If Crawford gets fired, Who should be the next Coach?

[The Specialist]

Lots of people are saying, as "The Specialist" suggests, that we should expect...

Crawford one more year here in Vancouver because of his contract

But, correct me if I am wrong, Vancouver only has to pay him if he doesn't get picked up by someone else. It's true that even if he's fired as coach of the Canucks, he would still be under contract to this team, but presumably if another team wanted to hire him then Crow and Nonis would mutually agree to part ways. I'm sure this has happened before.

I think Crawford would be VERY attractive to a bunch of other teams, including the Kings. The problem with Crow isn't that he's a bad coach, it's that he's no longer the right fit for the 'Nucks.

I say pitch him overboard, and let L.A. or someone else grab him while the grabbing's good. Then we don't have to pay his salary. Win-win.

If your under cotract you get paid no matter what. 2 YEARS left on his contract, stays as coach and you pay him or fire him and you pay him. Period.

[sk8er]

My pick would be Constantine. He had a winning record in the Nhl as well.

[Jovorock]

Kevin Constantine would be a good choice. Alain Vigneault would be another one.

Would you want to watch the Canucks if they played the Silvertips/ Devils style of defense? If you hire Constaintine that is the style you will see!

[Jyrki21]

Kevin Constantine would be a good choice. Alain Vigneault would be another one.

Would you want to watch the Canucks if they played the Silvertips/ Devils style of defense? If you hire Constaintine that is the style you will see!

Everyone wants a winner, and that style wins Stanley Cups...

Besides, the Devils get a bad rap. People's memories are tainted by the Jacques Lemaire years. I think the Devils have a pretty high-energy game, even if there isn't a ton of transition, and it's not always bad to watch.

If the Canucks can win the Cup playing a horrible style, the champagne will taste as sweet and the fans will be just as happy as if they'd won every game 8-0...

[jchockey]

If trapping leads to winning... then so be it.

[Momesso]

If trapping leads to winning... then so be it.

Can I get a 'AMEN' !!!

The nucks will never be a purely trapping team, anyways. IMHO you need a combination of offensive capability with a defensive system to fall back on to win it all. Look at Lemaire all these years with Minny. Made the playoffs only once, and beat 2 defensively undisciplined teams, then got rocked by the Ducks.

Look at Babcock. IMO he is the ideal coach. He teaches defensive discipline, but his season this year in Detroit shows he's capable of playing to the strength of his roster too. I believe Detroit was one of the 2 highest scoring teams in the league, and Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Shanahan, and even Lidstrom all had either career years or were offensively resurrected. That's a good coach. That's what we should be looking for.

Someone who can instill defensive discipline, so we have something to fall back on when the going is tough, but can take advantage of the strength of the roster too. Crawford was great at using the player's strengths, but the lack of discipline was what ultimately killed this team, year after year.

[Rising Sun Canuck]

So the Axe comes down on Crawford. Here is the decisive move everyone was asking Nonis for- and he has delivered. The one consensus is almost no one wants Quinn as our coach.

It really does seem like Andy Murray is the front runner. He's got my pick for sure. We could get Constantine, Hay, Nolan or Sutter but they all have their respective teams in the DUB.

Alain Vigneault is still coaching the Moose and I'm sure he won't be a candidate until after Moose are done with the postseason.

Here is the NHL write up on Murray.

With a coaching philosophy and reputation based on preparation, commitment and accountability, Andy Murray, the head coach of the Canadian National Team from 1996-98, was named the head coach of the Los Angeles Kings on June 14, 1999. Murray has more than 25 years of coaching experience, including seven seasons as an NHL assistant or associate coach with the Winnipeg Jets (1993-95), Minnesota North Stars (1990-92) and Philadelphia Flyers (1988-90). As an assistant coach in Minnesota, Murray reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1991. In addition to his NHL service, Murray, 48, brings to the Kings a tremendous amount of international coaching experience. As head coach of the Canadian National Team, he guided his team to a two-year 77-29-14 record and the Gold Medal in the 1997 World Hockey Championships with a team that featured former-Kings' captain Rob Blake

He is has the most coaching victories in LA Kings history- just like Crawford has with the Canucks, I wonder if they will swap jobs. He also is part owner of the Salmon Arm Silverbacks so he has some connections here.

My guess is it's either Murray or Vigneault

[Momesso]

Murray has a stellar resume no doubt, but listening to Ferraro on the Team was pretty enlightening about Murray's style.

Basically Ferraro's comment was that Murray is the type of guy who really micromanages and has a lot of team meetings and is very structures, and that ultimately grew old in LA.

But the only thing that really scares me about Murray's tenure in LA was that the Kings suffered the same way we did, poor defense when it counted, poor discipline and a bit of an inability to coach more out of the skilled guys. Murray seemed to have the best success with younger gunners or grinders.

Just my 2 cents. Interesting thing is, though, no candidates really jump out at me right now....Nonis really has his work cut out for him.....

[Cornuck]

What's Scotty Bowman up to these days?

[tantalum]

It will be Vigneault I think.

[Jovorock]

It will be Vigneault I think.

Or Murrey, please no Hay or Constantine!

[evergreentwins]

I think Ted Nolan would be a great coach for the Canucks. However, he seems to be blackballed by the NHL. My question: Why? I remember watching something about him on the fifth estate and it said he was fired because he was politicking for Muckler's job. And then there was his problems with Hasek. But I've also heard constant reference to 'rumours'. These rumours implied something , well, sinister and not overtly talked about. What are these rumours?

[Jyrki21]

I wonder if Nonis is also waiting to see who gets axed after their team gets knocked out in the first round. You could make a case that Tortorella might be let go, and I'd be pretty happy if he were picked up.

[MarkMM]

I think Ted Nolan would be a great coach for the Canucks. However, he seems to be blackballed by the NHL. My question: Why? I remember watching something about him on the fifth estate and it said he was fired because he was politicking for Muckler's job. And then there was his problems with Hasek. But I've also heard constant reference to 'rumours'. These rumours implied something , well, sinister and not overtly talked about. What are these rumours?

The only rumour I heard regarding Nolan was that he had something with Hasek's wife, but it's always been said as a rumour, never saw anyone put anything solid into it.

[magnum44]

I saw a show with Jim Kelley once who was a hockey reporter in Buffalo when Nolan was there. He claims Nolan got a really bad rap and that it was all stemming from the sale of the team. According to Kelley Buffalo was in the process of being shopped and a prospective ownership group was nosing around and interviewing everyone in the organization, and for some reason (supposedly unfairly) Nolan got pegged as a rat when the deal went sourt. He didn't go into real specifics but he said that all the acrimony between him Muckler and Hasek was all based on false information, but that afterwards Muckler (a highly respected guy in the league with alot of friends in high places), Buffalos owner and Hasek essentially blackballed him. For what its worth Kelly also said that Hasek now feels badly about his role in the whole situation now that he has come to the realization that he was decieved about Nolan. The way Kelly told it the story sounded very plausible and that all 3 guys were basically caught up in bad situation where paranoia, rumour mongering and underhanded business practices led them to turn on each other. At this point I think Nolan has just been gone too long to really be in consideration anymore. He has baggage (even if it is unfair it still exists) and is too much of a risk to take on. Gallagher was pimping Dave Lewis on Pratt and Taylor last night and the more I think about it that sounds like a pretty good choice (I grew up in Kindersley, SK so I have a bias for Dave). He worked under Bowman and has a wealth of experience because of it and he never really got a good shot in Detroit. kCan't find a link but this article has the official version of the story (which if you read between the lines gives credence to Kelly's piece)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Sabres