Michel Therrien (born November 4, 1963), is the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League. Prior to that he was a player, then head coach for the Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Therrien coached the Canadiens for three seasons, taking them to the Eastern Conference semi-finals in the 2002 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
During the 2006–07 season, he coached the Penguins to one of the most successful single-season improvements in NHL history, finishing with a 47–24–11 record (105 pts), a berth in the 2007 Stanley Cup playoffs, and a nomination for the Jack Adams Award, as the NHL's best coach. The following season, the Penguins under Therrien made it to the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals, ultimately losing to the Detroit Red Wings in six games.
On February 15, 2009, with the Penguins struggling to make the playoffs, the Penguins organization announced that it had relieved Therrien of coaching duties and had promoted its AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma to serve as interim head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Prior to his coaching career, Therrien played three years as a defenceman in the AHL, compiling a total of 86 points in 206 games and winning the Calder Cup in 1985 with the Sherbrooke Canadiens, on the same team as eventual Hall-of-Famer Patrick Roy.
Before coaching in the professional leagues, Therrien was a coach in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He is a single parent of two children, Elizabeth and Charles.
On June 5, 2012, Michel Therrien, to mixed reaction in many languages, was once again named coach of the Montreal Canadiens.
Read more about Michel Therrien: Coaching Record