Penguins Fire Head Coach

by TFleming | February 16, 2009 at 10:03 am

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Less than a year after he led the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup finals, head coach Michel Therrien was fired. Pittsburgh's AHL team in Scranton will see their head coach move up into Therrien's place as early as tonight's game in New York.

"I didn't like... the direction the team was headed," Pittsburgh general manager Ray Shero said on a conference call. "I've watched for a number of weeks and, at the end of the day, the direction is not what I wanted to have here. I wasn't comfortable, and that's why the change was made."

Therrien joined the Penguins in December 2005 and turned the team into cup contenders. The Penguins had not reached the Stanley Cup Finals since the 1991-1992 season. The Penguins recorded their second consecutive 100 point season last year and won their first division title since 1997-1998. They lost to the Red Wings in game 6 of the finals.

Therrien was a finalist for the NHL coach of the year award, the Jack Adams trophy in 2006-2007 when he improved the the teams points by 47 compared with the year prior. He becomes the fifth NHL coach this season to get the axe and is leaving a $1 million/year contract that ran up until the 2010/2011 season.