Weirdest or most out of the blue coaching hire

[De Montreal]

Stamkos getting back to TB tonight reminded me of the whole Seen Stamkos? campaign and of course, his rookie season under Barry Melrose which was really not good. Melrose even said that Stamkos wasnt NHL ready at the time. But in retrospect it was such a weird episode of the Lightning history. Melrose was 15+ year removed from his last coaching gig. How did Tampa management came up with the idea of hiring him specifically? What was the thought process there? Wouldnt there have been much better candidates?

Also I'm curious to note other out of the blue coachs hiring through history. Martin St-Louis jumping from coaching a bunch of kids to the Montréal Canadiens was a big surprise.

Click to read more...

 

[MadLuke]

Mario Tremblay getting the job with zero coaching experience was quite the shock and out of the blue.

After that, nothing could have been much of a surprise for that franchise, any aura of being well run gone and Montreal was a last place team, giving an impression the coach would have time to learn with the young players before they are ready to win anything anyway.

 

[McGarnagle]

When Mike Keenan wound up in Calgary I remember it being completely out of nowhere and weird

 

[The Panther]

A really weird one was when Glen Sather hired Bryan Trottier to coach the Islanders Rangers in 2002. Trottier had been assistant coach in Pittburgh and Colorado, so it wasn't like he had zero experience, but he had never been a head coach anywhere (to my knowledge) and was tasked with coaching not only a high-profile team in disarray, but one that was the hated rival of his own famous team and its fanbase.

Speaking of odd moves by Sather, another was when he hired ex-NHL journeyman defenceman Bryan Watson to coach the Oilers in 1980. This was at the start of Gretzky & Messier's second season and they were still teenagers. Watson had only retired as a player two years earlier, and I don't think he had any coaching experience. He lasted 18 games (with 4 wins) before Sather axed him and re-took head coaching duties.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

A really weird one was when Glen Sather hired Bryan Trottier to coach the Islanders in 2002

Morning coffee hadn’t kicked in for me to piece this one together. Couldn’t believe I’ve never heard about the time Sather became Islanders GM.

was tasked with coaching not only a high-profile team in disarray, but one that was the hated rival of his own famous team and its fanbase.

Morning coffee kicking in: oh you of course meant Trottier coached the Rangers? I didn’t know that, yeah that’s a weird one.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Was thinking of Trottier. Not a coach but how about the Islanders hiring their backup goalie to be their GM?

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

Little piece of trivia...who was the franchise first coach for the Colorado Avalanche?

The Rocket.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

Was thinking of Trottier. Not a coach but how about the Islanders hiring their backup goalie to be their GM?

…who then promptly signed the starting goalie to that insane contract. Definitely bizarre the way that all unfolded.

 

[The Panther]

Morning coffee hadn’t kicked in for me to piece this one together. Couldn’t believe I’ve never heard about the time Sather became Islanders GM..

Yet another examples of why I shouldn't post in a hurry...

Anyway, we all know I meant The Rangers.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

…who then promptly signed the starting goalie to that insane contract. Definitely bizarre the way that all unfolded.

There are two key moments I remember being aged 12 and 13 and thinking "I feel like if a 12-13 year old knows that's bad by simply hearing the news and nothing else, it's probably terrible". One was the Thornton trade and the other was the DP's Freedom 15 special.

E: Poor DP, despite the Islanders f***ing his development he managed to pull out to be at least almost as advertised and then subsequently got the worst case of a body failing someone.

 

[The Panther]

Little piece of trivia...who was the franchise first NHL coach for the Colorado Avalanche?

The Rocket.

Lasted 2 games.

You'd think going through the pre-season (or whatever they did in the WHA -- presumably something prior to the RS) would have given The Rocket enough of an idea of whether he could handle it or not. Like, did he just show up cold for game 1?

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

Lasted 2 games.

You'd think going through the pre-season (or whatever they did in the WHA -- presumably something prior to the RS) would have given The Rocket enough of an idea of whether he could handle it or not. Like, did he just show up cold for game 1?

Honestly, I would put money on it. He probably could have asked to become GM and they would have let him. The Rocket was basically canonized in French-Canadian culture by then. I couldn't believe, reading about all that back then.

 

[Terry Yake]

the ducks re-hiring carlyle in 2016 was an odd one

 

[WarriorofTime]

Stamkos getting back to TB tonight reminded me of the whole Seen Stamkos? campaign and of course, his rookie season under Barry Melrose which was really not good. Melrose even said that Stamkos wasnt NHL ready at the time. But in retrospect it was such a weird episode of the Lightning history. Melrose was 15+ year removed from his last coaching gig. How did Tampa management came up with the idea of hiring him specifically? What was the thought process there? Wouldnt there have been much better candidates?

