The New Jersey Devils are considering former Kelowna Rockets bench boss Marc Habscheid as the teams new head coach.
The Devils are looking for a successor after GM Lou Lamoriello took over the duties after punting Claude Julien with three games left in the regular season.
Habscheid is still under contract as an assistant coach with the Boston Bruins, but media reports says Habscheid was in the running for the coaching job last summer in New Jersey before Julien was given the reins. Habscheid and Julien know each other, after coaching for Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships.
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If your a well established coach in the Western Hockey League, two opportunities in the American Hockey League may interest you.
Jeff Ward was recently named the new head coach of the Springfield Falcons - the Oilers American Hockey League affiliate - and is looking for an assistant.
Kelly Guard's team, the Binghamton Senators are without a head coach, after David Cameron moved back to the Ontario Hockey League.
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He had NHL'er written all over him when he played with the Kelowna Rockets, yet now his next move in hockey may be a trip to Europe.
I spoke to Kiel McLeod Friday about his best season of pro hockey, as captain of the East Coast Hockey League's Victoria Salmon Kings.
McLeod had a great year, scoring 32 goals and collecting 63 points in 65 games this season. Yet after a season in the E.C.H.L, the 6'6 power forward believes he needs to jump overseas to continue his hockey career.
McLeod told me he still loves the game of hockey, but admitted he has made some bad decisions along the way that may have cost him a spot in the N.H.L.
The biggest blunder?
I remember vividly at the 2003 Memorial Cup in Quebec City, sitting down with Columbus GM Doug McLean, where he told me he wouldn't sign McLeod. The Blue Jackets offered Kiel a contract , but it wasn't rich enough for him, or his agent.
He was a 2nd round pick of the Jackets in 2001, and looked to be a slam dunk on playing at the elite level. But rejecting that contract had him out of favor with that franchise, eventually turning him into a free agent before signing with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2003. An unsuccessful stint in that organization had him traded to Philadelphia in December of 2005.
Kiel McLeod has never played an NHL game, and now finds himself facing the fear of going overseas where the old adage, 'out of sight - out of mind' comes into play.
Sure you can make a decent living in Europe playing hockey, but for many, going over there means the dream of playing at the N.H.L level is over.
Kiel McLeod is at a crossroads, and will make the biggest decision of his hockey career this summer.
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Note: The last time I had an article on this blog about CBC hockey coverage, a Saskatoon reader e-mailed the Drew Remenda radio show saying I had inside information on what is going on within that department. So for that one reader who appears to be a little s-l-o-w-e-r than the rest of us, this article is taken from another on-line newspaper (Toronto Globe & Mail). Again this information did not come from a conversation I had with Peter Mansbridge or anyone else at CBC headquarters!!
Ok let's move on. Here is the article:
The National Hockey League season is over, but an important question about its television coverage remains unanswered.
Will the longest tenured play-by-play team in Canadian broadcasting, the CBC's Bob Cole and Harry Neale, return to the Hockey Night in Canada booth next season?
It's too early for a CBC announcement, but you can anticipate one of two decisions: Either the network will thank Cole, 74, and Neale, 70, for their long and estimable contribution to the show and say goodbye. And Jim Hughson will be offered Cole's spot as the No. 1 play-by-play caller, and the CBC will look for additional announcing and analytical talent.
Or Cole and Neale will both be given another one-year contract, with perhaps a reduced workload and the understanding they will retire at the end of 2007-08.
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