You have to look at the Pittsburgh Penguins coaching search and simply scratch your head at what has been going on.
At the end of the day, Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford has to find the right man to right the ship and ultimately that won’t be an easy task.
When you look at the Penguins vacancy, you would think there would be a long list of quality coaching candidates who would be jumping at the opportunity to coach Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in their primes, but that hasn’t been the case.
It could be because this opportunity comes with more pressure attached to it than any other coaching opening in any sport in recent memory.
When you find most organizations looking for a head coach, the goal is usually to make a gradual improvement or begin a rebuilding process. That isn’t the case in Pittsburgh.
If the Pens likely don’t reach the Eastern Conference Finals or Stanley Cup Finals whoever is behind the bench will likely be viewed as a failure. With any other organization in sports, making the second round of the playoffs in the first year on the bench would be viewed as a success. But that won’t cut it in Pittsburgh, especially with the rampant rumors that the Penguins will ultimately want to target Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock after his contract expires following next season.
Even though most coaches are wired to accept the challenge, that doesn’t offer up a lot of job security. That is especially true when Rutherford himself has stated that he only expects to be here a couple of seasons as well.
A new general manager in three years is going to want his own head coach, so it is natural that people aren’t jumping at the Pens opportunity right now.
Rookie coaches like Willie Desjardins and Bill Peters have elected other coaching opportunities while a guy like Ulf Samuelson, who has ties to the Penguins organization, seems content to pass on the opportunity and head back to the New York Rangers as an assistant.
There have also been plenty of whispers around the NHL that people aren’t thrilled with the way the Penguins handled the Dan Bylsma situation.
While everyone knew Bylsma was out the door, the fact that the Pens left him in limbo for so long doesn’t exactly give potential coaches a ringing endorsement of the Penguins front office at the moment.
When a coach like Marc Crawford, who has won a Stanley Cup in the past, would rather return to coaching in Switzerland than continue the opportunity to potentially coach Crosby and Malkin, I think that says a lot about how the Penguins have handled their coaching search.
That is why we have seen nothing but retread candidates instead of highly thought of coaches.
At the end of the day Rutherford doesn’t have many options left.
We are either looking at a guy like John Hynes who could be promoted from his current position as the head coach at Wilkes/Barre or a retread like Ron Wilson.
Add in the fact that there is truly a ton of pressure for the Pens next head coach and the fact that the organization has seemed to botch this entire process form the beginning and you can see why there doesn’t seem to be a ton of interest in the a job that on paper should have coaches coming out of the woodworks.
It’s going to be an interesting couple of weeks for Rutherford but at the end of the day it looks like the Pens will have to settle for a coach instead of hiring one they truly wanted.
That coach will be thrown right into the fire as it is either win big or bust, which isn’t exactly a great selling point in terms of job security.
They did just fire a coach who has won more games than any other coach in franchise history, won a Stanley Cup and was in the Eastern Conference Finals just two years ago.
If that isn’t immediate pressure to perform, I don’t know what is.
If they can get rid of a guy with Bylsma’s resume, they will get rid of the next head coach just as easily.
Candidates know this and aren’t really that excited about pursuing the opportunity.
Photo Credit: Pittsburgh Penguins
