USA TODAY International Edition
German Olympic coach wants NHL chance
GANGNEUNG, South Korea – German Marco Sturm played 938 NHL games, and he wants an NHL coaching career that lasts just as long.
“That’s my goal — to go back,” said Sturm, general manager and coach of the German team at the 2018 Winter Olympics. “I loved living over there, and in hockey, there is nothing better than the NHL.”
The NHL’s love of European players is well-established, but the league has been less welcoming to European coaches.
The Pittsburgh Penguins hired Czech legend Ivan Hlinka to coach in 2000, and he lasted one season plus four games. The same year, the Chicago Blackhawks hired Finland’s Alpo Suhonen, and his NHL career was over after one season. No European has been hired as a head coach since.
Sturm is willing to follow any path for a chance to return to the NHL as a coach. At some point, he’ll look for an NHL assistant’s job or a minor league coaching job to show he is ready.
“I still have time,” Sturm said. “I’m only 39, and I’m learning at each tournament we are at.”
Sturm is building a résumé that might draw notice. After becoming the German national team coach in 2015, Sturm coached the Germans to the Deutschland Cup that year. They’ve reached the quarterfinals at the World Championships the past two seasons. Just coaching the Germans into the 2018 Olympic tournament has earned him praise in his country.
For many years the Germans compensated for a talent disadvantage by playing a boring defensive style that seemed to be more about keeping the score close than trying to win.
Opponents called it the “German wall.”
“That has changed a little bit,” Sturm said. “Still, all of the nations are better than us, and we still have to concentrate on defense, probably not as bad, not the five-man wall or anything like that. We found a way the past two years to play a North American style.”
NHL general managers and scouts will undoubtedly take note of that. One reason that there has been a limited number of European coaches is that the game is different in Europe because of the wider rinks. The mentality of the game is also different.
“If you have never played or don’t have a name, it is really hard to get a chance (to coach in North America),” Sturm said.
But Sturm has a name and eight seasons of scoring 20 or more goals in the NHL. He survived 14 NHL seasons, primarily with the San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins, because he played a North American style. He was a respected player. That will weigh in Sturm’s favor when he starts looking for NHL coaching work.
He never planned to be a coach, but now he loves it. “I do. Never thought I would. But here I am.”