Canucks bench boss got hooked on coaching at U of S
When Willie Desjardins joined the University of Saskatchewan Huskies as a hockey player, he had absolutely no idea he would leave the program as an aspiring coach. That was 1983. Three decades later, he’s moved his way up to the National Hockey League ranks as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks.
Today, the 59-year-old Desjardins is one of four former U of S Huskies currently coaching NHL teams in Canada.
The others are Mike Babcock (Toronto Maple Leafs), Todd McLellan (Edmonton Oilers) and Glen Gulutzan (Calgary Flames). In fact, the Winnipeg Jets are the only NHL team based in Western Canada without a former Huskie as its head coach.
“Ha ha,” Desjardins says with a chuckle, “well, there you go.”
Desjardins, a native of Climax, played junior hockey for the Moose Jaw Canucks, Swift Current Broncos and Lethbridge Broncos before joining the U of S Huskies and winning a national championship in 1983 under head coach Dave King, who would later coach in the NHL with the Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens, Columbus Blue Jackets and Phoenix Coyotes.
“I learned a lot,” Desjardins says of his days with the Hockey Dogs. “That got me (hooked) as a coach. Until that time, I never thought of coaching. It never crossed my mind. Dave King is such a great mentor. I was also lucky with the great group of players there who made the game fun — winning’s fun. When you’re in that kind of environment, you enjoy it and it’s something you want to keep doing.”
The U of S is where it all began for Desjardins and so many other future coaches.
“For me, that’s my coaching roots,” admits Desjardins, who is in Saskatoon for the Driving Fore Prostate Cancer and Star-Powered hockey camp events.
“We were 3-and-21 and (Dave King) came in and we went to national finals three years in a row. That’s the first time when I thought, ‘geez, coaching might be okay; I might try that.’ The other (former Huskies) are great coaches — Mike Babcock, Todd McLellan and Glen Gulutzan are such great coaches. So it’s kind of an honour to be part of that group. That’s an outstanding group.” Desjardins went on to coach the University of Calgary Dinos prior to coaching stops in Japan (Seibu Bears), Saskatoon (WHL Blades), Canada’s national team program and Medicine Hat (WHL Tigers) before joining the NHL’s Dallas Stars organization.
Back when he was in the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union (now Canadian Interuniversity Sport), Desjardins was surrounded by the likes of King, George Kingston, Wayne Fleming, Andy Murray and Clare Drake.
“It’s not really known as a typical NHL route,” Desjardins says of Canadian university hockey. “But I think it also proves how good the hockey is. There were some great coaches back then when I started. Lots. That was an unbelievable group of coaches. That trickles down to the players, too. So I think there’s a lot of players from that area who became students of the game.”