Coaches, Coaches, Coaches...

You know, I started this blog because I dislike being involved in conversations on message boards that require some kind of support. The reason for this is that few people actually lend that kind of support. Instead they make short statements that may or may not be intended to be assertions of fact. This bothers me on the same level as mosquitos buzzing in my ear. Ultimately, not such a big deal, but at the time that can be very frustrating. Such was a discussion I have been embroiled in for a good part of today. 

This discussion was about candidates for the open coaching job on the Island. The reason why this conversation was frustrating was because, first, I misread a posters post and came back with an answer which became asinine because I was just giving the other poster fodder to make me seem dumb. The second reason why it bothered me is because, like so many times before, the poster chose to pick at only one aspect of my original post. Actually, had he/she chosen to respond to everything I said he would have realized that his rebuttal made little sense. 

I have been meaning to jump on this for a while. But instead I've actually been avoiding it. The reason why is because it seemed to be an uninteresting subject. There are nine or so candidates for the coaching job and they will be interview, it appears, at a pace of about two or three per week. That means that the Isles will have a new coach sometime around the middle or end of August, or maybe even the beginning of September. Thus, the subject was uninteresting because there will be a bunch of speculation as the papers report the new interviews, but nothing dispositive for at least a month. Now, however, I am frustrated and I am going to do a little review of the big three coaching candidates.  And yes, I am probably going to twist this a little in favor of the coach I see as being best for the team. 

Let's go in the order of their interviews shall we? That means, Maurice, Heartly, and Tortorella.

Paul Maurice:

So, unbeknownst to me, Paul Maurice has been in this game much longer than many coaches his age have been. He started coaching in juniors when he was around 26 years of age. That is pretty impressive. Had he not suffered an eye injury he would have kept playing through juniors and beyond. Undaunted though, he led the Detroit Jr. Red Wings to an OHL championship and a record of 86-38-8 over two seasons. After that he moved on to the head spot on the Whalers and, of course, the Hurricanes.While coaching the Whalers and Canes he managed to achieve several winning seasons which included a trip to the Cup finals in 2002. He coached the Hurricanes until 2004 and was fired after two seasons of not making the playoffs. In 2005, Maurice took over as the head coach of the Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leafs farm team. The next year he took over as the head coach of the Leafs. Now, two years later, Maurice was unceremoniously dismissed as coach of the Leafs after not making the playoffs over two seasons. 

Maurice has several strong points. First and foremost, Maurice is packing a wealth of knowledge. He has been doing this for 13 years and has coached at every level of hockey. He knows what he is doing, though, that's a given. He achieved a good deal of success with the Whalers/Hurricanes organization. Because he was there for 8 years he had to have been involved in the development of several players into quality NHLers. Also, he did this while coaching a Whalers team that saw just about as much success as the Islanders teams of the mid-90's. So, to sum that up, Maurice did exactly what the Islanders will be hoping he can do for the team. The big problem is that he was expected to do the same thing for the Leafs. On top of that, he was expected to do this with the very players he had been coaching in the minors the year before. If there weren't a few chances to develop some kids there I don't know what they were. Lastly, Maurice took four seasons to turn the Whalers into a winning team. That is just too long really. Also, over that whole time Maurice has developed a reputation as both a patient teacher, and a bit of a cream puff. For a team with a lot of youth that is probably disadvantageous. 

Bob Hartley and John Tortorella to come...