Coaches are starting to fall like dominoes in the National Hockey League, but it is just a reminder of how lucky the Vegas Golden Knights are to have Gerard Gallant behind the bench.
In the last week or so we have seen three Head Coaches lose their jobs, with two of them happening before or after their teams played the Vegas Golden Knights.
Mike Babcock was fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the wake of their 4-2 loss to the Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Nov. 19, while New Jersey Devils Head Coach John Hynes lost his job hours before faceoff against the Knights this week.
Bill Peters is the other Head Coach to have lost his job this season, although that was for entirely different reasons that are of course well documented.
But, getting back to Babcock and Hynes in particular, those two lost their jobs because of their inability to get the best out of two talented rosters, with the Leafs in particular boasting a plethora of stars.
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And that’s where Gerard Gallant comes into this. The 56-year-old was announced as the first Head Coach of the Golden Knights in franchise history on Apr. 13, and his appointment has been a monstrous home run for the franchise.
Gallant brought together a bunch of misfits and other team’s castoffs, moulding them into a fine-tuned hockey team that reached the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season, before making the playoffs again last year.
And, as things stand, the Golden Knights have the tools at their disposal to be able to make the postseason for a third straight year and, hopefully, make a deep run.
I’m writing this because the firings of Babcock and Hynes reminded me of just how good a job Gallant has done and continues to do with this team.
And to think that there were a few fans, and I’ll stress the use of the word few, that wanted Gallant gone after the Knights dropped five straight in November.
That was madness to me given Gallant’s body of work with this franchise and the fact that all teams go through a slump during the course of a gruelling 82-game regular season schedule.
This team has been built in the image of Gallant who likes to play a fast and furious in your face brand of hockey, and he’s old school in the way that he still likes to roll four lines that all do a specific job.
Gallant was the man for President of Hockey Operations George McPhee and, as such, every move they have made to improve this team is done with Gallant in mind.
After all, he’s played a huge role in cultivating a certain culture within the locker room and big name additions in the ilk of Paul Stastny, Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty all slot seamlessly into that culture, while they tick all the boxes for Gallant on the ice.
However, while Gallant can be considered old school in some areas, he’s also got a proven track record with the Knights when it comes to mixing things up.
We’ve seen it a lot in recent weeks. With the Golden Knights mired in a slump, Gallant brought in a new defensive system while also mixing up his forward lines in order to get certain guys going and to generate secondary scoring.
He can also be trusted with the development of young players and he’s helped to make it a smooth transition for rookies in the ilk of Cody Glass and Nic Hague, who have both impressed in their first season in the NHL so far.
Of course, Gallant isn’t without his flaws and he makes mistakes but, at the end of the day, who doesn’t?
But I can say with conviction that Gallant’s list of mistakes with this franchise is short, and he’s the right guy to help this team fulfil their potential and eventually lift the Stanley Cup.
And, another caveat at play here is the fact that there is a strong bond that exists between the core of this team and their Head Coach.
Because, and as already mentioned, very few coaches get the opportunity to walk into a franchise and take charge of a group of players who have been assembled together.
He cultivated the us against them attitude during Vegas’ inaugural year that so nearly resulted in a historic Stanley Cup triumph, and he’s now adapting and finding other ways to motivate his players as they have rapidly morphed from the hunter into the hunted in the NHL.
Gallant is a no-thrills kind of coach but he knows how to squeeze every ounce of potential out of his players, and that is starting to show now as the Golden Knights have won four straight and are starting to click into gear.
So, after seeing a couple of coaches fall by the wayside after failing to get the best out of their respective teams, it is important to look at the bigger picture and understand that the Vegas Golden Knights have truly struck gold with Gerard Gallant.