[Speculation] Updated - Vancouver Canucks expected to hire former KHL head coach?

[RWJC]

Vancouver Canucks expected to hire former KHL head coach?

 

by Jonathan Bailey 21 hours ago

 

 

Update: a Canucks spokesperson told Rob Williams of the Daily Hive Vancouver that they are not hiring Vorobyov, but he will be attending some games.

 

Early Thursday morning there were reports that the Vancouver Canucks would be bringing a fresh face into the organization. According to HockeyNewsHub via Match TV, the Canucks would be hiring Ilya Vorobyov, formerly the head coach of Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the KHL.

 

The report states that Vorobyov will work with the Canucks for their next three home games, which will be played against the St. Louis Blues, New York Rangers, and Nashville Predators. The 48-year-old is not expected to have a coaching role, but rather one in the front office and behind the scenes, where he’ll be analyzing video and assisting with team tactics and strategies.

 

link to rest of article:

https://thecanuckway.com/2023/10/19/canucks-hire-former-khl-head-coach/

 

[NewbieCanuckFan]

Mike Keenan was also a former KHL head coach.

 

Won their version of the Stanley Cup in Russia (the only head coach to my knowledge that has won that "trophy" and the Stanley Cup).

 

Course, if Russia found Mike Keenan too much of a tyrant.

[DeltaSwede]

Cool stuff. I like that the organization keeps pushing for excellence. Good to see them even considering bringing on people in consulting roles or maybe it's both sides feeling each other out. 

 

Is Gonchar considered a long-term option at this point? He's kinda one foot in and one foot out sort of deal right? 

[Sabrefan1]

Hopefully it doesn't turn into a "too many cooks in the kitchen" type thing. 

 

Alpha males will clash with other alphas more often than not.  At least he wasn't made President of Hockey Operations.  That has a way of causing confusion and/or friction with GM's.

[Ghostsof1915]

Sounds like he's just a temporary consultant.

I think the executives want input.

Better than hiring sleep doctors IMO.

[timberz21]

1 hour ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

Mike Keenan was also a former KHL head coach.

 

Won their version of the Stanley Cup in Russia (the only head coach to my knowledge that has won that "trophy" and the Stanley Cup).

 

Course, if Russia found Mike Keenan too much of a tyrant.

 

Bob Hartley did it also in 2021 also.

[Miss Korea]

I was worried it would be Iron Mike again

 

[Hogs and Podz]

11 minutes ago, Miss Korea said:

I was worried it would be Iron Mike again

 

[PureQuickness]

I think Rutherford and company are trying to change the culture to make us get more Russian players. We had traditionally shied away from them.

[Blue]

4 hours ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

Mike Keenan was also a former KHL head coach.

 

Won their version of the Stanley Cup in Russia (the only head coach to my knowledge that has won that "trophy" and the Stanley Cup).

 

Course, if Russia found Mike Keenan too much of a tyrant.

 

Keenan coached the Flames in 2008/9 which isn't all that long ago. Then they had Bob Hartley and Daryl Sutter. They just love the tyrants over there. Torts will probably have one last go after his Flyers gig in Calgary

[Blue]

2 hours ago, timberz21 said:

 

Bob Hartley did it also in 2021 also.

I didn't know that. Here he is with Kovalchuk

 

[NewbieCanuckFan]

2 hours ago, Miss Korea said:

I was worried it would be Iron Mike again

 

That should be a bannable offense for even suggesting that (err wait, I kind of did as well )

[NewbieCanuckFan]

1 hour ago, PureQuickness said:

I think Rutherford and company are trying to change the culture to make us get more Russian players. We had traditionally shied away from them.

For good reason.  Not a slight against players from that country but for the longest time, the Russian league there was a real option for players born there (when oil prices were sky high).  Who can blame them?  Get to play at home & I *think* far less games (and equal if not better pay).  So you could draft a guy who would just go home if things didn't go his way (look no further than the Big Russian D that Jim Benning drafted).  Not saying it was a bad choice.  You always take that kind of risk with a non-1st round pick (imho).

[Miss Korea]

Just now, NewbieCanuckFan said:

For good reason.  Not a slight against players from that country but for the longest time, the Russian league there was a real option for players born there (when oil prices were sky high).  Who can blame them?  Get to play at home & I *think* far less games (and equal if not better pay).  So you could draft a guy who would just go home if things didn't go his way (look no further than the Big Russian D that Jim Benning drafted).  Not saying it was a bad choice.  You always take that kind of risk with a non-1st round pick (imho).

 

There are nuances to that.  There is a valid concern that if you draft a European player, he won't be willing to go through the trials and tribulations of riding the AHL bus all week long.  That's not living the dream.

 

But there is also a risk to that philosophy.  Some Europeans are willing to put their nose to the grind and develop their game here.  And on the flip side, you might be drafting an inferior North American player who is willing to play in the AHL but simply doesn't have the talent or work ethic to succeed.  In the grand scheme of things, I don't think it makes that much of a difference.  Sometimes the European is the better choice (Pettersson/Nylander/Ehlers > Glass/Virtanen), and sometimes it's the other way around (Tkachuk/Boldy > Juolevi/Podkolzin).

[NewbieCanuckFan]

3 minutes ago, Miss Korea said:

 

There are nuances to that.  There is a valid concern that if you draft a European player, he won't be willing to go through the trials and tribulations of riding the AHL bus all week long.  That's not living the dream.

 

But there is also a risk to that philosophy.  Some Europeans are willing to put their nose to the grind and develop their game here.  And on the flip side, you might be drafting an inferior North American player who is willing to play in the AHL but simply doesn't have the talent or work ethic to succeed.  In the grand scheme of things, I don't think it makes that much of a difference.  Sometimes the European is the better choice (Pettersson/Nylander/Ehlers > Glass/Virtanen), and sometimes it's the other way around (Tkachuk/Boldy > Juolevi/Podkolzin).

