Confirmed with Link: Pascal Vincent Named Laval Rocket Head Coach

[dinodebino]

I was just posting the info as it was talked about in the thread.

I wanted Favreau or Aubin. @Vachon23 also wanted Gilles Bouchard or Stephane Julien and I trust his judgment of Q coaches so would have been happy too.

I wish Vincent all the success, but he was not my guy. I do hope Hughes/Gorton/Sedgwick are right and he does great.

As I said, as long as he does better on game readiness and defensive structure than Houle, I'll be happy on the Laval side. As for the development side, if it's on the level of Houle I'll be okay.

I know, that’s fair.

I have followed his career over the years and I never understood why he got a job in the AHL without proving A THING in the Q, aside from being telegenic for the media. He’s a lot like Bouchard. Sweet talker.

There were MUCH better coaches than him in the Q. Not even close.

And yes, some were hard-nosed coaches, like Groulx. But they WON. He failed. But man, he was a beauty with Leroux and the others of the press corps. That he was.

Not my team, not my money. But as a fan, not impressed.

 

[Wats]

He's an ancient Q coach, which was basically a developmental wasteland. Was the coach when LeBlanc was there and offense died ceremoniously on that roster and he did very little to develop LeBlanc positively.

Fast forward to him being in Columbus and all the young guys stagnated, regressed or are pissed off. David Jiricek was incensed. Kent Johnson didn't progress at all.

Only saving grace is Jets had some good NHLers come up with him. He made playoffs once in AHL so at least there will be some continuity from Houle.

 

[Steve Shutt]

I'm thinking this was John Sedgwick's call. Got to think HuGo established the basic profile: someone who can speak French, good communicator, can handle Quebec media, can develop prospects, previous AHL experience (NHL a plus), understands the landscape of playing in Montreal, and can provide stability for the next 3-4 years.

How many AHL coaches have Vincent's level of experience? This is a solid hire and checks every box.

 

[calder candidate]

French/ experienced, can give us a inside on a few guy that might be on the market(Laine/Jonnson).

 

[viceroy]

Also, compared to JF Houle, anyone is better.

You'd like a second go round with Sylvain Lefebvre? I mean the guy just won a Stanley Cup...

And yes, some were hard-nosed coaches, like Groulx. But they WON. He failed. But man, he was a beauty with Leroux and the others of the press corps. That he was.

If all you want is a winner in the Q maybe get Therrien. I mean he did win the Memorial with Granby.

 

[jaffy27]

The real hope is that he doesn't go the same route he did in his one season in Columbus, where he wasn't the best for the young guys on a team that is rebuilding.

But for HuGo and Sedgwick to hire him for Laval, he obviously has the specific mandate to prioritize the development of the prospects. And to be fair to his time with the Manitoba Moose, he does have a better quality of prospects to work with.

Not to mention I do have faith in Daniel Jacob for the D.

Sorry, was not on the in with what was going on in Columbus this year, what happened?

I hear the name and I instantly thought good hire but I’m not properly informed on the skinny about this guy….

 

[jaffy27]

Ugh. Don't like it at all. Hopefully I'm proven wrong

Why?

I mean for real, what are the layers of reasons he’s not good….I have no bias to him, just looking for an explanation or maybe you have someone in mind that would’ve been much better?

 

[Miller Time]

Don't know enough about Vincent to have a strong opinion...

But there's a lot to like about the context, and his comments about the vision Gorton laid out, the approach he's going to take to contribute to it, and his excitement at being a part of it, where all very positive.

Looking forward to seeing how well he executes, cautiously optimistic.

 

[Vachon23]

Don't trust this app. Just look at this:

View attachment 895376

2 replies without comments doesn’t mean anything though

I was just posting the info as it was talked about in the thread.

I wanted Favreau or Aubin. @Vachon23 also wanted Gilles Bouchard or Stephane Julien and I trust his judgment of Q coaches so would have been happy too.

I wish Vincent all the success, but he was not my guy. I do hope Hughes/Gorton/Sedgwick are right and he does great.

As I said, as long as he does better on game readiness and defensive structure than Houle, I'll be happy on the Laval side. As for the development side, if it's on the level of Houle I'll be okay.

I wanted Serge Aubin too though with Favreau and Julien after. I wanted to develop a new coach but I don’t have any problem with Vincent and I can understand that they wanted someone with experience. He’s a better coach then Houle no doubt in my mind

 

[Fatbiggie]

Why?

I mean for real, what are the layers of reasons he’s not good….I have no bias to him, just looking for an explanation or maybe you have someone in mind that would’ve been much better?

I was underwhelmed about his Q stint and it was pretty rough in CLB. Didn’t really follow him in his Winnipeg/Manitoba days but they’re a lot of good reports about his work there so I guess we’ll see.

I would have like Carl Mallette from Victo, a young guy that we could have groom but he doesn’t have a lot of XP and it seems that HuGo put a lot of premimum on this.

