The NHL’s coaching carousel has been the main off-ice topic in the hockey world since the conclusion of the regular season and Don Cherry thinks Kevin Dineen’s name should be brought up more often.
“We’d like to talk about Kevin Dineen and we’ve got to get him a [head coaching] job,” Cherry said on Coach’s Corner on Hockey Night in Canada Tuesday.
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Dineen is currently an assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks. He also helped lead Canada to an Olympic gold medal in Sochi as head coach of the women’s national team last year.
“Remember over in Europe they were down 2-0? He pulled them aside, gave them a little talking to and you remember what happened there,” Cherry said. “They scored and won the gold…He’s a genius. I’ll tell you that and he should be coaching in the National Hockey League.”
Dineen, 51, has prior experience as a head coach. He spent six years with the Portland Pirates in the AHL before two-plus seasons with the Florida Panthers from 2011-13. During the 2011-12 campaign, he guided them to the playoffs after they won their first and only Southeast Division title. After failing to qualify for the post-season in 2012-13 and getting a poor start to the 2013-14 season, Dineen lost his job.
With coaches like Dan Bylsma, Guy Boucher, Randy Carlyle, Paul MacLean, Scott Stevens, Adam Oates and Todd Nelson among others looking for work, Dineen is an option teams might want to keep an eye on.
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