Red Wings assistant coach Alex Tanguay recently took part in a hockey camp in Quebec with Chicoutimi Sagueneens assistant general manager Bryan Lizotte, and Tanguay spoke with le Soleil’s Mikael La Lancette regarding his participation in said camp, his status as a coach with the Red Wings, and much more. Here’s a rough translation of the article, which is in French:
Alex Tanguay thrives with the Red Wings
“Hey, that’s a Red Wings logo!” says a young hockey player to his friend, pointing his fingertip to the Michigan team’s crest on the top of the hockey pants of Alex Tanguay, assistant coach of the Red Wings since last season.
At the Wendake Sports Complex, where Bryan Lizotte’s “Ecole Releve Hockey CCM” is taking place this week, participants born between 2008 and 2015 weren’t even born when Tanguay, 42, lifted the Stanley Cup above his head in 2001.
The curiosity surrounding the new professional affiliation of the native of Sainte-Justine makes the oldest who’ve followed his career smile, whether with the Avalanche, the Flames, the Canadiens, the Lightning or the Coyotes. For them, he needs no introduction, but for the new generation…It’s a little different!
To add to the confusion, supply problems emerge, and the new member of the Red Wings organization still wears his old gloves from the Iowa Wild, where he was an assistant coach from 2019 to 2021.
It’s impossible, therefore, for the youngest kids to know who’s really skating in front of them. The former forward, who played more than 1,000 games in the NHL, doesn’t mind. Even his own sons, Blake and Samuel, are unaware of several parts of his brilliant professional career. “When they give [Dylan] Larkin high fives [in the Red Wings’ locker room], they forget about dad pretty quickly!” laughs the father of three young children. “I have some VHS tapes left to show them [my sporting exploits]!”
He thrives in Detroit
The former left winger from the Halifax Mooseheads says he’s happy with the last year he just lived with the Michigan-based team, sworn enemy of the Colorado Avalanche, the team with which he made a career from 1999-2006 and from 2014-2016.
The connection with Jeff Blashill, head coach of the Red Wings from 20115-2022, was made quickly, but he will have a new boss this season, Derek Lalonde. “As I’ve told several of my friends: ‘Jon Cooper and Jeff Blashill have the same background, but one inherited a Ferrari, and the other a slightly less-polished car,'” laughs Tanguay. “I’m learning on the job, but I’m very happy to work with a guy like Steve Yzerman.”
However, it was during his time with the Iowa Wild, as an assistant, that Tanguay, the author of 283 NHL goals, defined himself as an NHL coach. There, he took time to “do things the right way,” a progression that’s paid off at the next level. “The American League is not easy, it’s a different approach to coaching,” he says. “You have a lot to teach the players. It also allowed me to learn about myself, to know what kind of coach I want to become, what kind of approach I want to have, how I could build relationships with young players…”
“Happy” for the Avalanche
He obviously watched the Avalanche’s last Stanley Cup conquest closely. He has many friends, players with whom he developed relationships, with him as a veteran, and them as young recruits. “We’ve kept ties for sure,” Tanguay continues. “Do I still have membership as an Avalanche? Yes, because I won the Cup there. We texted each other after they won [Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Erik Johnson and others], and I’m super happy for those guys. It’s an incredible accomplishment, what they’ve done.”
It’s impossible to speak with Alex Tanguay without telling him about the many changes made to the Montreal Canadiens, an organization for whom he wore the colors for 50 games during the 2008-2009 campaign. Especially since Tanguay knows several members of the team’s new management!
He was also one of the first clients of the former players’ agent turned General Manager, Kent Hughes, and is the same age as Vincent Lecavalier, Stephane Robidas and Martin St. Louis, all former opponents of Tanguay in the NHL. “It’s fun to see that the new generation of real hockey fans has their chance,” he observes. “They have extraordinary hockey minds and so I’m sure they’ll do great things with the Canadiens. They will improve the more they go!”
After a few customary greetings, Alex Tanguay returned to skating on the ice at the Wendake Sports Complex, surrounded by young players who were only a few years old when he started skating in the NHL.
No need to bring out the old VHS tapes to show him his best goals, there are still very good highlights on YouTube, available in HD!
What is the Ecole Releve Hockey CCM?
Its organizer, Bryan Lizotte, emphasizes individual development, offensive skills and skating. By invitation only, the hockey school is overseen by [the hockey equipment company] CCM, and brings together around 75 young players from the Blizzard, Les As and Levis teams. Lizotte, a former head coach of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, is the assistant General Manager of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens of the QMJHL.