But I’m only a random poster so my opinion should be taken with a huge grain of salt

 

[Jaynki]

I don't think HuGO necessarily valued experience because they hired MSL.

What i think they value is influence.

Vincent has more influence than any Q coaches we could have had, but also, less than half the influence of Marty.

 

[Whitesnake]

Why?

I mean for real, what are the layers of reasons he’s not good….I have no bias to him, just looking for an explanation or maybe you have someone in mind that would’ve been much better?

Well I guess everyone has their reasons but treatments of kids vs older guys doesn't strike me as a guy who was for letting kids play and make error ESPECIALLY in a soft environment like Columbus who he could have that. I have no doubt that my friend @417 will agree as you have to continue developing in the NHL hence you need icetime to do so. The Kent Johnson treatment was something else.

Now with extra pressure......I'm really eager to see what he will do with the kids when the going will get tough. A kid like Filip Mesar will be fun to follow under his coaching...

 

[The Real Timo]

I know, that’s fair.

I have followed his career over the years and I never understood why he got a job in the AHL without proving A THING in the Q, aside from being telegenic for the media. He’s a lot like Bouchard. Sweet talker.

There were MUCH better coaches than him in the Q. Not even close.

And yes, some were hard-nosed coaches, like Groulx. But they WON. He failed. But man, he was a beauty with Leroux and the others of the press corps. That he was.

Not my team, not my money. But as a fan, not impressed.

Coach selection at any level is the weakest part of this new administration.

 

[Sorinth]

Well I guess everyone has their reasons but treatments of kids vs older guys doesn't strike me as a guy who was for letting kids play and make error ESPECIALLY in a soft environment like Columbus who he could have that. I have no doubt that my friend @417 will agree as you have to continue developing in the NHL hence you need icetime to do so. The Kent Johnson treatment was something else.

Now with extra pressure......I'm really eager to see what he will do with the kids when the going will get tough. A kid like Filip Mesar will be fun to follow under his coaching...

Was Columbus actually an environment where he could let kids play and make mistakes? Because that approach usually requires the GM and Owner to also buy in and I very much doubt that was the case in Columbus.

It's far more likely he was being pushed by the Owner/GM to win now no matter the cost and to bring a hammer down on the "soft" environment and get everyone working hard. Now he certainly failed at that and ended up with the worst of both, but that doesn't mean he will fail when his orders are to focus on development over winning which is likely his marching orders in Laval.

 

[Vachon23]

I was underwhelmed about his Q stint and it was pretty rough in CLB. Didn’t really follow him in his Winnipeg/Manitoba days but they’re a lot of good reports about his work there so I guess we’ll see.

I would have like Carl Mallette from Victo, a young guy that we could have groom but he doesn’t have a lot of XP and it seems that HuGo put a lot of premimum on this.

But I’m only a random poster so my opinion should be taken with a huge grain of salt

Carl would have been a great hired as Assistant Coach.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Was Columbus actually an environment where he could let kids play and make mistakes? Because that approach usually requires the GM and Owner to also buy in and I very much doubt that was the case in Columbus.

It's far more likely he was being pushed by the Owner/GM to win now no matter the cost and to bring a hammer down on the "soft" environment and get everyone working hard. Now he certainly failed at that and ended up with the worst of both, but that doesn't mean he will fail when his orders are to focus on development over winning which is likely his marching orders in Laval.

They were out of the playoffs like 3 months in, nothing changed about how the young guys were handled.

 

[morhilane]

Was Columbus actually an environment where he could let kids play and make mistakes? Because that approach usually requires the GM and Owner to also buy in and I very much doubt that was the case in Columbus.

It's far more likely he was being pushed by the Owner/GM to win now no matter the cost and to bring a hammer down on the "soft" environment and get everyone working hard. Now he certainly failed at that and ended up with the worst of both, but that doesn't mean he will fail when his orders are to focus on development over winning which is likely his marching orders in Laval.

Columbus GM kept talking about making the playoffs and they hired Babcock as coach originally. That should tell people all they need to know about what Jarmo wanted there.

Also, Vincent benched/health scratched Laine, Severson and Gaudreau over the season. It wasn't just the kids.

 

[Whitesnake]

Was Columbus actually an environment where he could let kids play and make mistakes? Because that approach usually requires the GM and Owner to also buy in and I very much doubt that was the case in Columbus.

It's far more likely he was being pushed by the Owner/GM to win now no matter the cost and to bring a hammer down on the "soft" environment and get everyone working hard. Now he certainly failed at that and ended up with the worst of both, but that doesn't mean he will fail when his orders are to focus on development over winning which is likely his marching orders in Laval.

Look at the roster. They were all young. So GM and owner could want all they want to solely play vets...there were rnot a lot to choose from anyway. Still.....Jiricek, Johnson, inexcusable icetime. For a team who was awful.....just stupid to only see vets leading icetime. Severson, Gudbranson. Up front, hey Alex Nylander had an average of more than 3 minutes ahead of Johnson.

