I’ll be the contrarian here, since a lot of people want him as our next coach. I think he would be a pretty poor choice if we are going to replace Sutter for 3 reasons mostly. He has found success in the AHL, but by running a copy of the same system our team and Sutter deploys. His entire tenure coincides with Wolf joining the team, and the team doesn’t exactly get great results when Wolf doesn’t start. He also has a sneaky good mix of higher end prospects and good AHL veterans at his disposal as well. Lastly, he isn’t exactly “a players coach” either, so if players are having issues with how Sutter runs things those problems may not dissipate with Love at the helm instead.
If Sutter does get the door, I’d imagine we go for a players coach who allows for a pretty open offensive system to try and get the most out of the investments we’ve made in Huberdeau and Kadri, and to soothe player relations before our upcoming UFA crop. Boudreau would be pretty perfect, but jumping on coaches with high potential to get fired these playoffs if their team gets ousted early would be a great strategy (Sheldon Keefe immediately comes to mind).