Confirmed with Link: Morgan: Coyotes, Tocchet agree to part ways

[The Feckless Puck]

Who wants this contract and pouty face on the bench?

Wherever that may be? He's the captain.

From what I understand, the Sabres wouldn't let him get surgery to repair a disc in his neck.

 

[Mosby]

I wouldn't consider anyone who doesn't have some form of a successful head coaching track record. I don't want any of those candidates. Could just be another Tocchet.

 

[rt]

RT I agree with your post. I think that is the direction BA will go, a better experienced coach that has won as a head coach, worked his way up, but not the more proven and very expensive Torts/Gallant/Boudrou.

Kris Knoblauch has qualified for playoffs in every full season he's been a head coach for. He did it in the WHL where he won one league championship. He did it again in the OHL where he won another league championship and lost another. And he's been good enough twice in the AHL but COVID shenanigans have torched the playoffs (Hartford was above the line both years, though).

No head coaching championships (although a peppering of appearances) among Brad Larsen, Andre Tourigny, Mike Van Ryn, and Rocky Thompson.

 

[RemoAZ]

We may not actually see a list. BA seems to play his cards close to the vest.

Well we don't have the greatest coverage here but unless he keeps the location hidden, I'd imagine it will come out when the candidates fly in for the interview.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

Well we don't have the greatest coverage here but unless he keeps the location hidden, I'd imagine it will come out when the candidates fly in for the interview.

They'll probably do most of the preliminary stuff on Zoom, though.

 

[Mosby]

@rt Rocky Thompson won the Memorial Cup with Windsor in 2017.

 

[Dead Coyote]

Effortless speaker/recall.

This is my dude until something shinier comes along.

Quote of the day: "I want to be a team that dictates, not a team that sits back"

After Toccet and Tippet I'm not entirely convinced those kinds of teams exist. What do you mean you can go on the attack?

 

[TheLegend]

From what I understand, the Sabres wouldn't let him get surgery to repair a disc in his neck.

Posted about this in the general NHL thread.

 

[Mosby]

From 31 Thoughts it seems like we're looking at 40s > 50s > 60s (and we can forget about 60s).

Makes sense. Same age range as Army himself (51 next week).

 

[Dead Coyote]

Hear me out. What if we give Gretzky one more chance?

This was a literal unironic post on the Coyotes reddit thread of the firing, I almost puked.

 

[ParisSaintGermain]

I think we will get someone cheaper than RT and this will be for a two year contract. This will probably eliminate most of the established NHL head coaches on the market but that does not mean BA won't interview them to pick their brain on the Coyotes for free.

 

[RemoAZ]

@rt Rocky Thompson won the Memorial Cup with Windsor in 2017.

No clue if this guy is any good but Rocky is a solid name!

 

[YotesFan47]

Talk about spin, rt!, Pro Tocchet commenters think that with a better roster the Coyotes could avoid embarrassment in the first round of the playoffs. No post that I have read, except perhaps Morgan's stuff, says that Tocchet is a good coach. What they do say is that the roster is soooo very poor that no coach could do better than a 1st round blowout this year.

My point is that Tocchet has been that shiny round object that gets everybody's attention while the real problem, the roster, gets lip service.

You're not incorrect, the roster is a problem but I think the coach needs to be addressed first and foremost. The issue with the roster has already been replaced with a new GM, even if it was by incredibly weird circumstances. RT has been here for years and shown the same flaws year in and year out. I doubt he could coach the best roster in the league to a cup final. With a new front office, new coaching staff (AHL included) and hopefully some roster turnover, we have the potential to see a more consistent team. RT is just the oldest piece no longer under contract and is the perceived issue on these boards. He will, without fail, be the main talking point towards improvement, the roster under these circumstances will always come second.

 

[Vinny Boombatz]

The contract will be for at least 3 years. I can't imagine a scenario where the head coach only agrees to a 2yr deal. 3 minimum, 4 most likely.

 

[rt]

@rt Rocky Thompson won the Memorial Cup with Windsor in 2017.

Totally escaped me because they were the Host team. I just saw on HockeyDB they lost in round 1 that year. Didn't notice they won as hosts.

 

[Jakey53]

Krueger/Q/McClellan/Trotz/Vigneault are all at $4-5mill per year on 4-5 year deals. Torts fall into that category for sure as does Gallant/Boudrou. We aren't paying $4 mill/4 years+ for any of them, we simply can't afford it.

