OTT No. 9, Part Two: Those Who Can't...Well, Can't in the NHL

See, told ya I’d get another one up! So this is Part Two of "On the Take No. 9," which is mostly about gaining respect. Tonight, I thought I’d give you my take on the coaching situation in the NHL.

Let’s start with the uncalled for firings at the start of the season. I don’t say that because either coach was doing particularly well, I say uncalled for because of the way, the timeliness of the thing.

Denis Savard. He’s a Blackhawk icon. And he led the Hawks to within three points of the playoffs last year. Everyone in Chicago seemed to expect too much of him this season. I thought, "Well, he should do well again with the players he has, and it’s not like the Chicago brass would change coaches in the first week, right?"

Wrong, in this case. Four games in, the Hawks weren’t 4-0, and I guess that’s why management decided to, without warning, fire their Head coach. Why else would you let your coach do his thing in preseason, training camp...then fire him so early?

For a team that plays in the United Center, something about that name didn't apply here. Seeing Patrick Kane crying told me that something very wrong had happened.

And I still believe so. Listen, if the Chicago Blackhawks management wanted to change coaches, why wait until the season had begun to do so? Why let the players and coaches get used to each other again only to come between them and change the dynamic completely?

It’s true that since Joel Quenneville, a man who led the St. Louis Blues to the President’s Trophy at the beginning of the decade, was put in the position, the team has done very well. But, the fact remains, Savard wasn’t given a fair chance, which was the wrong thing to do in this situation.

A team needs to stay a team through the hard times, or else who’s to say there aren’t more people the club is willing to let go? It would’ve been better to just have the coaching change announced before the season began instead of putting the players, and Savard, whom I must repeat is a legend in the organization, through that kind of roller coaster at the start of a make-or-break year.

Next, Tampa canning Barry Melrose 16 games in. OK, we saw this coming. I mean, the Lightning being bad. Sorry, I did; maybe the league didn’t. Melrose suffered through a start that saw his team lose consistently, often by more than a goal.

A change was made and Tampa seems to be responding slowly to the new guy, former hard-nosed player Rick Tocchet. But, again, to hire a coach who hasn’t done so in over a decade and then blow up his tenure so prematurely? It shows bad judgement.

You honestly thought he would take Tampa to the top simply because they had Stamkos and he had coached Wayne Gretzky at one point? That was in the past, and Stamkos proved early on he wasn’t ready and, in my opinion, should be back in Sarnia. But, see, this is why I’m not a GM of a hockey team. Yet. And I’m not talking about the NHL.

Time will tell if the changes will be smart or stupid, but in the long run, they will be changes remembered by some as needed, and by others, including yours truly, as a case of the management jumping the gun in desperation.

Finally, before I go, I’d like to congratulate Paul Maurice on his return to the Head coaching position with the Carolina Hurricanes. He’s 0-1-1 after taking over for Peter Laviolette (the man who delivered a Stanley Cup in 2006), but he is also the franchise’s face behind the bench. For eight years, including days in Hartford before the move to Raleigh, Maurice reigned, and the team had its good and bad years.

But he knew how to win, and led them to a shocking East Conference title in 2002 and a Game One win in the Stanley Cup Final versus the Red Wings. They didn’t win it all that year, but you gotta believe he earned some respect from the Carolina fans in his first stop. Now, after a short adjusting process, get ready for Part Two.

And with that, I end mine.

Till next time,

This is your Crowd Coach signing off.