hunter had never served as head coach in the ahl, let alone the nhl. Which is fine, if you like your commercial airline pilots to have heard the word “plane†before but have only a vague familiarity with the principles of flight. Why, if not for pure, high-octane fan service, did the capitals choose such an obviously ill-qualified candidate to take over a team that was, by any logical estimation, a mere hop, skip, and a jump away from hoisting the stanley cup?
The answer, like all things comedic, is timing.
See, as my fearless leader over on sb nation’s japers’ rink notes, the middle of the season is rarely the most opportune time to go looking for a new head coach.
Had the capitals had the chutzpah to pull the plug on the boudreau era during the offseason, before limping like a drunken giraffe through a full quarter of the schedule, they had several nhl coaching options that, you know, had ever done it before even one single solitary time.
The coaches available during the 2011-2012 offseason included: Ken hitchcock (currently head coach of the dallas stars), marc crawford (currently associate coach of the ottawa senators), bob hartley (who signed on as head coach of the calgary flames that season instead), and craig mactavish (currently v.p. Of hockey operations for the resurgent edmonton oilers).
Instead of choosing one of these known, proven values during the offseason, the capitals waited until everyone else had a dance partner, then fired their prom date. With no better options left, washington hired guy-with-lots-of-fan-patience-built-in dale hunter, one of just four players who have had their number retired by the capitals.
