Post by countryboy on Sept 28, 2007 23:50:33 GMT -4
Thought I'd start a new thread on this topic, as by page 6 of the other thread has posters speculating about real estate listings and what they mean to the team's future.
Anyway.... after tonight's loss we are 2-5 and without a doubt severely underachieving. It can't be denied that our coaching situation has been under the microscope since the start of the season and we are at the point where posters from other cities are watching closely for what will be the resolve on PEI to this substandard start. We are in the midst of a coaching controversy that is to the point where the daily norm is rumblings of discontentment from local fans and speculation from away fans that Jean is on thin, thin ice.
I haven't watched every road game, but I have paid enough attention to forum posts and game wrap ups to be familiar with how things have progressed over the past couple of weeks. Of our 9 games, I can only really count 2 where we came out really playing. One was the season opener vs. Halifax where I felt we played well but suffered a couple of defensive meltdowns that made the difference. The other was game #1 vs. St. John's where we really poured the offense on them. I don't count the win vs. Lewiston as a strong effort (despite what the score said). I feel it was moreso a case of us taking care of the understaffed Maineiacs (who had a strong component of their roster at NHL camps). The rest of the time we have suffered from any combination of anemic offense, poor goaltending, defensive breakdowns (majorly) and undisciplined play.
I would not be at all surprised to open the Guardian tomorrow (Sept. 30) and find out that Yannick Jean is completely done as coach of the Rocket. I feel that tonight's game might be the straw that broke the camel's back in terms of his demise on PEI.
I think the timing is perfect for Savard to make the move right now before we get too deep into the fall schedule. We have a week off before we play vs. Quebec at home (Oct. 5) then Halifax on the road (Oct. 6) before taking another week off before heading up to Quebec on a road trip (Gatineau, Shawinigan and Victoriaville).
One scenario has Savard with a week to work to find a coach and have him get ready to play, then a week following two weekend games to further work with the team before heading on a road trip to further get to know the team and establish a system.
Another scenario has Savard using the two weeks to search for a bench boss and having the new bench boss start his position up in Quebec with the pressure off. That situation would result in Savard and Micalif running the show for next weekend (we all know Savard would gladly step behind the bench in this situation).
Anyway, if we're going to have a coaching change, we should be talking about coaching candidates. The thing about PEI is that choices for qualified and available candidates are few and far between.
The closest person to the job would be the current assistant. I don't feel Micalif has near the necessary experience to date to run a Q team. He's been out of North American hockey too long and is not nearly familiar enough with the league to run a squad. Plus, I don't think an inexperienced coach is a good fit for a team that is looking to contend and make noise this year. An ideal situation for him would be for a team in rebuild mode (what we tried to do with Jean 3 years ago).
The most qualified candidate on PEI would be Kenny MacDougall in my opinion, but he as well has no experience working in major junior hockey other than a few appearances at Rocket training camp. Plus, I don't think he would be interested given that he has a job with lots of responsibililty (VP of a junior high school) and I doubt he'd want to give that up for a job so insecure as a coaching job in major junior.
I suppose Alan MacAdam would be a logical candidate. Personally I've never been a fan of MacAdam's coaching and Halifax fans will tell you they were successful in spite of what MacAdam did with their hockey team. But, in examining the situation in Halifax... he walked into a team that was veteran and should have been succeeding. They needed a wakeup call and he provided it and the team was successful under his reign. He's a tough guy to figure out as far as what he is thinking behind the bench (if anything!) but he has had success in the league. Plus he's fairly familiar with what we have here as he's spent a lot of time at the CCC scouting Gragnani for the Sabres.
Island candidates we've missed the boat on in the past include....
.... Mike Kelly - He's a guy with lots of experience in the OHL and WHL and I think would love to get into coaching closer to home. The fact that he's in pro hockey now would make it very unlikely he's even considered. However, I think he's still working as an assistant with the Manitoba Moose (correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think he took over when Vigneault moved to the NHL). Unless he sees moving from an assistant role to a head coach role as a promotion, he won't be availabe.
.... Gerard Gallant would've put folks in the seats and provided some intensity behind the bench and would've been a great fit if a change was made last spring when he was out of Columbus. But unfortuntely he's back in the NHL.
