Potential Bulldogs Head Coaches

With George Burnett being relieved of his duties the Hamilton Bulldogs/Belleville Bulls franchise will be looking for a new head coach for the 1st time since 2004-05. Burnett during his 12 years at the helm of the franchise took the Bulls/Bulldogs 1 4 conference finals and 1 OHL finals. In the last 7 years however the teams fans have suffered through 5 losing seasons.

One benefit of the change is that the Bulldogs will be separating the Head Coach and GM duties. While coming as recently as 10 years ago the dual role is something that you are seeing less and less of with the evolution of junior hockey and the added demands on both roles.

With President Steve Staios taking over the GM role the fan base can have confidence in him finding the right man for the job. In his year as president of the Bulldogs Staios has slowing been making over the franchise with key highers in both analytics as well as player development and strength and conditioning.

In looking for a new coach the Bulldogs should be looking for a leader with great upside and a strong history in player development. Having one of the younger rosters in the league player development is key to the Bulldogs moving forward. This is especially true with the fact that from the outside it seemed like the development of a few players stalled somewhat last season.

I have broken down a list of a few candidates for the HC position. This is not a list of all options but a few that stick out to me. It is broken down into 3 groups. The internal options, those who have a connection to Steve Staios through is playing an management career and finally some top head coaching candidates that are currently assistants in the CHL.

The internal option

Troy Smith

The Bulldogs assistant GM as well as an assistant coach under George Burnett. Troy came to Hamilton after a 9 year run with the Kitchener Rangers. The last 2 years as head coach where he compiled a record of 54-67-15. He replaced former Rangers HC and GM Steve Spott and walked into a rebuild so his record must be taken with a grain of salt. He had a 25 point improvement from year 1 to year 2 and is well respected in coaching circles.

With previous head coaching experience and his familiarity with the Current Bulldogs team Troy has to be considered the favourite for the job.

The Steve Staios Connections

Todd Harvey

Todd is a native of Hamilton Ontario and is a former 1^st overall OHL draft pick. He won 2 world junior gold medals during his junior hockey days and went on to have a 12 year NHL career.

Since the 2013-14 season Todd has been an assistant coach with the Guelph Storm. That first season the Storm would go on to win the OHL Championship.

Todd was teammates with GM Steve Staois with the Edmonton Oilers during the 2005-06 season.

Mike Peca

Currently the GM of the Buffalo Jr Sabres in the OJHL. Peca won coach of the year during the 2013-14 season his second behind the bench. He stepped back from coaching the Jr A team as he shifted to coaching his sons team in the Jr Sabres program while maintaing his role as GM.

In his 2 seasons behind the bench he had a record of 69-28-11 while helping lead the Jr Sabres to levels they had never reached before.

During his playing career Peca won an Olympic gold medal with team Canada. He was also teammates with GM Steve Staios during the 2005-06 season with the Edmonton Oilers.

Derek King

Derek King recently finished his 1^st season as an assistant coach with the Owen Sound Attack in the OHL.

Prior to this he was an assistant with the Toronto Marlies for 6 seasons. During this time Steve Staios worked in player development for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

During his playing Career Derek played in 830 NHL games. During his OHL career he played in 2 memorial cups. Once for the Soo Greyhounds and once for the Oshawa Generals. He also played Jr A hockey in Hamilton before being drafted into the OHL and is a Hamilton Ontario native.

Dereks son DJ was a 2^nd round draft pick of the Hamilton Bulldogs and is currently committed to play for the USNTDP.

CHL Assistants

Jason Fortier

Currently an assistant coach in the QMJHL with the #1 ranked team in the BMO/CHL top 10 the Rouyn Noranda Huskies. Fortier came to the Q after a successful 2 year stint with the Toronto Patriots in the OJHL that lead to 2 straight league titles as well as a Dudley Hewitt cup championship and a berth in the RBC Cup and a 70-30-7 record. Prior to his stint with Toronto he had a successful 4 year run with the Vaughn Vipers were he accumulated a record of 125-61-18.

Aside from his success in terms of wins and titles Jason has a stellar reputation as someone who can develop talent. With a background of on ice success and an ability to develop talent it is only a matter of time before he is a head coach at the CHL level.

