Savard's Firing has a real odor to it
Posted 1:31 PM ET | Comments 0
You have to feel at least a little bit for Denis Savard today.
Yes it's true that Savard almost certainly knew what he was getting into when he started, that coaches in the NHL are often unceremoniously dumped for reasons that often aren't entirely logical. Savard might even know that better than most; before getting the head job he was an assistant coach during a very tumultuous period for Hawk coaches That saw Craig Hartsburg, Dirk Graham, Lorne Molleken, Bob Pulford, Alpo Suhonen (remember him?), Brian Sutter and Trent Yawney all preside over the bench. For anyone counting, that's seven head coaches in nine years.
But man, this one stinks.
Most of that stink for me comes from the fact that the Hawks just so happened to have Joel Quenneville in the organization, having just so happened to hire him as a pro scout in September.
Gee, what a coincidence.
If the Hawks wanted Joel Quenneville as their head coach this season, that's fine. There's reasons why they might want to make that switch. Quenneville's an experienced career coach who won a Cup as an assistant in Colorado in 1996 and has only been out of the playoffs during his head coaching career, spent completly with St. Louis and Colorado, once. He has a certain reputation as a solid teaching coach, a guy who's not a screamer, he was a finalist for the San Jose coaching job this summer and there's a good chance he'll do good things in Chicago.
But firing Savard now, four games into the season, is a bewildering, classless move. If the Hawks wanted Quenneville, again, that's fine, but four games into the season is not the time to do it. Look, four games in is not long enough to properly evaluate whether or not Savard is the man to put Chicago into playoff contention or not, especially not when they've gone 1-2-1.
Hiring Quenneville in September as pro scout and firing Savard now reeks of this being a move that was set in stone long ago, and Quenneville replacing Savard being a matter of when, not if. But if you're sure that Quenneville is your guy, letting Savard twist in the wind for the last month and a half is not only unfair, it's counterproductive. Any coach would rather have the chance to take over a team before training camp rather than doing it after the season starts. You can get your own systems in place and start teaching guys how to play the way you want them to play right from the start.
Doing it now makes it look like the Hawks were always planning to replace Savard with Quenneville, they were just looking for the first excuse to do so. Doing it four games in, well, it's not fair to Savard, it puts Quenneville in an awkward position, and has a real odor to it.
Yes it's true that Savard almost certainly knew what he was getting into when he started, that coaches in the NHL are often unceremoniously dumped for reasons that often aren't entirely logical. Savard might even know that better than most; before getting the head job he was an assistant coach during a very tumultuous period for Hawk coaches That saw Craig Hartsburg, Dirk Graham, Lorne Molleken, Bob Pulford, Alpo Suhonen (remember him?), Brian Sutter and Trent Yawney all preside over the bench. For anyone counting, that's seven head coaches in nine years.
But man, this one stinks.
Most of that stink for me comes from the fact that the Hawks just so happened to have Joel Quenneville in the organization, having just so happened to hire him as a pro scout in September.
Gee, what a coincidence.
If the Hawks wanted Joel Quenneville as their head coach this season, that's fine. There's reasons why they might want to make that switch. Quenneville's an experienced career coach who won a Cup as an assistant in Colorado in 1996 and has only been out of the playoffs during his head coaching career, spent completly with St. Louis and Colorado, once. He has a certain reputation as a solid teaching coach, a guy who's not a screamer, he was a finalist for the San Jose coaching job this summer and there's a good chance he'll do good things in Chicago.
But firing Savard now, four games into the season, is a bewildering, classless move. If the Hawks wanted Quenneville, again, that's fine, but four games into the season is not the time to do it. Look, four games in is not long enough to properly evaluate whether or not Savard is the man to put Chicago into playoff contention or not, especially not when they've gone 1-2-1.
Hiring Quenneville in September as pro scout and firing Savard now reeks of this being a move that was set in stone long ago, and Quenneville replacing Savard being a matter of when, not if. But if you're sure that Quenneville is your guy, letting Savard twist in the wind for the last month and a half is not only unfair, it's counterproductive. Any coach would rather have the chance to take over a team before training camp rather than doing it after the season starts. You can get your own systems in place and start teaching guys how to play the way you want them to play right from the start.
Doing it now makes it look like the Hawks were always planning to replace Savard with Quenneville, they were just looking for the first excuse to do so. Doing it four games in, well, it's not fair to Savard, it puts Quenneville in an awkward position, and has a real odor to it.