Troy Mann is no longer the head coach of the Belleville Senators, after being relieved of his duties last night. Assistant coach David Bell will assume interim head coaching duties for the rest of the season.
Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion released the following:
While a change at the head coach position during the season is not an ideal scenario, we felt it was necessary to deliver improved team performance. We are confident that David and his staff will make the most of this opportunity.
The interesting part of this story comes from Claire Hanna of TSN, who reports that trust issues had emerged between the organization and Mann, with a recent incident pushing it over the edge. Mann apparently gave some of Ottawa’s (note: not Belleville’s) pre-scouting information to another NHL team.
Trent Mann, his brother, currently serves as assistant general manager for Ottawa, after being director of amateur scouting for the five seasons prior.
Belleville, meanwhile, has struggled this season to the tune of a 17-22-4 record. Bell’s last head coaching experience came with the Niagara Ice Dogs in the OHL, where he led them to the playoffs and lost in the first round.
Explosive posting, for sure. Hopefully, she has her stuff straight here. Great comment in that post says by another person says, “If other teams couldn’t figure out we were just gonna dump and chase the puck on them anyway they need to be fired too”.
Errata again! “says by another person says” Too many says in that mess. Geez… :(
Yikes. What’s the upside in sharing that kind of stuff? Because the downside is never getting hired in pro hockey ever again.
Also – why does an AHL coach have NHL pre-scouting material in the first place? What would be the purpose in that?
Guess we’ll know which team he “leaked” info to if he’s hired somewhere else quickly.