Yup.  Look at Anton Rodin.  Guy suffered a bunch of injuries (getting his body pounded in the tough AHL).  Never gave up trying to make it in the NHL even after finding some success going back to Europe I think.

[Miss Korea]

16 minutes ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

Yup.  Look at Anton Rodin.  Guy suffered a bunch of injuries (getting his body pounded in the tough AHL).  Never gave up trying to make it in the NHL even after finding some success going back to Europe I think.

Rödin... glad he's still playing for Brynäs...

 

There are also players who are willing to stay in Europe until they feel ready to make an immediate impact in the NHL.  Panarin and Kuzmenko went undrafted.  Same for guys like Mikheyev and Barabanov.  Teams have noticed and realized it's best to hold onto the rights and just wait for the right time.

[NewbieCanuckFan]

Just now, Miss Korea said:

Rödin... glad he's still playing for Brynäs...

 

There are also players who are willing to stay in Europe until they feel ready to make an immediate impact in the NHL.  Panarin and Kuzmenko went undrafted.  Same for guys like Mikheyev and Barabanov.  Teams have noticed and realized it's best to hold onto the rights and just wait for the right time.

I think actually if Rodin went to Europe first & round out his game, he might've made a bigger impact.  But that's just my speculation.

[JeremyCuddles]

4 hours ago, Sabrefan1 said:

Hopefully it doesn't turn into a "too many cooks in the kitchen" type thing. 

 

Alpha males will clash with other alphas more often than not.  At least he wasn't made President of Hockey Operations.  That has a way of causing confusion and/or friction with GM's.

Tocchet is always talking about his coaching staff and how important they are, almost makes me wonder what he's there for. Seems like a dude that genuinely wants more folks around. Makes his job easier. Lol. Not taking shots at him, being tongue in cheek. But yeah, I don't think Tocchet has an ego or anything. I think he's fine having more minds to help make the train work. Probably helps the players too. More coaches to have 1 on 1 time with.

[Sabrefan1]

1 minute ago, JeremyCuddles said:

Tocchet is always talking about his coaching staff and how important they are, almost makes me wonder what he's there for. Seems like a dude that genuinely wants more folks around. Makes his job easier. Lol. Not taking shots at him, being tongue in cheek. But yeah, I don't think Tocchet has an ego or anything. I think he's fine having more minds to help make the train work. Probably helps the players too. More coaches to have 1 on 1 time with.

 

Since he'll basically be an underling to Tocchet, I'd imagine Rick was likely the guy who asked for him.

[TheGuardian]

2 hours ago, PureQuickness said:

I think Rutherford and company are trying to change the culture to make us get more Russian players. We had traditionally shied away from them.

Krutov, Larionov, Bure, Mogilny, Goldoblin, Semenov, Chubarov, Kenins, Boldirev and a few other countries that were under the USSR banner.

 

But maybe there is something to this as far as more in the future. Detroit got a jump on the league with it's European scouting earlier than other teams.

 

Maybe the team is now starting to work with Russian speaking players rather than leaving them to thier own devices to learn on their own

[coolboarder]

3 hours ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

Yup.  Look at Anton Rodin.  Guy suffered a bunch of injuries (getting his body pounded in the tough AHL).  Never gave up trying to make it in the NHL even after finding some success going back to Europe I think.

It is the AHL is filled with guys who are grinders and more physical than European, even in that European leagues which encourage creativity and is not too crazy about physical play but still a contact hockey whenever it comes that they can still learn how to take hits that is far lighter than the heavyweight AHL players and goes easy on their bodies tend to be more successful when they reach NHL.  That is what the Canucks are doing with their top prospects to protect themselves from AHL and whenever they reach more mature physically, if they weren't ready, they will be down there for short time then come up in the NHL and have had a successful career.   Ever notice that their top prospect in AHL doesn't play much is because of how physical AHL are and wanted to protect them as much as they could while developing their games in practices and limited minutes.  The AHL grinders who is not NHLers and will never be a NHLer tend to play high minutes and higher risk of injury while sheltering their prospects at the same time.

[coolboarder]

2 hours ago, TheGuardian said:

Krutov, Larionov, Bure, Mogilny, Goldoblin, Semenov, Chubarov, Kenins, Boldirev and a few other countries that were under the USSR banner.

 

But maybe there is something to this as far as more in the future. Detroit got a jump on the league with it's European scouting earlier than other teams.

 

Maybe the team is now starting to work with Russian speaking players rather than leaving them to thier own devices to learn on their own

It's good that they have hired Gonchor as an assistant to help their Russian counterpart.  

[NewbieCanuckFan]

50 minutes ago, coolboarder said:

It's good that they have hired Gonchor as an assistant to help their Russian counterpart.  

Rick Lanz served somewhat in that capacity when Bubla & Hlinka came over.  Having a player who not only could talk to them in their own language on the ice but was born there (and spent some time there growing up).  Hlinka I don't think got used to the physical style back then but Bubla's style seemed tailor made for the "North American style".  Guy didn't fight but gave lethal 'bear-hugs' as a submission move (I'm being totally serious).

[Hairy Kneel]

We should have signed Tryamkin instead of whatever we got now a bunch of 7-8 guys.

[Boudrias]

15 hours ago, Sabrefan1 said:

 

Since he'll basically be an underling to Tocchet, I'd imagine Rick was likely the guy who asked for him.

IMHO unless a Russian player or coach asks for refugee status they should be sent back to Russia. What Russia is doing in Ukraine cannot be condoned in any way. The Russian people have to carry some responsibility.