I still don’t understand why Wayne wanted to jump headfirst into the pressure cooker that is a head coaching job in the NHL. Especially with a team as underachieving as the Coyotes? Why not take some other head office job, even starting as a GM would have been a smarter move? Anyways, it should be interesting to see where he ends up now that he’s done the Team Canada thing and done the head coaching thing. Read more on his exit below from TheSportingNews.com:
Wayne Gretzky has stepped down as head coach of the Phoenix Coyotes, he announced Thursday.
“This was a difficult decision that I’ve thought long and hard about,” Gretzky said in a statement. “We all hoped there would be a resolution earlier this month to the Coyotes ownership situation, but the decision is taking longer than expected. Since both remaining bidders have made it clear that I don’t fit into their future plans, I approached General Manger Don Maloney and suggested he begin looking for someone to replace me as coach. Don has worked hard and explored many options. I think he has made an excellent choice, and so now it’s time for me to step aside.”
The team’s ownership situation continues to be unresolved.
Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie said Wednesday that he won’t move the team to Canada this season even if he wins the U.S. Bankruptcy Court fight and is given the green light to buy the team.Balsillie’s attorneys said in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Phoenix on Wednesday that they have ditched plans to move the team to Hamilton, Ont., this season, should Judge Redfield T. Baum rule in Balsillie’s favor.
The rest of Gretzky’s statement reads:
“The Coyotes scouting staff has put together a great group of young and talented players who are going to improve tremendously over the next few years,” continued Gretzky. “I’m proud of the team we’ve assembled, the organization with which I’ve been associated and the thousands of dedicated fans who have never wavered in their support of this young team. I’m confident that the best is yet to come for hockey in Phoenix.
“I want to thank every staff member of the Phoenix Coyotes, past and present. It was a real pleasure to work with each and every one of you. I’ve always said that Phoenix is a great sports city and deserves nothing but the best. I still believe that. As a young boy, I learned to play hockey in Southern Ontario, and I know what great fans they have there. It’s my hope they too will have an NHL franchise in the not too distant future.
“I often said it was the greatest honor and privilege I could imagine to be able to play in the National Hockey League. I feel the same way about being an NHL coach. I’ve loved the four years I spent coaching the Coyotes. Not a day went by when I took it for granted, and I will miss the competition of the NHL dearly. It was an honor to hold the position, and I will always consider myself especially fortunate to have had this opportunity.”
Gretzky, who is due to make $8.5 million this season, coached the Coyotes from 555-5555, finishing with a 143-161-24 record, and the team missed the playoffs in all four seasons.
Gretzky, 48, also owns a small piece of the franchise.
The Coyotes had no immediate word on a replacement. Associate coach Ulf Samuelsson had been serving as interim head coach during the preseason, and the team this week hired former NHL head coach Dave King as an assistant.
In honor of this years March Madness tournament we’re revisiting the Top Ten Greatest College Basketball Programs of All Time as decided by WatchMojo.com. Check it out in convenient YouTube playlist format:
Some members of the French media in Montreal are losing their marbles because there is a chance that the next coach will be an Anglophone.
Since the Canadiens fired both GM Serge Savard and coach Jacques Demers, they have hired inexperienced [French] coach after inexperienced [French] coach:
- Mario Tremblay,
- Alain Vigneault,
- Michel Therrien,
- Claude Julien and most recently,
- Guy Carbonneau
Truth is, all of these men have proved to be very good coaches, with Julien of note turning the Boston Bruins around and leading them to a first place ranking in the Eastern conference. Vigneault is no slouch either; he is running the Vancouver Canucks, who remain a dark horse to hoist Stanley Cup this year. Therrien was recently fired by the Pittsburgh Penguins but here is a man who took his team to the Stanley Cup finals last year. Carbonneau will be coaching in Dallas in the next year or two. Tremblay, who left the organization in disarray and has the dubious distinction of having run Patrick Roy out of town, has gone on to serve as an assistant in Minnesota to Jacques Lemaire.
What is crazy, frankly, is that factions in the local media are actually suggesting that Mario Tremblay could make a return behind the Canadiens bench. I like to give people a second chance, but people, Mario Tremblay is welcome to the Bell Centre anytime as a member of the Minnesota Wild or another opposing team. He’s also more than welcome as a former hockey player who won 5 Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens (the four-peat in the late 1970s and the one in 1985-86) but he should never be allowed to stand behind the home team’s bench.
