[News Roundup] Flames head coach search. Friedman: Huska is the leading contender

[DazzlinDino]

Giving Love an opportunity would be a good move,. He can relate to youth already in the organization. They have proven they will go to the wall for him. Philips would likely stay, and it would give the organization time to assess. .Give him 2 years and reevaluate, and if a more experienced coach is needed make the move, if not and Love is building something then re sign him for another 2 years. This should fit in nicely with any short or long term goals. I would trade Kadri and keep Lindholm if possible.

[dissentowner]

I keep hearing this talk on here that if Love is not given the HC job he is gone? Gone where? There is one possible spot where he has a remote chance of ending up HC and that is Anaheim. Every other opening already has stronger candidates linked to them. I think from listening to Love himself he would love to be an NHL head coach someday but not yet. Make him the associate coach.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Love could be brought in as an Associate Coach to an older coach like Gallant, Boudreau, or Quenneville with the clear expectation that he is being groomed into the role as Head Coach.

I don’t think he’d be overly interested in being an assistant to a first time coach though.

[mrdonkey]

The Flames are still very much a 'mushy middle' roster, with too many unmoveable contracts and no impact players under 25 coming to help (thanks, Tre). Promoting Love to an associate position under a lame duck veteran coach for a couple of years, with the intention to promote him to HC once he's got some NHL cred, wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. This team is going nowhere under any coaching regime until some of the current chaff is (hopefully) leveraged to re-stock the cupboards anyway.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by ben voyonsdonc

Love could be brought in as an Associate Coach to an older coach like Gallant, Boudreau, or Quenneville with the clear expectation that he is being groomed into the role as Head Coach.

I don’t think he’d be overly interested in being an assistant to a first time coach though.

Why would anyone agree to that type of arrangement in the NHL.

Come coach for 2 years and the guy assisting you will take over.

[mrdonkey]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Why would anyone agree to that type of arrangement in the NHL.

Come coach for 2 years and the guy assisting you will take over.

There are some really desperate coaches out there who will take a 2 year contract just to be working and have a HC title. Not anyone you hire with the expectation to go deep, mind you, but that has never been a concern for this team. Until Sutter it was SOP for the Flames to employ these disposable nobody types.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Why would anyone agree to that type of arrangement in the NHL.

Come coach for 2 years and the guy assisting you will take over.

It's happened in the past.

Hitchcock did it in St. Louis when they made Yeo an associate. I am pretty sure that was Sutter's plan when he hired Playfair as an associate.

I usually think when a team hires an associate head coach, the plan is to eventually turn it over to them, whether it does come to fruition is different of course.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Why would anyone agree to that type of arrangement in the NHL.

Come coach for 2 years and the guy assisting you will take over.

Often, that's the promise made to the younger guy to get him to come on as an assistant/associate coach. The older coach may or may not even know about it.

Also, an older coach may be looking at his age and thinking he's not ready to retire quite yet, but maybe in another couple of years he will be, so he can make that transition. In a perfect world, I suspect that was Darryl's plan in coming back to Calgary.

Another factor is everyone know the reality of the profession and the fact that coaching 250 games for a single team is a rarity. Regardless of what the plans are on Day One, they will likely be quite different 3 years later.

[ben voyonsdonc]

To be honest, my preference is to go straight to Love as HC but Bruce Boudreau might be a good fit to mentor Love for a year or two. Boudreau would be 70 after two years and I’m sure he’d be ready to move on.

Would ownership pay both Boudreau and Sutter though?

[sureLoss]

Latest from Friedman on coach search HNIC:

Rangers:
A lot of people are starting to lean towards Laviolette and if it is him they will announce this week.

Nashville:
Preds have looked elsewhere and would like to give Hynes clarity on where he stands soon.

Calgary:
Flames began to reach out to candidates (did reach out to Laviolette)
Search really begins now.
Are going to give legit shoots to 3 internal Candidaates:: Huska, Love, Muller
Also going to external
Heard there is a lot of names on Calgary's list.
A lot of players Calgary is looking to extend is obviously going to wait until the coach is hired


Washington:
A lot of focus on Spencer Carbery.
Think Carbery has talked to 4 teams.

Columbus:
Friedman thought they would be first team to hire a coach
Friedman believes BJs may have reached out to Patrick Roy

[FlamesAddiction]

The Caps are apparently interviewing Jeff Halpern as well.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

This is news to me. What didn't they like about Badger?

