The Montreal Canadiens have fired head coach Claude Julien.

The team announced Wednesday that Dominique Ducharme has been named interim head coach and Alex Burrows has been added to the coaching staff.

Kirk Muller was also relieved of his coaching duties.

"I would like to sincerely thank Claude and Kirk for their contributions to our team over the past five years during which we worked together. I have great respect for these two men whom I hold in high regard," general manager Marc Bergevin said in a team release. "In Dominique Ducharme, we see a very promising coach who will bring new life and new energy to our group. We feel that our team can achieve high standards and the time had come for a change. "

The Canadiens, who lost in a shootout against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, are currently fourth in the North Division with a 9-5-4 record. The team was winless in their past three games.

Julien was in the fifth year of his second stint as Candiens' head coach. He also coached the team from 2002-03 to 2005-06. In eight seasons with the Habs, he had a 201-175-10-50 record.

The 60-year-old had a stent installed in a coronary after Game 1 of the Canadiens’ first-round playoffs series against the Philadelphia Flyers last year and missed the rest of the series. Muller took over as interim head coach until the Habs were eliminated 4-2.

Julien has coached 18 NHL seasons with the Canadiens, New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins. He's 13th in career all-time NHL coaching victories.

He led the Boston Bruins to the Stanley Cup in 2011 and the final in 2013 and also won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL coach of the year in 2009.

Ducharme, 47, has spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach with the Canadiens. He spent 10 seasons as coach in the QMJHL prior to joining the Canadiens in 2018, winning the Memorial Cup with the Halifax Mooseheads in 2012-13. Ducharme also served as head coach for Canada during the IIHF World Junior Championship in 2017 and 2018, winning silver and then gold.

The Canadiens will play their first game under Ducharme on Thursday on the road against the Winnipeg Jets.