EP Rinkside’s Sean Shapiro discusses the differences between the SHL and AHL in his “Shap Shots” blog this morning:
“It’s not about the ice size, really at all,” [Jonatan] Berggren said. “You get used to that quickly, it’s the other things, and I talked to (Brandsegg-Nygård) a bit before he went back home.”
Berggren said there are advantages of playing in the AHL, but the atmosphere and culture are completely different than in Sweden. In the AHL, the Grand Rapids Griffins main job is to develop for the Red Wings, winning is secondary. In the SHL, Skellefteå’s job is to try and win league titles, development comes secondary.
Berggren isn’t wrong, in fact I co-authored an entire book about AHL hockey that dove into this subject. Teams, management, players, agents, and coaches all know this. At the end of the day, a successful AHL coach is one that creates NHL players on the cheap in a salary cap world.
Griffins coach Dan Watson knows this. Last season he and I had a lengthy chat about how his job changed when he was promoted from the ECHL to the AHL. With the Toledo Walleye, the goal was always about winning the Kelly Cup — the ECHL, frankly, isn’t a prospect league — while in Grand Rapids he’s well aware his game was always the second-most-important one that evening.
It’s why I believe coaching in the AHL is one of the most difficult jobs in hockey. Your job description rarely matches how most people will publicly judge whether you are successful or not.
Continued (paywall)