He just rubbed them the wrong way, especially when they wanted to have fun. You won’t find too many quotes about it though. They didn’t ever comment publicly when he was coaching and then after he died they had nothing but great things to say about him of course.

Peplinski once said: “Bob brought a lot of innovation and a lot of change to the organization. And that wasn’t easy, especially for the older guys”.

Lanny didn’t like that Johnson would always put him in the box for bench minors.

[Moneyhands23]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Latest from Friedman on coach search HNIC:

Rangers:
A lot of people are starting to lean towards Laviolette and if it is him they will announce this week.

Nashville:
Preds have looked elsewhere and would like to give Hynes clarity on where he stands soon.

Calgary:
Flames began to reach out to candidates (did reach out to Laviolette)
Search really begins now.
Are going to give legit shoots to 3 internal Candidaates:: Huska, Love, Muller
Also going to external
Heard there is a lot of names on Calgary's list.
A lot of players Calgary is looking to extend is obviously going to wait until the coach is hired


Washington:
A lot of focus on Spencer Carbery.
Think Carbery has talked to 4 teams.

Columbus:
Friedman thought they would be first team to hire a coach
Friedman believes BJs may have reached out to Patrick Roy

So weird seeing Carbery out there as a NHL coach. He is a couple years younger then me but we went to school together. His brother and I hung out for a few years. Spencer was the little brother always trying to hang around.

Good for him!!

[Paulie Walnuts]

I get people are uncomfortable with a young first time coach who doesn't have a long head coaching history but I don't know hiring a mentor with the understanding maybe not with him but the management's and associate coach he will be fired doesn't sit right.

Especially with desperate coaches who would take any job. I like Bruce but he seems like the type who would take a job in Arizona just to stay coaching.

I'd rather have a coach who is selective a bit and pushes back instead of I'm coming pay me anything.

Conroy also said he wants to hire a coach he can grow with. I get the coaching cycle is short but I'd rather look to hire the the net Cooper, Bednar, Trotz type who have longevity.

[FormerPresJamesTaylor]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I keep hearing this talk on here that if Love is not given the HC job he is gone? Gone where? There is one possible spot where he has a remote chance of ending up HC and that is Anaheim. Every other opening already has stronger candidates linked to them. I think from listening to Love himself he would love to be an NHL head coach someday but not yet. Make him the associate coach.

Doubt they mean immediately, just that if the Flames go with another hire it'll be al least another 2-3 years before we have an opening here and for a guy that has some shine on him it could mean he'll find an opportunity.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by FormerPresJamesTaylor

Doubt they mean immediately, just that if the Flames go with another hire it'll be al least another 2-3 years before we have an opening here and for a guy that has some shine on him it could mean he'll find an opportunity.

If I am Mitch Love I definitely don't want the HC job of this current team. The pressure will be huge with the mandate to win now with a veteran team, if he gets the job and it goes South that is a good way to sewer a very promising young coaching career. If he takes associate coach and it goes South then the team has to face a rebuild and that is the perfect scenario for a young coach like him to pilot. Could someone else poach him? Sure, but he would go anyhow if it is a young upcoming roster. Like if he gets offered head coach of the Flames or head coach of the Ducks that seems like an absolute no brainer to move on to Anaheim.

[FormerPresJamesTaylor]

Gonna go out on a limb and suggest the average salary of an NHL head coach is significantly more than the AHL. So, there's that.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

The Caps are apparently interviewing Jeff Halpern as well.

The caps are interviewing Jim Halpert?

[getbak]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

The caps are interviewing Jim Halpert?

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by FormerPresJamesTaylor

Gonna go out on a limb and suggest the average salary of an NHL head coach is significantly more than the AHL. So, there's that.

I am sure an associate coach is as well. I am just saying if he is thinking big picture do you really want to hedge your entire head coaching future on a veteran laden roster that severely underperformed? Do the Flames put their hopes in a guy that has no NHL HC or assistant experience, 2 years of CHL HC experience, and two years of AHL HC when the pressure to turn things around will be super high and under a microscope? That is a risky bet for both Conroy who just got his job to make as well as Love who if the team doesn't succeed would be killing his own career. I just think the smart move for both parties here is a promotion to associate coach.