Canes try to shake up status quo
Dec 3, 2008
The Carolina Hurricanes made a coaching change, replacing Peter Laviolette with former coach Paul Maurice and naming Ron Francis associate head coach. The move comes at a time when the Hurricanes' season is teetering toward another year of missing the postseason and a carbon copy of last season was unfolding on the RBC Center ice each night.
But this might not be the move that turns the season around. That change has to come in the locker room and the guys in uniform playing a better brand of team hockey. This might not be the only move the Canes need to make to shake out of the rut they have been in for two seasons.
The Canes need some boost of adrenaline and this is a move that generally jolts a team into some action. But this is not something that can be laid at the feet of Laviolette. The coach did all he could with the players and injuries that were in the Canes locker room. There are things that Laviolette surely would have changed during his tenure after winning the Stanley Cup, but when an offensive-minded coach has a team that is only scoring two goals a game and defensive breakdowns that lead to odd-man scoring chances and has missed the playoffs for two straight seasons, well, as the saying goes you don’t fire the players.
Re-enter Maurice as the head coach and man charged with bringing confidence back to the players. There are four Canes who have played for Maurice - Rod Brind’Amour, Eric Staal, Niclas Wallin and Ryan Bayda - so it will be a new voice to the team to try to get them on the right track again. Maurice is a trusted friend of GM Jim Rutherford, who believes his new-old coach will have the touch that brings the team together and re-installs the confident play that won the Stanley Cup three seasons ago. It is not as easy as waiving a magic wand and fixing the problems of the team, which there might be more than meets the eye … a non-existent power play, lack of offensive punch and defensive lapses to name just a few.
Francis will be a key player in this change. As one of the top offensive players in league history and a respected face in the Canes locker room, he will be charged with finding the Carolina’s goal-scoring touch. Francis, who will no longer be assistant general manager with this move, has said he doesn’t want to get into coaching, but the fact that Maurice has only been retained for a year makes it look like this could be Ron’s franchise in the future. First order of business - find a combination of strategy and personnel on the power play, that will go a long way into making this move look like the right thing to do.
Being around this team, the players liked playing for Laviolette, so this was not a Tampa Bay situation where the players held a coup to ouster the coach. This is a situation where a franchise felt it went as far as it could go after a successful run and that something needed to be changed.
This might not be the only change needed. While the Canes have talented players, they just haven’t played well as a team. One line always seems to be off and yes, there are breakdowns in intensity. Maybe this message will get through. But make no mistake, this will take the players finding their game more than a coach tweaking it for them.