I dunno, he had been ESPN's Hockey Guy (pretty much exclusively after they didn't bid to renew NHL coverage following 2003-04) for almost 15 years, he'd do like one segment on Sportscenter and I guess was treated like some sort of definitive authority. Tampa had new ownership and he was hired basically in lockstep with that, and I guess Brian Lawton was already involved by then (but I don't think their paths had ever directly crossed). Maybe they just thought was some kind of guru.

 

[carjackmalone]

Gary green for Washington at 26 years old

Bill Laforge for Canucks at 29

 

[The Panther]

Gary green for Washington at 26 years old

Oh yeah, that was totally weird. Like, how many of the players were older than the coach?

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

It worked out for them but Pittsburgh hiring Sullivan was an odd choice, he only had 2 seasons as a head coach under his belt, 1 good with a horrible playoff choke and then a bad season where he was fired (for Dave Lewis). He was an assistant on a few team over the years but when hired he was relatively inexperienced as a head coach who hadnt been one in 10 years and was brought in to coach a team expecting a Cup immediately

 

[Michael Farkas]

It worked out for them but Pittsburgh hiring Sullivan was an odd choice, he only had 2 seasons as a head coach under his belt, 1 good with a horrible playoff choke and then a bad season where he was fired (for Dave Lewis). He was an assistant on a few team over the years but when hired he was relatively inexperienced as a head coach who hadnt been one in 10 years and was brought in to coach a team expecting a Cup immediately

7 years as an NHL assistant with four teams. AHL head coach in Providence, Bruins head coach for two (making the playoffs in one of them). Then he was also the Baby Penguins head coach - getting that team off to a 19-5 record.

The real answer in recent times for Pittsburgh is Eddie Olczyk. The color guy on Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh with no coaching experience at all...got the head job in 2004, then was somehow allowed to be Crosby's (and Fleury's) first coach in the NHL. Players and people around the team that I've talked to had some very interesting things to say about practices and what not...

Folks that listen to him as a color guy over the years, I'm sure realize he's not exactly a savant when it comes to the game...more often than I should, I see him diagram things incorrectly...and that's 20 years after he was a head coach in the National Hockey League for absolutely no reason at all.

 

[Terry Yake]

can't believe i forgot about the whalers naming pierre mcgquire HC prior to the 93-94 season. zero HC experience at any level and he was completely out of his depth

his own players had zero respect for him and it showed in the standings

 

[Ceremony]

Remember when Tony Granato was Avalanche coach in 03-04 and underperformed with an all-star roster? Apparently giving him Peter Budaj and Andrew Raycroft for goalies was the solution in 08-09. It wasn't.

 

[sr edler]

Lasted 2 games.

Another one who lasted two games was Manitoba native Godfrey Matheson with the 1932–33 Chicago Black Hawks. I think the story is Black Hawks eccentric owner Major Frederic McLaughlin first met Matheson on a train and was apparently impressed by his hockey knowledge? Which just gives me weird Strangers on a Train vibes. But his Wikipedia entry is pretty funny as it says he expected Taffy Abel to score 2 goals per game while screening the goalie.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

can't believe i forgot about the whalers naming pierre mcgquire HC prior to the 93-94 season. zero HC experience at any level and he was completely out of his depth

his own players had zero respect for him and it showed in the standings

Genius is rarely recognized in its own time

 

[frisco]

The Devils and Larry Robinson are odd.

Fired Ftorek with 8 GP left in the season in 2000 for Robinson despite the Devils in first place. Won the Cup that year. 111 points and went to the Finals and lost in seven to Colorado the year after. Larry fired the next year after 50 or so games but stayed on as an assistant after a few games (what?).

Robinson head coach again in 2005 due to Pat Burns' illness but resigned after 32 GP citing stress. Then returned as an assistant for 2008-09.

My Best-Carey

 

[Moose Head]

The Devils and Larry Robinson are odd.

Fired Ftorek with 8 GP left in the season in 2000 for Robinson despite the Devils in first place. Won the Cup that year. 111 points and went to the Finals and lost in seven to Colorado the year after. Larry fired the next year after 50 or so games but stayed on as an assistant after a few games (what?).

Robinson head coach again in 2005 due to Pat Burns' illness but resigned after 32 GP citing stress. Then returned as an assistant for 2008-09.

My Best-Carey

Robinson loved teaching and being one of the boys and He hated throwing the hammer down on his players. Because of that he much preferred being an assistant coach.

 

[carjackmalone]

What about Sather stepping down for Bryan Watson