Cue the crickets. Is Kevin Cheveldayoff on holiday? It would seem so, but it likely just speaks to the ability of the Winnipeg Jets organization to keep their cards close to their chest. While it probably hasn’t been quiet, the best information we are hearing lately has been snippets and rumors from so-called insiders. It has just been SO quiet. While it would be nice to have their coach in place before the draft next week, it isn’t the end of the world. Many teams have gone into the draft without a coach, and much of the prep work was done in the previous months, either with or without Dave Lowry. Ideally, though, we have a person in place before unrestricted free agents hit the open market on July 13.
The latest buzz has the Jets narrowing down their search to just four gents of who one will be the next head coach for the team.
Jim Montgomery
A previous head coach for the Dallas Stars recently completed a two-year contract as an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues. The 53-year-old (birthdate June 30) played 122 NHL games over 15 seasons. He was let go by the Stars mid-season three years ago for a substance abuse issue. He still has a certain amount of cachet, but remember, he and any other coach the Jets are interviewing just got passed over by several teams with coaching vacancies.
Rick Tocchet
Perennially a power forward as a player, Tocchet has been head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Arizona Coyotes for a total of six seasons though only making the playoffs once. He left the Arizona team after the 2020-21 season and has worked as an analyst for TNT this past season. If Tocchet can get the Jets to play half as hard as he did during his career, we should do okay.
Andrew Brunette
Though Brunette led his team to a President’s trophy and a league-leading 340 goals, he doesn’t have much head coaching experience with just one season under his belt. It could be argued that though he took over a team that was reeling after having their previous head coach step down (Joel Quenneville) early in the season, he was still guiding a team (and systems) that were already in place. Lots of talk that he was out-coached in the third round by Tampa’s Jon Cooper.
Scott Arniel
There was talk early in the spring that hiring Scott Arniel by the Jets was a done deal. All that remained to be seen was whether he would be an assistant, associate, or head coach. His name has not popped up in any of the other NHL team coaching searches, which either means, he is hired by the Jets, or he doesn’t garner much interest. A former Jet and AHL Moose player and Moose coach, Arniel has the most experience of these four, including six years of head and associate work with the Columbus Blue Jackets and the New York Rangers.
Time is ticking. Watch for a Winnipeg Jet press release in the next few days. We hope.
