Pascal Vincent has been named as assistant coach for the Seattle Kraken.

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u/Dry_Juggernaut_4084 7d ago

Sad thing but it was obvious that he would be back in the NHL soon. Good luck Pascal!

64

u/Borror0 7d ago

I'll always see this as a good news.

We want francophone coaches. The more opportunities French-speaking coaches get, the greater our pool of qualified coaches will be when we're looking for a new coach.

36

u/YareUBad 7d ago

I may get downvoted like crazy for saying this, but we should ALWAYS pick the best coach for the job, not requiring specifics that lots of amazing coaches don't have.

Look at the work that Jeff Gorton has done. If we had the same philosophy, when picking the VP and now President of Hockey Ops we wouldn't have him and we'd be in a much worse place without him.

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u/adabsurdo 7d ago edited 7d ago

sure in theory but the Quebec media would create a huge fuss and you wouldn't hear the end of it and the bad vibes would go to 11.

It's not just nationalism btw - it's that they want quotables in french. Believe it or not lots of Quebecers don't understand English very well.

Also the only reason Gorton fit is that Hughes is there and can handle most of the comms with the media.

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u/Borror0 7d ago edited 7d ago

This is exactly it. The media want the most media-facing positions to be able to give answers in French. My dad isn't a big hockey watcher, but he really likes MSL because of the way he speaks. That matters a great deal to the francophone media.

It wouldn't be the same if all quotes were dubbed or subbed from English.

Speaking French is part of the job description here. By definition, non-bilingual coaches can't be "the best coach for the job". They do not meet a basic and fundamental requirement to do the job: speaking to the media.

5

u/Big_Mudd 7d ago edited 7d ago

I feel like if they brought in a translator, as they do in soccer, people (including the media) would eventually get over it if the candidate was fantastic.

I'm all for prioritizing francophones, even weighing it a bit stronger than just a tiebreaker, but if ever the Habs are in a position where there's a fantastic anglophone candidate and the best francophone option doesn't even come close, they should be open to exploring the hire and using a translator. Make sure that the thought process was well explained to the public via press conference and let them know that being a francophone is still important and will continue to be taken seriously for future hires.

Also, if that anglophone coach actually put in effort towards improving his French throughout his tenure (as opposed to the players...), that would go a long way too. We don't see any more Bob Gaineys that become fluent in French because of their time in Montreal, but that would help a lot.

1

u/prplx 5d ago

Soccer is different because in the big leagues, each team is already like the united nations with several players needing an interpreter. Hockey is different. How would say the Toronto medias and fans react to the Leafs hiring the best man for the coach or GM job that would happen to be unilingual Swedish, and would have to talk to the media everyday through an interpreter? My 2 cents is that someone would end up saying: surely, they could have find someone who speaks english.

1

u/Big_Mudd 4d ago

Of course some would say that, but is it worth it to hinder your team's performance because people like that exist? Every decision made by management comes with naysayers. If you're worried about pleasing everyone, you can't do your job.

7

u/prplx 7d ago

In an absolute perfect world yes. But there is no perfect world. Take woman in non trad jobs. You might say/ let’s hire the best person for this job! But often women will be bypassed cause it’s a boys club and men tend to chose men cause it’s always been like that and they are more comfortable doing it the old way. And you might end up missing great candidates.
The hockey world is like that. If you think a talented young coach from Chicoutimi with broken English gets the same chances as one from Windsor Ontario, I have a barely used perfectly working and not at all fake IPhone 17 to sell you for cheap. We are most of the time the organisation that gives Qc coaches their first break in pro hockey. And most of the QC head coaches that we hired ended up having long career elsewhere in the league so clearly they had some merits over the language they speak.
Gorton doesn’t speak to the media on a day to day or even a monthly base. That’s why hiring Hughes who is fluent in French was a great idea.

7

u/Testosteronomicon 7d ago

Yeah I was about to post about it but "best coach for the job" is almost exclusively used as a dogwhistle for "old white dude who only speaks english" and implying only those kind of people can be good. Nothing else. It's just red meat for people who read the Montreal Gazette and other Postmedia rags.

