MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke with Red Wings vice president Jimmy Devellano regarding the Stanley Cup Final, Vegas Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant’s playing and coaching career. Devellano tells Khan that Gallant’s persistence has paid off:
“In Columbus, he didn’t have a chance, the team was a real expansion team,” Devellano said. “In Florida, he got the team to perform above and beyond what anybody else had been able to do there. Then one bad start next season and they decide to push him out.
“A lot of young people in hockey will reach out to me and ask me questions when they’ve been fired, or something hasn’t worked out. This is what I tell them: Failure doesn’t have to be final. I’m living proof. I had bad times in my early years in Detroit. I got fired by the St. Louis Blues as a scout and here I am, 51 years later, 75 years old, and still in the game because I kept fighting. That’s Gerard Gallant. So it’s a nice story and we’re all happy for him.”
So despite such glowing praise from Jimmy D…we made no attempt to approach him as an obvious upgrade from Blashill. Another sign of being ultra-conservative. Won’t even fire an inept coach.
on topic to talk about Blashill? just couldn’t resist could ya
Seriously? So an executive with the Detroit Red Wings speaks about Gallant, who was available for hire, and it’s off-topic to question whether we should have hired him over Blashill?
Feel free to notify George. If he feels my comment was off-topic he will notify me. Why don’t you share your opinion on this topic and move on. I have.
U call this moving on lol. Smart
I’m not sure there was much indication that Gallant was a wizard coach….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Gallant#Coaching_record
In six seasons coaching he was fired twice from his job (30% of his seasons) and got bounced from the playoffs the only time he made it (12%) as a coach….oh yeah, his team did win it’s division and he found a way to make his team lose in round #1. Double oh yeah, he has no recognitions for his coaching…at all. It could be said he is riding his players right now rather then coaching them, but, I’m sure you can Google some nice comments from players about him….
Haha. Evaluating a coach based on wiki-stats? Is it possible that Gallant had LESS to work with than other coaches? Is it possible that a meddling owner was responsible for his ouster in Florida?
Sorry, knowledgeable hockey people around the NHL knew exactly what Gallant was about and what his potential was. That’s why he had numerous teams pursuing him immediately after being fired.
The trolling is getting comical now. When Gallant wins Coach of the Year, maybe you can ask all of the voters why they didn’t believe the theory that he was just riding his players rather than coaching them. I’ve heard everything now.
Fired Twice. That’s a real resume booster. I guess you must have that on yours too.
Haha. Read the article. Or read what D-dog posted below.
But it’s OK to disagree. You don’t think Gallant is anything special. His wikipedia profile didn’t indicate much. He was fired twice. And as you said, maybe he’s not really coaching his players and they are just carrying him. It’s cool if you think that.
The rest of the hockey world probably thinks differently, as indicated by the widespread show of support after his bizarre firing in Florida, as well as all of the people who have recently voted for him as Coach of the Year.
“Read the article. Or read what D-dog posted below.”
So now Devellano knows stuff about Hockey even though you once criticized him for being hard on Mantha? Oh, wait, you never said exactly that, right?
“You don’t think Gallant is anything special.”
I never said that. It’s cool if you think that.
“The rest of the hockey world probably thinks differently, as indicated by the widespread show of support….”
It’s cool if you think that….too.
“….after his bizarre firing in Florida….”
Ahhh, he had quite a bit of talent on that team and was pissing around with it. You, come to think of it, he has some of that same talent on his team now. I guess he learned his lesson.
But it’s OK to disagree, right?
It’s not OK to disagree, because you’ll just get ridiculed for it.
This isn’t a community of legit discussion unless you agree with them.
I….ahhhh……agree?
No……wait…..I disagree?
doh! Are we talking about hockey?
To play devils advocate
“Is it possible that Gallant had LESS to work with than other coaches?”
Same thing can be said about Blashill’s current tenure with the Wings.
I don’t though, think any coach is going come in and make this team any better, maybe turn our 6th pick to a 15th or something like that? Which is bad for the team as it need high draft picks.
To add…being even remotely close to making the playoffs is the last thing KH needs to happen. We all know it makes him start kicking tires and handing out NTC uncontrollably.
Oh you devil! Don’t bring in how handicapped Blashill is! He didn’t make the few younger players become better players on a roster that’s full of declining veterans.
……..Or……did he? When a team gets worse and the young players stay the same is that an improvement or stagnation?
Jimmy D really can say nice things….Who would have known!!
“In Columbus, he didn’t have a chance, the team was a real expansion team,” Devellano said. “In Florida, he got the team to perform above and beyond what anybody else had been able to do there. Then one bad start next season and they decide to push him out.”
But Wikipedia had bad stats.
Seriously, these guys are so busy trolling me that I’m not sure they read the articles, nor my actual posts. Basically every other franchise was in shock at what Florida was doing and why such a good coach was literally left on the curb. But wikipedia didn’t indicate anything about his future being so bright…
“Seriously, these guys are so busy trolling me….”
Oh no! how many times is that today that you’ve made a victim out of yourself to start a post?
“Basically every other franchise was in shock at what Florida was doing….”
So basically you are saying every other franchise wasn’t in shock too.