head coach Dominique Ducharme was relieved of his duties earlier today.

"We would like to sincerely thank Dominique for his work and contributions to the Montreal Canadiens organization. At this point in the season, we felt it was in the best interest of the club to make a change," said Hughes.

Since being named head coach in February 2021, Ducharme registered a 23-46-14 record in 83 regular season games at the helm of the Canadiens. In the playoffs, he posted a 13-6 record in 19 games, leading the Canadiens to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1993.

The status of assistant coaches Alex Burrows, Éric Gravel, Mario Leblanc, Trevor Letowski, Éric Raymond and Luke Richardson remains unchanged.

The Canadiens' next head coach will be announced later today.