Will there ever be another European NHL head coach?

[Speyer]

Since i am only following the NHL for a few years now please correct me if I am wrong but I don't think the league ever had a European head coach. (With European I mean born there and not born and raised in NA with a second citizenship.)

Whenever a NHL coach gets fired, it seems that always the same group of coaches with NHL-experience are getting another shot. Do you guys think an NHL team will ever take a chance on a European coach?

If so, what would it take? Of course he would need to be fluent in English and probably already have ties to the respective franchise. Since Columbus is the only team right now with a foreign GM they are probably the most likely candidate.

Edit: Since there were indeed a few Europeans with NHL coaching gigs, I changed the title...

 

[Aladyyn]

Ivan Hlinka

 

[JustaFinnishGuy]

Alpo Suhonen was a Finnish coach, but he didn't last a full year.
NHL coaches are put to a crazy pedestal, and they're overrated in some sense imo.
It seems you land a NHL coaching job only if you succeeded in the AHL for a while or you have coached in the NHL earlier.
There's rarely any newcomers anyways.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

I think if a European coach came over and worked his way up through like the AHL or something, or was an assistant NHL coach. If they proved to be good, I think they'd get a shot, yeah.

 

[Esq]

Cannot believe you forgot about Alpo. On second thought, makes sense.

 

[Viqsi]

Davidson and Kekalainen seem pretty happy with Torts, so I'm not so sure if we'd be a likely candidate.

 

[Pi]

Does Krueger count? He's born in Canada but he's German.

 

[A1LeafNation]

Ftorek?

 

[Speyer]

Oh yeah forgot about Hlinka. Of course I know him by reputation but I forgot that he coached in the NHL as well. My bad...

 

[JAS 39 Gripen]

Grönborg

 

[Speyer]

Does Krueger count? He's born in Canada but he's German.

I didn't mention Krueger because he got the German passport in his 20's after playing in their leauge for a while. But since his whole coaching career before he joined the Oilers took place in Europe he's probably sort of a borderline case...

 

[Pi]

I didn't mention Krueger because he got the German passport in his 20's after playing in their leauge for a while. But since his whole coaching career before he joined the Oilers took place in Europe he's probably sort of a borderline case...

If that doesn't count, I am sure there will be a team in the future to try and sign a European coach just like Jarmo is now GM of an NHL team.

Might take a while though because NHL probably recycles their coaches more than any other league. How did Carlyle get another job? Maurice? No clue.

 

[Noldo]

One further reason for teams to hesitate could be that the European coaches have not done especially well in international tournaments played on small ice, thus indicating that there is need for adjustments and teams rarely take such changes. Which GM would be willing to risk his own position by going left field?

 

[JoVel]

Forever is quite a long time so I'd say yes.

 

[koyvoo]

Yes. Likely a current or recently played career long NHLer

 

[CanadienShark]

Yeah. Nordic people often speak English quite well, and that covers two of the top hockey nations. I'd guess the next coach is from there. After that, maybe a Swiss coach.

 

[Mortivore]

Jagr

 

[Paulinvancouver]

Yes of course there will.

 

[Eisen]

I don't see why not.

 

[EK47]

I don't know, but I believe that Hallam and Rönnberg would do a good job.