Tuesday, June 24, 2003
The CHL is proud of its alum Doug Shedden... and so is the ECHL (seems to me they weren't quite so proud of him back then). What, no UHL press release?
And speaking of press releases... what do you know, one that's just a week old has completely disappeared from the RiverKings web site.
That's right, Doug Shedden never said he wasn't leaving Memphis... and Clinton did not have sex with "that woman," and we invaded Iraq because of WMDs.
Actually, Presidents may not always tell the truth, but Shedden did. As I've said before, the Doug/Kevin Ryan/RiverKings "statement" was well-crafted spin -- meticulously worded and easy to decode. But taking it down is like admitting that it never should have been released.
Now then....In the the latest bit of information, 'Kings owner Robin Costa said the candidates would all have prior head coaching experience and NHL experience.
But in the DeSoto Times, she also said they would have resumes "very similar to Doug's when he came here".
So what constitutes "very similar?" Two championships instead of three? A championship in one league, but not the CHL? A championship in Deutschland?
Or maybe someone who has won a title and is currently working in the UHL, as Sheds was up in Flint? There are two noticeable candidates in that case: Quad City Mallards bench boss Paul Gillis and current Elmira and former El Paso coach Todd Brost.
I don't know Gillis, but I believe Brost and Shedden are the same kind of personalities, guys who piss their players off in all the right ways and piss their opponents off almost always.
Presumably both coaches are under contract, but unless Memphis views this hiring as a way to cut down costs, there could be plenty of crisp green reasons for these guys to leave behind their jobs.
Same probably goes for Brent Hughes, though I'll admit I have a hard time wrapping my head around that one (only got room for Boston and Providence rumors in that department). Besides -- alas -- Hughesy hasn't won a title.
But if we lower our standards to what's in the press release... well, I bet you people thought I was joking about Jim Latos. Shoot, as Chris Perry pointed out to me, he's coached the RiverKings before.
However, Latos' single cup of coffee with the Rangers doesn't quite measure up to Shedden's NHL career. Same with Ron Handy's 14 evenings in the Show (plus I'm not sure posting on Glass Rattler is a useful part of the application process). That also rules out Brost, Trent Eigner and Bill Thurlow, to say nothing of Don Martin. Two-time President's Cup winner Jean LaForest, not an issue.
And Dave Nicholls is out of it as well, while Kevin Ryan seems more likely to be asking questions than answering them.
Stay tuned.
Ok, bored with all the Memphis talk? I'll leave you with a tidbit on Colorado player/assistant Phil Crowe, who one insider predicts will be a Tony Twist-like presence.
"He'll terrify people," my correspondent says. "This is the kind of guy that if you try take his puck away in shinny hockey he will two-hand you and look for more."
