CRAWFORD IN HOT SEAT
NHL coaches face scrutiny
The kid didn’t want a coach who would “baby” him.
He didn’t want to be coddled, pampered and protected. No, he wanted to be treated like a grown man with all that entailed.
It was 2015 and a 17-year-old Auston Matthews was weighing his options ahead of his draft year. Had he been born 48 hours earlier, he would have already been playing in the NHL. But because he was technically too young, he had to decide where to spend the next 12 months. The Everett Silvertips of the major junior Western Hockey League held his rights and every college in the U.S. was offering a full scholarship. But Matthews was looking for more.
He wanted to be challenged. He wanted to be pushed and prodded and put into uncomfortable situations. More than that, he wanted a coach who would help turn him into a man.
Given all his options, Matthews went to Switzerland and chose to play for Marc Crawford, whose reputation as a hard ass had essentially got him exiled from the NHL years earlier. It was precisely that reputation that intrigued Matthews’ family.
“Marc impressed the heck out of us,” Matthews’ father
Brian said in The Next Ones:
How Mcdavid, Matthews and a Group of Young Guns Took Over the NHL. “He wanted Auston. He wanted to develop him … he wasn’t going to baby him, but push him to be the best player he could be against men in an Nhl-type setting by a Stanley Cup-winning coach. It kind of all fit.
“Crawford was great. He pushed him and he let him play at the same time. When Auston needed reprimanding, he did that. When he needed a pick-meup, Marc was there, too. He read every situation perfectly and it turned out to be, from a development standpoint, the thing that prepared him for the NHL.”
Had Matthews been born a few years later, he might not have chosen a coach like Crawford. After all, being babied isn’t such a bad idea these days.
It sure beats the alternative. These are changing times in the NHL. With each passing day, another “old-school” coach is being tarred and feathered and driven out of the league for inappropriate acts that at one time were considered the norm.
Following Mike Babcock’s dismissal in Toronto, it was revealed then-rookie Mitch Marner was humiliated by Babcock in what could be described as a form of mental abuse. A week ago, Calgary fired Bill Peters after a former player accused him of making racial slurs while coaching in the minors and others alleged that Peters punched and kicked players while behind the bench in Carolina.
Just like that, the dam burst. Stories that had been hidden for years are being told and retold.
Dan Carcillo alleged that
Darryl Sutter kicked him on the bench. Chris Chelios described Babcock as a fearmonger during his time in Detroit, while former Red Wings forward Johan Franzen said he was “scared to be in the arena” with Babcock because of the “horrible things” he said.
Now, the lynch mob has come for Crawford, an assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks, who was placed on a leave of absence while the team reviews allegations that are from as far back as 20 years ago.
Sean Avery claimed Crawford kicked him after taking a toomany-men-on-the-ice penalty in Los Angeles. Patrick O’sullivan alleged verbal abuse while he was a young player with the Kings. Brent Sopel said all the above — and more — occurred while playing for the Jack Adams Trophy winner in Vancouver.
“He kicked me, he choked me, he grabbed the back of my jersey and pulled me back. He attacked guys personally,” Sopel said a year ago while appearing on a Barstool Sports podcast.
There are likely more stories to come out about even more coaches. But chances are most of the stories concern coaches who are already out of the game or are on their way out.
A change is coming. Heck, it’s already here.
Like it or not, the days of the iron-fisted coach have more or less run their course. No one wants to be yelled at. They certainly don’t want to be punched, kicked or choked. What worked in the past simply does not work anymore. The Sutters and Babcocks of the coaching world are as antiquated as sticks with aluminum shafts. Even Crawford isn’t the same coach he once was.
As the league gets younger — and more money and power resides with baby-faced players — coaches are realizing they have to change their approach. It is something Todd Mclellan said he learned while coaching Team North America and its under-24 roster at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
“I know how important phones are and hats and all of those kind of things,” said Mclellan. “So we’ve got to manage them like they’re younger adults and they’re not 35-year-olds. So we have to meet them in the middle a little bit with that stuff.”
It obviously helps to have a young coach. Jeremy Colliton, who replaced 61-year-old Joel Quenneville in Chicago, is 34. Toronto’s Sheldon Keefe is 39.
Six others are in their 40s.
These are coaches who can better relate to today’s player. They understand that you don’t motivate through fear.
In some instances, it’s OK to baby them.