Tourigny named head coach of Coyotes
Doan’s passion for team helped inspire decision
Bill Armstrong and André Tourigny go back almost 20 years, when Armstrong was out on the road scouting prospects in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, and Tourigny was coaching major junior hockey in the Canadian town.
Armstrong, now the Arizona Coyotes General Manager, told a story of how he noticed Tourigny after a game at a smalltown restaurant and bar with his team, fascinated by Tourigny’s ability to interact with young players while being able to get the most out of them on the ice.
That stayed with Armstrong, who on Thursday sat beside Tourigny at Gila River Arena to officially welcome him as new head coach of the Coyotes.
“He was right there from the get-go. I’ve known about him for a long time. I thought he was a secret, but when I got into digging, he was no secret,” Armstrong said of Tourigny. “He’s got a wealth of knowledge and experience, and I think the other thing you look at is that he’s coached a little bit in the NHL, too.”
Tourigny, the 19th head coach in Coyotes franchise history, received a three-year contract. He was most recently an assistant coach with Team Canada at the International Ice Hockey Federation world championship in Riga, Latvia and both vice president of hockey operations and head coach of the Ottawa 67s of Canada’s Ontario Hockey League. He follows Rick Tocchet, with whom the club mutually parted ways in May at the end of the 2021 season, after four seasons at the helm.
“I want the players to see that as a fresh start. So I don’t want to hold them accountable for what happened in the past,” Tourigny said. “At some point in life, when you have a chance to have a fresh start, to prove yourself, now you control your destiny. That’s what I want from the player.”
Tourigny looks forward to conversations with the Coyotes players as he gets started with work right away.
“Every player will have a chance to build a relationship with us the coaches, with the organization, and will have a chance to prove what they have in them and what they can do on the ice,” he said.
Tourigny, 47, is a native of Quebec with a deep background as junior hockey coach. He’s also been an NHL assistant with the Ottawa Senators and Colorado Avalanche. Tourigny, with secondyear general manager Armstrong, hopes to turn the Coyotes back into a playoff team after they missed the postseason in 2021’s shortened regular season. Until 2020, when the Coyotes lost a firstround series to the Avalanche in Edmonton, Arizona had not made the playoffs since 2012.
“I’m a junkie for learning. I love to learn a lot and to listen to people,” Tourigny said. “I want to believe I’m a sponge and I learn from everybody.
“I try to take the best of everybody and build my dream scenario.”
Tourigny talked with former Coyotes captain and current chief hockey development officer Shane Doan while the two were in Latvia for the world
championship. Doan was Team Canada’s assistant general manager.
Tourigny had to back off from discussing much with Coyotes players Darcy Kuemper, Adin Hill and Michael Bunting, who helped Canada to a gold medal in Latvia, after he was asked to interview for head coach. He didn’t want to make it seem like he was doing anything behind their backs and praised them for their play and attitude at the tournament.
Doan inspired him to consider the job. “I asked a lot of questions. Doaner had so much good things to say about the ownership group,” Tourigny said, with Doan looking on a few feet away. “His passion for the Valley and the people here in Arizona was unbelievable.
“I kind of started to love the ’Yotes through his eyes.”
Armstrong liked that Tourigny — who is commonly called by his nickname, “Bear,” in hockey circles — coached for so long in junior hockey, giving him a teaching and talent-developing background, and that he paid his dues coaching in the lower level ranks in faraway places. He feels he and Tourigny think alike when it comes to the type of players they prefer and roles that they want for them.
Tourigny said he tries hard to understand his players and values them as human beings. He wanted to be clear that there’s only one set of rules to go by. The approach has worked. Colleagues have spoken highly of Tourigny, who was 13052-16 as Ottawa 67s head coach.
“With time, they understand I care about them as a person. The player has a job to do,” Tourigny said. “And there’s no gray area. It will be black and white and we’ll be relentless and we’ll hold them accountable. But that doesn’t mean we don’t like the person.”
Tourigny, whose previous commitments to coaching Team Canada in future international competitions won’t be fulfilled now that he has an NHL team to guide, looks to bring an up-tempo but physical style of play to the job.
“He brings accountability and likeability,” Armstrong said. “I’m very excited about bringing André on board to lead the Coyotes in the new era, as our head coach.”