Three critical (but unfilled) positions on an NHL coaching staff
How resourceful teams can gain an edge
The NHL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement constrains how many players NHL teams can carry on their roster as well as how much they can pay these players.
However, there aren’t any CBA regulations governing front-office and coaching staff.
A modern NHL team has myriad advisors and consultants to assist in planning and decision-making. Yet many organizations neglect three pivotal front-line roles.
1) Team Chauffeur
During the 2019 Toronto Maple Leafs training camp, Sheldon Keefe, then-head coach of the AHL’s Marlies, invites me out for lunch to pick my brain.
“I don’t understand why an NHL head coach would ever have to drive to work,” I tell him over a pint and a sandwich at a pub in St. John’s, Newfoundland. “Your commute takes away two hours of quality thinking, napping or working time every day. Given how much a coach is paid, the company is actually losing money by not hiring someone.
“Any mid-level executive or above at Chinese company has a chauffeur. It just makes too much sense financially and operationally.”
Sheldon takes it all in before we move onto another topic.
Six months later I leave the TOR organization. Sheldon calls me to wish me well. The new coach of the Maple Leafs also informs me that he now no longer drives to work; he negotiated for a chauffeur as part of his new contract.
2) Return-to-Play Coach
Injuries are tough for NHLers. Not just due to the physical pain and the loss of playing opportunities, but also because any prolonged absence puts a player behind the eight ball when it comes to readjusting to the intensity of game action.
To make a seamless return to play, a sidelined NHLer needs:
Someone with the skills development savvy to help him come back at 105% capacity (i.e. use the time “off” to add new elements as opposed to merely feeling pain-free)
Someone with the sports science background to monitor outputs and ramp up/slow down the RTP process as need be
Someone with the playing ability to provide a challenge in 1v1 battle scenarios - the last frontier before reintegrating team practices
Two of the best I’ve seen in this role are Denver Manderson (TOR) and Pierre Allard (ex-MTL).
Manderson, the Leafs’ Return to Play Consultant, is a former ECHL player with an extensive skills coaching background.
Allard, formerly the Habs’ Director of Sports Science, played for France at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano.
Both combine technical knowledge with an ability to suit up and play all-out against an NHLer searching for form. In addition, their roles provide the flexibility for them to either stay home with a player while the team is on the road, or to travel with the team and concurrently serve multiple players dealing with day-to-day ailments.
3) Consultant Coach
An NHL head coach has a lonely job.
Fans and media are never easy to manage.
Your bosses are putting constant pressure for you to make decisions that line up with their team building strategy.
Your assistants tend either to be loyal yes-men or ambitious subordinates jockeying to take your job.
In challenging moments, a coach needs a voice of reason. This is why several teams employ experienced ex-NHL coaches as consultants. These elder statesmen take in the game on TV or from the press box, then relay their opinions and advice to the GM and coach on an as-needed basis.
It’s not a bad system, but it does present the current coach with a problem.
Because the consultant is hired by the GM, there can exist a conflict of interest. When the consultant is supposed to serve the head coach but is being paid by the GM, things can get political. This is why star players such as Patrick Kane, Nathan MacKinnon and Jack Eichel would rather work with their own “skills guy” than those employed by their teams.
Similarly for the consultant coach position to work as it really should, that person should be hired and paid for by the head coach.
Like a private physician, psychologist or player development coach, this consultant is not seen around the team. Instead, the consultant works in the shadows, solely with the interest of the client at heart.
NHL players don’t flinch at investing 5-10% of their annual income on nutritionists, trainers and skills coaches to maximise their game. It goes to reason that NHL coaches would do well to devote a similar amount to hiring people to help them improve their analytical and decision-making capabilities. No politics; no bullshit.
Borrow my brain for a low one-time fee
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