Will the NHL ever see a female head coach?

[Blender]

Not saying a female coach can't happen. But she'll have to work her way through the lower leagues. There's no freebies in pro sports.

Please follow along with the thread. No one has been suggesting handing a woman an NHL coaching job just for the sake of doing so, the position has been that they should have the opportunity if they are capable and can earn it, but it's likely a while off because of how closed the NHL is when it comes to coaches (i.e. they don't even like European coaches). You then have a group of people arguing that women are incapable of coaching at that level or should never be allowed to do so.

 

[DonM]

This is tough to evaluate on its merits, as there really aren't any suitable candidates. That's among the reason this thread has devolved into nonsense (based on the handful of posts I bothered reading anyway). Evaluating an entire gender for their suitability as a coach is about as dumb as it gets. Problem is, there are no women who have coached at a level from which you could ever be promoted to head coach or even assistant coach that I'm aware of. There would at least be hope for a reasonable discussion if there were a successful female CHL, AHL or NCAA head coach, but for now we get this instead.

 

[BruinLVGA]

The same OHL where most players are one and done and/or never even come close to making it to the show? That OHL?

That might be the worst take I've heard in a while lmao.

An OHL team would probably brutalize Women Team Canada.

 

[MessierII]

Their isn’t even a non Canadian/American head coach yet.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

I think if it were to happan, everyone has to be treated equally. That means whatever accountability a male coach is held to, so should the female coach be held to.
Because I don't care about what gender you are. Just don't screw with my team's chances of being the best they can be.

 

[93gilmour93]

What about 100,000?

Boudica - Wikipedia

What league did that team play for?

 

[Artorius Horus T]

There are reasons why there are men and women sports.
- only fool can not see the differences (of men and women), that can not be overlooked

I think the biggest question is, why would women even want to.
- just to make a point i guess???, which is wrong.

You hire the best coaches and not hire someone because of some false causes and what not.
- people here have no idea what a true equality is.

I'm 100% behind equality, but most are just pushing an agenda and want things just because.

 

[heysmilinstrange]

It's pretty passive aggressive and condescending to call people "hon" when you're having a conversation. How would you like it if I prefaced everything with "sweetie".

Hockey is a very aggressive sport. If there happens to be a woman who can command a room of 30 guys dripping with testosterone good on her. I remain skeptical.

I really don't see why men with high testosterone wouldn't be able to listen to a woman in charge. Unless their masculinity is incredibly fragile, in which case I don't think they're really "dripping with testosterone." Maybe you were simply trying to think of the most homoerotic way to describe a locker room, in which case, huge success.

 

[MXD]

What league did that team play for?

The PREBDL, for Pre-Roman Era Britain Defence League.

 

[93gilmour93]

The PREBDL, for Pre-Roman Era Britain Defence League.

Never heard of that hockey team and since this is a thread about coaching hockey not sure what it has to do with anything

 

[Viqsi]

Never heard of that hockey team and since this is a thread about coaching hockey not sure what it has to do with anything

Not very much, but someone was talking about women commanding special forces teams and how having no examples ready to hand invalidated any possibility of women hockey coaches, so while it remains an absurd tangent, it's at least one that has come in from multiple angles.

 

[Panthaz89]

I do wonder if some people here haven't been in competitive sports like Lacrosse, Football, Hockey, Rugby, etc above grade school level. Baseball, Soccer, Basketball are pretty soft in comparison.

 

[Channelcat]

An OHL team would probably brutalize Women Team Canada.

Yes, not even close to the same level.

 

[K Fleur]

Some of you have some weird deep rooted issues with women and you aren’t good at hiding them.

 

[SoupNazi]

I do wonder if some people here haven't been in competitive sports like Lacrosse, Football, Hockey, Rugby, etc above grade school level. Baseball, Soccer, Basketball are pretty soft in comparison.

I'm really curious what someone's level of play has to do with the topic at hand.

 

[Viqsi]

I do wonder if some people here haven't been in competitive sports like Lacrosse, Football, Hockey, Rugby, etc above grade school level. Baseball, Soccer, Basketball are pretty soft in comparison.

Does high school wrestling count?