He not only ran out Patrick Roy out of town, but he also sent Donald Brashear packing, who remains in the league, serving justice to opposing players on the ice. What has been an oft-mentioned criticism of the team? A lack of character, and toughness. It’s not like his “different philosophy” led those players to sign elsewhere; he was a disaster who literally ran players out of town, forcing an equally inexperienced GM in Rejean Houle to get little to nothing in return.
You know who I think is tough and has character? Saku Koivu. The Finnish-born player who was drafted 21st overall in 1993 by the Habs returned from cancer, numerous injuries and is now the Canadiens’ longest serving captain, surpassing the great Jean Beliveau. Koivu’s sin, frankly, is that he has never won a Stanley Cup. The French media blame Koivu for this, overlooking the fact that the Habs have been an organization in disarray, coached by largely inexperienced (at the NHL level) rookie coaches, woeful drafting and abysmal trades (Patrick Roy to Avalanche, John Leclair to Flyers, how long do you have?)
This week, when Habs GM Bob Gainey fired Guy Carbonneau, some members of the French Media were quick to point out that Carbo was the latest coach to be fired by Koivu, and that never in the league’s history has a captain gone through so many coaches.
Well, I had only two words for them?
Ray Bourque. Ray Bourque went through the following coaches in Boston from 1979-80 until 1999-2000 (he got traded to the Colorado Avalanche in that year):
Bourque was captain from:
- Wayne Cashman, 1977–83
- Terry O’Reilly, 1983–85
- Ray Bourque & Rick Middleton, 1985–88 (co-captains)
- Ray Bourque, 1988–2000
So Bourque was captain from 1985 to 2000, a whopping fifteen years, and the Bruins did not win the Cup either.
But Bourque is a francophone, and the French media won’t dare level the same accusation at him… but Koivu - whose greatest sin was not learning French - he is to blame for the revolving door of rookie and inexperienced coaches in Montreal.
What these members of the French media fail to realize, sadly, is that they are the main reason why the top French speaking players don’t come to Montreal.
- Daniel Briere was offered more money from Montreal but took less to go to Philadelphia. The media says it’s because the Flyers have a better shot of winning the Cup, I don’t buy that. The Flyers beat the Habs in the second round, but add Briere to Montreal’s side and there was a good chance that Montreal would have advanced that series.
- Vincent Lecavalier resigned with the Tampa Bay Lightning even though he was outright unhappy in Florida.
The list goes on and on. If the French media will be looking at assessing why Montreal has become an unsaviory destination for French speaking players and a graveyard for French speaking coaches, they have only themselves to blame.
Bob Gainey’s Second Coming as Coach
Bob Gainey opens his second stint as head coach of the Montreal Canadiens after firing Guy Carbonneau, TSN points out that Carbo’s coaching record with Montreal was a combined 124-83-23. That’s not too shabby at all.
Why Guy Carbonneau Was Fired
Montreal missed the playoffs in Carbo’s first season, and last year were eliminated in five games by the Philadelphia Flyers in the second round. He becomes the seventh NHL head coach to be fired this season. Worth noting the first coach fired this year, Barry Melrose of the Tampa Bay Lightning was basically kyboshed due to being unpopular with his players (bad line juggling, not playing star players enough). The storyline in Montreal was not too different.
From HabsInsideOut:
Renaud Lavoie of RDS, who is tight with Steve Bégin, said the former Canadien told him the players had been waiting for the axe to fall on their coach.
Luc Gelinas reported – and the GM acknowledged – several players complained to Gainey about Carbonneau’s coaching methods and communications failings.
Gelinas was also told, off the record, that playing Glen Metropolit in a 5-on-3 in Atlanta left the players dumbfounded.
This wasn’t the first time Carbo’s acted a bit cluelessly with his personnel choice. He used fourth liners Greg Stewart and Tom Kostopoulous earlier in February when the Canadiens were looking to win the game late in the first game of Alex Kovalev’s two game benching.
Which takes us to L’Affaire Kovalev, which would take us into 6am tomorrow morning, but seemed to suggest something was remiss between Gainey and Carbo. After all, had the Habs won both of those games (or even one) then it could be argued that the problem was the player. For the Habs to lose both (well, lose one in OT shootout) then it indicated that the problem was perhaps the coach.
Is Bob Gainey an Untouchable?
