Coaching Carousel Creates Caustic Canadians Cantankerous Cacophony

It didn't take very long for the Ottawa Senators and the Minnesota Wild to find replacements to their underachieving former coaching staffs. But there is a few glaring things that the mainstream media isn't quite talking about (or find enough reason to bring up) is that these two coaches hired within days of one another are retreads from other NHL teams. And then there are the Montreal Canadians who sources tell me have fans that are quite tired of Michel Therrien's second tour of duty there. They demand a French-Canadian coach and two of them have just been gobbled up by other teams. And as a side note, Marc Crawford, who is assumed to, wants to get another kick at the can and getting an assistant job with the Senators.

Bruce Boudreau has come from successful teams with the Capitals and Ducks, however, both of those teams have underachieved mightily. He had plenty of success building teams in the ECHL and American Hockey League before getting the call up to Washington D.C. His system brought a new resurgence to the Capitals utilizing Ovechkin in more ways than one by making him more of a two-way player. But his welcome was worn out by mid-season of 2011. The Ducks were also in a state of disarray looking for some way to generate offense easier than the Randy Carlyle coaching style. But again, the same pattern emerged as Bruce's playoff impotence arose once again. I think the Minnesota Wild will have a new direction with Bruce, but once they get into playoff contention, are the Wild going to go home early in the playoffs too? They already have that now with the coaches they had. This is where the bigger complaint of more rehashing of coaches comes from in guys that never seem to win at the major league level. Will the Wild just use Bruce to get them into better shape and then promote someone else to take over from there? We'll keep an eye out on how this new hire in the Twin Lakes transpires.

Guy Boucher on the other hand is another familiar face. Besides being a stand-in for a 007 villain, Boucher has been in a few teams before getting fired and winding up coaching in Switzerland. He's another guy similar to Boudreau in that he's been successful in the American Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior League. He developed players for the Canadians in Hamilton, expecting to be called up eventually. But the Canadians went another way retreading Therrien and Boucher took the Tampa Bay Lightning job. He didn't last long in Tampa only fighting through some lean years and eventually getting fired in his third year of a four year contract. Again, I don't understand how Boucher could do better than what Ottawa had given that his past track record in the NHL isn't a great resume.

Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said they interviewed "just under 10" candidates to be their new coach.

The CBC article doesn't list the rest of the names they spoke to, but I wonder how many new names that could've gotten a chance to coach at the NHL level.

The "Rooney Rule" in the NFL is supposed to bring about changes in their coaching world exposing new candidates instead of rehashing familiar faces. It could very well work out for both Boudreau and Boucher in their respective teams, but once they get to a certain point, is it going to be another trip to the chopping block?

[Via:FOX Sports and CBC News]

Weighing in on the Columbus Blue Jackets Hiring of Tortorella

Courtesy: NHL.com

Yes, you see that right. John Tortorella is back in the NHL with a new team - the Columbus Blue Jackets. Often taken in critical remarks as a controversial hockey personality, "Torts" will certainly bring about some change in order to salvage the season. A miserable 0-7 start is already starting to erode the fan base that started to gather from the 12-0 finish last season and playoff appearance. This is what I think will most certainly be the key to turning the franchise around into something resembling an NHL franchise for the rest of the 75 games or-so remaining.

The Pros:

1. He's worked with Brandon Dubinsky before in New York. Certainly, he's at least found someone to work with and buy into his coaching system. And with that, he can start to kindle more leadership with Dubinsky and by extension more confidence in the rest of the players.
2. Saad, a newly acquired player, is used to the edgy coaching style as he'd seen in Chicago. His skills are comparable to some of the other greats that Torts has coached in the past. They need production from Saad to grow the team around his future potential.
3. As stated before, Coach Torts is a highly controversial personality with a history of colorful remarks during press conferences. This circus act can serve as a smoke screen, if Torts and the BJ's are up to it, the more the press focuses on Torts in the spotlight, the less lack-of-victories coverage gets talked about in the media.
4. Torts has an ability to build teams up and sometimes gets them to overachieve with gritty defensive style. He's taken two teams to the Cup finals and preparing a third. He works well with what he's given.