[Why the Winnipeg Jets should — and shouldn’t — hire Scott Arniel as next head coach – The Athletic (nytimes.com)](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5499590/2024/05/17/winnipeg-jets-scott-arniel-pros-cons/)
Good article by Murat but it leaves out some of the more concerning items from Arniel’s tenure in Columbus.
Such as this quote from an NBC article:
‘Arniel also struggled to figure out just what he wanted to do with his lineup and had his ups and downs in handling the team’s potential young stars. The most obvious situation came when Derick Brassard ended up in the doghouse leading to his agent pointing the finger for Columbus’ struggles at Arniel.’
Also this exchange with a reporter here is the youtube link and transcript. [Scott Arniel goes off on reporter. \[Translation in Description\] (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KxIN76sMZQ)
Reporter – “You’ve got skilled players, but on 4 on 4 where you think that skill would show up, It hasn’t necessarily treated you kindly..”
Arniel – “They have skill too. If you didn’t notice. They had all their skill out too. They made a skill play and I don’t think Mase saw that one where they had traffic in front, they threw a wrister up top that found its way into the net.”
Reporter – “But throughout the season, have you noticed something on 4 on 4…”
Arniel – “Have you noticed that on 4 on 4 we’ve been beaten up on 4 on 4? Goals Against? I don’t think so, I’ll go and show you the stats on that if you want. That hasn’t been a problem for us, but it was tonight.”
Reporter – “You’ve been outscored 8 to 1.”
Arniel – “Is that what it is? Okay, well I guess you guys have all the answers and are just waiting to jump so, I guess we’ll have to work on that too. So just keep piling it on, whatever you want just keep piling it on.”
Arniel doesn’t really look like a coach who can handle young players, and this is definitely a direction this team needs to go this year. That combined with what appears to be a lack of attention to details and a lack of calm in the face of adversity doesn’t instill confidence. Another troubling area is the teams penalty kill which Arniel ran all year and could never make it work. Lastly everyone throws out the teams record when Bowness was out (twice) but if you look at it closer and not breakdown overtime loses as it’s own categorey (they dont do it for wins) that record goes to 10-7 and the record against playoff teams was 3-5. All in all doesn’t really look like the safe hire everyone thinks it is, appears to be more of a gamble with continuity and loyalty as a justification.
by choicestk
4 Comments
I have said, I do not want him. I do not want any coaching staff to return. Our PP and PK were terrible and there was no excuse for it. Everyone was deployed wrong. The system was way too passive. Maybe the goalie coach can return, idk. Is it still Flaherty? I don’t know. Maybe he can stay. Maybe he needs to go too as our goalie under perform in the post season. I am willing to go along with that being more related to our overall lack of adjustment and speed causing the failure.
I also don’t know if a new coach can make us successful in the playoffs. Part of being successful is having excellent young players on cheap contracts so that the team can build out the depth. I think we have some guys who can do this and thus need a coach who is very good with development. However, we really really need another stud defender who can move the puck and score. And speed. We got so exposed as slow by the Avs.
Hard to judge a guy who coached a really shitty team 10 plus years ago. It’s not like Columbus has ever been a powerhouse organization.
They had Nash, who at that point was starting to decline because of chronic back issues and Steve Mason. That’s pretty much it. Other than Vorachek, who really took off after a couple of years in Philly. The rest were mostly depth players. 3rd/4th liners on a playoff team for most of their careers.
Using Brassard as the example of Arniel not getting along with young players isn’t an entirely fair assessment given his reputation for being difficult to get along with. He bounced around an awful lot for a guy who was supposed to be so talented.
Also Murat thinks we should consider trading Ehlers for Riley Smith lmao. So his opinions are questionable at best.
Columbus just seems like a rudderless franchise – the culture of any franchise starts at the top.
True North has built a very different culture from Columbus, starting with Chipman or Chevy. They keep their business in-house, they keep their heads down, and they’ve shown incredible loyalty. Chevy won’t make a deal for the sake of making a deal – his win rate on negotiations and transactions is high. He knows we won’t usually be a free agent destination so we have to do yeoman’s work on drafting, and their success rate there is also good.
The down side is that the loyalty can sometime override what is best for the team – Blake Wheeler is an example of holding on too long.
Arniel has to be a betting favorite because they have known him so long. I wouldn’t hold anything from Columbus over him – new coach, badly run franchise. But the issue is whether or not we currently have the horses, regardless of coach, to win, and whether or not Arniel will be willing to make the changes needed to get success on the PP and PK.
We can clearly win in the regular season, we were the fourth best team in the NHL, best defensively. I don’t know if we want to change *too* much like this sub wants, we’re obviously in probably the toughest division in hockey, but I’d also obviously like to see some playoff success, like everyone else.
If Arniel is such a great candidate to be our next head coach, why isn’t he also interviewing for other head coaching jobs? Why do no other teams want him?