Is Alain Vigneault in it for the long haul?
Mike Gillis has made it no secret that the Canucks are interested in renewing the contract of head coach Alian Vigneault. When asked about the ongoing contract negotiations at the beginning of training camp on Saturday, Vigneault refused to answer questions about it. Although he did say, while smirking, that if management wants to extend his contract then he would “consider it”.
The deal is rumoured to be a three-year extension to his current contract which still has the 2009-2010 season left on it. In a league where coaches are hired and then fired faster than Mick McGeough can inhale a hot dog, a three-year deal is essentially an eternity. That, however, is not my main concern because I don’t really care about Aquilini’s bank account should the Canucks fire Vigneault in the first year of his contract. I’m still not convinced that Vigneault is the right man to lead the team to the Stanley Cup. With that being said, I wouldn’t necessarily complain if the new deal gets done, but I would have my doubts in his ability to take the team to the next level. One thing that would be impressive if Vigneault could last through a three-year extension, would be that he will have coached 5 years for a general manager that did not hire him; a rare feat in professional sports these days.
Vigneault does have a lot going for him that would suggest that he is the right man for the job. The Canucks played their way to game 6 of the second round last season. It was their longest season since Marc Crawford led the Canucks to game 7 of the same round against the Wild in 2003. Vigneault also won the Jack Adams award as the leagues top coach in 2007 when he led the Canucks to a 7 game first round win. Many will argue that he wasn’t the leagues top coach that year, but either way, being nominated alone is impressive. With all that being said, it doesn’t seem as if he can command the best out of his players each and every night.
Despite getting to the second round last year, the Canucks were prone to stretches where they didn’t play well at all, including an 8 game losing streak in January. A coach needs to lead and provide an example for his players to follow. Obviously none of us know what goes on in the dressing room, but I don’t feel as if Vigneault projects the idea of a leader onto his players. Instead he’s much more content to be laid back and crack jokes on the bench and with the media. Obviously being confrontational is not the only way to coach but I would much prefer someone who is more intense.
Then there is tendency to sometimes sit back and play defense in order to protect a one goal lead instead of trying to continue to push the pace offensively. The game in San Jose last January immediately comes to mind. The Canucks sat back and tried to protect a one goal, third period lead only to end up losing in overtime. Now that Mike Gillis has given him more talent to work with, Vigenault sits back on leads less often but I feel it was still a too common occurrence last year.
For me personally, I look at a team like Calgary and see Brent Sutter behind the bench. He’s been coaching in the NHL for significantly less time than Vigneault, but I’d be much more confident in him getting the most of his players and winning games than I would Vigneault. Perhaps it’s because Sutter has been shoved down our throats by the media, such as TSN, for his dominant teams at the World Juniors that I would feel more comfortable in him. Either way the man is a proven winner and was in such high demand that the Flames were willing to go to down a questionable path to get him. There are of course other examples. I can’t put Vigneault on the same level as Ken Hitchcock, Mike Babcock or Pat Quinn. Instead he’s more in a tier with the likes of Joel Quenneville, Ron Wilson, and Andy Murray who are great coaches that have never really won anything. Of course Vigneault and any of the other coaches on that list could be considered one of the best in the game with just one cup win.
Posted by Simon 
