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Originally Posted by Flames Fan, Ph.D.
Just a general question to the board: are there any european coaches that have moved to the NHL successfully? Off the top of my head, I can't name one.
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No. I believe Alpo Suhonen is still I think the only guy to even get the chance though, so it's not like we know how likely they would be to succeed. (There was never a chance Suhonen would have succeeded. He's just not a good coach.)
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I'm guessing the larger ice results in vastly different strategies, making it hard to just bring in a coach and his "system."
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I don't think that would be much of an issue. After all, Euro coaches have coached in international tournaments on NA sized ice without any noticable problems. I'm sure the good ones would transition just fine if they ever got the chance.
I can think of several others reasons why we don't see Euro coaches in the NHL.
- There are more than enough coaches in North America. There's no real need to go looking for them abroad. (In fact most top countries are pretty much self-sufficient when it comes to head coaches, Russia being the notable exception.)
- Because there are no succesful precedents, a European head coach would be seen as a risky hire. And we know a failed coaching hire can easily get a GM fired.
- Coaching jobs have a lot to do with who you're connected with. Very often a GM will go with a coach he already knows from somewhere. The European coaches don't have those connections, and their styles are less known. That makes them hard sells for NHL teams.
- Older Europeans often don't speak English so good.
Hockey however is more international than ever, and it seems like there's very little prejudice left towards Europeans anymore. My guess is we'll see some European born coaches within the next 20 years.