Confirmed with Link: Andrew Brunette hired as Associate Coach (3 Year Deal) Weekesy Confirmed

[Bleedred]

I LOL'd really hard at Fitzy saying he wanted to come here to work with Lindy Ruff.

More like he wanted to come here to take Ruff's job because Ruff is much closer to termination than guys who were either just hired and haven't coached a game for their team yet (Torts) or were just nowhere near the hot seat lol.

 

[glenwo2]

I LOL'd really hard at Fitzy saying he wanted to come here to work with Lindy Ruff.

More like he wanted to come here to take Ruff's job because Ruff is much closer to termination than guys who were either just hired and haven't coached a game for their team yet (Torts) or were just nowhere near the hot seat lol.

I think he knows there may be an agreement with Ruff and Fitz that Ruff will step down no matter what at the end of next season and that he will take over.

Hence, the "fluff" statement by him.

 

[ninetyeight]

Funny, I would have thought "Associate" would be a coach that isn't actually on the bench.

Then again, I was once give the title of "Consulting engineer", which was supposed to be a step above "Senior engineer". I always thought that title was weird. Made me feel like I wasn't part of the company anymore.

Americans sure love their titles, it's not nearly as big of a deal in Europe or at least not in Finland. Or maybe that's just in movies and tv? Assistant to the Regional Manager

 

[Guttersniped]

I LOL'd really hard at Fitzy saying he wanted to come here to work with Lindy Ruff.

More like he wanted to come here to take Ruff's job because Ruff is much closer to termination than guys who were either just hired and haven't coached a game for their team yet (Torts) or were just nowhere near the hot seat lol.

Why is it hard to believe he would want to work with veteran coach like Ruff? If you think Ruff isn’t respected around the league you’re wrong.

The poor guy started under Mike Yeo and Quenneville is the only other HC he’s worked with.

 

[Bleedred]

Why is it hard to believe he would want to work with veteran coach like Ruff? If you think Ruff isn’t respected around the league you’re wrong.

The poor guy started under Mike Yeo and Quenneville is the only other HC he’s worked with.

I'm not saying he doesn't respect him, but I'm pretty sure the guy wanted to go where there was an avenue to a head coaching job and there's a much quicker avenue to a head coaching job in New Jersey than most of the teams in the league right now. Everybody else either just hired a guy already this offseason or they're in firm standing and not going anywhere anytime soon.

I think Ruff was already in the top-3 candidates to be the first head coach fired coming into this season and with Brunette now here that surely has to jump to first for Ruff, no?

The other rumored teams were

Philly - Just hired Torts to be head coach. While I don't believe this will be anywhere near Torts longest head coaching gig, there's a much closer path to the head coaching position here than in Philly right now.

Vancouver - MAYBE he has a closer avenue there than it would seem, as Boudreau is 5 years older than Ruff is and is only signed for this year at the moment, but I think good betting odds say it's easier to snag Ruff's job at the moment than Boudreau's.

I forgot the other team Dreger tweeted out right before we signed him.

Friedman mentioned him as a candidate for the head coaching job in San Jose about a week or two ago on one of his podcasts.