Posted - 05/22/2008 : 18:50:26 Assistant coaches Barry Smith and Mike Kelly have been fired by the Vancouver Canucks.
Head coach Alain Vigneault delivered the news to them Wednesday, which would seem to indicate that he and associate coach Rick Bowness will be retained by new general manager Mike Gillis. Smith and Kelly each had a year left on their contracts.
The Canucks could fill the coaching vacancies from within by promoting Manitoba Moose coach Scott Arniel and assistant Brad Berry.
Smith, 47, spent the last five seasons as a Vancouver assistant and was also an assistant for three seasons with the franchise's minor-league affiliates. He joined the Canucks organization in 1999.
Kelly, 48, spent the last two seasons as a Vancouver assistant. He was on Vigneault's staff in Manitoba during the 2005-06 season and was hired by the Canucks on July 18, 2006.
Gillis called deciding the fate of Vigneault the most important decision in his brief tenure as GM. It must have been a mind-numbing process because it took him 29 days to decide he wasn't sold on Smith and Kelly.
It's expected that as early as today Gillis will announce that Vigneault and Bowness have signed extensions. The GM may also announce replacements for Smith and Kelly.
Following many meetings, Vigneault appears to have eased the greatest fear for Gillis. To the GM, it wasn't so much how the Canucks were coached in failing to advance to the playoffs by losing six of seven down the stretch. It was the talent the coach had at his disposal. When injuries struck, the cupboard was more bare than many realized.
"You can't blame a coach for doing everything he can possibly do to win hockey games based on the assets he's given," Gillis said April 23. "The assets were lean at times."
Gillis says scouting, player selection and development are priorities. The hiring of Scott Mellanby as an advisor to aid pro scouting is a step.
However, the burning question that Vigneault must have answered is that he can coach a more up-tempo system. That is of paramount importance because Gillis wants the accent on an aggressive team that will improve on its 23rd-ranked offence that averaged 2.60 goals per game.
It's not as if Vigneault, the Jack Adams Trophy winner for the 2006-07 season, suddenly forgot how to coach. The Canucks were 17-7-4 in November and December, and 6-1-5 in February. But in January, March and April combined, the club was just 11-18-1 and much of that had to due with a rash of injuries.
The Canucks lost 277 man games to injury and had Lukas Krajicek, Aaron Miller, Brendan Morrison, Taylor Pyatt and Mason Raymond out for much of the stretch drive.
In his season-ending address, Vigneault took exception to theories that he somehow lost his team and that he's too defensive minded.
He remained steadfast that offensive hockey is a concept he can wrap his head around.
