On Monday, Gerard Gallant won his 200th game as an NHL head coach.
His expansion Golden Knights also clinched a playoff berth that night, virtually guaranteeing Gallant the Jack Adams this June.
To celebrate Turk's 200th, I caught up with a host of former and current Gallant associates.
Jody Shelley played for Gallant in Columbus from 2000-07.
These were Turk's formative years as an NHL coach; he was a Blue Jackets assistant coach during their expansion campaign, continuing in this position before ascending to head coach in January 2004. He was let go in November 2006.
Shelley expands on why the players loved him in Columbus and why things ultimately didn't work out there.
Gallant took over the QMJHL's Saint John Sea Dogs from 2009-12, winning two QMJHL championships and a Memorial Cup. There, he worked officially with long-time collaborator Mike Kelly for the first time. Kelly was Saint John's Director of Hockey Operations during Gallant's last two years with the Sea Dogs.
Turk revealed why he and Kelly hoped to
lose games in those years.
In October 2014, Gallant returned to the NHL's head coaching ranks in Florida. He brought Kelly on board as an assistant coach; veteran coach Mark Morris was also a Florida assistant in 2014-15.
Morris, who currently helms St. Lawrence University's men's ice hockey program, shares his thoughts about Gallant's strengths behind the bench. He also talks about Turk's favorite sandwich shop.
Finally, Gallant's number-one defenseman in Vegas, Nate Schmidt gives some insight about Gallant and Kelly's ying-yang relationship.
Jody Shelley, on Gallant in Columbus
Shelley, on Gallant's demeanor:
He was realistic. He'd come into the room and let us know where we'd fit with the team and where we were lacking.
He's also always in for a laugh. He's serious and always wants to win, but there were days when we didn't if we were upside down or backwards, and he'd make sure we were having fun and working hard.
He's a real simple guy. That's what you appreciate about him. There's no fuss or flare. No frills. It's refreshing.
He's got that likability that you'd like to be like and that I'd like to be like.
Shelley, on why things made sense with Turk:
He's almost like a player who's coaching. He's really easy to play for because he's so honest and upfront.
You almost felt like he was your teammate.
He got right down with us. He had a knack of knowing, when he was an assistant coach, exactly what we were going through as players. Exactly what I was going through, anyways. I can speak for myself. There was no telling me something to make me feel a certain way. It was just straight up.
I was a fourth-line guy who wanted to play more, play every single game. But the reality is, you battle for every night [to be in] the line-up. But there were nights when, as an assistant coach, he'd come to me and be like, "You should be in the line-up, but you're not. I don't know why, I would've had you in."
He'd come down to my level. Or he'd explain why I wasn't in the line-up.
It was like a big brother kind of thing.
In those moments, when you struggled to figure out why you weren't in, what you haven't done right, he would tell you exactly why. And he was always right.
It made sense with Turk.
Shelley, on what sets Gallant apart from other coaches:
He's also a guy who's not afraid to ask a player about certain things. I don't think a lot of coaches do that.
I wouldn't be surprised if he went to a Fleury or went to his players and see how they saw things or see how they wanted to do things.
Shelley, on why things didn't work out in Columbus for Gallant:
We didn't have a very good team. Our team was struggling, we had injuries. There's only so much you can do.
He was going from being an assistant coach, where he was more with the players. The assistant coach has to be between both at times. You could be the good guy. And he was the good guy.
It's hard to have a group of guys, you're an assistant and you've been their buddies, and now, you're going to turn on the head coach thing. Now I gotta be more of a hardass.
When he was the head coach with us, maybe he was too nice at times? But that was a long time ago. And now he's got that balance.
But he was a wonderful head coach. We loved him. That's why we played for him so hard. He's so fair. It's not him, and then us, we were all together in it.
Shelley, on his favorite fit-for-print Gallant story:
He was running practice; our practice wasn't going so well. We weren't very intense. So he screamed at us to get a little more intense.
Rick Nash had the puck on the wall. I threw a big body check. I put him down; he was slow to get up.
So Turk came right over to my face. He was upset, "Use your head. If you would've hurt Rick Nash, you would be sent down!"
I thought I was doing the guys in practice a favor. (laughs)
I took it a little too far, so he pulled me back in. Don't be so intense, you know what I mean, it's practice?
Shelley, on Gallant's favorite foods:
He was always eating a bag of chips.
He loved Harvey's, that's right. He used to go to Harvey's. It's fast food in Canada. Every time we got to Canada, he'd go to Harvey's. I remember one was actually in Home Depot and it was a bit of a cab ride. I remember him making a big deal about going to Harvey's.
Gerard Gallant, on Gallant in Saint John
I was with a great team. We had eight or nine first-round draft picks.
I was happy when we lost, to be honest with you. Because you could start teaching, be mad at the kids a little bit.
I would tell Mike Kelly, "I hope we lose tonight. I really do."
Because you get the kids, bring them down a little bit. I don't think any guy could've screwed that team up.
(HockeyBuzz note: For the record, five first-round picks played for Gallant in Saint John: Simon Després, Nathan Beaulieu, Zack Phillips, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Charlie Coyle. Tomas Jurco, Éric Gélinas, and Yann Sauvé were second-rounders. Mike Hoffman also skated for him.)
Mark Morris, on Gallant in Florida
Morris, on why Gallant is successful with today's player:
Gerard has a good way of simplifying things. He doesn't overcomplicate the game.
Gerard has a fierce demeanor, which comes naturally. He commands respect. But if you can combine that with the tone with which he coaches, he's not a guy who's going to scream and holler. Today's player is very appreciative of him letting them play.
Being hard but sincere, it's a delicate walk.
Gerard has an inner confidence. Being sure of yourself and not being arrogant is a quality of a good coach. If you can laugh at yourself or poke fun at the players, players do appreciate that.
Morris, on Gallant's best quality behind the bench:
To me, his bench management is his supreme quality. He has an outstanding feel for the game. His awareness of who's on the ice, where to put people has had a large bearing on his success.
It's an innate sense. You go on a hunch, you're reading body language, pace of the game, intensity. Just knowing what personnel to put on the ice in certain situations.
Morris, on Gallant's relationship with Mike Kelly:
Mike [Kelly] did a lot of the tactical things, he helped break down teams [in Florida]. Ran the power play.
They are very close. I remember walking off after a road game, and some fan leaned over the rail and asked, "Are those guys twins?"
Morris, on Gallant's ability to get the best out of his players:
He doesn't have a lot of set rules or things that are going to constrict a guy's creativity.
Every team has a different identity. A Jagr, a Huberdeau, a Barkov, they play more of a control, puck-possession game. They played a cycle game. Vegas plays more of a fast, quick strike offense. So having the good sense to know your personnel is a sign of a veteran coach.
Morris, on best fun story to describe Turk:
Every town we went to, he was looking for a Potbelly [Sandwich Shop]. That was the first thing he was looking for. (laughs) His favorite spot to go for lunch. He and Mike, they would beeline to Potbelly.
Nate Schmidt, on Gallant in Vegas
[Mike Kelly] is great. He's the calming factor next to Turk's rambunctious personality. You need that.
[Kelly is] a great guy, great human, great coach. He's a guy you want to be around. That's the epitome of what he is.
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