A lot of Rangers fans seemed rather relieved that he got fired. So it got me interested in reading articles on AV and seeing why he was let go even though he had winning records with two different teams and brought them to the playoffs several times and Stanley Cup Finals. Every year I was shocked with how NY would be able to make it to the playoffs with their roster talent (maybe it's me not watching them play/western bias).
Anyways, it appears that he had been let go for teams starting to go into rebuild mode (even when Van didn't want to admit it). Fans started wanting to see their young players starting to play instead of seeing the old players even though it may not translate to more success (see articles about developing players below). Seeing how Tortorella came into Vancouver after AV and also sputtered (36-35-0-11) also shows that AV was working with a weak/not deep team. That Vancouver team has gone on a tailspin since AV left.
A knock on AV's teams was that he was unable to generate secondary scoring. Which also plagues this Flames team. It's interesting to see that they really only had a few high-impact scorers on those teams (Sedins, Kesler, Nash, Richards) and his secondary scorers had to be his primary scorers (Burrows, Samuelsson, Raymond, Zuccarello, Stepan, Brassard, Kreider, Hayes, Miller). I do think that this Flames team has better talent in their secondary scoring than those Vancouver and NYR teams, but there is some bias in that statement.
The defense on both teams (Van/NYR) were quite mediocre with very few high-impact Defenseman. He had Erhoff, Edler, Hamhuis, Bieksa, 35 year old Sami Salo and Ballard in Vancouver and McDonagh, Girardi, Holden, Moore, Marc Staal, Stralman, Skjei, Shattenkirk (46 games), Klein, and 39-year old Dan Boyle in NY. No real game-breaking defenseman besides perhaps Shattenkirk and McDonagh.
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/...ault-1.1326120
http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/c...276/story.html
Another note from reading other fans is that he rode on hot goaltenders like Lundqvist and Luongo/Schneider. Which is something to consider when looking at a coach. However, is it a coach/team defense that can get the most out of his goalies or do the goalies bail out the coaches? Chicken and egg kind of situation. Maybe a bit of both, as looking at the goaltenders that AV has been able to develop with the teams he was with. Most notably Luongo/Schneider and Lundqvist/Raanta/Talbot. I believe that Smith in net is similar level (maybe a bit less) than Luongo/Schneider and Lundqvist.
Rangers fans seem to dislike the deployment of Buchnevich this season, but he has had a great rookie season with 43points in 74 games. Where Zuccarello has had 53 points in 80GP as NYR's top scorer. A lot of articles of why he was fired in Vancouver was that he couldn't "develop" players. It's understandable that he couldn't develop players like the ones in the quote below. Simply put that they are no good.
http://vancouversun.com/news/communi...ed-to-be-fired
http://www.vancourier.com/rangers-fi...ffs-1.23259551
All in all, I think that AV would be a great coach for this team because he says he tries to maximize the roster talent. It sounds a little different than what Gulutzen is putting forward as he is implementing a system (50/50 hockey) regardless of personnel strengths (Brodie only on the left side, Brouwer being RH shot = must need a RH shot on the PP, etc.). I think AV would do wonders to really maximize this flames rosters talents and being able to push to be in a playoff spot. How he was able to be a playoff coach almost every year with the weak rosters (besides his goalies and few prolific goalscorers) he had is a testament to how he is a great coach in my opinion.