In an exclusive interview with The Hockey News, former New Jersey Devils forward Mike Rupp discusses whether he believes all NHL coaches have a shelf life.
In an exclusive interview with The Hockey News, former New Jersey Devils forward Mike Rupp discusses whether he believes all NHL coaches have a shelf life.
The New Jersey Devils could be mere days away from naming their next head coach.
General manager Tom Fitzgerald has reportedly spent several weeks interviewing multiple candidates for the vacant position. It has been reported that the organization interviewed Jay Woodcroft, Sheldon Keefe, Todd McLellan, and Craig Berube before he decided to move forward with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Fitzgerald and his team are doing their due diligence as they should because, arguably, this is their biggest offseason decision.
During his end-of-season media availability, Fitzgerald spoke about wanting a head coach who excels in communication, will collaborate with other members of the organization, and understands the importance of accountability.
"A coach that will keep every player, not just a handful of guys, accountable. If you don't have accountability, you don't have the building blocks for a championship-caliber team," Fitzgerald said. "…We need players who understand accountability and want to be held accountable."
This season, Kristy Flannery of The Hockey News spoke to ex-Devils' forward Mike Rupp to get a former player's perspective on coaching in the NHL and the old saying that coaches are hired to be fired.
Rupp played in the NHL for 11 seasons. His head coaches included Pat Burns, Claude Julien, and John Tortorella.
In a phone interview, Rupp shared his opinion on whether coaches have a shelf life in the NHL.
"(I'm) speaking in general terms because it is hard to talk about any coach when you're not in that room," he said. "I think there is probably a (shelf) life to all coaches, and it certainly feels like when you get hired, there is a clock that is starting, and you're going to eventually get fired."
Rupp emphasised that to find success, a coach needs to be able to build relationships with his players.
"The game has changed a lot over the years. The way they communicate is different. It is about relationships and getting to know and earning the trust of players. I find that is something that will buy coaches more time because it is not just about squeezing players and kind of hanging ice time over their head."
A coach's ability to adapt is needed for longevity in a career that offers little security. A perfect example is Jon Cooper, who has been the Tampa Bay Lightning head coach since the 2012-13 season.
"Cooper seems to still be connected with his guys," Rupp said. "He has been a coach that I think kind of changed the way coaches are nowadays by being very transparent and open and caring about his players but also knows when he needs to lean into them, he can."
"I also think that there are ways that coaches adapted, and I think it is to the point now where you have to speak different languages. You can't speak the same language to a star player who is logging 20 minutes a night, then you can a fourth liner. The common theme has to be respect, and you have to earn everybody's respect. You have to speak differently to players and connect with them on different levels."
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According to a recent TSN article, the average tenure of a coach in the NHL is about 2.2 years.
There are plenty of reasons that statistic holds true, the first of which is that coaches will always fall on their swords when their team underperforms. There is a reason the saying, "A lot of times, organizations will fire a coach to give the fanbase the illusion of change because real change is really hard," is so popular in the sports world.
The moment a team suffers a losing streak or consistently underperforms, the question becomes, has the coach lost the room? Rupp has his own opinion about that, and for the 44-year-old, it all comes back to the relationship between that coach and his players.
"I don't always buy into if a coach has been somewhere for three or four years, and there starts to be this plateau or dip that he is not being heard anymore," he said. "I think it's more has that coach established that relationship over those three years?"
Rupp agrees there is a shelf life for coaches around the league, but as one Devils player told The Hockey News this season, everyone in sports, including him, has a shelf life.
The Devils are one of a handful of teams looking for a bench boss this offseason. Systems and overall coaching philosophies are essential and must align with the team and its trajectory. Still, as Rupp points out, a coach's ability to connect with his players could ultimately be the factor that extends his tenure.