After declining a one year offer to remain in St. Louis as an assistant coach early in the week, Kirk Muller wasn’t out of a job for long. On Thursday, the Habs announced that he is rejoining the Canadiens as an Associate Coach. Terms of the contract were not disclosed but it’s believed to be a multi-year deal.
Muller is no stranger to Montreal having spent parts of four seasons with the Tricolore from 1991-1995, scoring 104 goals in 267 games. He also started his pro coaching career with the Canadiens, serving as a member of their coaching staff for five seasons before leaving to take the head coaching role with Milwaukee of the AHL.
His time in the minors didn’t last too long as just 17 games into the season, he was hired by Carolina as their head coach. He spent parts of three years with the team, compiling an 80-80-27 record.
After being let go by the Hurricanes following the 2013-14 campaign, Muller joined the Blues where he spent each of the past two seasons. At the time that Ken Hitchcock signed his one year deal at the beginning of the week, all of the assistant coaches were also offered one year pacts. However, Muller (along with Brad Hunt, another of their assistants) opted to leave despite being a candidate to replace Hitchcock when he retires following the 2016-17 season.
The team has called a conference call for 11:00 AM EST on Friday where his role on this staff will likely be revealed in greater detail as well as which other coach will be joining Clement Jodoin and Stephane Waite in the press box on game nights.