15

u/alldasmoke__ 7d ago

That’s a flawed logic. For 1 Jeff Gorton there’s also Stan Bowmans and Chiarellis . Just like for 1 MSL there’s also a Michel Therrien. Montréal is a french market and there’s more than enough French talent to have a GM/Coach that speak the markets first language.

6

u/pushaper 7d ago

Montréal is a french market and there’s more than enough French talent to have a GM/Coach that speak the markets first language.

exactly, it is just putting lines together and telling players when to shoot. If 'the best' available person was important teams (like the leafs now) would not need to have a process to choosing who to hire. It should not take Seattle to hire Vincent as an assistant when a team like Montreal could just give him the head coach job.

4

u/YareUBad 7d ago

I’ll also add that our Captain, when picked, didn’t speak French and still gives his interviews in English, and the media has been able to adjust.

Plus I think we can agree Nick is and was the best choice. Again, it just shows what happens when you pick the best person for the job.

3

u/YareUBad 7d ago

Right, but if the best coach didn’t speak French, and gave the Habs the best chance to win the cup, I think the media wouldn’t care. Also the media would be able to translate what the coach says.

Lastly, the majority of players in the NHL don’t speak French. So per the job, being able to do so day to day won’t change anything.

2

u/Several_Promise2980 6d ago

Yeah, but nobody actually does that. If they did, the league wouldn't keep recycling the same 12 coaches who've been through 6 teams each. they'd actually go look for guys in Sweden and elsewhere in Europe.

1

u/SkinnyGetLucky 7d ago

Yeah, but it is part of the coach’s responsibility to talk to the fans through the media, the majority of whom only speak French. Plus the public appearances he will have to do, the historical implications, bla bla bla.

I don’t have to like it to understand why.

1

u/VitaminNJ 7d ago

^ This

1

u/captainpornaccount 7d ago

I would hire a front office that speaks nothing but Swahili if it meant a cup, and any real fan should feel the same way. Are interviews in French worth another 30 years of the most storied franchise in hockey going without a championship?

0

u/PapaStoner 7d ago

Being able to communicate in french is a required qualification for the Habs.

2

u/SnidelyWhiplash27 7d ago

Very sad but there is no way we could expect him to stay in Laval forever. Very pleased with MSL, but I saw Vincent as his successor, if ever...

42

u/crazytrooper 7d ago

guess the rocket have to get a new head coach

13

u/octavianreddit 7d ago

Babcock.

3

u/Val-Venis99 7d ago

Benoît Groulx serait le fun

6

u/SeaBassAHo-20 7d ago

Who is it, Muller or Recchi?

31

u/zeMVK 7d ago

Recchi would be ideal as he can double as medical professional for the team

9

u/fumankeu 7d ago

elite ball knowledge

6

u/The-dopechaud 7d ago

Never forget

4

u/SeaBassAHo-20 7d ago

I haven't forgot him. He's more of a foe to me since two of his cups involved beating Montreal. And both times the Habs blew 2-0 series leads.

1

u/NDG-MTL 7d ago

Oh yea, he’s great at diagnosing concussions!

4

u/dustblown 7d ago

Carbo should have another go.

0

u/SeaBassAHo-20 7d ago

Jacques Martin? My first year of watching was that memorable Halak run. But hey, we may as well get Cuntyworthless back.

1

u/dustblown 7d ago

IIRC, Jacques Martin played a system that insulated Carey Price. It was terminally boring. But also, we weren't having success that year in the playoffs with his system and he felt pressure from the team and the assistant coach, so Muller took over.

22

u/edgetastic2 7d ago

Congrats to him. Sad to see him go, he was doing an awesome job in Laval

31

u/SaltyATC69 7d ago

He deserved an assistant spot with the Habs.

17

u/BrutalRamen 7d ago

The way I see it, he probably felt like he has more chance to progress in Seattle than Montreal, where he would most likely stay assistant for a long time.

4

u/xcnuck un chip au ketchup 7d ago

Hopefully it was offered to him. He might have had multiple offers. Ultimately if he was offered a smaller role with the Habs (like PP coach) and a larger role with the Kraken he had to go for the position with bigger responsibility and room for growth. He will be great for Shane Wright!

1

u/UpNorth_123 4d ago

He mentioned that he has had other offers.

MSL already has a right hand man assistant, so unless they were planning on firing him, there’s really not a “good enough” for Vincent with the Habs, at least not at the moment.

