Confirmed with Link: Ott promoted to Associate HC, Julien hired as assistant, other assistants extended

[Xerloris]

I don't think that is the case, I think this is more of just a promotion in name only so Ott doesn't get his feelings hurt that Julien is coming in as well.

Makes sense, thanks for the clarity.

"Coach in waiting" seems like an internet legend in the making. This is going on at the same time that we're anticipating Steen taking over as GM. Am I supposed to believe he doesn't get to hire the coach he wants?

I like bringing in an experienced guy like Julien. He's not too old to be a significant contributor to this team. It doesn't have to be Julien specifically, but I like having a mind like that added to this staff.

I'm pretty excited about Julien tbh, We've needed someone since we lost Monty.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

I

Why do we need someone to overhaul our defensive strategy when we just hired a Defensive coach last year, and subsequently kept him in Weber? Shouldn't Weber fix our D strategy? Or better yet, shouldn't he have already fixed it?

Why do we need a coach-in-waiting when we just hired our current head coach a month ago?

I like the Julien move. Especially if Bannister signed off on it. But our coaching situation is beyond ridiculous. We hire inept guys like Van Ryn. Ott, and potentially Weber. Then we have to bring in others to do their jobs:, Larry Robinson, Montgomery, Brad Richards to fix our PP that Ott who just got promoted runs, and now Julien. Hire coaches you trust to do the job, and let them do the job. Stop keeping likable guys with no experience and no success in their positions.

I dont disagree with your position entirely. But I’ll just ask this question. Given the choice of having Julien on the staff or not, would you want him? I would. That’s really all I was getting at.

I'm glad we brought in someone with experience. The writing may be on the wall with the Blues looking toward Ott as HC if Bannister falters.

Not sure how I feel about that.

I would 1000% rather have Julien as a head coach than Ott.

 

[Snubbed4Vezina]

There's never going to be a situation where I feel confident moving forward with Ott over more experienced coaches. But I also don't know nearly as much as the guys who get paid a lot of money to make these decisions who know a lot more about what goes on behind the scenes.

 

[Majorityof1]

I dont disagree with your position entirely. But I’ll just ask this question. Given the choice of having Julien on the staff or not, would you want him? I would. That’s really all I was getting at.

I'd rather have him. I'm more questioning why we promoted Ott or hired Weber only to bring others in to do their job. There can definitely be an issue with too many cooks in the kitchen with all the coaches.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

I'd rather have him. I'm more questioning why we promoted Ott or hired Weber only to bring others in to do their job. There can definitely be an issue with too many cooks in the kitchen with all the coaches.

My sense is that Ott is really good working with players on improving different skills, like Hayes’ on faceoffs. What we have been missing is veteran coach who can help with bigger picture stuff, strategy and game planning type areas that we have struggled with since Monty left. As someone else said, it’s like in football where you have position coaches and coordinators and not every top head coach was top coordinator and not every top coordinator is well equipped to be top coach. As hockey gets more data-driven, the needs for these diverse coaching skills will become I think more apparent. Love this hire.

 

[Majorityof1]

Delete. Sorry. Forgot to keep my negativity to myself.

 

[joe galiba]

Delete. Sorry. Forgot to keep my negativity to myself.

The world needs negativity too

 

[Celtic Note]

Delete. Sorry. Forgot to keep my negativity to myself.

Objectivity and realism is welcomed

 

[pseudoswede]

Obviously only in my dimwitted mind, but Associate Coach sounds lower level than Assistant Coach.

 

[Majorityof1]

The world needs negativity too

Objectivity and realism is welcomed

Appreciated. But that particular poster gets tired of my negativity. I promised not to reply to them, and briefly forgot.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Appreciated. But that particular poster gets tired of my negativity. I promised not to reply to them, and briefly forgot.

You are always welcome to reply to me. And I am always glad to explain why you are wrong if I disagree!

 

[ChicagoBlues]

The world needs negativity too

If we didn't have negativity, we would not know what positivity is. Kinda like ugly girls vs pretty girls.

 

[BlueSeal]

Steve Ott will be HC down the road, make sure you remember this post because you heard it here first!

 

[Celtic Note]

Steve Ott will be HC down the road, make sure you remember this post because you heard it here first!

Hopefully it’s not on the Blues

 

[stl76]

I think part of the reason Ott got a promo was simply to keep him in the org. If we didn’t promote him there may have been a serious risk of another team poaching him.

Believe it’s been reported Toronto had interest in hiring Ott for an assistant role…think it was on a recent Friedman hit on Jeff Marek’s radio show, don’t have a link to support unfortunately.

 

[Celtic Note]

I think part of the reason Ott got a promo was simply to keep him in the org. If we didn’t promote him there may have been a serious risk of another team poaching him.

Believe it’s been reported Toronto had interest in hiring Ott for an assistant role…think it was on a recent Friedman hit on Jeff Marek’s radio show, don’t have a link to support unfortunately.

Serious question: what would we have lost if he left?

 

[tfriede2]

Serious question: what would we have lost if he left?

That’s thing about coaches - none of us can confidently or intelligently answer questions like that.

 

[Celtic Note]

That’s thing about coaches - none of us can confidently or intelligently answer questions like that.

Wondering why you believe that?

If this is the case, then some of us probably shouldn’t have thought Berube or Van Ryn should have been removed. I think there was valid evidence for those situations, no?

 

[stl76]

Serious question: what would we have lost if he left?

Fair question, I don’t have a great answer because I don’t have any insight into what exactly his responsibilities were/are other than seeing him drawing up a lot of plays at the end of games with the goalie pulled.

I guess we can deduce that we would lose a guy held in high enough regard around the league to be at risk of being hired away…but I get that’s not a great answer.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

That’s thing about coaches - none of us can confidently or intelligently answer questions like that.

Disagree. Look at when Monty left. We watch the games. Many of us can intelligently opine on coaching.