Easterly Wind Blows Coaches Away
Not even halfway through the NHL season, and there have already been three coaching changes to date. Blues fans are pretty happy with the way Ken Hitchcock is working out so far in St. Louis, getting his boys going with eight wins in their past 11 games. However, it is a long season, but management in Washington and Carolina weren’t willing to wait any longer.
Earlier this week, the Washington Capitals finally put the rumors to rest and fired head coach Bruce Boudreau. Boudreau, who had been on the hot seat in Washington the past couple seasons for his failure to get his star-studded team deep into the playoffs, was recently hanging on by a thread as his Caps have gone 3-6-1 in their past 10 games before he was finally axed. Fans have been calling for Boudreau’s firing for a long time in Washington, and they finally got their wish with the Caps’ lethargic play as of late. The team clearly wasn’t responding to Boudreau anymore, and his message had become stale in the locker room. Something had to give, and instead of trading away one of their stars, owner Ted Leonsis finally gave the fans what they wanted by firing Boudreau. With the vacancy, the Caps hired former Washington captain Dale Hunter, who is one of only four players to have his number retired by the historic franchise. Hunter, who most recently was coaching in the OHL, made his NHL coaching debut on Tuesday night against the Blues, and it was definitely one to forget for him and his squad. The Blues beat the Caps in Washington for the first time since 2003, and it didn’t appear that the Caps were re-energized by the coaching change. It’s going to take time for Hunter to get his style of play implemented in Washington, but with the season already 25 games old, it better be sooner rather than later, or Washington may be looking at another early playoff exit, if they are fortunate to make it.
Along with Boudreau, the Carolina Hurricanes fired head coach Paul Maurice on the same day, replacing him with Kirk Muller. Muller, who played 19 seasons in the NHL and scored the winning goal for the Montreal Canadiens in 1993 to win the Stanley Cup, coached just 17 games for the Nashville Predators’ AHL affiliate Milwaukee Admirals this season before accepting his first NHL head coaching gig in Carolina. Currently one of the worst teams in the NHL, the Hurricanes have only managed 20 points, and are 3-7-1 in their last 11 games (Muller lost his premiere in Carolina to Florida on Tuesday night). Muller is known as a great communicator, one who really knows how to get along with and through to his players, which is something the Hurricanes desperately need at the moment. If Carolina has any hope of contending in the Eastern Conference the rest of the year, something needed to change, and just like in Washington, the head coach was expendable. If Muller can be as successful as a head coach as he was a player, he’ll have a long NHL head coaching career ahead of him.
While the Blues’ Hitchcock is the only new coach in the Western Conference to date, there’s no team playing better hockey in the West than St. Louis. With 30 points, good for second most in the conference, the Blues have lost only one game in regulation in their first 11 games under Hitch, compiling eight wins and two losses in overtime. Pierre LeBrun has the Blues ranked ninth in his weekly power rankings, citing the team’s revitalized identity and supreme goaltending as reasons why they now sit in fourth place in the West. Since Hitch took over, he has been using his outstanding goalie tandem of Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak extremely well, as the team hasn’t given up more than three goals in a game since he took over behind the Blues’ bench and are currently second in the NHL in goals allowed per game. It’s hard as a fan to write about your team without any bias, but the way the Blues are playing right now, it’s hard for anyone to doubt the fact that this is one of the hardest working, gritty teams in the NHL, a team that others around the league dread facing since they discovered a new identity. The Blues are hot, and along with the Blackhawks, are two of the best in the West right now.
Player of the Week
How long was it going to be before arguably the NHL’s best and most popular player, the face of the league, Sidney Crosby became my player of the week? In his first game back since suffering a concussion last season, Crosby scored four points, and is currently off to the best start of his career, point-wise. In just four games since he returned, the Captain has totaled nine points and is already being talked about as competing for the scoring title this season – after only four games! That’s how good Crosby is – he can play four games and NHL pundits around the country, and of course in Canada, can begin to crown him top scorer in the league at the end of the season. It seems a little ridiculous to think that he can catch others like Phil Kessel and Claude Giroux who have continued their torrid starts to the season and have played more than 20 games, but it’s not unlikely. There’s no doubting that Crosby has both the talent and players around him to compete for the Art Ross Trophy, and if he keeps performing at this pace and can stay healthy throughout the season, I’m sure he’ll be right in the mix for the scoring title come the end of the season.
