NEWS

Story by Brad Kelly of the Pickering News Advertiser - www.durhamregion.com - photo courtesy of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

After a couple of trying weeks, the Pickering Panthers have some stability.

In the matter of a couple of weeks, the Ontario Junior Hockey League club released its GM/head coach Mike Galati on Oct. 24, temporarily replaced him with Matt Muir, and then moved NHL Hall of Fame defenceman Paul Coffey into the dual role.

So far, the transition hasn’t been productive in the win/loss column, as the Panthers have just one win in six outings since Galati was fired, including 5-2 and 12-1 weekend losses in Oakville and Trenton respectively over the weekend.

But Coffey, a four-time Stanley Cup champion and three-time Norris trophy winner as the NHL’s best defenceman, has been encouraged by what he has seen since being at the helm.

“To me, it’s not all about wins and losses. It’s about getting the kids confident and getting them all playing and developing them all,” he said. “In the couple of weeks we’ve been involved here it’s been a tough schedule. We’ve played some games I thought we could have won but didn’t do it in the end.

“My biggest thing is making everyone better.”

Coffey has previous coaching experience in the GTHL, and his son, Blake, a rookie defenceman, is a member of the Panthers. Coffey’s vision is to make the Panthers a preferred destination for local players.

The coaching part, well, he’d prefer to keep his role low key.

“Everyone makes coaching over-rated,” he said. “Coaching is getting your kids to play for you. I think anybody that talks about what makes a good coach, there’s only one thing that makes a good coach and that’s good players. If you have a good group of kids that are willing to go to the wall for you and develop, everything else will be fine.”

Panthers owner Steve Tuchner, who shares a friendships with Coffey, is happy to have things finally settled.

“I can’t think of a better guy to be in charge,” he said, adding the move is an attempt to get the organization to the next level. “That level might require some short-term pain and some backing up before it goes forward.”

Since purchasing the team in 2012, Tuchner remains baffled as to why some local players choose to go elsewhere to play. It’s something he wants to rectify.

“What matters to me is we have a program that Pickering kids want to play at and we develop kids. That’s what I’m going to have.

“When I see other teams in this league that have kids from Pickering playing on them ... it makes me crazy. This has to be a place where Pickering kids, and there’s lots of great minor hockey kids who’ve played for Pickering, want to come and play.”

In Coffey’s short spin around the league, he concurs.

“My vision for the team is to make Pickering a place the players want to play. You look in the OJHL, there are a lot of Pickering players that are playing somewhere else. Why that is, I don’t know.”

Currently, the Panthers have four players from Pickering, eight from the Durham Region all told, on the roster.

Coffey has rounded out his bench staff with the additions of CJ Bollers and Pat Pare as assistant coaches.

As for his tenure, neither Coffey nor Tuchner would commit to how long he would be in charge of the hockey operations, only saying when the job is complete.

“When he’s finished getting it organized the way he needs it to look, then it should be able to run on auto pilot,” said Tuchner. “The major re-organizing needs to be done by him. When he goes, whenever that is, it might be a week, it might be a year, three years, but when he leaves it will be organized so that it stands for exactly what we want it to stand for, which is for Pickering people and for Pickering kids to play.”

The Panthers take a 9-9-1-3 record into Newmarket on Thursday, which ends a string of five games in a row on the road. Friday they host Buffalo at 7:30 p.m. at the Pickering Recreation Complex.

For the original story, please follow this link - http://www.durhamregion.com/sports-story/5024585-paul-coffey-now-in-charge-of-pickering-panthers/