Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
People are overthinking this. The "Associate" tag is nothing more than a recognition of seniority. It is precisely the same as how these terms function in academics. A first-time university professor will almost always start his career as an "Assistant Professor." After several years of experience and on the basis of tenure and publication can attain the tag "Associate Professor." This is accompanied by an increase in pay, but almost no other meaningful changes in the actual job. Senior professors will over time have all the adjectives removed to become full "Professors"; again, with an increase in pay, but again, almost no actual change in their job description.
I don't think there is any difference at all when it comes to NHL coaches. An "Associate Coach" is one who has gained enough NHL experience to warrant the title and the higher salary, but effectively functions on the same level of Assistant Coaches. The reason not every NHL team has an Associate Coach is because not everyone on the bench has the necessary experience. The reason Associate Coaches are the ones most commonly to fill in for Head Coaches in their absence, or will be promoted to the Head Coach position in a more permanent change is because they are next in the heirarchy.
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When Darryl describes Muller's job, I feel as though he means to pass off a lot of the motivational and tactical chatting in game (ie, actually approaching and speaking with players in game about adjustments) to Muller and allow himself to focus on match-ups and game strategy.