COACH SPINOFF

Have you ever noticed that not many assistant coaches in hockey get recruited to coach other NHL teams?

I mean it's really rare.

In other sports it happens all the time. Just look at football. Every spring multiple co-ordinaters get plucked to become head guys elsewhere - but not in hockey. Instead, in the NHL, they habitually elevate minor league head guys to Big League positions.

In recent memory, a review of coaches who've had their assistants snapped up by other clubs reveals...not many. In fact Stars coach Marc Crawford is the top birther of NHL head guys - by a mile.

Here's the overall list I could come up with, and it goes back a dozen years or so.

Marc Crawford - Jacques Martin (Ottawa), Joel Quenneville (St Louis)
Mike Babcock - Todd McLellan (San Jose)
Todd McLellan - Todd Richards ( Minnesota)
Andy Murray - Dave Tippett (Dallas)

I think that's it.

The two Todds are the only current head coaches to be hired from another NHL team's bench.

Surprisingly these four: Hitch, Ruff, Trotz, and Lemaire haven't had any assistants move to head jobs elsewhere in the National League.

Why is this? I suppose it has to do with GMs wanting to hire coaches who have "run a team recently" rather than subordinate practice puck transfer facilitators.

Imteresting? Or just interesting to me.

Hmmmmm....