One thing should be certain, in year five of Gainey’s reign, Big Bob should be on the hot seat: he previously took over following the dismissal of Claude Julien during the 2005-06 season. Worth noting that Julien is now in charge of the red-hot (well, not right now, but throughout the year) Boston Bruins. That year, Gainey guided the club to a 23-15-3-0 record after the team went 19-16-6-0 under Julien. The Canadiens lost in the first round of the playoffs that season against the Carolina Hurricanes after going up 2-0 in the series. Sadly for the team, captain Saku Koivu went down in an eye injury and the rest, as they say, is history.
Carbonneau originally replaced Gainey as head coach of the Canadiens on May 5, 2006. He had spent part of the season prior to that as an associate coach with the Habs, and was hired to Gainey’s staff with the intention that he would become head coach in time for the 2006-07 season. The way Carbo was introduced, as Gainey’s chosen one, was doomed to fail…
There is some precedent here:
New Jersey Devils GM Lou Lamoriello fired coach Robbie Ftorek with eight games left in the 1999-2000 regular season and the team 11 games over .500 and comfortably in a playoff spot. New coach Larry Robinson would lead the team to a Stanley Cup. Lamoriello dipped into that well again with just a week to go in the 2006-07 regular season, canning Claude Julien, who had the Devils atop the Atlantic Division with a 47-24-8 record.
In both cases, something just wasn’t quite right in Lamoriello’s mind. And no one has a better feel for his team than a GM.
But, Montreal is no New Jersey. And let’s face it, Julien is proving everyone wrong, at least now.
July 1 2009: Day of Reckoning
The bigger reason why Gainey is doing this now is that with 11 unrestricted free agents (UFAs) this summer, Gainey needs to know which ones to keep and which ones to let go. But this takes us to the bigger issue, if this summer most of those players leave and the Habs don’t get anything in return, it will prove that despite Gainey’s legendary status as a player, his stint as GM of the Habs was a bust, for we just recently lost Sheldon Souray and Mark Streit as UFAs, both key losses explaining why the Habs powerplay was powerless.
We also lost Michael Ryder, who scored 25, 30 and 30 goals in first three seasons with the Habs, but then fell out of favor with Carbo to only score 14 last year. Today he’s on pace to score 30+ with division rival Boston. Ouch. Oh, the coach coaching him now is former Habs coach Julien.
So if Gainey proves that he has yet to learn from his mistakes as GM, who’s to say that he’s not learned from his mistake of stepping behind the bench as coach, because last time he took the helm was supposed to be the last time, making room for His Chosen One, Guy Carbonneau.
Who Will Replace Guy Carbonneau?
Few expect Gainey to bring a new coach on, though Hamilton Bulldogs coach Don Lever will join the team to talk X’s and O’s. The city is buzzing with these names:
- Patrick Roy: former goalie who won 4 Stanley Cups, 2 with the Habs, but who left under dubious details. The problem is that Roy has been coaching for four years in the junior league, but the Habs need to change their recent history of hiring inexperienced (at the NHL level) coaches (Mario Tremblay, Alain Vigneault, Michel Therrien, Claude Julien and Guy Carbonneau all were rookie coaches in the NHL, but all went on to enjoy varying degrees of success elsewhere).
- Bob Hartley: won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalance, native of Hawkesbury so he is bilingual, a requisitie to coach in Montreal. Of course, if the Habs fizzle and Gainey’s asked to leave, then let’s hope Pierre Lacroix will be given the keys (the Habs won’t fire Gainey, since he does not even report to club President Pierre Boivin - whom I interviewed here. Gainey reports directly to owner George Gillett).
- C’est tout. Expect the next coach to be one of those two guys, unless Don Lever helps lead the team to a Stanley Cup parade, at which point I’m naming my next kid Donlever Karbasfrooshan.
Liquor is a business that never goes out of style! From the NYDailyNews.com:
A Long Island liquor mogul is offering to buy the Mets from Fred Wilpon, one of the victims in Bernie Madoff’s $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
Martin Silver, owner of Syosset-based Star Industries, told the Daily News he’s putting together a team of partners to make Wilpon an offer for the major league franchise.
“As a life-long Mets fan and a season ticket holder for over 25 years, I would not like to see the Mets organization fall into the wrong hands,” Silver wrote in a letter to Wilpon requesting a meeting to air his offer.
Silver, part owner of a minor league baseball team in Wilmington, Del., said he has spoken to potential investors and estimated he could put together an offer of $600 million to $700 million for the team. Forbes magazine has put the value of the Mets at $824 million.
“If Mr. Wilpon is in so much trouble. … It’s like real estate, it comes down in value,” said Silver, who in June sent Wilpon five whole chickens to express his displeasure over the firing of manager Willie Randolph.
