After many weeks of speculation, Willie Desjardins has been hired as the Canucks’ new head coach; many had pegged him as the next coach after John Tortorella was fired in May.
For a brief time, it looked like the Pittsburgh Penguins had scooped him from right under us, with TSN analyst Darren Dreger reporting that he was going to sign in Pittsburgh, dashing many a Canucks fan’s hopes and dreams.
Aside from the quality coach, it’s nice to see the Canucks win one of these races for the best candidate or player again. For now, it looks like a huge victory for the Canucks and perhaps a loss for the Penguins, who, in the end, chose Mike Johnston, Vancouver’s plan B coach.
The 57-year old Desjardins is fresh off winning a Calder Cup with the Texas Stars, the Dallas Stars’ AHL affiliate. Prior to that, he ran the WHL Medicine Hat Tigers as both coach and GM with consistent success, including two WHL championships. It should also be noted that he drafted Canucks prospect Hunter Shinkaruk in the WHL.
With his strengths as a good communicator and successes in both the junior and minor leagues, Desjardins offers the Canucks a fresh start, and will help them usher in a youth movement.
Desjardins’ communication abilities may help players who suffered under the Tortorella regime.
Whether this year is actually a rebuild or not, they are likely to start introducing prospects such as Bo Horvat into the lineup, and increasing the roles of others such as Nicklas Jensen, especially with a possible Kesler deal. Not only will Desjardins benefit prospects who are looking to make the team, but also young players who are already on the roster such as Zack Kassian (assuming he will be re-signed as a restricted free agent).
His communication abilities may also help players who suffered under the Tortorella regime. Look at Alex Edler, for instance: as Torts admitted, the two were never on the same page. In addition, despite being a rookie head coach, Desjardins was an associate coach with Dallas from 2010-2012, ironically under current Canucks assistant Glen Gulutzan.
Contrary to Torts, Desjardins is known for a more offensive game, which will be a nice contrast to last year. I also like the route of hiring a coach new to the NHL, as opposed to other coaching candidates, such as Dan Bylsma, who is fresh off of failure. The recent retreads have been pretty bad: look at Torts, and Randy Carlyle so far.
However, that’s not to say that experience is bad: experience is what it takes to make you better. Actually, that is one of the big question marks hovering over Desjardins’ head. Why, at 57, has he not coached an NHL team yet? He is pretty old for a first time coach.
And what if he is another Dallas Eakins? That’s not to say Eakins won’t turn things around in Edmonton, but so far he serves as a reminder that success in other leagues does not necessarily equal NHL success.
For now, though, it’s safe to say Desjardins is a much needed fresh face for this team.
(A)side Jab: Many analysts are shocked that Desjardins chose the Canucks over the Penguins, since they have two of the NHL’s biggest stars. However, despite their supposed superiority, they’ve won very little. Although this is easy to blame on the outgoing coach, it is possible that they just don’t have what it takes to win. Besides, where would you rather live, Vancouver or Pittsburgh?