While there may not be much of a connection between Jason and GM Steve Staios he did coach against the son of owner Michael Andlaur. Andlauer's son plays in the OJHL for St. Mikes who happen to be in the same division as the Toronto Patriots. Because of this you can expect that Andlauer is very familier with Fortiers success and reputation although I imagine the descision will lie solely with Steve Staios.

James Richmond

The first back to back winner of the OJHL coach of the year award (13-14, 14-15)since they moved to 1 award for the whole league (before a winner was chosen from each division) James also won the award in 2008-09 as the MacKinnon division recipient while with the Georgetown Raiders. A finalist for the Oshawa Generals opening last season Richmond ultimately wound up as an assistant with the Mississauga Steelheads.

After leading the Aurora Tigers to the OJHL final in 13-14 Richmond improbably led a team that improve d to a record of 44-7-3 in spite of the fact that they graduated 15 players from the 2013-14 team.

During his time with Aurora James also worked with the Los Angeles Kings in a player development role that saw him work at various prospect and rookie camps.

During his playing career James went the NCAA route where he was captain of the University of New Hampshire his junior and senior seasons. Following his college playing days he would play in Europe in Denmark, Netherlands and Germany.

Dylan Hunter

Former Captain of the London Knights Dylan was a member of the 2005 Memorial cup champions. Following a professional career that consisted of over 300 games in the AHL and ECHL Dylan joined the coaching ranks as an assistant in London.

One of Dylans main roles with the Knights revolves around player development both on and off the ice with young Knights. 2015-16 is his 5^th season behind the bench in London and during his time he has even picked up a win as a head coach while filling in for his father Dale.

Ryan Oulahen

Ryan is a hot name among current OHL assistant coaches. A former captain of the Grand Rapid Griffins in the AHL Ryan had to retire due to a hip injury. He has been Stan Butlers lead assistant with the Battalion since 2011-12 . In this time the Battalion have won 32 playoff games and have advanced to 1 OHL final and another Eastern Conference final.Born in 1985 Ryan is would be the youngest coach in the OHL but having mentor in Stan Butler for the past 5 seasons you know he is someone who would be well prepared to take the next step.

Who do they pick? 

There are plenty of high quality candidates for the Bulldogs to chose from. The fact that they arent rushing to name the internal candidate the new head coach is great for the fan base to see. The team shouldn't wait too long however as I anticipate a few more openings in the league as some current head coaches move on to the professional ranks.

With my time covering the OJHL I have grown rather fond of the work that both Jason Fortier and James Richmond have done. Personally I feel Richmond will be named the HC of Mississauga at some point this season (assuming they know what is good for them). If it were my call I would take a long hard look at Jason Fortier. He wouldnt be the first coach to have success at the Jr A level and move on to the OHL as guys like Marty Williamson, Dale Hawerchuk and Sheldon Keefe have all done the same. The year as an assistant in the QMJHL will only benefit him further.

At the end of the day there may not be a wrong decision in this group. Some may be more right than others but I would not be surprised to see all of these candidates thrive as a CHL head coach at some point in the future.

OHL Flashback Trade Tree Jordan Mayer

With the OHL Priority Selection behind us I thought I would look back at some of the post draft trades that have occurred involving 1^st round picks that refused to report to the team that drafted them. After all this is hardly a new thing. Eric Lindros refused to report to the Soo Greyhounds and the resulting traded helped build the foundation for 3 straight memorial cup appearances. The Generals did alright themselves with a league championship during the Lindros era. Some of these spawn rather interesting trade trees through the years.

In recent years players like Kerby Rychel and Max Domi have refused to report to the team that drafted them only to find success elsewhere. While I will get to them later in the series I thought I would start with one of the last players to pull the no show card before the 1^st round compensation pick rule came into affect.

OHL Flashback Trade Tree 

Jordan Mayer

Going into the 2007 season the Soo Greyhounds were primed to make some noise. After pushing the London Knights to 7 games the previous year in the 2^nd round of the playoffs Craigh Hartsburg and Dave Torrie had built a team that was knocking on the door of a potential Western Conference run.

Looking to add an impact player to their team in hopes of bolstering their run they selected Jordan Mayer out of Kingston Ontario. Unfortunately the Hounds were unable to convince him to report to Sault Ste Marie. With the draft pick compensation rules still a few years from being in place they didn't have an opportunity to trade him for a boatload of picks in an effort to boost their trade deadline buying abilities.

