Avs Coaching Job Roy's if He Wants It

As reported earlier today by Adrian Dater. Roy has since half assed denied it (“no formal offer” is technically different than “no offer”).

It makes sense to me why Avs management would want to bring in St. Patrick. Actually, “Perfect Sense” as Roger Waters wrote “Expressed in dollars and cents, pounds, shillings and pence.”

Roy will put butts in the seats at the Pepsi Center. Not a lot for the casual Avs fan (you know, the guy who only starts paying attention a week after the Broncos season ends) to get behind right now. Its only going to get worse when Sakic retires this summer. The biggest new piece most likely to come in this off-season will be the 3rd overall pick. The team can sell Duchene / Tavares / Hedman all they want (and they should) but casual fans aren’t going to care about him until he produces on the ice and the team starts winning.

So how do you get causal fans to care? Bring in a name they know. I think “Roy” qualifies.

It’s not like they haven’t done this before. Remember trade deadline ‘08? When aging stars Forsberg and Foote were both acquired. Not only did it get the Avs in the playoffs, it got people around Denver to pay attention. It got my office to start asking me about the Avs.

So, do I have a big problem this? No. Luckily, Roy has proven he at least deserves consideration. He won a Memorial Cup in 2006 with the Quebec Remparts, the CHL junior team he co-owns, GM’s and coaches. But do I think Roy would be seriously looked at if he didn’t win Stanley Cups with the Avs. No.

Winning in the NHL comes down to talent and hard work. Talent is the GM’s responsibly - hard work is the coach’s job. I’m not trying to marginalize NHL coaches - getting an NHL team to work harder than another NHL team is much easier said than done. But messages go stale and usually pretty quickly - this is why coaching turnover in the NHL goes on at a near constant rate. Heck - three of four teams in the Conference Finals right now made head coaching changes DURING this regular season.

So, go ahead and hire Roy, Pierre, I mean, Future Puppet GM. Hopefully Partick will say yes and it will get some excitement back in Denver. Hey, if we're lucky maybe he'll even try to fight Mike Babcock some crazy night in February.

Just make sure to fire him when its time.