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Monday, June 9, 2008
AJC chooses me; who should Thrashers choose?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Succeeding Craig Custance on the Thrashers beat must be a little bit like succeeding Scotty Bowman behind the bench for the Canadiens, with at least one slight difference: I have scored 393 fewer NHL goals than the late Boom Boom Geoffrion did. Craig has set the bar high; I will be stretching just to touch it with my fingertips.
I’ve been at the AJC for six years, two as deputy sports editor, four covering Georgia Tech football. I didn’t grow up near Hockeytown, as Craig did, but I’m no hockey neophyte. I’ve covered the game in the ECAC and the ECHL and the AWHL, with bylines from Hamilton and Ithaca and Troy, N.Y., to Jackson and Biloxi and Tupelo, Miss. I’ve worn my old Atlanta Knights “Knightmare on Peachtree Street” T-shirt so much it’s no longer fit for public display.
So I am thrilled at the opportunity to cover the Thrashers. I hope to be able to answer your questions about the team, in my stories and in this blog. Please be patient with me at first; I’m jumping in and trying to get up to speed as quickly as I can.
The news isn’t waiting for me to get comfortable on the beat. Don Waddell will begin interviewing three or four coaching candidates later this week. Two of those candidates are Chicago Wolves coach John Anderson and Thrashers associate coach Brad McCrimmon. Waddell also plans to speak with Detroit Red Wings assistant Todd McLellan. A story in Tuesday’s paper gives a bit of background on them and some other possible candidates.
There are far more good names than I could list, and some, like Don Lever and Mike Sullivan, were on my list at one time. Waddell shared this: He was recently speaking to another GM, one who doesn’t have an opening, and that GM said the field of available candidates was as strong as he could remember it being at this time of year.
Given that some of the best training for being a head coach in the NHL is having been a head coach in the NHL, something the three known candidates haven’t done, Waddell might round out his list of candidates with one of the coaches who worked in the league last season. John Tortorella, for example, appears to have many of the same qualities that Waddell found in his last hire, Bob Hartley. Paul Maurice, who didn’t do great things in Toronto, took Carolina to the Stanley Cup finals. Joel Quenneville’s teams have won a lot more than they’ve lost.
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