When the Boston Bruins fired Claude Julien in February, Joel Quenneville took over as the longest-serving NHL head coach.
Hired in October 2008, Quenneville enters his 10th season with the Chicago Blackhawks amid a continuously rotating cast of coaching peers. Seven teams hired new coaches this offseason, including the first head coach in the history of the league’s 31st franchise, the Vegas Golden Knights.
That doesn’t include the coaches who took over at some point last season, including Julien (Montreal), Mike Yeo (St. Louis), Doug Weight (New York), and Bruce Cassidy (Boston).
Here’s a look from The Canadian Press at the newest hires and the tasks that lie ahead:
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Ken Hitchcock, Dallas Stars
Replaces: Lindy Ruff
Previous NHL head coaching experience: Dallas, Philadelphia, Columbus, St. Louis
Last job: Blues head coach
Hitchcock will try to do for the Stars (again) what he managed to accomplish in St. Louis: help a floundering team reach new heights. The 65-year-old has a penchant for turning around programs. The Blues missed the playoffs in five of six seasons before his arrival, but didn’t miss once with him on board and came within two wins of the Stanley Cup final in 2016. The Stars need a heavy dose of defense, and Hitchcock – who guided Dallas to its first and only Stanley Cup in 1999 – has shown he can deliver. Over his five full seasons with the Blues, the club ranked fourth in goals against and second in shots against, all while boasting the NHL’s top penalty kill.
Rick Tocchet, Arizona Coyotes
Replaces: Dave Tippett
Previous NHL head coaching experience: Tampa Bay
Last job: Penguins assistant coach
When the Coyotes and Tippett agreed to part ways in the offseason, a door opened for the 53-year-old Tocchet to steer his own team once again. Briefly the Lightning head coach and a top assistant for Pittsburgh’s back-to-back Stanley Cups, Tocchet is tasked with growing a youthful Arizona squad still beleaguered by relocation questions and five straight playoff misses. Tocchet, a one-time Coyotes player, helped operate a largely successful power play with the Penguins and was known as an approachable ear and well of wisdom for players like Phil Kessel.
Phil Housley, Buffalo Sabres
Replaces: Dan Bylsma
Previous NHL head coaching experience: None
Last job: Predators assistant coach
New Sabres GM Jason Botterill went with an assistant from a top NHL team by hiring Housley, the hall of fame defenseman who started his playing career in Buffalo. The 53-year-old from Minnesota spent the last four seasons next to Peter Laviolette, where he used that storied playing experience to mold one of the league’s top defenses. The Sabres are betting on that know-how in their bid to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2011. Housley’s task starts with plugging gaping defensive holes, boosting the club’s speed game and rounding out the games of 22-year-old Finn Rasmus Ristolainen and franchise cornerstone Jack Eichel.
Bob Boughner, Florida Panthers
Replaces: Tom Rowe
Previous NHL head coaching experience: None
Last job: Sharks assistant coach
A rearranged Florida front office went a traditionally Panthers route, hiring another coach with no NHL head coaching experience. Boughner did play 630 NHL games and spent the past two seasons on the San Jose bench and he was also a head coach over two stints with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, winning two Memorial Cups. Florida was sunk by injuries and internal in-fighting last year, which led to the return of Dale Tallon in the GM role. There’s more than enough talent here for Boughner to hit the ground running and get the Panthers back in post-season contention. Four of the previous five Panthers head coaches had no NHL head coaching experience when they were hired, and none lasted longer than three seasons.
Travis Green, Vancouver Canucks
Replaces: Willie Desjardins
Previous NHL head coaching experience: None
Last job: Utica Comets head coach
The Canucks seem to finally be embracing the need to rebuild. Though the team hopes to score more next season, the 46-year-old’s big task hinges on developing Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser, Olli Juolevi and Elias Pettersson. Green, a former NHL player who piled up more than 1,000 games including playoffs, led the Portland Winterhawks to a WHL crown in 2013 and then oversaw the Canucks prospect pool in the AHL with Utica, which lost the Calder Cup final in 2015. Team president Trevor Linden cited Green’s varied track record in explaining the choice of another newcomer after Desjardins also took over with no NHL experience.
John Stevens, Los Angeles Kings
Replaces: Darryl Sutter
Previous NHL head coaching experience: Philadelphia
Last job: Kings assistant coach
The Kings, under revamped management, are turning to a familiar face. Stevens has been with the club since 2010, overseeing the team’s stifling defense and penalty kill as an assistant to Sutter, who was fired in April. L.A. won two Cups with Sutter before falling out of the playoff picture in two of the past three seasons. Management, led by new team president Luc Robitaille and general manager Rob Blake, is counting on Stevens to keep the team’s defense tight while somehow unleashing an offense which cratered to 24th last season.
Gerard Gallant, Vegas Golden Knights
Replaces: None
Previous NHL head coaching experience: Florida
Last job: Florida Panthers head coach
Gallant has perhaps the most unique challenge of the new coaching hires: run an expansion franchise that’s presently low on talent. The Knights are stacked with picks and prospects for down the line, but for now, Gallant gets to construct a culture and style from scratch. His three seasons in Florida were generally mediocre, save for the franchise’s best-ever season in 2016. The first head coaches of the last two expansion franchises had wildly different experiences. Jacques Lemaire spent almost a decade behind the Wild bench while Dave King was fired after two-plus seasons in Columbus. Which route will Gallant follow?
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More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey
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