A nice move out in Los Angeles to bring in a savvy veteran coach to help Marc Crawford out.
Labels: Kings
by James Mirtle @ 6:28 PM
Trackbacks
| Permalink |
7 comments
A sportswriter at The Globe and Mail, James covers the NHL and the game of hockey. He is a member of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, a senior editor with McKeen's Hockey and was the NHL network manager at SB Nation from 2008 to 2010. A graduate of Thompson Rivers and Ryerson universities, James grew up in Kamloops, B.C. — one of Canada's great hockey cities — and was a season ticket holder in the Blazers' glory years.
► NHL
► Football Betting and NFL Picks
► Learn how and where to play every online casino game including blackjack, roulette and slot machines.
► Find great seats to Texans
vs Bears,
Wizards
vs Suns, and other sports tickets at
SportsBreath.
► Buy tickets from the best: We have cheap Super Bowl tickets, Patriots playoffs tickets, MLB baseball tickets, and Olympics tickets.
Get Sports Betting Predictions including NHL Picks, NHL Odds, NHL power rankings and daily updated NHL Team Schedules.
Blog content © James D. Mirtle
"James Mirtle is good enough to challenge ... as the best hockey blogger out there."
"James is the Sidney Crosby of hockey blogging."
"His performance during this year's Trade Deadline became its own tribe in Brazil."
"My favorite blog and website on the ‘net."
"One of my favorite spots on the internet is Mirtle's site, I won't lie. Guy knows his stuff and is an excellent writer."— Lowetide
"Mirtle looks like the kind of guy who would like to take you out to a nice dinner and talk hockey to you all night long."— hot oil
"Always interesting, intelligent and entertaining. A daily read."
"James Mirtle is battling Off Wing for the title of "most prolific" hockey blogger."
"James Mirtle bats out one heck of a hockey blog."
"Hockey journalist extraordinaire and hockey blogger supreme."— Boltsmag
"Want to know what sports blogging can look like when it's in the hands of a real journalist?"
"James Mirtle is the purveyor of some new hockey blogginghotnesscoolness."
.
7 Comments:
Lombardi is really building a strong organization with Hextall, Ferreira, O'Connell and Jeff Solomon in the front office and guys like Crawford, Mike Johnston, Lewis and Ranford behind the bench.
Watch out for the Kings in a couple years..
1) Having met Mr.Lewis on a number of occations we can attest that he is a good guy, BUT on two seperate occations he has shown that he is not cut out to be a head NHL coach. He excells as an asst.
2) Since its unlikely he will get another shot at a #1 job, we're glad to see he's back where he does his best work. Good luck Dave!
Correct me if I'm wrong but it is my impression that rarely do assistant coaches in the NHL successfully make the transition to head coaching positions, in my opinion it is one of the cardinal sins of Gm's. When hiring a coach, either go the route of recycling a former established NHL head coach or take one from the juniors or minors.
The reason? Assistant coaches typically deal with the players on a personal basis far more than the head coach and overtime develop a strategy based on what best suits the players, e.g. "Keenan and Bowman know what they are teaching but if I had the chance I could get these guys to do the same thing because I know how to talk to them".
If Lombardi understands this basic principle then his only intention is to have Lewis as an assistant to his proto-typical head coach in Marc Crawford. His greatest mistake would be to think otherwise.
If you need an example of this blunder, watch no further than the Ottawa Senator's success this coming season under new assistant-turned-head coach John Paddock. This is no disrespect to Paddock, I believe he has the hockey knowledge to be a very notable head coach in this league but he is climbing a slippery slope by accepting this promotion with the same team he was with for the last couple of seasons, a far more daunting task than Lewis had with the Bruins.
John Tortorella made a successful transition from Rangers assistant to Lightning tyrant.
Randy Carlyle, Joel Quenneville, Craig MacTavish, Dave Tippett, Ron Wilson, Lindy Ruff, and Jacques Martin all spend a few seasons as assistant coaches in the NHL before helming their own team. But I agree, those who try to head coach the same way they did as assistants will be in trouble.
I agree that Lewis got a raw deal in Boston but wasn't it the owner/GM that let him down?
It should be noted that John Padock was Ottawa's coach in Binghamton before becoming the assistant in Ottawa. Padock has spent much more time as a head coach in the AHL than as an assistant at the NHL level, not to mention previous NHL experience in Winnipeg. His resume is MUCH different than that of Dave Lewis.
Dave Lewis let the Bruins down. He was a terrible, uninspiring, bone-headed coach. Detroit and Boston fans are unanimous in their contempt for him as a head coach. If the Bruins are better this year it will be directly because of a change in coaching.
Post a Comment
<< Home