Yeah I don't think Dean was waiting a week or two to get everything lined up. From what I hear, the firing was decided on Sunday morning and then it got leaked pretty quickly.
There's a lot to be done, I am sure Sutter is taking care of his farming duties and so forth. He's also got to line up some assistants.
I think the decision was made on Sunday to fire TM as well, but that meant the Kings were going to start the process of looking and then hiring someone (likely would have skipped the looking and just went to hiring DS). I think TM was expected to coach the road trip and likely be fired once DS could join the team. When the article got leaked, it forced DL to fire TM then, out of respect for TM. If that story doesn't get leaked, I say TM is still the coach until Tuesday. There's no other reason why TM would fly to Boston, only to have DL fly out there and fire him. If the Kings didn't want TM to coach on the road, they would have fired him in LA.
Where did I say you needed a job opening? This is about being professional and not announcing that you are requesting permission to hire coaches before you even hire your coach. There is a huge difference between talking with someone unemployed and unaffiliated, and talking to someone under another organization's payroll. If we asked the Penguins about Granato it would have been everywhere. This is about handling things professionally, just because Dean can doesn't mean he should. All those examples you listed are for coaches that weren't employed. Of course you can talk to them, but the coaches we were looking into are under contract elsewhere. Massive difference.
No they weren't unemployed. That's just a lie and you know it. Muller was coaching in Milwaukee AS AN EMPLOYEE of Nashville and Boudreau was still AN EMPLOYEE of Washington. Boudreau, if anything, was in the same boat as Sutter, minus the GM duties. He was releived of duties as coach, but he's still an employee of the team. The same will happen with Carlyle when someone picks him up as well. There is no difference at all between Sutter and those of Boudreau and Muller at all. Even hunter was under contract, but that was to his own team that he owned, so a different situation there.
And things only get "everywhere" if someone leaks it. It wasn't everywhere when Payne, Boudreau and maurice were fired. Everyone knew Carlyle was getting fired, but it wasn't "everywhere" that the Ducks were talking to Boudreau.
The only reason this is everywhere is because the Kings have a leak somewhere, since the majority of new information is coming from Helene, from the TM firing to what is going on with the Sutter negotiations. You want to know what the "massive difference" is, it's that the Kings don't know how to keep their pieholes shut like other teams do.
Another thing to keep in mind, aren't most coaches "relieved of their duties"? Kept under contract until the terms of a separation can be resolved. In the meantime, the team controls the ex-coach's activities - which is probably a good thing given what may have been going down in the locker room or executive suite or what knowledge might be wanted by competitor teams.
They are relieved of their coaching duties, but there rarely is a seperation outside of just letting the contract lapse over time. It's a way to pay out the salary over time rather than pay it out in a lump sum. Once the coach finds a new gig though, then a seperation is worked out. It doesn't take long to do in many cases, which is why I think in the case of Sutter, it's more personal issues, such as dealing with family, his farm, holidays, etc. than anything else.
