I had quite a battle going on Twitter Wednesday night with some of my followers who either don’t think Alain Vigneault can coach, or think his time is done and it’s time for a change.
I’m not going to spend much time on the first argument. Vigneault’s numbers speak for themselves.
Under his guidance the Canucks have won four division titles in five years, collected a Presidents’ Trophy and made an appearance in the Cup Final for the first time since 1994. He has one Jack Adams award from his days with the Canucks and was named a finalist last season.
At first his detractors said he couldn’t coach offence and yet last season no team in the league scored more goals. Throw in the fact no team gave up fewer goals and Vancouver was right at the top in both power play and penalty kill percentage and it’s fruitless to argue the numbers.
Was Vigneault blessed with a strong line-up last season? Sure. But don’t ignore the fact that almost all the guys who have played for Vigneault in Vancouver have developed very nicely from year to year and have had career seasons.
He is set to become the Canucks all time leader in coaching wins and he’ll do it in almost 100 fewer games than Marc Crawford. Of course Crawford coached in a different era (mostly the no shootout era) and wasn’t blessed with the goaltending Vigneault is, but to get to 246 wins in 100 FEWER games cannot be overlooked either.
To suggest that the Canucks win in spite of Vigneault is utterly ridiculous in my opinion. As is the notion that one of my Twitter followers has that there are at least 15 NHL coaches better than Vigneault and then listed Crawford, Keenan, Maurice and Lemaire as four of them. Three of them currently aren’t in the league (and yes I know Lemaire could likely land a job if he wanted one) and the other is probably very close to losing his job again.
I think you could make a strong case for Mike Babcock and Dan Bylsma, but after that you could make a strong case for Vigneault against all others.
Now, on the subject of whether the Canucks could use a new voice in the room.
This at least merits discussion. I’m on the record as saying that Vigneault deserves to be the coach until the end of this season. I’ve also said that if the Canucks don’t win the Cup, then he’s fair game. And yes, even if the Canucks go to the Final again and lose, Mike Gillis would be justified in going in a new direction.
A lot of people have brought up the case of the Penguins a couple years back. A team that lost in game seven of the Stanley Cup, got off to a slow start the next season, fired Michel Therrien and then went on to win the whole thing. That sounds great, but you have to go back and look at what was happening in Pittsburgh at the time.
Therrien had totally lost his marbles and the room. He was ripping guys left and right. This was one of his rants after a Penguins loss.
“I’m not impressed,” he said. “It’s a pathetic performance. Half the team doesn’t care. These guys would see if we take 50 percent of their salaries because they only play 50 percent of the time. That defensive squad, I really am starting to believe their goal is to be the worst in the league.
“And they’re doing the best job to be the worst defensive squad in the league. They turn the puck over, they have no vision, they’re soft. They pretend to care, but I know they don’t care,” said Therrien on January 11, 2006.
Now that is strong. Canucks fans get their knickers in a knot if Vigneualt demotes Cody Hodgson a line for a period. Imagine the outcry if he dropped one of those bombs in his post game presser?
I, like anyone who watches the Canucks on a daily basis, question some of the decisions Vigneualt makes. Last week I thought Cory Schneider should have started in Anaheim. This week, I thought AV showed a quick trigger finger in putting Hodgson on the fourth line after a tough period against the Hawks.
But coaches are paid big bucks to make decisions and manage the team in the way they feel will net the best results. Sometimes the moves work and sometimes they don’t. But there is no question Vigneault has pulled the right strings more often than not.
Coaches accept the fact they will always be second guessed. And we cannot ignore the fact that hindsight is always 20/20.
POLL:
Yes or no: Should Alain Vigneault be fired?
$(“#poll_8579”).v2Poll({poll_id: 8579});
Vigneault may not be a so called “players coach”, but he does give his players a lot of rope. The dressing room is theirs, the leadership group is given tons of responsibility and he gives them plenty of optional days (and days off) compared to other coaches.
I don’t believe the Canucks have tuned out their coach. Usually the tell tale sign that a coach has lost the room is when the players don’t put forth a solid effort on the ice. You can’t tell me that in the last five games the Canucks have looked like they didn’t give a crap.
I’ve talked to players about Vigneault over the years and yes recently too. Some find him arrogant. Some say he doesn’t talk enough to players individually. Some say he rips them too hard behind closed doors. But you know what? Players don’t have to like their coach, they just have to respect him. Show me a coach who is universally liked by his players. There isn’t one.
And there isn’t one who is universally liked by the team’s fans either.