Torts got 2.5. My point was that these coaches are getting the big bucks for a reason, they win. Why can't we afford it? The only way this franchise will get turned around is if we hire the right people, not some run of the mill coach. BA was not my first choice for GM, far from it, so for me, that is already one strike against the organization, and if BA cheaps out on a coach, which I fully expect will happen, we can expect the same result.

 

[Mosby]

Rocky Thompson Caption Contest!

 

[Mosby]

Torts got 2.5. My point was that these coaches are getting the big bucks for a reason, they win. Why can't we afford it? The only way this franchise will get turned around is if we hire the right people, not some run of the mill coach. BA was not my first choice for GM, far from it, so for me, that is already one strike against the organization, and if BA cheaps out on a coach, which I fully expect will happen, we can expect the same result.

This. It's such a small bump, less than the cost of a fourth liner. Tocchet was looking for a raise so it's even less of a bump, then you add in that salary demands will naturally be lower because of the pandemic. We've added all this other shit like the goaltending department and spent pretty close to the cap so I don't know why we'd go cheap at head coach. Also, how come we had expensive management (Maloney and Tippett) when we had no owner but now that we have a multi-billionaire as owner we would go cheap in this area?

 

[Jakey53]

Hell, the Oilers barely have a better roster as the sum of its parts than us. They just happen to have the best player in the world and the (probably) best German player of all time. Past those two? I’m not personally that impressed.

There in the playoffs, we aren't. They also have DT, we had RT.

 

[Mosby]

The contract will be for at least 3 years. I can't imagine a scenario where the head coach only agrees to a 2yr deal. 3 minimum, 4 most likely.

I think 3 is the magic number. Army has 4 years left. So a 3-year coach gives him a window at the end there to fire him and get a new coach.

 

[rt]

No clue if this guy is any good but Rocky is a solid name!

Don't you remember him from his playing days? Dude was an absolute psycho. Mad dog killer. Would fight the heaviest of the heavies, and zero defense. Just chucked em and took BEATINGS. Long crazy hair, no teeth, smashed up, caved in face, and the most monstrous celebrations. Kinda like a Dan Carcillo/Josh Gratton hybrid. Anyway, he chilled out, found God, started a family and has become a widely respected hockey mind with good success coaching. He's got a lot of fans around the league. Bob Boughner being his biggest advocate. He doesn't have the longest coaching resume but he's coached with some premier programs. Windsor is a top-notch CHL team, and then he coached the Chicago Wolves which is the crown-jewel of the AHL. Now he's with the Sharks, which has a really respected front-office.

He really cut his teeth as an assistant in the AHL under Todd Nelson with OKC. When that loser Dallas Eakins and his staff got canned in EDM and Nelson got called up, he brought Rocky Thompson with him. When Edmonton did Edmonton things (stupid shit) they didn't keep Nelson and Thompson. Nelson went to Grand Rapids and had a ton of success. Thompson went to Windsor and had a ton of success. The rest is history (in the making).

He's been on the fast-track for sure. He's kind of like a come out of nowhere draft prospect but for coaches. A guy who wasn't on Bob McKenzie's preliminary 100 list but ends up going Top 10 anyway.

 

[rt]

Rocky Thompson Caption Contest!

Haha. Definitely NOT how I remember him. I think that's late-stage Rocky Thompson. I remember the Calgary Flame that looked like a Hanson Brother.

 

[rt]

I think 3 is the magic number. Army has 4 years left. So a 3-year coach gives him a window at the end there to fire him and get a new coach.

Club-option solves some of this, too. Could do a three year with a club-option for a 4th. Gives BA a chance to not pick up the option, and save his ass. Would still have zero firings at that point. GMs are usually safe until at least the 1st or 2nd coach they fire.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

No clue if this guy is any good but Rocky is a solid name!

Do we need another RT with the 'Yotes, though?

 

[Bonsai Tree]

I would like to see Doan assist under Tippett or even better Trotz for a few years, then come back to coach the Yotes right as their talent starts to mature. I got to sit down with Tippett once in the hotel bar across from the Edmonton barn and learned more about hockey in 30 minutes than I had in my entre life. The man is brilliant and very personable.

I'm thinking that we get a young coach to nurture the baby talent, and then when they are ready we choose someone to coach them to the next level. This is sort of what the Bulls did with Collins and Jackson.