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European vacation Long wait on tap for next Euro NHL head coach
Updated: Tuesday October 16, 2001 3:55 PM
After the Penguins fired head coach Ivan Hlinka, CNNSI.com caught up with Sports Illustrated senior writer Michael Farber, who saw problems early in the Hlinka-Pittsburgh marriage. CNNSI.com: Why didn’t this work, and was it doomed from the beginning? Michael Farber: It didn’t work initially because he didn’t have the support of people, most notably Jaromir Jagr, who basically blew off the left-wing lock after the first month of the season. The Penguins didn’t get back to it until about the last week of the season. And given the fact that the Penguins, who opened the season with 10 Czechs on the roster, made a few moves and Czechs played an increasingly diminishing role, it was no longer important to have Czech coach. Right away Hlinka was behind the 8-ball. And he didn’t do himself any favors by spending the summer back home. CNNSI.com: How much of Mario Lemieux’s fingerprints are on this move? Farber: Mario clearly is one of the guys in the room and sees what goes on in there every day. He asked Hlinka to stay in the U.S. over the summer to improve his English. Hlinka wasn’t communicating very well with his players in English. It was a problem he didn’t address. This has happened before in Pittsburgh, when Pierre Creamer was fired as coach because his English never really developed much beyond the rudimentary stage. It ultimately undermined his ability to do the job. It’s interesting to note that when both Lemieux and Jagr arrived in Pittsburgh, neither spoke a lot of English, but they overcame that. Even if the league is one-third European, English is the lingua franca of hockey. I look at a coach like Marc Crawford. When he was in Quebec, he worked with a private French tutor. I can remember one time the Nordiques flew back from a road game in Chicago, landed around 2 a.m., and Crawford was in his office with the tutor at 9 a.m.. He didn’t need French to coach, but he needed it to communicate with the public. He knew not to blow it off. CNNSI.com: Now that the NHL has lost two European head coaches only two seasons after that barrier had been broken, what is your take on the state of European coaches in the NHL? Farber: I’m heartbroken. I really wanted this to work. Neither Alpo Suhonen in Chicago nor Hlinka worked out. The scenarios were different, but the results were the same. You now have to wonder when a GM will take the plunge again. You know there are a lot of European players, but there are so many different countries represented. If you hire a coach from one of those places you may have the same problem [with communication]. I think we will see another European head coach and if you asked me to pinpoint it, I’d say Slava Fetisov. He’s a valued assistant in New Jersey and was approached about Calgary's head job. The Flames were told by the Devils he’d want a lot more than Calgary was probably willing to pay. CNNSI.com: How much do you know about Rick Kehoe? Farber: Rick Kehoe has been part of the furniture in Pittsburgh. He has been an assistant there for the past 14 years and worked under nine head coaches. But if he were a lock to be a great head coach in the NHL, he would have gotten the job long before this. The problem is that Pittsburgh didn’t make the move during the summer. If they had, there would have been a longer list from which to choose. Kehoe will be helped by the presence of Randy Hillier, who joined the staff last year, has a lot of hockey sense and gets his point across in an understated way. Changes early in the season have been effective before. The year Montreal started 0-4 under Jacques Demers, the fiery Mario Tremblay was brought in and the Canadiens ended up with a 90-point-plus season and made the playoffs. But it’s difficult to see what Kehoe can bring in that’s fresh and inspiring. CNNSI.com: Are you aware of any immediate changes Kehoe might make on the ice? Farber: He’ll juggle his lines. For instance, you’ll probably see Kris Beech and Aleksey Morosov on the second line, Stephane Richer on the third, and Mario to play with Martin Straka and Alexei Kovalev. CNNSI.com: How much of the Penguins' trouble early this season is the result of goaltending? Farber: Johan Hedberg was the feel-good story of the playoffs, this side of Ray Bourque. But we were looking at a such a small sample of work. This season Hedberg has done nothing to suggest that he’s going to be lights-out brilliant in the NHL. He saved Pittsburgh’s bacon in the playoffs, but that hasn’t necessarily been the case so far this season. Although his moose helmet is at least black and gold this season. CNNSI.com: Do you think Lemieux is wondering what he got himself into? Farber: Mario knows exactly what he did. He missed playing and there was an economic imperative. He’s happy to be back, recent hip problems not withstanding. He’s never happier in my view, including the two Stanley Cup seasons. There’s a saying, to "feel good in your own skin," and I think Mario is better than ever before in his own skin. Would he be more comfortable with a new coach? We’ll find out. Sports Illustrated senior writer Michael Farber covers the NHL and appears regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated.
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