No shortage of coaching candidates for Golden Knights
The expansion Las Vegas Golden Knights keep hitting the jackpot in terms of their coaching search.
With the firing of Claude Juli en by the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, the list of veteran coaches now looking for work continues to swell. And since those are the exact type of bench bosses that fit the Knights’ criteria, the pool of candidates continues to get richer for general manager George McPhee.
“He’ s looking for guys with experience ,” Knights owner Bill Foley told Postmedia in Las Vegas last week. “I’d say the coach we end up with will be a recognizable individual.”
Here’ s a look at some names who fit that bill.
1.CLAUDE JULIEN
During his decade behind the Bruins bench, he won a Stanley Cup (2011), made another appearance in the final (2013), won the Presidents’ Trophy (2014) and won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in 2008-09. He’s under contract with the Bruins through 2018 so some sort of agreement would have to be reached. Still, if Vegas is looking for a so-called “name” coach, Julien certainly would beat the top of our list. Don’ t be surprised if that’s where he is on theirs.
2.KEN HITCHCOCK
The original plan—or so we were told—was for Hitch cock to retire at the end of the season. But since he was fired last week by the St. Louis Blues, those who know him suggest he still has the fire and motivation to keep coaching beyond 2016-17. Hitch’s no-nonsense attitude sometimes rubs players the wrong way but he’s had no shortage of success. Indeed, Hitchcock was axed just one win shy of equalling Al Arbour for the third most coaching wins (782) in NHL history, trailing only the great Scotty Bowman and the Black hawks’ Joel Quenneville, who ranks second. And with McPhee looking to ice a competitive team as soon as pos- sible, Hitchcock might be the per-fect choice to give the franchise the kick in the hockey pants it needs.
3.GERRARD GALLANT
We still haven’t figured out why the Panthers fired him earlier this season but their pain could end up being the Knights’ gain. Gallant posted an impressive 96-65-25 record in two-plus seasons behind the Panthers bench and led Florida to the Atlantic Division title in 2015-16. More importantly, the development of so many kids in the Panthers organization under his watch should be encouraging for McPhee and co ., since the Knights are expected to be a very young team from the start. The Knights reportedly have already reached out to both Gallant and former Islanders coach Jack Capuano.
4.JACK CAPUANO
McPhee worked with Capuano and the Islanders the past two seasons as an adviser to GM Garth Snow, so McPhee certainly would know what Capuano could bring to the Knights. As a result, it should come as no surprise that the two sides have reportedly talked already. Fired last month, Capuano finished his tenure with the Islanders having coached the second-most games in franchise history (483) and having collected the second-most wins (227). In the process, he became the only coach since Arbour in 1992-93 to coach the franchise to a post-seasons eries victory, that coming last spring in a first-round triumph over Gallant’s Panthers. You have to wonder how much more success he would have enjoyed with the Islanders had players such as Kyle Okposo and Matt Moulson — two of captain John Tavares’ favourite linemates — not been allowed to leave via free agency, decisions Snow continues to be questioned about.