With Mayer holding out Hartsburg and Torrie went to work putting the team in the best position to succeed. Final near the trade deadline the Greyhounds and the Mississauga St. Micheal's Majors hooked up on a trade. To Mississauga would be disgruntled forward Jordan Mayer and to Sault Ste Marie would be local kid Matt Caria. A former NOJHL rookie of the year with the Soo Thunderbirds.

For his part Jordan Mayer turned in a solid OHL career. It may not have lived up to that of other 1^st round picks as he only topped the 30 goal mark once in his career but he played 296 career OHL games and added 95 goals and 101 assists. Lost an OHL finals while with the Majors but also got to play in the Memorial Cup that year as Mississauga was the host.

Matt Caria made an instant impact with the Hounds. Coming off of a 75 point season the year before as an 18 year old Caria would slide into the Hounds lineup behind 1^st line center Dustin Jeffery and add some much needed scoring depth picking up 31 points in 26 games. In the playoffs he would add another 14 points in 14 games as the Hounds ultimately fell to the Kitchener Rangers in the conference finals.

Matt would return to Sault Ste. Marie for his OA season and add another 30 games with the program and tacking on another 35 points. It was at this moment in time when Hounds GM Dave Torrie would present him with a trade opportunity to Plymouth. Matt Decided to waive his NTC allowing the Hounds to pick up 3 draft picks. A Windsor 3^rd in 2009 and Plymouth 2^nd in 2010 and a Plymouth 6^th in 2011.

Matt Caria would end strong adding 57 points in his final 37 games with Plymouth before picking up 15 in 11 playoff games.

The 3 draft picks the Hounds picked up would all see time in the Red and White with varying degrees of success.

First up was the Windsor 3^rd from 2009. Coming off of a league championship that pick turned out to be the 60^th of that draft. The Hounds took a shot at a skilled late birthday forward playing for Team Illinois named Trevor Morbeck. Trevor was one of 4 players from this draft to play more than 170 OHL games joining Daniel Catenacci, Nick Cousins and Ryan Sproul in the Hounds draft haul. While there is no doubt Trevor showed flashes during his time with the Hounds things never seemed to click. Trevor would add 15 goals and 19 assists in 127 games before being dealt.

The Plymouth 2^nd in 2010 turned out to have some rather big franchise changing implications for the Hounds. With this pick they took a lanky goaltender out of Thunder Bay named Matt Murray. Matt would go on to start 4 consecutive season opening games for the Greyhounds. Matt would finish 2^nd on the Greyhounds all time career list in GP by a goalie as well as minutes played.3^rd in wins and 2^nd in shutouts (since passed). He was a homerun 2^nd round draft pick and an outlier as to what fans can realistically expect with a 2^nd round pick. On top of this Matt was drafted and then signed to play in the NHL which to an extent adds value to an OHL team.

With Plymouth's 6^th round pick in 2011 the Greyhounds took a flyer on a player from Florida playing minor midget hockey in Illinois named Gabe Guertler. Gabe would go on to play his age 16 and 17 seasons in the USHL before commiting to play for the University of Minnesota. After an up and down freshman year he left the team to join the Hounds as a 19 year old. In his age 19 yo season as well as his OA season Guertler would provide much needed offensive flair to the Hounds. In 135 games Guertler would add 53 goals and 72 assists.. His season point totals of 57 and 68 were higher than any that Jordan Mayer put up while in the OHL.

The final branch of the Jordan Mayer trade tree would be a small deal that sent Trevor Morbeck to Kingston for forward Dylan Staples. Dylan was a gritty bottom six forward who stuck around with the Greyhounds for a but just before the Kyle Dubas area started to kick into another gear. Dylan would add 22 goals in parts of 3 seasons with the Hounds.

In the end the Jordan Mayer deal is one that worked out for both teams. The Majors got great value for Matt Caria. As Mayer was an integral part of their team that made it to game 7 of the OHL finals.

The Hounds meanwhile turned 5 years of Jordan Mayer into over 500 games of OHL service. Now what should be noted with their draft selections is that their 2^nd and 6^th round picks were outliers in terms of return. While fans have a fixation on 2^nd round picks the return that Matt Murray gave was quite extrodinary. Gabe Guertler while delayed his 2 years of high leveraged value is also something that should not be expected with a 6^th round pick. Trevor Morbeck was about average to just below for a late 3^rd rounder but when you someone taken in that position plays 170 OHL games you take it.