 

[Sniper99]

If Wickenheiser got into coaching i'd like her odds of getting $44 million in cap space to actually show up for playoff games over Keefe.

 

[winnipegger]

No, I want to talk about this statement:

Tell me what you disagree with instead of just trying to make me feel bad about myself.

Please follow along with the thread. No one has been suggesting handing a woman an NHL coaching job just for the sake of doing so, the position has been that they should have the opportunity if they are capable and can earn it, but it's likely a while off because of how closed the NHL is when it comes to coaches (i.e. they don't even like European coaches). You then have a group of people arguing that women are incapable of coaching at that level or should never be allowed to do so.

In what way do women not have the opportunity. This is what I don't get. Nobody is barring women from getting into coaching male hockey. There's a huge difference between feeling uncomfortable trying something and actually being banned from doing so. There's plenty of men who would never be able to command a locker room of elite athletes (testosterone is a hell of a drug, don't kid yourself). You have to be fearless to be in pro sports. As soon as a competent, fearless women does it she'll succeed.

 

[K Fleur]

Tell me what you disagree with instead of just trying to make me feel bad about myself.



In what way do women not have the opportunity. This is what I don't get. Nobody is barring women from getting into coaching male hockey. There's a huge difference between feeling uncomfortable trying something and actually being banned from doing so. There's plenty of men who would never be able to command a locker room of elite athletes (testosterone is a hell of a drug, don't kid yourself). You have to be fearless to be in pro sports. As soon as a competent, fearless women does it she'll succeed.

There is an undeniable “old boys club” in this league.

It exists in many professional sports leagues but it is pronounced in the NHL.

 

[Panthaz89]

I'm really curious what someone's level of play has to do with the topic at hand.

It actually has a lot to do with it when you have actually been one of those players under at team in that type of locker room experience if you don't have that type of experience then you are definitely missing a very important experience in understanding what a coach needs to be able to do. I've seen people here say that a coach doesn't have to be a hardass when that's simply not the case even if they are dealing with adults in a sport where bodies are constantly being used to smash each other.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Tell me what you disagree with instead of just trying to make me feel bad about myself.

Working theory: women can't coach men because hyperaggressive adrenaline rushed testosterone filled men won't listen to or respect them.

Counter point: what about that one time, when a woman did that with thousands of men? Or that other time, you know, when that girl and her dolphin defeated the Anglo Burgundian Alliance?

 

[Blender]

In what way do women not have the opportunity. This is what I don't get. Nobody is barring women from getting into coaching male hockey. There's a huge difference between feeling uncomfortable trying something and actually being banned from doing so. There's plenty of men who would never be able to command a locker room of elite athletes (testosterone is a hell of a drug, don't kid yourself). You have to be fearless to be in pro sports. As soon as a competent, fearless women does it she'll succeed.

The NHL 100% currently has an "old-boys club" mentality and it's a big reason why the same coaches can continually fail over and over yet still land new jobs.

That aside, I'm glad you agree that if a woman earns the position they deserve the opportunity to do it. Your last post was arguing against a strawman position no one took though.

 

[TheBloodyNine]

Never

 

[Viqsi]

In what way do women not have the opportunity. This is what I don't get. Nobody is barring women from getting into coaching male hockey. There's a huge difference between feeling uncomfortable trying something and actually being banned from doing so. There's plenty of men who would never be able to command a locker room of elite athletes (testosterone is a hell of a drug, don't kid yourself). You have to be fearless to be in pro sports. As soon as a competent, fearless women does it she'll succeed.

The problem there is that the opportunity isn't actually there in many cases. Or at least it's not as readily available. There's plenty of guys out there who still think that women have little or no chance at actually being good at this stuff (witness some of the other reactions in this thread) and so they'll consciously or subconciously dismiss those candidates out of hand. There's nothing legally barring it, but the folks making the decisions are not actually judging strictly on objective merit, though they may believe otherwise.

 

[Icarium]

I'm really curious what someone's level of play has to do with the topic at hand.

Many great generals never actually fought anyone but stayed back and commanded. Some of them were even gifted their command because of their birth (kings and so on). Yet, their soldiers respected and even loved them. But somehow a hockey coach absolutely must have been a decent player or the locker room wouldn't respect them.