The
not-so shortlist of coaching candidates is filled with a variety of options for new Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman, who has indicated his choice does not necessarily have to have previous head coaching experience at the NHL level.
The retread path, however,
is well spoken for by Bob Hartley, Ken Hitchcock, Craig MacTavish, John Stephens and Michel Therrien, for starters.
There is also a host of up-and-comers that have been widely mentioned already as well. Scott Arniel, Guy Boucher, Kevin Dineen, Claude Noel and Brent Peterson lead that list.
Coaching ties to Tampa Bay could be considered in Craig Ramsay and Mike Sullivan.
And, naturally, the direct association to Yzerman through the Red Wings organization of the likes of Gerard Gallant, Paul MacLean, Brad McCrimmon and Barry Smith should also be noted.
But how about someone who has not been mentioned much to this point, for whatever reason?
Windsor Spitfires head coach Bob Boughner has led his club to consecutive Ontario Hockey League and Memorial Cup championships, captured back-to-back OHL and Canadian Hockey League coach of the year honors in 2007-08 and 2008-09 and led Hockey Canada’s Under-18 squad to gold in the 2009 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.
Of course, “his club”, in Boughner’s case is quite the literal description. As part-owner, his ties to the Spits go beyond that of simply being their bench boss.
But Boughner
has previously indicated that he would be interested in an NHL opportunity, given the right situation and he could always retain some ownership stake.
With Yzerman running the show now in Tampa and with a team in the Lightning that should look to build around its budding young stars, the situation here could certainly be an enticing option for Boughner.
That said, the interest would have to be mutual but it’s safe to say that Yzerman is well aware of the kind of success at the junior level that Boughner has had.
He certainly could do much worse.
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Tocchet Talks Bolts
Former Lightning head coach Rick Tocchet joined 620 WDAE’s Steve Duemig on his radio show yesterday to discuss the upcoming Stanley Cup Final and the announcement of Yzerman as Tampa Bay’s new GM.
Tocchet was overly praiseworthy of both the choice of Yzerman, citing his class and leadership characteristics repeatedly, as well as the autonomy clearly given the GM in the hockey operations department. In a nutshell, the GM focusing on hockey and leaving the other business details to someone else seemed like the kind of structure Tocchet wished he would have had above him during his time as behind the Lightning bench.
What was most interesting about the interview, however, was when Tocchet identified a solid core of players that Yzerman has to work with that did not include Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier. The omission didn’t go unnoticed by Duemig and, though Tocchet said at one point that he shouldn’t have left Vinny out, clearly there was evidence of frustration remaining on the part of the former coach, stemming from an inability to get the most out of Lecavalier.
But in discussing Yzerman and Lecavalier as bookends of this particular portion of the conversation, Tocchet provided some hope in the possibility of Vinny changing his game, as Yzerman once did, to better the fortunes of the club in the long run. It was Yzerman, remember, a former triple-digit point producer, who honed in on the defensive aspects of hockey and crafted a more well-rounded game at the behest of legendary coach Scotty Bowman, sparking the Detroit Red Wings to three-time Stanley Cup glory.
Maybe Lecavalier will never find two-way success on the ice to the level that Yzerman once did but perhaps the implication by his ex-coach was that his new GM might provide a living, breathing model of leadership for him to follow. Tocchet, in response to Duemig’s question as to whether or not Vinny can “handle the ‘C’”, said Lecavalier is up to the task but has to get a hold of the Lightning locker room
“by the throat” and has to have strong support around him to do so. Tocchet favorites Martin St. Louis, Steven Stamkos and Steve Downie were then singled out by name as that very support staff.
Rick Tocchet’s words won’t affect any aspect of the Tampa Bay Lightning moving forward (and some might question how much they ever really did in recent years, I suppose) but there just might be something to his thoughts on Lecavalier and the implied admission that, though he couldn’t get Vinny’s ‘A’ game out of him consistently, maybe the presence of Yzerman alone is a step in the right direction to that end.
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The Task at Hand
The Globe and Mail’s James Mirtle
is fascinated by Yzerman’s task at hand in Tampa and cites better attendance, a new contract for Stamkos and, most importantly, improved on-ice performance as his immediate priorities.
But it was Mirtle’s uncertainty about the immediate optimism for his new club shown by Yzerman that struck me as deserving some added attention.
In citing an anonymous NHL executive as saying the Lightning have only
“a handful of players Yzerman can use”, Mirtle may have established himself as the new leader for Tampa Bay doom-and-gloomers. (That opinion says next-to-nothing for your third and fourth-line role players, eh?)
I won’t go so far as to deem a pack of players useless myself but, in terms of the work Yzerman has to do, Mirtle may be more right than most would like to admit.
We’ve discussed at length in the past the Lightning’s salary cap situation and, with roughly $40 million in cap dollars committed to 12 players and a buyout for 2010-11 (and several RFA decisions to be made), Yzerman does have a bit of a mess to clean up in that department, simply to fill next season’s roster.
Moving forward, with reasonable estimates for the future contracts of Stamkos, Downie and Victor Hedman, the Lightning will have over $33 million committed to just eight players (Lecavalier, Ryan Malone, Stamkos, Downie, Andrej Meszaros, Mattias Ohlund, Matt Walker and Hedman), leaving somewhere between $22-$25 million for 15 other contracts down the road.
In short, some from the aforementioned list of players will have to be dealt with.
Think: Bad contracts. And good luck moving them.
And note that St. Louis, unrestricted after this season, is unaccounted for.
Fortunately for the Lightning (and as Mirtle alludes to in his piece), one way to flesh out a roster on the cheap is to do so with young players and the Lightning have a few coming through the system that could pan out in Carter Ashton, Johan Harju, Richard Panik, Dana Tyrell and goaltender Dustin Tokarski, to begin with.
Yzerman has spoken of a slow, methodical process. Does that allow for the possibility of paring down as much as possible to build around players like Stamkos, Downie and Hedman?
Maybe not right away but, gradually, it might have to.
JJ
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