By Karen Aney (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: June 6, 2012
It’s officially here. Playoff time. The lens has narrowed to just two teams, and it’s become much easier to focus on minute details of every player. In an attempt to be a little different, here’s a look at something a new: what’s going on behind the bench?
It’s a dichotomy of coaching. Darryl Sutter, coach of the LA Kings, has been to the playoffs 10 times before, and to the Finals once. Peter DeBoer, head coach of the New Jersey Devils, is currently coaching his first playoff team. In fact, he was fired from his position with the Florida Panthers after failing to make the playoffs for three consecutive years.
Sutter took over the royal reins in mid-December, and has since managed to bring the team from the back of the pack to the illustrious final series. To get to the final, the Kings eliminated the first, second, and third seed teams. This is only the second time this has been done in NHL history. The first time was in 2004, when the Sutter-coached Calgary Flames managed the feat.
Given his most recent track record, one might ask what general manager Lou Lamoriello was thinking when he hired DeBoer. In an interview last summer, Lamoriello explained that he thought the losses in Florida made DeBoer a better coach. Over the course of the three interviews it took to hire him, DeBoer gave “answers that were … Open, down to earth and honest.” And apparently it worked – the Devils are in the finals for the fifth time in franchise history, just one season after missing the playoffs for the first time since 1996.
Sutter is often touted as being a player’s coach. He inspires them by getting them angry, expecting them to fulfill their roles, and bringing an intense passion to the locker room. He surrounds himself with people he can trust – and if he can’t trust the people he’s working with, he manufactures it by surrounding himself with family. When coaching the Flames, five of Sutter’s seven brothers worked with the franchise. While Sutter was head coach of the Blackhawks, in 93-94, two of his brothers were actually playing on the team.
Though not unique in the world of professional sports, Sutter is also superstitious. He drives to every game by himself, and abhors cameras in the locker room. Further, explains Bernie Nicholls (who played with Sutter in Chicago and San Jose), Sutter doesn’t do much coaching from video. Instead, he says “it’s all about teaching.”
In contrast, DeBoer analyzes video to excess. In fact, when talking about the difficulty of days off between games, he cited the video work as a main frustration. “You get to this point, you know, as coaches you get tired of looking at tape, analyzing, you analyze it to death.” This isn’t to say that Sutter hasn’t reviewed any of the tape himself, but the attitudes clearly have differing viewpoints.
Beyond that, not much information is available about DeBoer. It could be that he steers clear of the media, but it’s more likely that no one really cares about a coach that misses the playoffs three times in a row. Given the Devils’ performance this season, that will likely change in the future. Sutter clearly has some coaching skills, but would likely get recognition by his name alone. Maybe this series will be the one that makes DeBoer a household name, as well.
