from Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe,

Hockey has yet to reach football’s level of specialization. It’s coming. It’s not enough anymore to have a head coach, two assistants, and a goalie coach. In short order, there will be full-time assistants dedicated to each position: goalie, defense, center, and wing. Some teams will hire assistants to work specifically on the power play and penalty kill.

Skills coaches are also en route. In August, the Coyotes hired Dawn Braid as skating coach. The organization believes Braid is the NHL’s first full-time female coach. That’s not the important part. The good news is a team is thinking progressively enough to dedicate a position to skating, the most critical component to a player’s success. On the same day, the Coyotes hired Mike Van Ryn as the organization’s development coach and Steve Potvin as its skills coach. Clearly, 27-year-old GM John Chayka is thinking differently than his older counterparts.

This may seem like overkill to the game’s established minds. It’s not. It’s progress. When a team hires a full-time shooting coach, it will wonder what took so long. Improvement takes place when players are challenged, taught, and coached to do things they have not been prompted to do before.

If nothing else, hiring more coaches leads to an increase in the metabolism of thinking. It will not surprise you to hear that John Tortorella considers himself an alpha male. The Columbus coach is not alone in this category. Lead dogs are used to getting their way, not being tested to consider alternatives. Every coach improves when he’s forced to think differently.

more plus other hockey topics of interest...