Bucky For the Barons?

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I mentioned it on Monday in my lengthy "This n' That" write up - Kelly Buchberger's name was given to me as someone who is being considered for the vacant coaching position with the AHL's Oklahoma City Barons. Buchberger was one of three names I brought forward on Monday (Gerry Fleming and Don Hay being the other two, a tip of the hat to Jim Matheson for Hay being mentioned).

Coaching Carousel

Seeing as Kevin Lowe has come out and said Rob Daum won't be back with the Oilers in his assistant coaching position, I figured I would throw my 2 cents on the situation.

It seems pretty obvious to me (and likely many others as well) that the Oilers will bring Kelly Buchberger up to the big club as an assistant coach next season. I think this was decided before last season. Rob Daum's one year contract tells me that, and so have some other people in the last couple of weeks.

Where that leaves Rob Daum is the million dollar question. I have heard from more than one person that with Buchberger leaving Springfield, the job was going to Jeff Truitt, an assistant coach in Springfield this year. That is until Daum threw his hat in the ring. Daum should likely get the job if he wants it, which I'm told he does. Truitt is a good young up and coming coach. He spent 5 years as an assistant coach in the WHL before getting the head coaching job in Kelowna and guiding the Rockets to a Memorial Cup berth in 2005. His time will come, but it might not be now if Daum is in the running.

Rob Daum has coached at the WHL level and has excelled at the CIS level. He also won 50 games as the bench boss for the Houston Aeros. But all of these credentials makes me think he won't be coaching in Springfield. I think Rob Daum might get scooped up by an NHL team. After all, it happened to Geoff Ward last summer (joining the Boston Bruins as an assistant coach) and he only has one more year of head coaching experience at the AHL level than Daum. I know it's all about connections, but I find it hard to believe that Rob Daum doesn't know enough people in the league to atleast warrant a few phone calls or an interview.

What puzzles me is how the Oilers did this. On August 1st, 2007, Geoff Ward joined the Bruins, saying goodbye to his job as head coach in Springfield. 2 Days later the Oilers handed Ward's old job to Buchberger. Then on August 13th, they hired Daum as an assistant coach. If their plan all along was to bring Buchy up to the big club, why not do it then, offer Daum the minor league position and you don't have to make an awkward switch this year?

In a sense, Daum was a lame duck coach this year, possibly knowing when he was hired that he wouldn't be back next year and that this was Craig Mactavish's plan all along. MacTavish is the head coach, and he should get to choose his staff, but it still seems odd that he would bring a guy knowing he wouldn't be around the next season.

In the bigger picture, I think Rob Daum will be the best thing for the Oilers prospects on the farm, if he makes it there. If not, then Truitt will likely get the gig and probably to a great job, but the Oilers will lose a brilliant mind in Rob Daum should another NHL team snap him up.

Right Man for the Job?

It's easy to like Kelly Buchberger. Hell, if you're a long time fan of the Oilers it's damn hard not to love the guy. After all, he was the epitome of a heart and soul player during his tenure in Edmonton, willing to make personal sacrifices not many others would and paying for it with his face and fists.

After hanging up his skates as a player it wasn't the least bit surprising to me that he found his way back to the organization in a coaching capacity, first with the Edmonton Road Runners soon followed by a year as Player Development Coach and most recently as the bench boss with the AHL's Springfield Falcons.

Again the personal sacrifice should be noted as 'Bucky' took the job knowing that it would mean a long period of separation from his family who stayed behind in Edmonton.

The Falcons had their best season in a number of years after horrible associations with extremely thin Tampa Bay (getting better now) and Phoenix parent clubs. Several Oiler prospects had memorable stretches while in Springfield this season and some of the credit for that should go to Buchberger and assistant coaches Jeff Truitt and David Bell.

However, not everything has been parades and rainbows with the farm club this season.

An improvement in the standings still didn't result in a post season game. Injuries piled up to the point where at the end it virtually became a rotating door for players joining and leaving the team. The on-ice product is reportedly frustrating for fans, media, players and management alike. Players coming and going, falling on and off the injured list, sliding up and down between the AHL and ECHL and there was even the possibility of quiet dissention simmering in the room.