.... When I heard he was out of Columbus, I toyed in my mind with the idea of how great it would be if Doug MacLean bought into the team and got himself involved in the day to day workings of the club. Little did I know that he wasn't interested in buying into major junior. Rather, he had a big pile of money he was using towards buying an NHL squad. Guess it was a pipe dream on my part.
Of course, we're not limited to looking only at Islanders as coaching candidates.....
Mario Durocher is a well traveled coach in the Q who has had success and has experience with the National U20 program. Cape Breton is using him as an assistant and he's certainly a better coach that some of the head coaches in the league. If Pascal was going to use him as a head coach I'm sure he would've given him the job by now. He would be a great candidate should CB release him from his obligation.
When MacAdam was hired to coach the Mooseheads he replaced Shawn MacKenzie. MacKenzie hasn't been in the leauge since, but he did coach the Mooseheads for the majority of their first 10 years in the league and was part of a number of successes for the Herd. I've always thought he would be a great pickup for a head coaching job on PEI. The last coaching job I know he worked at was in the old CEHL with the Dartmouth team a couple of years ago. If he's available, I think he would be a great choice for behind our bench.
One resource we have to make use of is Savard Sr.'s connection with the old days Montreal Canadiens boys. From his tenure as Habs GM, Savard Sr. would have a multitude of connections to powerful hockey people in Quebec from years ago. A blast from the past who I think would be an interesting fit would be Jean Perron. Perron was coach of the Habs when Savard Sr. was GM. He has won a Stanley Cup and was in charge of the Habs in the late 80s. I don't think it would be out of the question to have him come to PEI, as he coaced at the Universite de Moncton before coaching in the NHL, so he has lived and worked in eastern Canada before. He's been out of coaching for a long, long time and has worked as a French language broadcaster. Still, coaching experience in the NHL and a Stanley Cup are impressive credentials and he has a connection to the Savard family.
One thing Savard Jr. has proven is that he is willing to go big with coaching if he is in the right situation. He hired Vigneault in Montreal when he wanted to make a big splash and kick start the team midseason. I'm sure bring in a former NHL coach of the year in Vigneault midseason made a pretty big splash on the team and on the league. Hopefully he'll be willing to take a similar path and a similar stance witht he veteran team we have to point them in the right direction.
Any more coaching names out there. If you asked me, choice #1 would be MacKenzie, with Perron being a close 2nd (2nd only because he is so unfamiliar with the league).
cb
Anyway.... after tonight's loss we are 2-5 and without a doubt severely underachieving. It can't be denied that our coaching situation has been under the microscope since the start of the season and we are at the point where posters from other cities are watching closely for what will be the resolve on PEI to this substandard start. We are in the midst of a coaching controversy that is to the point where the daily norm is rumblings of discontentment from local fans and speculation from away fans that Jean is on thin, thin ice.
I haven't watched every road game, but I have paid enough attention to forum posts and game wrap ups to be familiar with how things have progressed over the past couple of weeks. Of our 9 games, I can only really count 2 where we came out really playing. One was the season opener vs. Halifax where I felt we played well but suffered a couple of defensive meltdowns that made the difference. The other was game #1 vs. St. John's where we really poured the offense on them. I don't count the win vs. Lewiston as a strong effort (despite what the score said). I feel it was moreso a case of us taking care of the understaffed Maineiacs (who had a strong component of their roster at NHL camps). The rest of the time we have suffered from any combination of anemic offense, poor goaltending, defensive breakdowns (majorly) and undisciplined play.
I would not be at all surprised to open the Guardian tomorrow (Sept. 30) and find out that Yannick Jean is completely done as coach of the Rocket. I feel that tonight's game might be the straw that broke the camel's back in terms of his demise on PEI.
I think the timing is perfect for Savard to make the move right now before we get too deep into the fall schedule. We have a week off before we play vs. Quebec at home (Oct. 5) then Halifax on the road (Oct. 6) before taking another week off before heading up to Quebec on a road trip (Gatineau, Shawinigan and Victoriaville).
One scenario has Savard with a week to work to find a coach and have him get ready to play, then a week following two weekend games to further work with the team before heading on a road trip to further get to know the team and establish a system.
Another scenario has Savard using the two weeks to search for a bench boss and having the new bench boss start his position up in Quebec with the pressure off. That situation would result in Savard and Micalif running the show for next weekend (we all know Savard would gladly step behind the bench in this situation).
Anyway, if we're going to have a coaching change, we should be talking about coaching candidates. The thing about PEI is that choices for qualified and available candidates are few and far between.
