I was/am a big Darryl fan so I guess this decision is underwhelming from my perspective. You go from a 2 time Stanley cup champion to an unknown rookie who isn’t necessarily a “hot commodity” outside of this market (yes, I realize he interviewed in Chicago but was unsuccessful).
No sense in complaining now and I’m going to support the decision as I’m a fan of the team but a few points leave me feeling negative about the hire.
1) Huberdeau - the biggest complaint last year was that Darryl implemented a system that impeded Huberdeau’s offensive creativity. Why then hire a guy with a defence first approach if the goal was to appease his style of play? Sure they can hire assistants with a more offensive approach but ultimately the head coach has the final say
2) Internal Reward - personally I feel like nobody on the coaching staff should have survived the offseason after the disastrous campaign we just witnessed. I get that Conroy was rewarded internally and paid his dues but I don’t get why a guy like Huska deserves a promotion. The team was awful last year and in years prior they didn’t accomplish much of anything. The stellar campaign we had with Johnny and Tkachuk I would attribute to Darryl more than anything else. He got that team firing and I believe he was the sole reason as Huska had been around prior to that campaign and saw limited success.
Commodity - outside of the local media on the fan I haven’t really seen any other teams showing a ton of interest in wanting to have this guy. He’s never been touted as the next one outside of this market and speaks volumes when assessing talent. Maybe they see something we don’t but concerning.
Just a few thoughts I had that don’t sit well with me. But I guess it is what it is at this point and I fully acknowledge I have limited information to make a truly informed decision on him. I’ll buy in and give him a fair shot but still disappointing to go from a hall of fame coach to someone with a weak resume.
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