Quote:
Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan
Brunette.
He's been an assistant for many years now and basically a head coach for a year. Learned the game under Coach Q and emulates a lot of his strategies. Has familiarity with some key Flames from his Panthers days and got the single best season out of Huberdeau he's ever had. Just make sure he has a strong defensive systems guy to help him out (i.e. Huska).
I like Love a lot as a second option, but IMO (it's just my opinion) he's a little green. He's only coached in junior for 3 seasons and 2 seasons pro in the AHL. He's an ideal guy to promote to an assistant under Brunette and have him take over if Brunette can't get the job done. In short, he's a very good guy to groom long term, but he needs seasoning.
Basically my ideal staff would be
HC: Andrew Brunette
AC: Ryan Huska, Mitch Love
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That makes sense to me. I like the long term prospects of Love, but I also wouldn’t want him thrown to the wolves and become a scapegoat. I am not saying he would be a pushover, but dealing with NHL player egos is probably a lot different than junior and AHL player egos. Bringing him in as an NHL assistant seems like a natural progression for Love and is likely a more stable route for career success. Either way, with a lot of Wranglers looking to make the step and the report he has with them, I think he would be a valuable member of the Flames coaching team.
I am not against Brunette. They talked about him on After Burner and both Rhett and Boomer said that players they have talked to who played with him and for him, all have great things to say about him. He also seems like the kind of ex-player that makes for being a great coach. He didn’t get by on skill when he was a player, but by being smart, having a high HQ, and working hard. I do have to wonder if Q was still responsible for the success when he took over in Florida though. He didn’t have a lot of time to put his own stamp on the team and they seemed to just carry on the same way. Only one way to find out I guess.