Rumors, Rumors Everywhere

The Avs have an opportunity to give a couple of young (relatively) coaches a shot at their first NHL head coaching gig. Patrick Roy has said that he doesn't want to coach in the NHL. Fine. It would have been preposterous to hire him anyway. The Avs don't need a gimmick coach. Also popping up on the radar are Pat Burns and Ron Wilson. Burns has a ring he won with New Jersey. But Burns wears out welcomes rather quickly and has been out of coaching in the NHL since 2005. Wilson is another coach that has bounced around the league, coaching Anaheim, Washington, and San Jose. Wilson is a solid coach who works well with young players, but he's rather unimaginative and can't seem to take talented teams to next level (fired from San Jose for this reason). But the Avalanche have options over the the old guard of coaches. Kevin Dineen is currently the coach of the Anaheim's AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates. He was named AHL coach of the year in 2006 in first season. Dineen played for two years at the University of Denver before embarking on a 21 year NHL career. Considered to be one of the best minor league managers, Dineen would probably be a good fit in Denver. Not because any specific coaching style but mostly because his long career garners respectability and his hiring would be a departure from in attitude from Queneville. Plus, he has shown a fantastic hand at developing young talent which is something the Avs will desperately need if they are to continue to be a good team in the west the next few years. The other option, which I am (and so should you) totally for the Avs to do, is see if they can bring in Red Wings assistant Todd McLelland into the fold. McLelland is a veteran of the AHL and is considered to be on offensive mastermind. And if you have seen how good the Red Wings offense has been this season, the idea of bring that system to Denver should enough to make any Avs fan salivate. Of course in order for the Avs to talk to these candidates they are going to have to wait until Detroit wins the Stanley Cup and Portland's, currently in the AHL conference finals, playoff run also ends. I certainly hope the Giguere skews towards giving one of the young guys a shot.