Like players, NHL coaches try to stay sharp during pause
Bruce Cassidy loves the NHL’s daily grind.
The preparation, the teaching, the competition, the pressure. Rinse. Repeat.
“When you’re under duress and you’ve got a structured schedule — bang — you’re hammering things out during the year,” said the head coach of the Boston Bruins. “Everything’s got a timeline and you have to be efficient.”
But like many people mostly confined to their homes or apartments during the COVID-19 pandemic, even Cassidy, whose team sat first in the NHL standings when the NHL paused its season March 12, has found it difficult to find motivation with the days bleeding into one another.
“The saying goes, ‘Nothing to do and all day to do it,’” he added with a laugh during a recent interview. “All of a sudden the day’s gone. You’ve got two things to do. You finally get through one and you’re like, ’Well, I don’t have time to do the other thing.’
“It’s like, ‘I’ll just put that aside, I’ll start reading the paper a bit.’ This or that grabs your attention. You lose a bit of that part of it, you’re concentration.”
A lot has been made about how hockey players have been trying to keep in shape with home workouts since the novel coronavirus outbreak forced the league to suspend its schedule nearly two months ago.
Coaches are also doing their best to stay sharp.
Some teams assigned their staffs projects and due dates, while others took more of a laissez-fair, work-at-your-own pace approach after it became clear the stoppage would last for some time.
If the games do resume this summer — the league is looking at a number of options for a return to play if governments give the green light — there’s work to do on potential playoff opponents, talent evaluation and areas to improve.
Columbus Blue Jackets assistant Brad Shaw, one of a number of bench bosses to present a video seminar as part of the new online mentorship program run by the NHL Coaches’ Association during the pandemic, said he’s already completed a lot of the tasks usually reserved for the off-season. The former defenceman broke down his team’s penalty kill, as well as the schemes used by the top short-handed and power-play units around the league.
“I’m seeing if there’s things we can borrow and things to be ready for,” Shaw said. “But it’s a little tough not having a real timeline or deadline.”
Winnipeg Jets counterpart Jamie Kompon has had some of the same feelings, but has forced himself to push through the work.
“We want to make sure that we give ourselves the best chance,” he says.
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe, who was 47 games into his career behind an NHL bench when the pandemic hit, said there’s a professional responsibility to be ready.
“The circumstances are difficult for everybody in the world, but our season is not complete,” he said.
“We have to take advantage of every day that we have to work towards being better versions of ourselves.”