The Columbus Blue Jackets are one team looking to name a new head coach next offseason, with reported candidates ranging from current associate coach Pascal Vincent to controversial veteran coach Mike Babcock. Today, Larry Brooks of the New York Post added Hall of Famer and CSKA Moskva head coach Sergei Fedorov into the mix of Columbus coaching targets.
While Fedorov is best remembered for his playing days as a Detroit Red Wing, he did play the better part of three seasons as a Blue Jacket in the latter stages of his career between 2005 and 2008. Overseas, his two seasons as a head coach have been wildly successful, winning the KHL’s Coach of the Year award in 2021-22 while also taking home the league championship.
Fedorov’s hire would certainly come out of left field – it’s rare for NHL teams to opt for an external voice behind the bench with such little coaching experience. However, it’s a move that has been shown to be successful in the past few years, namely Martin St. Louis in Montreal.
- During an appearance on CHEK’s Donnie and Dhali show, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said he doesn’t expect the Vancouver Canucks to go the buyout route to free up cap space this summer. Per Friedman, general manager Patrik Allvin would rather pursue trades to get some undesirable contracts off Vancouver’s books, although that would likely involve the Canucks losing some draft capital. Some likely candidates to be offloaded are winger Conor Garland (three years left, $4.95MM cap hit) and defender Tyler Myers (one year left, $6MM cap hit).
- The Chicago Blackhawks denied a request from the Pittsburgh Penguins to interview Blackhawks associate general manager Jeff Greenberg for the team’s general manager vacancy, per The Athletic’s Scott Powers. Greenberg completed his first year as an NHL executive in 2022-23 after spending ten years in the baseball operations department for the MLB’s Chicago Cubs. He’s quickly gaining esteem around the league, and Chicago isn’t willing to part with him.
* Trying to be competitive now
* Trying to offload a forward whose microstats are OWAR 54, DWAR 83, PKWAR 96, Finishing WAR 61 and contract costs < $5m
Never will change until Aquilini sells.
I never, for a second, understood the Garland hate. I know things didn’t translate quite as well for him this year, but he’s an effective two-way guy.
What language is this?
Microstats
link to theathletic.com
You’re the same guy that consistently rails Aquilini on every site’s comment section. Get over it, he’s not selling. If you can’t handle that fact, “support” another team.
Patrick Alvin hasn’t said one word about trading Garland. This is ALL media speculation. It’s rosterbation. Have fun, that’s the point of being a fan: fun.
Personally, I doubt Garland is going anywhere, but we do have too many wingers. Somebody needs to go.
@PyramidHeadcrab:
That language is the mating call of the North American Geek
Ive never said anything about Aquilini ever, but do go on.
Garland with a nice goal for the (so far) undefeated Team USA at the World’s today.
And the Habs have one heck of a Dman prospect in Lane Hutson. Beauty of a goal today against Sweden!
Brooks needs to credit Aaron Portzline, who mentioned Federov on his podcast a week ago as a remote possibility. I won’t hold my breath.
So, maybe Michkov will be back at #3 in mock drafts?
Fedorov had good success coaching in the KHL. Not sure why the article seems to imply he hasn’t.
“Overseas, his two seasons as a head coach have been wildly successful, winning the KHL’s Coach of the Year award in 2021-22 while also taking home the league championship.”