The Montreal Canadiens announced on Tuesday that the interim tag has been removed from Dominique Ducharme’s title and he has signed a three-year contract extension as head coach.

Ducharme took over behind the Canadiens bench on Feb. 24 after the dismissal of Claude Julien.

TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reports the deal is believed to be worth $1.7 million per season.

"Dominique has managed to set his system in place and establish himself as a head coach in a very unusual season with challenging circumstances. While our team has gone through its fair share of adversity, he has shown a lot of control over the situation as well as showing calm and great leadership. These are important qualities that we look for in a head coach and he fully deserves the chance to lead our team and take it to the next level", said Marc Bergevin.

Under Ducharme, the Habs compiled a 15-16-7 regular season record in a schedule compressed by a COVID-19 outbreak and helped guide them to a 13-9 record in the postseason as they advanced to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1993.

He missed four games of Montreal's third-round playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights and the first two games of the Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning after testing positive for COVID-19.

Ducharme, 48, worked the previous two seasons as an assistant coach with the Canadiens.

He spent 10 seasons as coach in the QMJHL, winning the Memorial Cup with the Halifax Mooseheads in 2012-13. Ducharme also served as head coach for Canada during the World Junior Championship in 2017 and 2018, winning silver and gold medals.