After six seasons behind the bench of the Montreal Canadiens’ top farm team, Sylvain Lefebvre did not get his contract renewed this past summer at the conclusion of another painful season. His team missed the playoffs for a fifth time in six seasons.
But Lefebvre’s ultimate downfall was likely not the team’s record year-over-year, but rather a failure to provide the Canadiens with a steady stream of NHL graduates. After all, the purpose of the farm team is to develop players and prepare them for the NHL. That sometimes means putting them in positions to learn various game situations, which could be to the detriment of the team’s success.