Laval Rocket: Jean-François Houle Discussion Thread

[Adam Michaels]

This just looks like classic "Grass is always greener on the othe side" scenario.

I look at it more like a "Want to update my own home" scenario.

 

[Team_Spirit]

Hiring the BU coach would make a lot of sense with Tuch & Hutson coming in.

Denver coach also deserve a look.

Not sure if College--> AHL is much better $$$ wise and prestige wise for coaches though

 

[WeThreeKings]

Hiring the BU coach would make a lot of sense with Tuch & Hutson coming in.

Denver coach also deserve a look.

Not sure if College--> AHL is much better $$$ wise and prestige wise for coaches though

I gotta think the Sharks fired Quinn to take a run at Carle.

 

[HABitual Fan]

JF Houle deserves credit. He's done a good job with Laval and in particular the players the organization wants to be the focus of the team. I'm okay if they bring him back. But I think it's time to move on from him mainly because I think it's a chance for this management to put their stamp on the AHL staff.

If they do put Byron on the coaching staff like Marcotte can see happening, it's a little more of that out-of-the-box thinking we know HuGo has the tendency to do. And with Byron already on the player development staff, he can be a good coach to have for that particular reason, the development of the players.

If they do a complete overhaul, it's exciting to see who they bring in.

All I can say is thank God Bergevin is not making these decisions anymore. He would do something ",creative" like protect his boy and put Burrows as the head coach.

 

[L4br3cqu3]

All I can say is thank God Bergevin is not making these decisions anymore. He would do something ",creative" like protect his boy and put Burrows as the head coach.

The ever present threat of corporate administration, you want to cultivate good working relationships with the people you entrust with important functions (ideally, of course, be it genuinely or hypocritically, doesn't really matter, otherwise you may lose your 'head' pretty fast), but you have to remind yourself at all times that you can't be too 'buddy-buddy' with those at the same time, cause whenever a big decision has to be made, those working relationships shouldn't matter anymore (without being an asshole, of course, again, ideally, especially in this era where everything is recorded). Bergevin was swimming in nepotism, I hope Gorton/Hughes won't delve too far that way.

Business is business, and should remain so.

Houle was a Bergevin hire, so who knows, maybe HuGo will want their guy instead.

 

[wedge]

I don't mind Houle. Ok, Laval didn't make the playoffs, but I like how the youngsters improve under him and are a lot more ready when they get to the NHL than when it was that Lefebvre clown.

 

[Shred]

I don't see the Habs getting rid of Houle outright, unless he wants a promotion or prefers a lateral move elsewhere, like Joel Bouchard did. The preexisting long-standing relationship between Hughes and Houle and the fact that he did at least an ok job in Laval would prevent him from being tossed away unceremoniously. Martin Lapointe got every chance to prove himself as well, perhaps partially due to his relationship with Gorton.

In any case, I don't see any indication of urgency from Gorton and Hughes to handpick people in every single role. They've appointed MSL, Bobrov, Chris Boucher and Adam Nicholas to key positions and I would assume are happy to fill the rest of the org with competent soldiers. Can't have too many cooks in the kitchen. If anything, I could see a reorganization of the coaching staff where Letowski and Houle swap places or Burrows becomes AHL coach or takes a role in player development.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I don't see the Habs getting rid of Houle outright, unless he wants a promotion or prefers a lateral move elsewhere, like Joel Bouchard did. The preexisting long-standing relationship between Hughes and Houle and the fact that he did at least an ok job in Laval would prevent him from being tossed away unceremoniously. Martin Lapointe got every chance to prove himself as well, perhaps partially due to his relationship with Gorton.

In any case, I don't see any indication of urgency from Gorton and Hughes to handpick people in every single role. They've appointed MSL, Bobrov, Chris Boucher and Adam Nicholas to key positions and I would assume are happy to fill the rest of the org with competent soldiers. Can't have too many cooks in the kitchen. If anything, I could see a reorganization of the coaching staff where Letowski and Houle swap places or Burrows becomes AHL coach or takes a role in player development.

