MONTREAL — Sylvain Lefebvre was fired Tuesday as the head coach of the American Hockey League's Laval Rocket.

Marc Bergevin, the GM of the NHL parent club Montreal Canadiens, made the announcement.

"I would like to sincerely thank Sylvain for his loyalty, his hard work and his contribution to the Montreal Canadiens' organization over the past six seasons with Hamilton, St. John's and Laval," Bergevin said in a statement. "Challenges are extremely demanding as a head coach in the AHL, and Sylvain and his group had to overcome several difficult situations over the years.

"The decision to remove Sylvain from his coaching duties was a difficult one because I have a lot of respect for him and I consider him to be an excellent coach.

The status of assistant coaches Donald Dufresne, Nick Carriere and Marco Marciano will be determined once a new head coach is hired.

Laval (24-42-7-3) finished last in the North Division this season and was winless over its final 12 regular-season games (0-10-1-1).