In our roundup of the latest rumours and reports surrounding the NHL’s coaching carousel, Mike Babcock’s flight to Toronto means Buffalo must turn its attention elsewhere, and Boston’s new GM didn’t exactly give Claude Julien a vote of confidence.
In his classy we-lost-Babcock press conference Wednesday, Detroit GM Ken Holland wouldn’t announce AHL prodigy Jeff Blashill as the newest head coach of the Red Wings, but it’s certain he’s the leading candidate. In fact, Babcock told Prime Time Sports Thursday that Blashill would get the job.
In multiple interviews, Holland praised Blashill’s work ethic, accountability, relationship with his players and his winning track record. Holland also said he owes it to Blashill to speak to him about the vacancy first.
According to Red Wings blogger George Malik, five teams asked Holland for permission to interview Blashill, who will meet formally with Holland next week.
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Since the St. Louis Blues met with but failed to land Babcock, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is calling Hitch’s return to the bench “likely.”
Beat reporter Jeremy Rutherford writes that the Blues circled back to Hitchcock Wednesday, when general manager Doug Armstrong and Hitchcock spoke at a local coffee shop for about an hour.
“See you later,” Hitchcock said to Armstrong as they left.
A new contract is not imminent, according to Rutherford.
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Although they spoke with Babcock, who reportedly approached San Jose, the Sharks are considering candidates Randy Carlyle, Peter DeBoer and Adam Oates, according to various reports.
“Absolutely I want to be a head coach,” Oates, a free agent, told us a couple of weeks ago. “I think I am one. I think I’m a good coach. So that’s where I am right now in my life.”
New Jersey Devils GM Ray Shero met with Oates and Scott Stevens for a couple of hours each upon being hired by president Lou Lamoriello, but otherwise things have been relatively quiet in Devils country.
NJ.com places Dan Bylsma as the favourite, but that’s based purely on his history with Shero while with the Penguins.
“I don’t have a deadline or a timetable,” Shero told North Jersey.com. “If I can have it in a perfect way, yeah, for sure [on hiring a coach before the draft], but it’s more important to find the right fit for us and certainly for the coach. So, in terms of a timetable, I don’t want to limit myself to any date or time frame.”
Shero did say he’s been talking to candidates from outside the organization. Guy Boucher — once a serious candidate for the Leafs gig, president Brendan Shanahan confirmed — is in the running here, according to TVA’s Louis Jean.
While Sabres fans (and management?) lament losing out on white-whale Babcock, to whom they offered more money than the Leafs did, GM Tim Murray told WGR he has been speaking with other candidates before, during and since the Babtalks. He did not confirm or deny that Dan Bylsma is on that list.
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Could Boston’s Claude Julien be Buffalo’s next marquee target?
Well, newly appointed Bruins GM Don Sweeney has spoken with the in-limbo coach.
“He’s the coach of the Boston Bruins as of today, for sure,” Sweeney said at his introductory press conference Wednesday.
“I’m going to take the necessary time to evaluate,” Sweeney continued. “It will start with Claude, and we’ll dissect a little bit of the personnel pieces that he feels he’s had in the past that he’s had success with, and what we currently have, what we need to identify that could be missing — and we’ll go from there.”
Hardly a ringing endorsement.