The Greyhounds overall did fantastic work in maximizing the value of their assets in this deal. From getting much needed scoring depth in a year they were all in to maximizing the assets on a 2^nd deal during a rebuild which had 2 key components in their next run to the top.

Next week I look into the first trade of a non report 1st round pick that came with a comp pick as Lucas Lessio chose not to report to the Niagara Ice Dogs.

James Boyd and the Dual Coach/GM role

There was a time in the OHL where having a Duoalcoach/GM role was a common theme. Peter Deboer in Kitchener, Mike Vellucci in Plymouth, George Burnett in Belleville and Brian Kilrea in Ottawa just to name a few. In fact since Plymouth ('07) and Kitchener ('08) won the J Robertson Cup no team has won the league championship with a duo coach/gm in place for the whole season. Mark Hunter won while in both roles but he only made his way behind the bench after brother Dale was hired by the Washington Capitals mid season.

This past season there were only 5 such teams who had a someone share both posts. Marty Williamson in Niagara, Stan Butler in Brampton, Jeff Brown in Ottawa, George Burnett in Hamilton and James Boyd in Mississauga. With Burnett already being let go by Hamilton early in the offseason that list will shrink even more.

With added importance on scouting and extra pressures off the ice like education and the business side of hockey there is a lot more to running a team that pulls the General Managers attention in different directions. Add on top of that the daily rigors of being a head coach from strategizing to player development it is not an easy job for one to handle.

James Boyd has held both titles since then Mississauga St. Michaels owner Eugene Melynk plucked Dave Cameron from the Majors and brought him to Ottawa. With 7 years as an associate or co-coach of the Majors Boyd was the logical choice to take over as head coach. He was also given the role of General Manager.

While there is no denying that Boyd was starting out behind the 8 ball after an all in year where the Majors hosted the memorial cup and while in his first year behind the bench star player Devante Smith-Pelly made the Anaheim Ducks as a 19 year old and star 18 year old defender Stuart Percy battled injuries. Still the rebuild in Mississauga has not gone as smoothly as one had hoped. A series of uninspired 1^st round draft picks and an inability to develop assets to restock the draft cupboard for future runs has hampered the speed of the rebuild. Finally with 4 top 4 OHL draft picks on their roster there was some improvement this past season but is it enough?

How has Boyd Fared?

In his first year the Majors finished with 33 wins 28 losses and 7 overtime losses. They would go on to face the Barrie Colts in the 1^st round before bowing out in 6 games.

After a re-brand and a new owner the Mississauga Steelheads were born. With the graduation of some key players that helped them stay above .500 the previous year the Steelheads sunk farther into a rebuild finishing with a 26-34-0-8 record. They snuck into the playoffs with the 8^th seed and were promptly dispatched by the top seeded Belleville Bulls.

In season 3 more of the same as their record dropped for the 3^rd straight year finishing 24-38-0-6. Another 8^th seed and a quick 4 game defeat this time at the hands of the Oshawa Generals.

Last season in year 4 the Steelheads bottomed out finishing 25-40-0-3 missing the playoffs and securing their 3^rd top 5 pick in 3 seasons. The acquisition of Ryan McLeod who refused to report to Flint added their 5^th to this years team.

With the addition of Import Alex Nylander the Steelheads finally showed life finishing 33-20-0-5 and picking up the 7^th seed although they would ultimately fall to Barrie in 7 games although there were questions about Boyds coaching and how he handled leads that allowed the Colts to make a few comebacks.

At the draft table the team has under performed to an extent. Especially in rounds 2-4 vs the returns other OHL teams have received over the same time. 

2011

Armed with 2 1st round draft picks thanks to Nick Ebert failing to report the then Majors picked up Scott Teskey and Spencer Martin. Teskey never topped the 6 goals he scored in his rookie year and finished his career in the OJHL. While you can question the logic of taking a goalie in the 1st round Martin was a solid OHL netminder and helped push the Steelheads into the playoffs on the strength of his play a couple of times. While they had no 2nd or 3rd round picks that year they did pick up a pair of 5 year players in Jacob Graves and Josh Burnside with their 4th and 6th round selections but not much else came out of that draft outside of Nick Zottl (11th round 120 OHL games) and Chad Duchesne (13th round 124 OHL games)

2012

1st round pick Damian Bourne has turned into a solid OHL but with only 9 goals in his 19 year old season he has to be considered a disappointment as a 1st round pick from a production point of view.

