Vancouver Canucks Fire Coach Marc Crawford
By Richard Eriksson on April 25, 2006 - 4:42pm
Heard about this one at the Vancouver LiveJournal community site, of all places: the Canucks did what many expected and fired coach Marc Crawford. I don't think he deserved it: he has a great win-loss record with the team, and most of what happened—injuries to #1 goalie Dan Cloutier and #1 defenseman Ed Jovanovski, Bertuzzi doggin' it—during the season wasn't his responsibility. Bertuzzi might have been something he could have changed: though I don't believe it for a second, there were rumours of a Bertuzzi-Crawford personality conflict. So who do the Canucks hire next? Some think that Pat Quinn is an obvious choice. Not really following hockey closely this year, or any year for that matter, the only other coach I know out of a job is Quinn's assistant at Toronto Rick Ley, also formerly an assistant to Quinn in Vancouver. Not getting past the second round in the playoffs in any of his seasons coaching the Canucks is probably enough to warrant dismissal, but he had only one year left on his countract, and with a healthy team next year the Canucks could have simply chosen not to renew. Is this the beginning of a Canucks fire sale? Or are the Canucks just going to replace the coaching staff while keeping the same lineup of players?
The Vancouver Canucks organization has proven it is incapable of sound and logical business decisions. It became cleat me that when a factory has a machine break you do not fire the operator but rather replace the machine. Dave Nonis on the other used to darts to fill the void left by an ineffectual defense and netminding combination. Cloutier is a known liability and Nonis at the beginning of the season pronounced that Cloutier was there man. What evidence he based this on is totally specious. The reason Crawford had such troubles in prior playoff series is due entirely to injuries and inconsistent performance at the net. Other teams have realised the paramountcy of getting a back stopper that can win a cup. What is Nonis' reaction to this, the same as Brian Burke, replace and fill holes in defense rather than netminding. If Burke was the problem before and we appoint his understudy (Nonis) how can Crawford now be the problem when the status quo was simply maintained. It is my prediction that Canucks will at least consider promoting someone from within the organization to fill the coaching position on a temporary or permanent basis. The reason for this is that teams with competent coaches made the playoffs and aren't going to let them go. We should have attempted to buy above the cap (it is being increased anyway) pay the pay roll tax and end the sillyness. Thats enough to digest for now. More later!
Vancouver Environment Meetup Group
http://environment.meetup.com/237/
By NHL standards, Crawford's tenure as head coach was extremely long--nearly three times that of the average. If it's so absurd to fire a good coach, why does every team do it every 2.5 years?
You can judge a coach on any number of factors, but playoff success is the most important. Crawford's best work? Once, he got the team to the second round. In eight attempts, that's simply not good enough.
"The reason for this is that teams with competent coaches made the playoffs and aren't going to let them go." Let's see how Ken Hitchcock (another Stanely Cup winning coach) fares in Philedelphia if the Flyers go in the first round. Laviolette might also be on thin ice. And do you mean to imply that Pat Quinn isn't a good coach?
As for obtaining a goaltender 'who can win a cup', I encourage you to have a look at the playoff experience of every goalie in the Eastern Conference. After Brodeur, it's extremely thin on the ground. The Western Conference isn't much better. You can count the great goalies on one hand, with three fingers to spare.
Eventually, players stop listening to the coach--they simply have a shelf life. You can replace the players or replace the coach. Nonis will probably do some of both, but there's no question that it was time for a change. DB.
I do not think hiring Pat Quinn back into the Canucks organization is a step in the right direction, he failed with Team Canada in Torina and with the Maple Leafs. I believe Dave Lewis formerly of the Detroit Red Wings is the best option.
Vancouver Environment Meetup Group
http://environment.meetup.com/237/
At more reasonable ticket prices you can get your playoff hockey fix with our WHL team, the Vancouver Giants.