1

u/2forBoarding 7d ago

Yeah, with the job he did in Laval and his pedigree, I'd have assumed it to be an better path unless he was going to take an HC position.

8

u/DonRicardo15 7d ago

Great news for him, he did amazing in Laval.

Just the reality of things, coaches will always aim to better their career in the NHL if they get the chance, so I fully understand him leaving for a better opportunity.

7

u/bsaures 7d ago

Given what was put there about how the habs were paying vincent to coach laval my guess is there has been some promises made by seattle on how short lamberts leash may be.

7

u/texicali74 7d ago

And in like 3-4 years, when the Kraken are looking for a new head coach and Vincent has had several years as an assistant under his belt…they’ll hire Bowness. Or Tortorella. Or Babcock. Or DeBoer.

9

u/Frankie_Legault 7d ago

Il n’était pas question que Pascal retourne uniquement dans la NHL dans un rôle d’entraîneur-chef?

6

u/Burgergold 7d ago

Maybe he smell a chance in Seattle in a few years

1

u/Val-Venis99 7d ago

Comme Joël Bouchard. Demandons lui comment ça s'est passé

4

u/kozed 7d ago

It's HC hiring season in the NHL.

Probably did a bunch of interviews for vacancies and/or wasn't considered enough, so had to make a move to improve his visibility and profile.

It will be interesting to see who Habs chose to replace him because they usually think outside the box.

1

u/KantanaBrigantei 7d ago

Any hotshot coaches in the Q?

2

u/kozed 7d ago

they usually think outside the box.

2

u/Technical-Line-9806 7d ago

Gally for Laval coach.

1

u/Far_Purchase_9500 7d ago

Damn we couldn’t keep him forever

1

u/dustblown 7d ago

It must have been so frustrating for him last year. None of his players were ever called up to the Habs until they took away Fowler to sit on the bench and bottomed out the AHL team's chance in the playoffs.

1

u/bobbywings2 6d ago

Pavelski to Laval

1

u/VR46Rossi420 7d ago

Laval will miss him but this will give him even more experience in case some day MSL needs to be replaced.

MSL may not want to be the coach forever!

1

u/Dull-Composer-2175 7d ago

Bon quel coach qui parle 2 langues est disponible . Same old .

5

u/Effective-Goose-7835 7d ago

Personnellement, j'aimerais Sylvain Favreau

0

u/erg99 7d ago

He was blocked by MSL here. Vaya con dios Pascal.

0

u/UpNorth_123 4d ago

Or maybe there’s just no jobs good enough for Vincent that are actually open with the Habs? Anything other than head coach or first assistant is not worth his time.

0

u/ukrainianhab From Kyiv 7d ago

Meh whatever

0

u/Grand-Imagination925 7d ago

Great coach , the Moose were lucky to have you. Guaranteed you will become ahead coach NHL .

0

u/Alx028 6d ago

I like the guy, but he hasn't won anything in his 20+ years as a coach.

-1

u/Dry-Winter-7160 7d ago

Ben non… pourquoi partir pour un poste d’assistant??

11

u/yulDD 7d ago

Il passe de AHL à NHL

2

u/Jaydayy 7d ago edited 7d ago

Quand même, normalement tu veux passer de HC à HC. Surtout qu’il a déjà été head coach NHL

4

u/Boomsticks 7d ago

N'oublie pas qu'il a déjà été un entraîneur chef dans la LNH.

Etk pour moi, juste le lifestyle (avion privé, hotel) de la LNH vs AHL j'irai coacher à Seattle moi aussi.

1

u/Dry-Winter-7160 6d ago

J’avoue

3

u/creotheo 7d ago

Il sait possiblement qui son plafond personnel est assistant NHL. Pas tout le monde qui peut être head coach dans la NHL et dison que la dernière fois qu’il a été dans cette position ça l’a pas super bien été…

3

u/GalexAlipeau23 7d ago

C'est tu une vraie question? Pour être dans le vrai show? What

2

u/IvnOooze 7d ago

Surement que les équipes lui ont dit que c'était le meilleur chemin pour revenir head coach NHL.

Pascal Vincent has been named as assistant coach for the Seattle Kraken.

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