They did seem to hit on 2nd round pick Jared Walsh but draft picks Bobby MacIntyre (2nd), Thomas Schemitsch (5th) Dawson Carty (6th) and Greg DiTomaso (8th) have all thrived on other teams.

2013

1st round pick Sean Day while talented has failed to live up to the hype that allowed him to be granted exceptional status. 2nd round pick Jesse Barwell is in Saginaw and Austin Gerhart is no longer in the OHL. The Steelheads did however hit a home run with 7th round pick Natian Bastian.

2014/2015

Hard to judge these drafts but the early returns are encouraging. While 2014 2nd rounder Luke Kutkevicius has been shipped out Hague and Osmanski make for a solid and deep blue line.

Where do they stand now?

After their first improvement in the James Boyd era you could say the Steelheads have an enviable amount of '98 and '99 born talent. With Alex Nylander and Michael McLeod projected as 1^st round NHL draft picks in this Junes NHL draft (you can add in Nathan Bastian although he is a '97) '98 born defender Sean Day is a former exceptional player who while polarizing oozes potential. Late '98 born defender Nic Hague is a projected top pick in the 2017 NHL draft while their pair of '15 OHL 1^st round selections Ryan Mcleod and Owen Tippett impressed in their rookie seasons as both put up 20 points as 16 year olds.

This team whoever is not without question marks. With OA goalie Jack Flinn and his OHL leading 3571 minutes graduating who will be the Steelheads goalie? Joseph Murdaca was acquired from Saginaw but with only 436 minutes of OHL action under his belt and a career .867 save percentage is he really the guy you want between your pipes when you are primed to win the east?

Leading scorer Alex Nylander while on the verge of being drafted out of the OHL is eligible to play in the AHL next season. Unlike most players he was loaned to the Steelheads by his SEL team thus making him AHL eligible. A similar situation arose a few years ago when Finnish defender Julian Honka was drafted out of the WHL.

Offensively Sean Day took a step back this season picking up only 22 points after putting up 36 in his 16 year old season. His development hasn't gone as planed which has been a theme in Mississauga with their 1st round picks (Tesky, Bourne) He spent some time away from the team after Christmas and you have to wonder if his heart is really in Mississauga.

With Bastian about to enter his 19 year old season and the high end talents of Nylander and Mcleod and their NHL potential you have to wonder how much longer their window extends beyond this season. If they go all in this season and lose all 3 will they have the assets to supplement their remaining pieces for a run the following season?

At the end of the day while James Boyd is a talented hockey man I am not sure if I want him in both roles with the Steelheads championship window in front of him. After years of poor finishes he has fallen on the assets required to build a champion but I am not sure he will be able to get them over the top. At least not while in both roles.

What to do with James Boyd

The easiest option would be for James to step down as the Steelheads head coach and let James Richmond take over behind the bench. Richmond was brought in as an assistant this year after a 3 year run as the head coach of Aurora in the OJHL. A 3 year run that netted him to coach of the year awards and a 114-36-12 record. James also received strong consideration for the Oshawa Generals opening last year and is a highly regarded coach.

This scenario will allow Boyd to concentrate on finding value in adding pieces to what is already a potentially great team. Maximizing the return for the assets he has will be imperative if this team wants to extend its championship window.

Another option would be to move away from Boyd all together and find someone else to take the team over the top. This scenario was done by the Niagara Icedogs when they let go Dave Brown shortly after the 2010 draft and brought in Marty Williamson. The Icedogs had a good young core and Marty was brought in to put them over the top. They ultimately failed to win the championship but they have made the playoffs every year and have been very competitive the last 2 seasons (although you could argue they haven't lived up to expectations).

The final option would be to keep Boyd on as the head coach and find someone to take over the GM duties. This however isn't a very realistic option as a GM usually wants their own coach and would make Boyd a bit of a lame duck.

At the end of the day the Ownership of the Mississauga Steelheads must decide what is in the best interest of the team and given the nature of today's OHL what puts this team in the best position to win not just this season but going forward.

As for those who are reading this what would you do? Do you feel it is in a teams best interest in today's OHL to have someone in the dual role?