Seven days before the Ontario Hockey League stands to lose some of its top players to the National Hockey League draft, it has lost two of its top coaches.
Former Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds head coach Craig Hartsburg and Kitchener Rangers coach and general manager Peter DeBoer have taken their careers to another level, accepting head coaching jobs with the Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers, respectively.
The big news from Friday was Hartsburg who took the coveted job in Ottawa one year after the Senators marched to the NHL Final before losing to the Anaheim Ducks. However, up until it was officially announced, DeBoer was rumoured to be in the running for the Ottawa job and with good reason.
Both coaches deserve a ton of credit for their work at the junior level. Hartsburg will be remembered most by hockey fans as the gold-medal winning head coach of Canada’s world junior team the past two years and as an assistant on the gold-medal winning team three years ago.
However, it wouldn’t be doing Hartsburg any justice if all that was mentioned was his international success.
Hartsburg helped turn the Greyhounds into one of the OHL’s top contenders the past few seasons and had it not been for DeBoer’s Rangers in this year’s OHL playoffs, Sault Ste. Marie might have been playing for the Memorial Cup.
Under Hartsburg’s guidance, the Greyhounds finished with their fourth-best season in franchise history last season and finished first in the OHL’s strong West Division.
It’s easy to see why Senators general manager Bryan Murray reportedly targeted Hartsburg as his top candidate for the coaching vacancy. Hartsburg has a reputation of getting the most out of his players which will help after a Senators mired by inconsistency ended with an uninspired first round exit at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Hartsburg demands the most from his players no matter the circumstance and this was evident in the OHL playoffs a year ago. After falling behind three games to none to the Patrick Kane and Sam Gagner-led London Knights, the Greyhounds battled back before losing in Game 7.
His Greyhounds were heavy underdogs after having already delivered a minor upset to the veteran-laden Saginaw Spirit in the opening round.
There’s little doubt Hartsburg’s Senators will play with plenty of motivation next season.
The headlines were much smaller out of south Florida but shouldn’t be taken with any less impact. This season had long since been rumoured to be DeBoer’s junior swan song while coaching his hometown team and Memorial Cup hosts.
Although his season didn’t ended in storybook fashion, as his Rangers lost in the Memorial Cup final to the Spokane Chiefs, nothing should be taken away from what DeBoer’s team accomplished this season.
The Rangers played with a chip on their shoulder this season after pundits questioned the league’s decision to awarding his team the Memorial Cup tournament. DeBoer got the most out of his players and made some shrewd moves as the team’s general manager, adding star power and depth for the Memorial Cup run.
Kitchener set franchise records for wins with 53 and points in a season with 110. The Rangers dominated the majority of the playoffs including the Western Conference final series against Hartsburg’s Greyhounds, taking the series in five games.
Kitchener won the OHL title in front of their home fans in Game 7 against the Belleville Bulls but finally met their match in Spokane.
Although the Rangers failed to win the Memorial Cup on home ice, the trophy wasn’t unfamiliar to DeBoer as he led his Rangers to the 2003 league and Memorial Cup titles.
The news out of Ottawa and Florida will leave another job open with Hockey Canada’s world junior team. Hartsburg had already decided not to return for a third year while DeBoer had applied for the head coaching job and many felt he was the front-runner for the position.
Like Hartsburg, DeBoer’s reputation at the junior level is legendary. DeBoer’s teams weren’t always the most talented in the league but every year at playoff time they could never be underestimated.
While many will remember his championship seasons, one of the most memorable years should still be 2004-05. Just two years removed from their Memorial Cup championship, DeBoer guided his Rangers to the Eastern Conference final before losing to the London Knights.
The powerhouse Knights, who went on to win the Memorial Cup that year, lost their first of only two playoff games at the hands of the Rangers.
Although five games might indicate it was a short series, it was anything but that.
Kitchener gave London everything they could handle in that series after upsetting the Owen Sound Attack in the previous round, all while playing with their backup goalie after starter Dan Turple suffered a season-ending injury in the third game of the playoffs.
It would have been easy for his team to give up after suffering such a devastating blow but their run to the conference finals proved just how far DeBoer can take a team, especially when playing the role of underdog.
That same role will be placed on his new team, the Panthers, who haven’t played playoff hockey in their past seven seasons.
The OHL has developed a bumper-crop of potential franchise players for this year’s NHL draft.
Those potential future stars include Steven Stamkos, the projected first overall pick, Zach Bogosian, Drew Doughty, Alex Pietrangelo and Cody Hodgson.
Although the OHL will stand to lose some talented players on the ice, there’s little doubt the league was hit just as hard on June 13 with the losses of Hartsburg and DeBoer.
Sault Ste. Marie and Kitchener have some big shoes to fill.
