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Friday, June 20, 2008
Anderson: Right choice for wrong reasons
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sometimes, the right choice can be made for all the wrong reasons.
Meet John Anderson: Right choice. Wrong reasons.
He was hired in part because he comes cheap. He was hired in part because he was desperate for an NHL job after spending an eternity in the minor leagues. He was hired in part because a few months back he actually said, “Don Waddell has done a good job,” and that alone puts somebody on a short list.
He was hired in part because it’s very easy for the Thrashers to stand John Anderson on a podium, give an impressive PowerPoint illustrating his championships in the minors and make a case that he deserves this chance — even if we’ve come to learn success in the minors doesn’t project a coach’s NHL greatness any more than it projects the next Curt Fraser. (Gentle reminder: Fraser’s last four seasons in the minors: 192 wins, four playoff berths, two finals appearances.)
John Anderson: Excellent minor-league coach.
John Anderson: Best NHL option? Unlikely. Look around. John Tortorella won a Stanley Cup in Tampa. Mike Sullivan, Tortorella’s former assistant, did a commendable job when he ran Boston. Ron Wilson has an impressive resume but wouldn’t even look in this direction before taking the Toronto job — and he lives in Hilton Head. Todd McLellan, a hot assistant in Detroit, took San Jose’s offer and wouldn’t even interview here. Pat Quinn, Marc Crawford, Joel Quenneville — not so bad.
So why was Anderson the choice for the Thrashers?
Ask yourself this: If you owned this team, does committing significant money and autonomy for a new head coach make sense right now? Nobody knows about the roster. Nobody knows about the general manager. Nobody knows how many people will pay to watch this product next season. Or worse, we do know.
The Atlanta Spirit will pay $1.2 million to Bob Hartley next season not to coach, after paying him not to coach all but six games this past season. The franchise is bleeding financially. It may get worse, on and off the ice.
An expensive, proven coach isn’t real high on the agenda right now.
Brad McCrimmon, an assistant under Hartley and a candidate to replace him, was never treated fairly by this team. He seemed on deck for a promotion after Hartley’s firing last October. He was the popular choice of players (and most believe the team started 11-4 after Hartley’s firing because they expected McCrimmon to take over). But Waddell stayed behind the bench. The team nosedived. Marian Hossa had long since decided not to re-sign, making his trading a foregone conclusion. And then, finally, in February, McCrimmon was offered the job. Big wow.
When the offer finally was made, it came with minimal financial guarantees for next season, should he have been sacrificed this summer. No wonder McCrimmon said no. In the end, he wasn’t really passing on a career break. He was passing on a chance to be a scapegoat. It never figured Waddell would offer him the job again.
Anderson has been a minor-league lifer. He admitted on a conference call Friday that he was so overwhelmed when Waddell offered the job Thursday night that he went back to his hotel room and, “I cried.”
“It was absolutely worth the wait,” he said.
He hasn’t been to the film room yet.
The Thrashers’ issues go far beyond coaching. A team doesn’t fail to win one playoff game in its existence, just because the guy behind the bench doesn’t know how to match lines. It’s the pieces. It’s the structure. It’s the direction.
Anderson says he wants to make the rink “a great place to be, a happy place to be.”
It’s a nice thought. If the Thrashers win, they’ll be happy. Win, and they’ll look like visionaries for hiring a 51-year-old who had coached 13 years in the minors with nary an offer to be even an NHL assistant. But that’s way down the road, and vision has not been commonplace around here.
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