When Steve Yzerman made the in-season decision to give up on the Guy Boucher experiment, much of the talk about his eventual replacement settled on two men: long-time Buffalo Sabres’ head man and former NHL player Lindy Ruff and former lawyer-turned-coaching prodigy, coach of the Lightning’s AHL affiliate Syracuse Crunch, Jon Cooper.
The two choices underline the contrasts between two divergent factions of the NHL: the old guard rooted in game experience and hard-line discipline and the new wave, stat-focused motivators without much, if any, professional hockey experience, either on the ice or behind the bench. Yzerman indeed tabbed Cooper as his new coach (perhaps because he was partially motivated by the fear of losing him to another NHL franchise in the offseason). Many have criticized Yzerman’s move as bold and unorthodox, going as far as to say that if Cooper fails, Yzerman may join him on the unemployment line. But, in reality, just how bold of a move was it? (Photos/Susan Ferlita)
The blueprint of AHL coaches has been in place for several years. Many point to the true genesis of the trend occurring in 2007 when Bruce Boudreau was hired to replace the struggling Glen Hanlon, taking the Capitals from last place in the league to the Southeast Division title in one season. The penultimate example of the potential success of such a move occurred in 2009 when Michel Therrien was fired by the Pittsburgh Penguins midway through the season. He was replaced by the Dan Bylsma, head coach of their AHL affiliate, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Bylsma subsequently navigated the Penguins to their first Stanley Cup in 17 years. In fact, almost a third of the league currently employs coaches who coached an AHL team the prior season and nearly every coach in the NHL has prior experience in either the AHL or ECHL “minor leagues” of coaching. However, not all of these coaches are successful in the “big leagues”.
Bolts fans know this all too well with the ultimate struggles of Guy Boucher after he was hired from the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs. Recent AHL-to-NHL experiments such as Scott Arniel (Blue Jackets), Scott Gordon (Islanders) and John Anderson (Thrashers) were over almost before they began. In fact, Cory Clouston (Senators), Joe Sacco (Avalanche) and Davis Payne (Blues) were all promoted from their team’s AHL affiliate (like Cooper) and did not last in the league longer than three seasons. With few successes and many failures to look back on, what does this bode for the Lightning?
An eternal Bolts-optimist will tell you that Jon Cooper joins seven others coaches currently in the NHL whom have won a Calder Cup and many of them have achieved the ultimate success at the next level. John Tortorella, Peter Laviolette and Bob Hartley have won a Stanley Cup to pair with their AHL success and Boudreau, Todd McLellan and Barry Trotz have all experienced years of success in the league. Moreover, Cooper has shown a 
powerful ability to develop young players and maximize their talents in specific game situations. Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson, Cory Conacher, Radko Gudas, Richard Panik and many other members of the Admirals/Crunch/Lightning have taken large strides in their games under Cooper’s watch. Also, Cooper has won at every stop along the way. But is that enough of a predictor for NHL success?
Ultimately, Cooper’s success will depend largely on Steve Yzerman’s growth as general manger of the team. Yzerman has made several key decisions in his tenure as GM, a few which were widely successful (re-signing Martin St. Louis, trading for Dwayne Roloson and finding Sean Bergenheim as an over-productive role player). However, many others range from too-early-to-tell to colossal failure (bringing in Anders Lindback to start and letting Mike Smith walk for nothing, signing Matt Carle long-term, extending Nate Thompson, etc.) Cooper will be hamstrung by Yzerman’s $62 million dollar salary number (only $2.3 million under the expected cap) and there are no significant salary-numbers coming off the books (barring a buyout or trade) for potential pursuit of impact pieces on the free agent market.
The key for Cooper will be to make sure the Lightning’s key veterans buy into his philosophy (as it was clear the Lightning were not playing for Boucher at the end) while continuing to develop the youth of the roster effectively. This will be his largest challenge yet. Bolts fan everywhere are hoping he’s more like Dan Bylsma than Trent Yawney.
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