Not trying to be rude, but can you define what he’s done “excellent.” He relates with the players which I would give him all his flowers on. But what has he done that warrants the “excellent” tag you’re giving him as a head coach. What is he doing for the “team” that makes him “excellent” because it certainly isn’t a result based evaluation.
Development of young players.
Coaching a basement team through several seasons while keeping very high morale & engagement.
Building trust and confidence with young players playing in the biggest hockey fishbowl in the league.
These are tangible results, and none are a given nor easy to accomplish in the context of the situation he's navigating.
If one equates coaching excellence to results (pts, cup win), then sure... No excellence to be found here. Jean Perron and Jaques Demers must then be the two most excellent coaches we've had in the past 40 years.
Coaching excellence, imo, is about far more than those metrics. What you do with the material you're working with is far more important... Even if harder to measure.