Vancouver Canucks

Willie Desjardins' 3-year run not atypical in swirling NHL coaching ranks
April 12, 2017, 11:56 AM ET [101 Comments]
Carol Schram
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The NHL's coaching carousel continues to spin at breakneck speeds.

Today, we're focused on hirings. The New York Islanders have confirmed that Doug Weight is going to stay on behind their bench, and word has leaked that the Dallas Stars are going the Montreal Canadiens route and bringing back a familiar face. In their case, that's Ken Hitchcock, who was in Dallas from 1995-96 to 2001-02 and brought the team a Stanley Cup in 1998-99.

I wonder if the organization still has any interest in bringing in Willie Desjardins? His name had been linked quite frequently to the Dallas opening.

Speaking of Willie—apparently Willie will speak. Tomorrow.




I had thought that one of the reasons for the Canucks' swift move to oust Desjardins at the end of the regular season was to try to avoid yet another P.R. challenge, like the one that John Tortorella created when he announced that the "core was stale" before he was let go at the end of the 2013-14 season.

I wasn't the only one to notice that Willie seemed to get a lot more honest—and quotable—after the trade deadline.




Thanks to all those "real goods" and "plays hards," I tuned out much of what Willie had to say during his tenure here. I think his approach with the media was part of his strategy to protect his players and keep the drama from seeping outside the locker room, but it sure was dull—especially coming on the heels of a firecracker like Torts.

I'm curious to see what Willie has to say now that he's out of the shackles. With one year left on his contract, he may still be bound within certain limitations if he wants to collect that money. Still, I feel like we might get some after-the-fact insight that we can dissect as the organization tries to put together its plan for next season.

A couple of other general notes about the current state of NHL coaching:

I think this will blow your mind—at the time of his firing on Monday, Willie had moved up to ninth on the list of the NHL's longest-tenured coaches. He was the last coach hired during the summer of 2014 that was still employed till the end of this season. That was the same summer that Bill Peters went to Carolina, Barry Trotz went to Washington and Peter Laviolette went to Nashville—so those three, and Willie, have all coached 246 games over thee seasons.

The only coaches with more games with their current teams:

• Joel Quenneville in Chicago (2008, 700 games)
• Dave Tippett in Phoenix/Arizona (2009, 376 games with PHX, 246 with ARI)
• Jon Cooper in Tampa Bay (2013, 344 games)
• Alain Vigneault with New York Rangers (2013, 328 games)
• Paul Maurice in Winnipeg (2014, 281 games)

We have often talked about the NHL being a copycat league. Last year, we saw Mike Sullivan take the Pittsburgh Penguins to a Stanley Cup after stepping in at mid-season. This year, three teams decided to emulate that path—and St. Louis, Boston and Montreal all finished strong and made the playoffs. So far, mission accomplished.

At the end of the 2015-16 season, five coaching vacancies opened up. Jared Bednar was at a disadvantage in Colorado right from the start, a last-minute hire after Patrick Roy's late-summer announcement that he wasn't returning to the Avalanche. The other four new arrivals are all in playoff position and brought home better records for their teams. Now, the question is whether Randy Carlyle in Anaheim, Bruce Boudreau in Minnesota, Glen Gulutzan in Calgary or Guy Boucher in Ottawa can translate those improved regular seasons into playoff wins?

That brings me to my bracket.

In mid-March, I made some Bold Predictions for the rest of the NHL season for Bleacher Report. You can click here to check out the article.

I was wrong about the Lightning making the playoffs at the expense of the Leafs, and about Brad Marchand winning the Rocket Richard Trophy. My Patrik Laine-for-Calder case is pretty weak, too, with the way Auston Matthews finished the season.

But I still like Karlsson-for-Norris. And I nailed the firings of Dean Lombardi and Darryl Sutter.

As for the playoffs, with Columbus facing Pittsburgh, I've now backed off my declaration that the Blue Jackets would win their first-ever playoff series. Despite some late-season adversity, I'll stick with the Sharks as our next Stanley Cup champs. Yeah, the Sharks went 0-3 against the Oilers this season; I remain eternally hopeful that the Canucks will luck into an extra first-round draft choice.

Thus, my first-round picks:

Chicago over Nashville in 7
St. Louis over Minnesota in 6
Anaheim over Calgary in 5
San Jose over Edmonton in 7

Montreal over NY Rangers in 6
Ottawa over Boston in 5
Washington over Toronto in 5
Pittsburgh over Columbus in 7

You can see my full bracket here.

It's no accident that I'm rooting for Alex Burrows and Jannik Hansen on their new teams. They're both in action tonight, as Round 1 begins.

The Utica Comets also have a big game on tap tonight, against Syracuse. Now in the final week of their regular season, Travis Green's team has fallen three points behind St. John's for the final playoff spot in the AHL's North Division, but still holds one game in hand.

Some player additions for the Comets over the last few days:













No Brendan Gaunce for the Comets.




Can we encase all the returning players in bubble wrap for the summer? The way things are going, I'm fulling expecting that these bad health updates will keep rolling in throughout the offseason.