Halfway through this NHL season the number of head coach firings has already matched last hear’s total. Gerard Gallant of the Vegas Golden Knights has become the seventh coach to lose his job this season. It was announced today that Gerard had been relieved of his duties and will be replaced with Peter DeBoer.
Here’s what happened and it’s baffling!
The last two seasons, the Golden Knights have make it easily to the playoffs. This year, the team is tied for the second wild card spot. To me, I’m not sure I understand this firing…
Why did it happen?
The Golden Knights achieved way beyond expectations in their inaugural season. Reaching the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but most impressively making it to the Cup Finals.
Despite their defeat to the Washington Capitals, it was an impressive feat. The next season, the golden misfits were supposed to now match high expectations that their performance the season prior had set for them.
The team failed to do so with their loss to the hands of the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the playoffs. It has sort of been a decline since their inaugural season.
New General Manager Kelly McCrimmon is tasked with keeping up with the expectations that everyone has on the team. He decided the best course of action would be to fire the coach.
Who’s the new coach of the Golden Knights?
Ironically enough, the nee coach is the coach that eliminated the Golden Knights last year. What is even more ironic, is that the new coach, Peter DeBoer, was also fired earlier this season.
However, another ironic part of this is that DeBoer is now the second coach this year to have coached two different teams. The second being John Hynes who was fired by the New Jersey Devils. Hynes was hired in what felt like days later by the Nashville Predators.
Closing thoughts about the Golden Knights
I personally find this firing to be confusing. To me, the Golden Knights haven’t played terribly. However, I’m saying that without having watched any games this season. I’m purely relying on the standings here. The best way I can justify this change of coaches is to spark a new flame that GM McCrimmon may believe to have burnt out.
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Photo Credit : Dinur Blum (@Rabbi_d) Via Flickr.com
