In our roundup of the latest rumours and reports surrounding the NHL’s coaching carousel, Dan Bylsma appears next in line to secure employment, the Devils have candidates aplenty, and the Sharks could be looking at the Ducks bench.
After losing out on the Mike Babcock sweepstakes, general manager Tim Murray told Buffalo radio that he was speaking with other candidates before, during and since the Babtalks.
“We’re looking for the best candidate for our needs and his needs,” regardless of age or experience, Murray said Thursday on WGR 550. “I’m looking for the best guy.”
The lead candidate appears to be Dan Bylsma, who coached Jack Eichel at the World Championship earlier this month. Still under contract with Pittsburgh, Bylsma is meeting with Buffalo this week, and according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Buffalo job is the one he wants.
It would be shocking if AHL Grand Rapids Griffins head coach Jeff Blashill does not succeed Babcock in Detroit.
GM Ken Holland said Blashill would be the first candidate he speaks to about the gig this week, but Babcock let the cat out of the bag in Toronto Thursday. He said flat-out that Blashill would succeed him: “Blashill’s going to be the next coach of the Wings.”
“My ultimate goal is to be head coach in the NHL someday,” Blashill told the Detroit Free Press last week. “I knew that, to do that, at some point, I needed to be and wanted to go to the AHL to be a head coach.”
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As New Jersey Devils management and ownership meet Tuesday to discuss their 2015-16 budget, northjersey.com writer Tom Gulitti broke down the candidates for GM Ray Shero’s first hire.
Dan Bylsma, Guy Boucher, Scott Stevens, Adam Oates and Paul MacLean are rumoured to have been considered, but Gulitti writes that fans should not expect a quick hire here.
John Hynes, the AHL coach of the Wilkes Barre-Scranton Penguins, is an intriguing name. Hynes, 40, was originally hired for the Penguins gig by Shero, and a source tells Gulitti that Hynes is “definitely in the mix” with the Devils.
“Obviously, I worked with him,” Shero told the site. “I was pretty fortunate in Pittsburgh to have some good guys in the minor leagues.
Todd Reirden, the 43-year-old assistant coach of the Washington Capitals with head coach dreams, once served under Shero as Bylsma’s assistant with Pittsburgh and ran the defence. Gulitti’s source says the Devils have interest in him as well.
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“Interim” head coach Dave Cameron, who is close to inking a new deal as bench boss of the Ottawa Senators, according to the Ottawa Sun, already had two years left on his contract as an assistant.
No doubt he’s in for a raise after guiding Ottawa on a thrilling late-season run and qualifying for the playoffs. Kudos to Cameron for not wrapping negotiations until Todd McLellan and Babcock raised the salary standard for coaches.
Side note: A little curious not to hear Paul MacLean‘s name in the mix for some of these openings. The former Sens coach was fired mid-season but won the Jack Adams Award in 2013. According to the Sun, no team has requested interview permission.
The list of candidates the San Jose Sharks are reportedly interested in is long. Randy Carlyle, Peter DeBoer, Adam Oates and Dan Bylsma have all been rumoured to have interviewed already or will soon.
If GM Doug Wilson decides to go with a less-familiar name, Mercury News reporter David Pollak suggests 50-year-old Dave Lowry — who played 143 games with San Jose between 1997 and 2000 — as a darkhorse here.
And Trent Yawney, busy with his assistant coaching duties in Anaheim this week, has had his name pop up in the mix as well.
