With no real news out of Canuckland lately, no one (except those in the know) really has a good understanding of what the future holds for Alain Vigneault. But if you ask me, I would argue that the hot seat under Vigneault has cooled considerably.
Consider what we do know.
Vigneault had anywhere from four to seven individual meetings with GM Mike Gillis, after which he was invited down to Vegas for the club's hockey operations meetings.
Why would you invite the coach to the hockey ops meetings if you didn't want him as part of your hockey ops department? I don't think you would.
When Dave Nonis was fired and replaced by Gillis, I was among the many who thought Vigneault was on very shaky ground. I mean, how many times do you see a coach survive a GM change? It's common practise for the new GM to bring in "his guy."
Now I know what you're thinking. Gillis is simply keeping Vigneault on so he has a fall guy if things don't start out well this season.
Perhaps.
But don't you think that Vigneault has thought the exact same thing? I'm guessing Vigneault -- a proud guy who is not afraid to speak his mind -- said in his meetings with Gillis,
"If I am your guy, then extend me. Otherwise let me take a walk and try to land one of the many vacant coaching jobs available right now."
So if I was a betting man (and I'm going to Vegas this weekend so you better believe I am) I would lay odds that we'll hear news about a Vigneault extension before we hear about a Vigneault dismissal. But that's just me.
And one more thing. Think about it from Gillis' point of view. He's a new GM running a franchise that he is trying to become familiar with. So, wouldn't you want to surround yourself (at least at first) with people who are very familiar with how things work? As well as people who have a very solid understading about how the players tick? Well, there's no one better than Alain Vigneault when it comes to that.
Not too mention he's still the reigning Jack Adams Award winner, and I'm pretty certain he didn't lose his ability to coach over the last year.
So, there's my vote of confidence.
