NHL Guilty of Recycling Coaches

If you wonder why NHL Hockey is not popular in the United States or lack a meaningful television contract with a major “national” network who is a game changer like ESPN, no offense to NBC who are more known for reality shows then carrying sports leagues once a week, you can blame the NHL decision makers.

C’mon, can somebody explain to me how showing one NHL game a week after February on NBC will have an impact in the United States? Why aren’t there younger people involved in the sports broadcast on game day? Why is it we always need the over 50 guy in the booth to bore the younger generation?

If you look at everything in life, evolution tells us everything and everybody needs change every 7 years in life. It could be a lateral move or a next step move. In fact, I have a thing called the “7 year cycle”. For example; if you look at your friendship circle, how many people are still in your circle after 7 years? If they are still in your circle, they are friends, if they aren’t they were just acquaintances that made a pit stop in your life.

The NHL needs a new voice and a new direction, because all they do is recycle their staff to one team to another. If you look up the term “boys club” in the dictionary, don’t be surprised if you see the picture of 32 General Managers on the same page!

Here’s what’s got my shorts in a knot for writing this article. Why on earth would New Jersey Devils General Manager Lou Lamorrello hire an ex-Devils Coach Jacques Lemaire back behind their bench? The New York area market is one of the most important markets in the NHL and to bring a coach who is at the end of his career at the age of 63 and stresses discipline hockey which some people call boring, makes no sense. Same thing in Edmonton, why on earth would you bring in a guy like Pat Quinn at the age of 65, has been out of the Pro game a few years and you have many younger coaches in the junior ranks doing their time. It makes no sense.

Same thing in Montreal, why would you bring in another recycled coach in Jacques Martin who has never won anything as a coach and make him the head coach of the New York Yankees of hockey?

Teams like the Ottawa Senators, Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers are doing the right thing, they are bringing up the younger coaches who can relate to today’s athletes and they don’t cost as much too! Let’s face it, the coach is not hired to sell tickets or be on page 1 of the sports section each day, leave that to your Ovechkins and Crosby’s.

If you look at the coaches list below, besides Lindy Ruff and Barry Trotz, every other coach has been with their clubs 4 years or less and when they get fired, they are hired as a marketing move to their new teams. Teams are scared to hire that “unknown” guy, for some reason, they feel they need to bring in a “name” to coach their teams and this is what’s really driving the “sports economy”skyward, when you have to bring in a name because you think it’s what the fans want. Bring in the new young guy, this way, its low risk and high rewards should they start winning!

As soon as NHL executives stop giving out jobs to friends, then they will start moving vertical instead of horizontal. Get with the times; go green as they say in the environmental business.

Current List of NHL Hockey Coaches

• Anaheim Ducks: Randy Carlyle
• Atlanta Thrashers: John Anderson
• Boston Bruins: Claude Julien
• Buffalo Sabres: Lindy Ruff
• Calgary Flames: Brent Sutter
• Carolina Hurricanes: Paul Maurice
• Chicago Blackhawks: Joel Quenneville
• Colorado Avalanche: Joe Sacco
• Columbus Blue Jackets: Ken Hitchcock
• Dallas Stars: Marc Crawford
• Detroit Red Wings: Mike Babcock
• Edmonton Oilers: Pat Quinn
• Florida Panthers: Peter DeBoer
• Los Angeles Kings: Terry Murray
• Minnesota Wild: Todd Richards
• Montreal Canadiens: Jacques Martin
• Nashville Predators: Barry Trotz
• New Jersey Devils: Jacques Lemaire
• New York Islanders: Scott Gordon
• New York Rangers: John Tortorella
• Ottawa Senators: Cory Clouston
• Philadelphia Flyers: John Stevens
• Phoenix Coyotes: Wayne Gretzky
• Pittsburgh Penguins: Dan Bylsma
• San Jose Sharks: Todd McLellan
• St Louis Blue: Andy Murray
• Tampa Bay Lightning: Rick Tocchet
• Toronto Maple Leafs: Ron Wilson
• Vancouver Canucks: Alain Vigneault
• Washington Capitals: Bruce Boudreau