His contract is over.. they don't have to get rid of him, they just have to not renew him.

Buchberger is already leaving for personal reasons so this is actually the perfect time if you've had any thoughts about replacing Houle (and clearly they do or he wouldn't still be unsigned) as you can rebuild your entire staff at the same time, whereas if you replace Buchberger as Houle's assistant and then you determine that giving him an extension was a mistake due to the concerns you had initially (and why you held back on signing him during the season) not going away. Now you gotta bring in a new head coach and they may not be able to bring their own guys.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Godin made the exact same observations (about Nicholas running drills, about the Zamboni) in his podcast, to the point where I wonder if that Marcotte guy isn't just repeating what Godin said.

Marcotte is the pxp guy for Laval. If there is anyone who has more info on the Rocket, it's Marcotte.

Godin is also good when it comes to prospects and minor leaguers. But Marcotte is around the team and their staff more.

 

[DAChampion]

Could letting Houle go lead to problems with the Montreal sports media?

 

[Adam Michaels]

Could letting Houle go lead to problems with the Montreal sports media?

Some might make comments. But I don't think he's that big of a name to warrant replacing him will lead to problems.

Of course, once they hire his potential replacement, they'll be happy with the choice.

 

[Treb]

Could letting Houle go lead to problems with the Montreal sports media?

I don't think so. Even Marcotte who likes Houle and defend him is staying factual about the contract situation and the reality Houle may not be back.

There could be some reporters angry if they don't keep Houle and his replacement is not from here, but that's just the usual, nothing to do with Houle personally.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

Houle is a leftover from the previous regime, it wouldn't be too hard to justify the change PR wise, me thinks. ''We wanted a fresh start with our own guy, we're putting a development philosophy in place from the bottom up''. Throw in a couple complicated words like synergy and convergence. There, done.

 

[Vachon23]

His contract is over.. they don't have to get rid of him, they just have to not renew him.

Buchberger is already leaving for personal reasons so this is actually the perfect time if you've had any thoughts about replacing Houle (and clearly they do or he wouldn't still be unsigned) as you can rebuild your entire staff at the same time, whereas if you replace Buchberger as Houle's assistant and then you determine that giving him an extension was a mistake due to the concerns you had initially (and why you held back on signing him during the season) not going away. Now you gotta bring in a new head coach and they may not be able to bring their own guys.

They could bring an assistant who would be ready to take the lead if they make a change but it would be a better idea to make the change right away

 

[Adam Michaels]

They could bring an assistant who would be ready to take the lead if they make a change but it would be a better idea to make the change right away

That is a possibility. They could make the adjustments internally. I know you mentioned Robidas in one of your posts. Maybe they decide to extend Burrows and have him go down to coach Laval. He's been with MSL this whole time and has a real good idea of the concepts the Habs play.

 

[Vachon23]

That is a possibility. They could make the adjustments internally. I know you mentioned Robidas in one of your posts. Maybe they decide to extend Burrows and have him go down to coach Laval. He's been with MSL this whole time and has a real good idea of the concepts the Habs play.

Burrows could be a possibility too but I think Robidas would be a better fit. He does have experience as a Head Coach and in a development staff (working with both Nicholas and Pellerin)

 

[Ezpz]

People also noted how guys looked ready when they came up last season, yet Barron, Ylonen, RHP, Heinemen, Farrell, and Roy weren't able to claim spots and except for Roy (who wasn't even in the system last year) regressed. Struble was the only guy who spent time in Laval that stayed up. They felt guys like Guhle, Harris and Slaf would benefit from literally zero time in Laval, as well as Xhekaj only going there to essentially recover from injury and punish him for taking too many penalties.