Wilpon’s Sterling Equities reportedly lost some $500 million it had invested with Madoff’s company. Wilpon, who bought the Mets in 1980, has told Major League Baseball officials his losses won’t affect the team’s operations.
Silver, whose company’s flagship spirit is the popular Georgi Vodka, said that while the economy has tumbled, his liquor business is booming.
This is just retarded:
You have to respect Sir Alex Ferguson, he manages to push back the Spaniards (Real Madrid) and tell off Londoners, too.
From CNN:
After extracting a pledge of loyalty from Ronaldo for the coming season, Ferguson suggested it was a matter of personal pride not losing his prized asset to the Spanish champion.
“I can’t deny it was an important issue — there are very few players who left me against my will,” Ferguson said Friday.
“(Madrid) now know they are dealing with a different animal and Cristiano will settle down and enjoy his career here.
“He has got four years left on his contract and at some point hopefully we would like to extend it.”
Ronaldo, who is due to be out until October after ankle surgery, returned to United’s training ground on Friday for the first time since winning the Champions League in May.
Ronaldo spent the summer hinting at a desire to join Real Madrid, but Ferguson adamantly refused to sell his most prized asset, scorer of 42 goals last season.
Ronaldo finally conceded defeat Wednesday in his quest to move to the Spanish champion — for the coming season at least.
“We’re happy he has explained himself perfectly from my perspective and the matter is closed, he is a Manchester United player,” Ferguson said.
“The player is happy to be a Manchester United player, he has always been happy to be here. It’s just the unfortunate participation of Real Madrid in the boy’s life has made it difficult for him.
“The important thing is we ended all this stuff about Real Madrid. As he gets older he will appreciate being here more and more because that happens with players the longer they stay here and they don’t ever want to leave.”
Ronaldo said he thought the world record-breaking transfer fee offered by Real Madrid and rejected by United would have been fair compensation for his departure. The 23-year-old also said he wanted to live closer to his family.
But Ferguson told him that London-raised defender Rio Ferdinand was an example of a player who gradually adapted to a different culture in northern England.
“He’s now a real Manchester United person and he comes from another country — he comes from London, he comes from a different world,” Ferguson said.
“It’s not very different leaving London, leaving Portugal to live in Manchester. He came north to a colder climate, a wetter climate, but to a real football city.”
It’s official: it looked like Brett Favre would continue his career in Tampa Bay as a Buccaneer, but in the end, he’s off to Manhattan to become a Jet. That’s right: Brett Favre is now a member of the New York Jets!
MSN/FOX Sports has a great Top 10 Memorable Moments, all good. I’ll never forget the day he started:
Legend begins: September 22, 1992
Favre replaces the injured Don Majkowski in the first quarter of a game against the Bengals at Lambeau. He leads two late scoring drives and caps a 24-23 comeback win with a 35-yard touchdown pass in the final seconds. The rest is history.
I was 15 years old in high school, working at the time at a convenience store on Sundays. Green Bay was one of the teams I liked, and I actually loved Dan Majkowski - I would keep track of the scores on the radio when they announced that Brett Favre - spelled Fav-ray, pronounced Farve - had replaced Majkowski. Indeed, the rest, as they say, is history.
“NFL Commissioner Goodell understands how this looks. And make no mistake, image matters to the NFL. What you had here is a water balloon fight between one of the game’s greatest players and one of the league’s greatest franchises. It’s like watching a brawl in church.”
This is an interesting development with far reaching repercussions:
World soccer’s governing body FIFA has told clubs they must release any players aged under 23 selected for next month’s Beijing Olympics after rejecting a protest by three European teams.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, FIFA said Players’ Status Committee member Slim Aloulou had ruled as a single judge that the release of players was mandatory for all clubs.
German Bundesliga sides Werder Bremen and Schalke, and Spain’s Barcelona had argued against the need to release players because the Olympics were not included on FIFA’s international match calendar.
“The single judge determined that the international match calendar is not of relevance in establishing whether clubs are obliged to release players,” FIFA said in its statement.
“In view of the longstanding and undisputed practice (since 1988, clubs have always accepted the release of Under-23 players for the competition), he deemed that recourse to customary law is justified.”
The statement added that the Olympic Games was a “unique opportunity” for all athletes “and that it would not be justifiable to prevent any player younger than 23 from participating in such an event”.
Werder and Schalke have already filed complaints with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) following the call-ups of Schalke defender Rafinha and Werder playmaker Diego into Brazil’s Olympic squad.
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