Confirmed with Link: Andrew Brunette hired as Associate Coach (3 Year Deal) Weekesy Confirmed

Captain3rdLine

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I love this and you gotta think he’ll be in line to take over from Lindy next offseason. Probabky even if we make the playoffs. That’s what this addition screams to me and I don’t think he would take it if he wasn’t expecting to be the head coach pretty soon.

Lindy’s probably looking at retirement soon but him and Fitz seem to get along so I could see him still involved in some capacity.
 

Bleedred

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Before/after on when he becomes the head coach?

December 2022
 

Mogo

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FLA had PP problems in that playoff series they played, he even blamed himself on that. If so, hope that was a one-off.

Overall ttis is solid move. Wonder who else NJ will bring in to complement.

Just 1 for 27 in playoffs PP. He'll be a solid as coach. Just dont let him near the head coach. It'll be a deer in the headlights experience. He rode Q's system during the season. When changes were needed to playing style he did nothing. Just ran it to the ground like the PP

This is just a Panthers fan side of view from last season. There are a lot fans that loved him too even when he was lost
 

ZachaFlockaFlame

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Just 1 for 27 in playoffs PP. He'll be a solid as coach. Just dont let him near the head coach. It'll be a deer in the headlights experience. He rode Q's system during the season. When changes were needed to playing style he did nothing. Just ran it to the ground like the PP

This is just a Panthers fan side of view from last season. There are a lot fans that loved him too even when he was lost

Any insight on what wrong with Florida's powerplay? Do you think it was more coaching or the players getting into their own head? There was so much talent on that team that I don't know what the answer was, maybe a little bit of both.
 

Mogo

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Any insight on what wrong with Florida's powerplay? Do you think it was more coaching or the players getting into their own head? There was so much talent on that team that I don't know what the answer was, maybe a little bit of both.

In the playoffs it was Brunette. He even blamed himself. He just kept running the same formation out there time after time. Personally I also think Giroux messed up our PP somewhat. Too many passers. The fact your already 0 for 10 even you would think you blow up the PP not keep doing the same thing for 27 times.

One thing I also noticed unrelated to PP Brunette never used timeouts during season or playoffs. He also kept Knight in net when he had given up 7 goals already
 

Capt Nico Poo

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I am not too worried about the PP. Brunette screwed royally on it in the playoffs and knows it. I am expecting him to look into the mirror and really work hard to develop that area. Often after failure comes great success. Id be more concerned if he had been super successful with the Panther guys (who are a lot more talented and developed than our PP1) and tried to apply whatever worked in Florida in NJ. Recipe for disaster. So I am very optimistic about AB, like the signing.
 

Bleedred

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Still cannot believe Florida let him go. Absolutely insane.

I guess you didn't watch playoffs.
I can believe he was fired, just because I suggested it being possible, particularly if they lost in the first round, which they did not.

I'm not saying he deserved to be fired, but I thought that they were leaning towards a veteran coach with experience. In fact, the day he was named interim head coach Kevin Weekes tweeted out that they were interested in Tortorella and it looks like he would be heading there. We never heard anything about it again after that.

Instead they opted to hire Paul Maurice a few weeks after they were eliminated. That was their hire and I thought it was a bit questionable.
 

Bleedred

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You can't tell me when Fitz hired him there wasn't a couple winks about taking over the head coaching job as soon as just months into this season.

I think if he wasn't taking a head coaching job, and let's be serious, there were only about 2 jobs open by the time he was let go and the Sharks weren't even open yet at the time he was let go because they didn't fire Boughner for another couple weeks after that? So if he wasn't gonna get a head coaching job right now, it's completely obvious that he wanted to be in a place where the current head coach wasn't in such strong standing. That's for sure.

He wasn't taking a job to be someone like Gerard Gallant's assistant or Torts. Some guy that was either just hired to be head coach or is in firm standing and nowhere near the hot seat.

Dreger reported Vancouver, Winnipeg and Philly among the other teams. Vancouver makes a little sense, only because Boudreau is only signed for this season (I think?) and he's 67. Winnipeg makes sense because the Bowness thing seems to just be a 1 year thing, maybe 2 years max if they have a good season. He's also 67. In fact, they hired Scott Arniel to be his associate, who many feel will be the successor to Bowness within a year or two.

Philly would have made no sense at all. He'd be waiting 2-3 years there. At least parts of 2 seasons. Torts probably gets ALL of this year and at least a lot of next. Even if the year goes as bad as the year he was in Vancouver, I'd bet it was more than just the bad season and record that got him fired after just a year. There was other shit like walking down to the Flames locker room and trying to fight Bob Hartley and getting himself suspended.
 

Captain3rdLine

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Why hasn’t this been announced by the team yet.
Because there’s no rush and I believe it’s been said they’ll announce both new coaches at once

You can't tell me when Fitz hired him there wasn't a couple winks about taking over the head coaching job as soon as just months into this season.

I think if he wasn't taking a head coaching job, and let's be serious, there were only about 2 jobs open by the time he was let go and the Sharks weren't even open yet at the time he was let go because they didn't fire Boughner for another couple weeks after that? So if he wasn't gonna get a head coaching job right now, it's completely obvious that he wanted to be in a place where the current head coach wasn't in such strong standing. That's for sure.

He wasn't taking a job to be someone like Gerard Gallant's assistant or Torts. Some guy that was either just hired to be head coach or is in firm standing and nowhere near the hot seat.

Dreger reported Vancouver, Winnipeg and Philly among the other teams. Vancouver makes a little sense, only because Boudreau is only signed for this season (I think?) and he's 67. Winnipeg makes sense because the Bowness thing seems to just be a 1 year thing, maybe 2 years max if they have a good season. He's also 67. In fact, they hired Scott Arniel to be his associate, who many feel will be the successor to Bowness within a year or two.

Philly would have made no sense at all. He'd be waiting 2-3 years there. At least parts of 2 seasons. Torts probably gets ALL of this year and at least a lot of next. Even if the year goes as bad as the year he was in Vancouver, I'd bet it was more than just the bad season and record that got him fired after just a year. There was other shit like walking down to the Flames locker room and trying to fight Bob Hartley and getting himself suspended.
100% he’s coming in expecting to take over going into next season. Wouldn’t be suprised if Ruff retires. Even possibly if we were to make the playoffs.
 
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Bleedred

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I think the betting odds for first head coach fired in-season in the NHL have gotta be Lindy Ruff at this point.

And I think almost any team Andrew Brunette went to it would have been that, unless he was hired by Philly who just hired a head coach who has yet to even coach a game there or a team like the Rangers where Gerard Gallant really isn't anywhere near the hot seat.
 

njdevil26

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Finally announced. Really weird how long it takes the Devils to announce stuff haha but this is a HUGE move. If he just fixes the power play that translates to significant points in the standings. So many games were lost with an abysmal powerplay.
 

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