The closest person to the job would be the current assistant. I don't feel Micalif has near the necessary experience to date to run a Q team. He's been out of North American hockey too long and is not nearly familiar enough with the league to run a squad. Plus, I don't think an inexperienced coach is a good fit for a team that is looking to contend and make noise this year. An ideal situation for him would be for a team in rebuild mode (what we tried to do with Jean 3 years ago).
The most qualified candidate on PEI would be Kenny MacDougall in my opinion, but he as well has no experience working in major junior hockey other than a few appearances at Rocket training camp. Plus, I don't think he would be interested given that he has a job with lots of responsibililty (VP of a junior high school) and I doubt he'd want to give that up for a job so insecure as a coaching job in major junior.
I suppose Alan MacAdam would be a logical candidate. Personally I've never been a fan of MacAdam's coaching and Halifax fans will tell you they were successful in spite of what MacAdam did with their hockey team. But, in examining the situation in Halifax... he walked into a team that was veteran and should have been succeeding. They needed a wakeup call and he provided it and the team was successful under his reign. He's a tough guy to figure out as far as what he is thinking behind the bench (if anything!) but he has had success in the league. Plus he's fairly familiar with what we have here as he's spent a lot of time at the CCC scouting Gragnani for the Sabres.
Island candidates we've missed the boat on in the past include....
.... Mike Kelly - He's a guy with lots of experience in the OHL and WHL and I think would love to get into coaching closer to home. The fact that he's in pro hockey now would make it very unlikely he's even considered. However, I think he's still working as an assistant with the Manitoba Moose (correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think he took over when Vigneault moved to the NHL). Unless he sees moving from an assistant role to a head coach role as a promotion, he won't be availabe.
.... Gerard Gallant would've put folks in the seats and provided some intensity behind the bench and would've been a great fit if a change was made last spring when he was out of Columbus. But unfortuntely he's back in the NHL.
.... When I heard he was out of Columbus, I toyed in my mind with the idea of how great it would be if Doug MacLean bought into the team and got himself involved in the day to day workings of the club. Little did I know that he wasn't interested in buying into major junior. Rather, he had a big pile of money he was using towards buying an NHL squad. Guess it was a pipe dream on my part.
Of course, we're not limited to looking only at Islanders as coaching candidates.....
Mario Durocher is a well traveled coach in the Q who has had success and has experience with the National U20 program. Cape Breton is using him as an assistant and he's certainly a better coach that some of the head coaches in the league. If Pascal was going to use him as a head coach I'm sure he would've given him the job by now. He would be a great candidate should CB release him from his obligation.
When MacAdam was hired to coach the Mooseheads he replaced Shawn MacKenzie. MacKenzie hasn't been in the leauge since, but he did coach the Mooseheads for the majority of their first 10 years in the league and was part of a number of successes for the Herd. I've always thought he would be a great pickup for a head coaching job on PEI. The last coaching job I know he worked at was in the old CEHL with the Dartmouth team a couple of years ago. If he's available, I think he would be a great choice for behind our bench.
One resource we have to make use of is Savard Sr.'s connection with the old days Montreal Canadiens boys. From his tenure as Habs GM, Savard Sr. would have a multitude of connections to powerful hockey people in Quebec from years ago. A blast from the past who I think would be an interesting fit would be Jean Perron. Perron was coach of the Habs when Savard Sr. was GM. He has won a Stanley Cup and was in charge of the Habs in the late 80s. I don't think it would be out of the question to have him come to PEI, as he coaced at the Universite de Moncton before coaching in the NHL, so he has lived and worked in eastern Canada before. He's been out of coaching for a long, long time and has worked as a French language broadcaster. Still, coaching experience in the NHL and a Stanley Cup are impressive credentials and he has a connection to the Savard family.
One thing Savard Jr. has proven is that he is willing to go big with coaching if he is in the right situation. He hired Vigneault in Montreal when he wanted to make a big splash and kick start the team midseason. I'm sure bring in a former NHL coach of the year in Vigneault midseason made a pretty big splash on the team and on the league. Hopefully he'll be willing to take a similar path and a similar stance witht he veteran team we have to point them in the right direction.
Any more coaching names out there. If you asked me, choice #1 would be MacKenzie, with Perron being a close 2nd (2nd only because he is so unfamiliar with the league).
cb
