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Jimmy D remembers Gallant |
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The Vegas Golden Knights are up against it, down 3-1 to the Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup final and left with no more losses to give.
That, according to Jimmy Devellano, is when Gerard Gallant does his best work. The Golden Knights coach spent the first nine of his 11-season NHL playing career as a left winger with the Detroit Red Wings, most of it when Devellano was the club’s general manager. Gallant was a four-time 30-goal scorer, including during the 1988-89 season when he put up career-best 39-54-93 totals and teamed with Steve Yzerman and Paul MacLean to form the highest-scoring forward unit in franchise history.
That trio combined for 319 points, but what Devellano remembers most about Gallant was his compete level, the red-hot fire that burned in the belly of the undersized 5-10, 190 pound forward, and the ability to keep his head when all others around them were losing theirs.
“A character guy, a man’s man, but very simple,” Devellano explained. “I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, but I mean very basic, not complicated, easy to talk to and likewise he had no problem talking to you in a down to earth fashion. He became a favorite of mine because he was with us 8-9 years and we did have some success. He played well with Yzerman, the two of them fit like hand and glove.
“We went to the final four back to back years (1986-87, 1987-88) and he was a big part of all that.”
Devellano figured Gallant had the sort of character and hockey mind to become a solid coach, and like he did as a player, Gallant was willing to pay the price to make the grade. He’s worked as a junior coach, an NHL assistant and the Golden Knights are his third NHL head coaching gig.
“Everybody that I know is very, very happy for him,” Devellano said. “Kenny Holland is happy for him, I’m happy for him, (former Wings assistant GM) Doug MacLean is happy for him. You know why? He’s a simple, down to earth good guy. I can see why the players would play hard for him.”
Devellano also feels that the Vegas scenario with its relaxed expansion rules led to the perfect storm to generate early success, although getting a first-year team to the Cup final is far above and beyond even the most optimistic of predictions.
“There was never a lot of pressure there because there were no expectations,” Devellano said. “That allowed him to use four lines, allowed him to let the players make a mistake without going nuts on them. And they bonded together.
“It’s a pretty good story from a kid way down in Eastern Canada that kind of did it all, from player to junior coach to assistant coach in the NHL and this is his third (NHL head) coaching job.
“A lot of young people in hockey will reach out to me and ask me questions and a lot of times I get calls from them when they’ve been fired or something hasn’t worked out. This is what I tell them: ‘Failure doesn’t have to be final.’ I’m living proof of that. I had bad times in my early years in Detroit. I got fired by the St. Louis Blues as a scout and here I am now, 51 years later, 75 years old, and still in the game because I kept fighting, I didn’t give up. That’s Gerard Gallant, so it’s a nice story and we’re all happy for him.”
Simon Says
The Wings didn’t wait long to name a new coach for their Grand Rapids AHL farm club, promoting from within Tuesday by naming assistant coach Ben Simon the new coach less than a week after Todd Nelson departed to accept a post as an assistant with the Dallas Stars.
Simon, 39, worked on the Griffins’ staff the past three seasons and also played with the team in 2006-07. He has head coaching experience with the Sheffield Steelers of the EIHL and the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL, a team he led to the Kelly Cup finals in 2013-14.
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