There will be a AHL/ECHL Season in Review done for HF in the next little while so I won't go into the detailed performances of specific players here. Instead, let me briefly acknowledge that a handful of players had positive developmental years including Liam Reddox, Rob Schremp, Slava Trukhno and goaltenders Jeff Deslauriers and Devan Dubnyk.

For now I only want to look at the coach and ask the same question Oiler fans asked back in early August of 2007: Is Kelly Buchberger the right man for the job?

My personal opinion is NO and here's why:

1) Not enough coaching experience - Yes he is a 'man of the people' and some players can relate to him because of that but does that mean he can coach? Yes he played for 16 or 17 years in the NHL but does that automatically mean a guy can coach? He spent 1 year behind the bench with the Road Runners then another on the road as development coach. He's definitely got guys on the farm into great condition, there is no denying that, but are they better players?

2) Proof is in the Pudding - Look at how the Falcons performed this year. Sure it was the AHL team's best record in a few years but they still missed the playoffs and were so badly out shot on a nightly basis that it was frustrating for everyone associated with the team be it media, fans, players or staff. Springfield was rarely able to keep their opposition from getting +35 shots per night with perhaps the worst example coming on March 22nd in a 4-1 loss to Hartford where the Wolf Pack outshot the Falcons 45-16.

More than 5 players told me that the team's systems stiffled offensive creativity and defensively consisted of little more than 'rim the puck' and 'chip it off the glass and out'. The opposition simply outmanned the Falcons wingers in the defensive zone preventing the predictable chip out thus keeping Springfield on the defensive for most of the game.

3) 'Screecher not a Teacher' - Perhaps the most unsettling description that has reached me out of Springfield is that Buchberger berates players on the bench for their mistakes as opposed to constructively telling them how to fix their errors. That style, especially with young players still learning the game, is destined to fail as very quickly players will stop listening.

4) Who Thrived? - Tim Sestito and Liam Reddox were particular 'Bucky players' and are frequently named by the coach as being top performers. Both are more likely to be career minor leaguers than significant NHL contributors (although both could see spot duty) and really, is it any wonder why those types of players would find success under a coach who was basically the same type of player? On the other hand, the players who came to the AHL expecting to produce offensively seemed to struggle for most of the season. Slava Trukhno had 3 excellent weeks and little else, Colin McDonald notched all of a single point in the last two months, Danny Syvret was shipped out of town because his offensive game fizzled, Cody Wild and Harlan Anderson couldn't bring their offensive game with them after joining the team late in the year. Outside of Schremp, Pouliot and Thoresen, no players really lived up to expectations in the offensive sense. Coincidence??

Personally I see Kelly as a quality assistant coach, someone the players (especially the grinders and plummers) can use as a role model. I've been reminded that extensive injuries contirubted to the lack of offence in Spriingfield and that is true; the Oilers move guys up to fill their holes leaving the Falcons thin at times.

Geoff Ward was supposed to be the farm coach and he was a good one. Rob Daum was hired on with the NHL Oilers and then a few weeks later Ward took the job with the Bruins and Bucky slipped into the vacancy.

In hindsight, I think the AHL job should have gone to Daum and believe still that a swticheroo this summer might be for the best. Have Bucky come up to the NHL as an assistant role where he would fit in with MacTavish and Huddy as former Oilers. Meanwhile Daum, who has a proven track record with offensive players, could go to Springfield and become the head coach there. That alone would give Jeff Truitt a fine tutor for coaching in the minors as Daum has a couple AHL seasons already under his belt already including a 50-win season in Houston (let alone the impressive CIS record that most fans will wrongly scoff at).

Now I have formulated this opinion after speaking with many people in and around Springfield but I conceed, I haven't yet spoken to Buchberger himself. That said, consider this an opinion in the works and I'll let Buchberger explain to me where I'm wrong (which I am quite open to being told). That conversation is overdue but I'll let you know if it changes my perceptions after I have it.