I'm sure we can see we overrated every single player in our system like we always do, but many guys were projecting better last year in the same systems. Heinemen and Farrell were expected to push for spots and didn't. We were not deep in Montreal this year. Unless it was management saying they didn't want to throw them in the fire, but even so; Laval didn't make the playoffs even getting to keep many of their guys this year. Last in the division is awful considering you play way more interdivisional matchups in the AHL. Other teams did more with weaker rosters, which suggests a coaching issue for me.

Utica had nothing prospect wise and their vets were worse than ours. Belleville the same.

Sure, early season goaltending probably cost us a playoff spot considering how narrow the miss was, but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be changes when several aspects aren't going according to plan. Mailloux may be the only guy who got better as the season went on. Roy was far more dynamic at the start of the year. Farrell the same. The biggest development success Houle had this year was Armia.

I feel like with Reinbacher, Mesar, and Beck being there next year and possibly Hutson due to waiver issues, you need to make sure you have exactly the people you want in place for development. These are the big prospects coming in now, not fringe guys. Even a guy like Florian Xhekaj needs careful development to grow into the player we want.

If they feel Houle is that guy then whatever, but I can't imagine they are looking at a Bergevin hire as the solution when nobody came up through the Bergevin era successfully except Gally and Evans (who has developed more under the HuGo era). Lehkonen is a top six guy away from Bergevin's roster construction and coaching hires. You can't blame Bergy for Gauthier's picks, but guys like Leblanc, Tinordi, and Beaulieu spent their entire development under him. How many guys picked in the mid-rounds didn't even become AHLers under Bergy? How do you use a third round pick on a guy like Crisp and he tops out in the ECHL? Or a second on Thrower for the same result? I would remove any trace of Bergy's management if I were GM.

Guys like McCarron and Tinordi are now NHLers. McCarron was fourth in games played from the 2013 draft for us and is going to mass Andrighetto and DLR next year. Juulsen is an NHLer now finally, though obviously he was derailed by injuries. Bergy's best pick developed outside of our system in Sergachev. Poehling is becoming an NHLer finally though he was the cost of dumping Petry, and Matheson is an elite player, not to mention Pittsburgh didn't qualify him.

Anyways, tl;dr, I wouldn't keep Houle. If you're not getting what you want out of the farm system (either NHL players or at least AHL success to gain more ice time via playoffs) maintaining the status quo seems insane. We're not getting NHL players from him nor are we getting playoffs to give extra icetime to key prospects. Also his dad ruined the team before. Three years is already a pretty long tenure for an AHL coach.

 

[Vachon23]

I’m surprise we haven’t have any news on that case

 

[morhilane]

I’m surprise we haven’t have any news on that case

I don't think there was any official announcement about MSL's assistant coaches extension either and they did said they would try to keep them unlike Houle. Maybe management is just too busy with the U18 and these thing will get resolved once they are back.

 

[Vachon23]

I don't think there was any official announcement about MSL's assistant coaches extension either and they did said they would try to keep them unlike Houle. Maybe management is just too busy with the U18 and these thing will get resolved once they are back.

They did meet him though so If they plan to move on from him, they would probably have already told him

 

[WeThreeKings]

They did meet him though so If they plan to move on from him, they would probably have already told him

Might be a situation where they have to see if they can find an upgrade first.

 

[Vachon23]

Might be a situation where they have to see if they can find an upgrade first.

Maybe but at the same time, you don’t want to let your coach waiting without answers and you want to give every opportunity to get a job elsewhere

 

[WeThreeKings]

Maybe but at the same time, you don’t want to let your coach waiting without answers and you want to give every opportunity to get a job elsewhere

True but not every league etc. has closed yet, so I'm sure there's plenty of time for everything. They could still be in an evaluation stage. We haven't heard anything either way so clearly there hasn't been a firm decision on moving on or moving forward.

 

[DAChampion]

Are Tinordi, McCarron, Juulsen, and Poehling actually NHLers?

 

[Le Barron de HF]

There are playoffs going on too which complicates the hiring / interview process.