 

[Miller Time]

They were out of the playoffs like 3 months in, nothing changed about how the young guys were handled.

That doesn't tell us anything about what the GM/Ownership were prioritizing.

Do you have any info that suggests Vincent was the driving influence in how CBJ handled their roster last season? Asking from curiosity as I don't have any insight to that, just the visibility of what the team did.

As a rookie NHL HC, it's seems more rather than less likely that the ice time and roster decisions were heavily influenced by hockey ops... especially with the team out of the POs for that long before season end, and a HC who took that seat at the last minute/under the circumstances that Vincent did, don't you think?

Much different scenario than if it were a veteran coach like Ruff or Julien.

 

[WeThreeKings]

That doesn't tell us anything about what the GM/Ownership were prioritizing.

Do you have any info that suggests Vincent was the driving influence in how CBJ handled their roster last season? Asking from curiosity as I don't have any insight to that, just the visibility of what the team did.

As a rookie NHL HC, it's seems more rather than less likely that the ice time and roster decisions were heavily influenced by hockey ops... especially with the team out of the POs for that long before season end, and a HC who took that seat at the last minute/under the circumstances that Vincent did, don't you think?

Much different scenario than if it were a veteran coach like Ruff or Julien.

You can read the Portzline article, it doesn't paint Pascal Vincent as a powerless man who was unable to use his young players as he saw fit. He was complicit in their usage, lack of ice time and clearly didn't manage relationships well if they are all pissed off and unsatisfied.

His track record sucks. He comes from the same group of coaches we've had before that have pulled the same tricks.

We better hope its different in the AHL but I've seen the old school Q guys enough to know that just like Houle, when it comes to winning games, they'll go the shitty under performing vets.

 

[Sorinth]

Look at the roster. They were all young. So GM and owner could want all they want to solely play vets...there were rnot a lot to choose from anyway. Still.....Jiricek, Johnson, inexcusable icetime. For a team who was awful.....just stupid to only see vets leading icetime. Severson, Gudbranson. Up front, hey Alex Nylander had an average of more than 3 minutes ahead of Johnson.

They were out of the playoffs like 3 months in, nothing changed about how the young guys were handled.

Does it matter that the roster was crap, if the boss is telling you to break the country club culture and be a hardass then that's what you're going to do, or I guess resign. Even if the best thing to do is tank because you're out of the playoff race, it's been know to happen that the owner will still be pushing to win as much as possible rather then focus on development because they are focused on short term money matters rather then long term rebuilding.

Going along with what the owner/gm wants might be flaw for an NHL head coach, but it's actually what you want from an AHL head coach. You don't want a guy who thinks he knows best and so installs his own system, you want the AHL coach to play the same system that the NHL coach has decided on. The characteristics you look for in an NHL coach aren't the same as the characteristics you look for in an AHL coach so how he handled things as AHL coach is probably more relevant then his 1 year as NHL coach where he was parachuted in at the last minute.

I'm not really defending the guy, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now since all signs point to him having less say then is normal for a coach. And look I didn't follow Columbus last year but there could be plenty of reasons why Nylander got 3 minutes more ice time then Johnson. It could be because he was way more productive (15 points in 23 games vs 16 points in 42 games), maybe Johnson was dogging it during practices and Nylander came in and worked hard and so you're trying to set the right culture of work hard and get rewarded.

 

[NORiculous]

They re signed Houle. They clearly have an issue identifying the right AHL head coach. Everyone has blind spots, the hope is the rest of the development staff can subvert this

You might be right. In Clb PV needed to win though. In Laval his role has changed.

Hopefully your wrong and the kids grow well but if you are right then we can only wish Hughes reacts quickly.

 

[WeThreeKings]

You might be right. In Clb PV needed to win though. In Laval his role has changed.

Hopefully your wrong and the kids grow well but if you are right then we can only wish Hughes reacts quickly.

He didn't need to win when the season was over early. He still kept doing the same things and did not amend any relationships with key players in the future of the franchise. He still kept doing the things that are typical of a coach coming out of Quebec when he did.

I don't see any reason to suspect that Pascal Vincent will be any different than any other Q coach from that time period. Different names, different shades, same fabric.

 

[Vachon23]

He didn't need to win when the season was over early. He still kept doing the same things and did not amend any relationships with key players in the future of the franchise. He still kept doing the things that are typical of a coach coming out of Quebec when he did.

I don't see any reason to suspect that Pascal Vincent will be any different than any other Q coach from that time period. Different names, different shades, same fabric.

Tourigny is not a player coach ?

 

[dinodebino]

You'd like a second go round with Sylvain Lefebvre? I mean the guy just won a Stanley Cup...



If all you want is a winner in the Q maybe get Therrien. I mean he did win the Memorial with Granby.

Vincent is a poser to me.