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JAMES MIRTLE — With the Colorado Avalanche and Joel Quenneville parting ways yesterday, and the Toronto Maple Leafs firing Paul Maurice on Wednesday, the number of head-coaching vacancies in the NHL has ballooned to five in the past three days.
And while many of the usual suspects are lining up as potential replacements, some prominent voices in the hockey world suggest a long-time minor-league bench boss might be the way to go.
The Washington Capitals followed that route this season with Bruce Boudreau, who was hired 21 games into the season and with the team in last place in the Eastern Conference. After a 17-year apprenticeship in the minor leagues, Boudreau led the Capitals to a 37-17-7 finish and is nominated for the Jack Adams Award as the NHL coach of the year.
One of the names at the top of the list in terms of AHL options is John Anderson, a former Maple Leafs player who has coached the Chicago Wolves for the past 11 seasons.
Anderson has won four championships as a minor-league coach — two in the old IHL, one in the old Colonial Hockey League and the Calder Cup in 2002 — and has a regular-season record of 506-283-99 in the AHL and IHL.
Chicago general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff says he thinks it's a matter of time before the 51-year-old Toronto native finds a home in the NHL.
"We'd be like proud parents if he got the opportunity to go on to coach in the NHL," Cheveldayoff said. "I know from John's standpoint, he would obviously welcome the opportunity. Like anybody that's at a level below the top level of the game, you want to get there.
"John and Bruce are, literally, best friends. If you check their cellphone records, back and forth, there's probably not a day that goes by that the two of them don't speak with each other. Bruce's story is not unlike John's, and I think the success that Bruce has had, it is a great story because there are a lot of good coaches that work exceptionally hard [in the minors]."
Also in the running for one of the five vacant NHL positions is Scott Gordon from the Providence Bruins, who was the AHL's coach of the year this season after his team finished in first place with 117 points. A former netminder with the old Quebec Nordiques, Gordon has ties to the Atlanta area and is rumoured to be a strong candidate for the vacant Atlanta Thrashers job.
Other current AHL coaches who have had recent success include the Hamilton Bulldogs' Don Lever, who won the Calder Cup in 2007, and the Rochester Americans' Randy Cunneyworth, who is second among active AHL coaches with 312 wins.
Even the outgoing Maple Leafs coach gave AHL counterparts a plug on Thursday at his news conference with Toronto media. Maurice coached the Toronto Marlies of the AHL in 2005-06.
"I enjoyed my time there," he said when asked whether he'd consider coaching in the league again. "I think there are some really good coaches. … There's a lot of good things that happen in that league. I think there's some freedom there to coach a little outside the box — we saw a lot of different things. I think it's a great league."
Gordon was listening to Maurice's news conference and agreed with the former Leafs coach.
"There are certain things, it's almost automatic in the NHL," Gordon said.
"[Former Bruins coach] Mike Sullivan said it's like a copycat league — everyone does the same thing," said Gordon, who mentioned the Philadelphia Flyers' John Stevens and Detroit Red Wings' Mike Babcock as former AHL coaches who have made good in the NHL postseason this year.
"I think because of some of the different approaches that coaches have here, you see a different perspective."
Despite the long wait for Boudreau, Anderson and others, Capitals general manager George McPhee said he doesn't believe there's an unwillingness to promote AHL coaches.
"I don't know why Bruce didn't get an opportunity in the past," McPhee said. "But he did a great job in Hershey [Pa.] for us and deserved the job."
Going with an AHL coach makes sense, Cheveldayoff said, because they've proved they can do the job well under conditions that are often more difficult.
"Hockey's hockey," he said. "Obviously, the players are more skilled, there's different things you may have to deal with, but the trials and tribulations, the team building, the strategies, it's all the same [in the AHL], except that you have a much shorter staff, you might have three games in three nights or only 15 skaters on a roster on any given night because of injuries or call-ups.
"It is a great training ground."
