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 1st 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 1st
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 2nd
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 5th 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment