GM Garth Snow conducted an extensive search for a head coach following Ted Nolan’s departure in July. He interviewed several former NHL coaches, some of whom have won Stanley cups (John Tortorella and Bob Hartley).

In the end, though, Snow decided that Gordon was the man to reverse the Isles’ fortunes. Gordon earned AHL Coach of the Year honors last season and compiled a 221-141-20-27 record with Providence.

I feel that Snow made the correct move. Gordon has extensive experience grooming young players, a facet that made him attractive as the Islanders roster will certainly feature plenty of inexperience in the next few years. He stresses a strong defensive and positional hockey philosophy which should keep the team involved in many close games. A key factor is that Gordon is a former goaltender and should be in a position to enhance All Star netminder Rick Dipietro’s strengths and work with him on his weaknesses.

I like the fact that the job was given to a man who will be motivated to prove he can coach at the NHL level. Gordon brings an energy to the position that should be infectious and my guess is that the Islanders will ice a hardworking team every night.

The noted philosopher Lao Tze once said “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” The team has a long way to go before they will be considered to be serious contenders. However, with hiring of Gordon, they make have taken that all important first step.

Ted Nolan and the New York Islanders officially parted company today in a move that has been brewing for months. GM Garth Snow announced that he will immediately begin searching for a replacement and has several candidates in mind.

I feel this was the right move for the organization to make. Clearly, the honeymoon was over and the Islanders weren’t lying when they stated the move was prompted by “philosophical differences”. Those differences couldn’t be more apparent: Nolan did not believe in the current youth movement and the Isles need a coach who will support one.

People can argue all day long about why quality free agents don’t come to Long Island. The fact is that they don’t and, for many valid reasons, I don’t see that changing anytime soon. New York also does not have the assets to improve itself through trades without sacrificing valuable draft picks. Therefore, the only way to right this ship is by drafting and developing quality prospects. There’s no doubt that there are going to be growing pains associated with this route. However, in the end, the organization will be better off.

Speculation is rampant over who might be hired as the next coach. There are several high profile contenders: John Tortarella, Paul Maurice, Bob Hartley and Dave Lewis are only some of the names being bandied about among fans. Rest assured, whoever takes the job must first and foremost be ready to develop young kids into NHL players and shouldn’t expect as much as a sniff of the Stanley Cup for quite a while.

Sportsnet  is reporting that former San Jose Sharks head coach Ron Wilson was hired by the Toronto Maple Leafs officially today. This after weeks of speculation. Wilson had this to say about his new endeavour,

“This is an unbelievable day for me. The last couple of weeks have been very exciting.”

Wilson also went on to say,

“I view the Leafs as a team in transition. It’s going to require a lot of work, and a lot of attention to detail.”

Wilson continued by adding,

“As a coach, you just want to put yourself in a position to knock on the door. And if we can be knocking on the door in two years, I think that will be a tremendous accomplishment. Then we’ve just got to knock the door down.”

Ron WIlson is a good coach. The Leafs have a person who could potentially turn the play of the team around. Unfortunately some people are crying tampering.

With the rumours still around that the Leafs are waiting for Brian Burke of the Anaheim Ducks to be their next General Manager, the hiring of one of Burke’s friends is sending flags up everywhere. Sure the Leafs can argue that they hired who they thought was the best candidate for them and leave it at that. If Burke somehow becomes the Leafs next GM however, there will be many people who will question the decision on WIlson.

For now congratulations to the Leafs. Wilson should put them in the right direction.

RDS is reporting that the L.A. Kings have fired coach Marc Crawford. Crawford still had one year left on his contract.

When questioned about his decision, Kings Gm Dean Lombardi had this to say,

“We appreciate what Marc has done here for the past two years. We believe however that a coaching change was the right decision to make.”

Too bad. The Kings young talent like Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Patrick O’Sullivan where starting to play well. Something to take note of however, the Kings have no starting goalie. Is that Crawford’s fault?

The Kings will be good in a couple of years. They also have the number two draft pick and should be able to pick someone of good abilities.

Jay Feaster said that it was a very hard decision to take, seeing the good things John has done for the team, including winning the cup for them in 2004, but he says that the decision had to be taken and that signing an expansion to his contract wasn’t an option for them. For Feaster, it was one step further to a better future for the team. Feaster added that Tortorella changed the Lightning’s organization and that what he accomplished in Tampa is simply remarkable.

Players like Andre Roy weren’t surprised when they heard the news. According to him, many players weren’t getting along anymore with Tortorella and were sick of hearing the same speeches from him over and over again.

Now that this has been confirmed, is Barry Melrose going to take over behind the Lightning’s bench?

Where is John Tortorella going to coach next? Does he even intend on coaching again anyways?

John Tortorella won the Stanley Cup in 2004 with the Lightning and is 239-222-36-38 in seven seasons with them.

In an attempt to replace former assistant general manager Don Maloney (now the GM in Phoenix), the Rangers named Schoenfeld assistant GM in charge of player personnel. Schoenfeld will also retain his title and duties as the GM of the Rangers’ AHL affiliate.

“Jim has done a great job developing our young talent and prospects,” Rangers GM Glen Sather said in a statement. “Our organizational philosophy is to build within, and Jim’s keen eye for talent at every level has proven successful in building our organization.”

The Rangers have also promoted Cameron Hope, the club’s former vice-president of hockey administration, research and development. Hope now becomes assistant GM in charge of hockey administration.

