EHM The Blue Line

Columbus has brought in Ken Hitchcock as coach which is basically what I was expecting; a guy who is known to get on people about playing his way and is known to be "tough" with players... the problem being that he eevntually wears out his welcome and guys stop listening But I don't think he's a bad choice or bad for a team like say bringing in a Mike Keenan for example.

It will be interesting to see what kind of changes are now made as there are always those that don't want to get with the Hitchsystem and find themselves moving along to other teams.

Minstrel wrote:It will be interesting to see what kind of changes are now made as there are always those that don't want to get with the Hitchsystem and find themselves moving along to other teams.

Ahh the Hitchsystem, good news for Flyers fans, those old useless players are already packing their bags for the move to Columbus. That, and I'm sure Hitch will decide Drew Carey will be a great fit on the team.

As the coach, I don't think Hitch has much authority to aquire players.

Normally that is the case. However, I am not sure that this is true in Columbus. The media all over the place is saying that there is no way Hitch signs in CBJ without having some say in personnel. Time will tell of course, but "rumour" (Ray Ferraro-who is pretty in touch with the league) is saying on Vancouver radio that it is likely Hitch was signed by ownership to coach, and Doug Maclean is on the hot seat. In other words, if Hitch has no say, and Maclean does what he wants, and stuff that Hitch does not agree with Hitch will win the power struggle a la Jacques Martin in Florida. I never knew this but apparently Maclean is known as a bit of a control freak around the league. If Hitch was given some say in personnel, then Doug will not be happy.
On thing this may do is give Brule a boost. Hitch is great buds with Brule's junior coach Don Hay going back to Kamloops Blazer days, and Hay got the best out of Gilbert. Whatever Don knows, Hitch knows or will be told soon.

I expect there will be one large "signature" move made in Columbus to show it's not going to be "business as usual" and then there will be a thorough re-evaluation of the team's personell in the off season and those are the decisions that Hitch will certainly weigh in heavily on.

Given what batdad mentions though it does sound like a good ole Coach v GM power struggle is inevitable and those things almost always go the way of the newest hiring so my vote's on Hitch winning this one too.

On paper this should be a good move, think we all remember how hitch coached the stars back in 98/99 and 99/00, there is no denying he is a very good coach. In theory all should be well considering the team jackets have and all, but cant help think this will just lead to more disappointment and broken dreams.
Just always seemed like they cant get it going over a whole season, regardless of which moves they have made in the past, that looked good on paper.

I was just in Ohio for Thanksgiving and the general feeling I got from the Jackets fans I talked to was that they were excited to have signed such a prestigious coach.

They want to get to see their team reach the playoffs for once.