In other moves, Gordie Clark “goes from head amateur scout to director, player personnel,” while Jim Hammett, a former head scout with Canada’s men’s programs, will take over Clark’s role as head amateur scout. PR man John Rosasco becomes vice-president, public relations and player recruitment. Ken Gernander was named head coach of the Rangers’ AHL team.

The new hire is 47 year-old Randy Sexton, a former GM of the Ottawa Senators from 1993-95, and more recently the team’s chief operating officer.

“He’s going to be a big help for myself. He’s going to give me a little more time to focus on coaching,” Martin said. “The major factor was that he’s been a general manager and has had to handle the day-to-day operations. That was crucial in my decision. Plus, we share a common philosophy. He was basically the architect behind building the Senators through the draft and developing the players.”

According to Sexton, Martin first approached him about the job mid-September. And he sounds very excited that Martin has given him the opportunity of being involved in building the Panthers into a perennial contender.

“What excites me about here is we have an opportunity to build a winning tradition,” Sexton said. “We built a winning tradition in Ottawa, not a winning season, but a winning tradition. Big difference. This day and age, you can sell your soul to get some good players, get you in the playoffs for one year and the next year you’re back on the bottom again. A winning tradition is when the Panthers have the opportunity to challenge for the Stanley Cup year after year. …The beauty here is we have a whole lot of building blocks already in place.”

It’s expected that Sexton’s responsibilities will include “day-to-day hockey operations, handling of players’ contracts including negotiations, amateur and pro scouting, and working with Jack Birch, the team’s director of hockey operations, on matters related to the team’s AHL affiliate in Rochester, N.Y.”

Kitchen, the fourth coach to be fired this campaign, led the Blues to a 21-46-15 and a league-worst 57 points, in his only full season as head coach. So far this season the Blues find themselves in a similar position, with a 7-17-4 record and 18 points. It’s clear why team President John Davidson felt like the needed to make a change.

“… our record isn’t good right now. We know we’re rebuilding, and we felt that bringing Andy in would be a step we had to get involved with.”

Apparently, talks got serious with Murray when he and Davidson had dinner in New York over the week-end. By Monday afternoon, Murray was already signed to a “multiyear contract.” It’s unknown how far back talks between the Blues and Murray have been ongoing. As we reported earlier, all signs were pointing to a coaching change in St. Louis for sometime now.

So what will Murray bring to the table? In one word, experience.

“He’s had good experience in LA in helping turn that franchise around. He’s had a wealth of experience internationally and pretty well across the board. When we look at it, we’re comfortable with his experience level. I think there’s going to be some change in the air — something we just need.”

It is expected that Murray coach his first game with the Blues tonight in St. Louis, against the Chicago Blackhawks.

The move comes after yet another disappointing start to a season for the Hawks. The team from the Windy City is 7-12-2, and finished their recent road trip 1-3-1 while being “outscored 17-9.” There has also been speculation that Yawney and GM Dale Tallon had some differences of opinion in regards to how certain players were utilized. All in all, things did not look good for Yawney.

So, Tallon had enough and made the coaching change.

“We decided last night we needed to do this,” Hawks GM Dale Tallon told The Canadian Press on Monday. “We just felt we wanted to go in a different direction. We needed to change things around a little bit here. We’ve been flat. We’ve only won three games in our last 15.”

Replacing Yawney is one of his assistants, Denis Savard. The team’s new bench boss started his “coaching career as an assistant in Chicago after retiring” from the NHL in the summer of 1997.

“He’s going to coach the rest of the year,” said Tallon.

Yawney is the third head coach to get the axe this season, with Ken Hitchcock being fired by the Philadelphia Flyers and Gerard Gallant by the Columbus Blue Jackets earlier.

If you guessed Ken Hitchcock, you would be right.

According to CBC.ca the contract is a three-year pact.

Hitchcock takes over the job from interim head coach Gary Agnew, who in return took control of the team from Gerard Gallant who was fired on November 13th.

Before being fired by the Philadelphia Flyers on October 22nd, Hitchcock complied a 5-13-1 record with the team. He looks forward to better things with the Blue Jackets.

“I’m going to a great young team. I’m really looking forward to this, it’s going to be a great challenge.”

What makes this signing peculiar, is the fact that it is not clear if current GM Paul Holmgren will continue to be the team’s GM once the season ends. One would expect that if a new GM is to take over in the summer, he should be able to hire his own coach. So, are we to believe that Holmgren will be the Flyers’ GM after this season? We’ll see.

Regardless, the Flyers feel confident that they have made the right move.

“Over the course of the last month with John Stevens moving in as the head coach, we have had time to settle some issues and we have officially come to an agreement with John on a two-year contract,” said General Manager Paul Holmgren.

John Stevens replaced the fired Ken Hitchcock on October 22. Since then he has a record of 4-7-1 in 12 games, but Stevens sounds very motivated to turn things around.

“I’m excited,” said Stevens. “I know that we have work to do here, but I do see a lot of potential for this hockey team. I want to be the guy who brings success here. I’ve been in Philadelphia for a long time and I know what it means to win here. I’ve won championships at the minor league level and I’d love to have the chance to do it at the NHL level. We have a great coaching staff in place and it’s a pleasure working with Paul Holmgren. This is an ideal situation for me and it’s an opportunity that I welcome.”

Assistant coach Gary Agnew will take over the reigns on an interim basis, while GM Doug MacLean searches for a full time replacement for Gallant.

The Jackets are the owners of a 5-9-1 record, and sit last in the Central division, and 14th in the Western Conference.