“When I left to coach in the OHL [Ligue junior de l’Ontario], two guys said to me: you are going to directly become head coach in the NHL. No one can dream of that in the QMJHL. However, I am the same guy, I speak the same language, I have the same accent in Ontario as in Quebec. »
Posted at 6:16 p.m.
André Tourigny was candidly discussing the fate of the Arizona Coyotes, the team he has led since the start of the season, and his first game at the Bell Center as head coach, when a question from left field launched into an unexpected flight.
The journalist Nicolas Landry, from RDS, pointed out to him that the hiring of Martin St-Louis by the Canadiens had raised eyebrows in many people in the QMJHL; the Canadian had certainly hired a Quebecer, but had not considered a driver from the province’s junior league.
Invited to give his opinion on the subject, Tourigny first recalled with a laugh that he risked being “late for the start of the match” – he met the journalists of the metropolis just over two hours before the duel. between the Canadiens and the Coyotes on Tuesday.
He insisted that his position had “nothing to do” with St-Louis, who does “exceptional” work, according to him, in Montreal.
Moreover, he did not leave much room for ambiguity. “I find it unfortunate that the Q [diminutif usuel de la LHJMQ] not be recognized, he said. QMJHL coaches in the NHL, there are almost none. There is Mario Duhamel [son adjoint en Arizona]Pascal Vincent [adjoint à Columbus] and me. It’s appalling. »
Note, however, that at the start of this season, we could have added the names of Alain Vigneault (Philadelphia) and Dominique Ducharme (Montreal), who cut their teeth as a coach in the QMJHL. Both have lost their jobs in recent months.
Moreover, among the leaders currently in office, we could add the names of Gerard Gallant, head coach of the New York Rangers, although he was not “trained” in the QMJHL – he was appointed to the helm of the Saint John Sea Dogs after eight years in the NHL. His assistant Mike Kelly followed the same path, as did John Torchetti, assistant with the Philadelphia Flyers. Jim Midgley, also Gallant’s assistant in New York, began his career in Saint John.
Seasoned
The exit of Tourigny is all the more brilliant as it is based on an experience of two decades as trainer and administrator.
He was head coach and general manager of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies from 2002 to 2013, before Patrick Roy made him his assistant behind the Colorado Avalanche bench. After three years in the NHL (two in Denver and one in Ottawa), he returned to the junior ranks, first in Halifax for a year, then in the OHL, with the Ottawa 67’s. He’s also been linked to Hockey Canada for a long time, including leading the Canadian junior team at the 2021 Worlds.
On Tuesday, he lamented that the “hockey heads” of the Courteau circuit are “underestimated” within NHL teams, at all levels: as much coaches as general managers or recruiters.
He gave as an example Jacques Carrière, longtime scout and current general manager of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, who was also his assistant in Rouyn a few years ago. “How come a guy like him never had a chance as a scout in the NHL? wondered Tourigny.
“The best coach I’ve coached against is Benoît Groulx,” he added. Groulx is the current pilot of the Syracuse Crunch, school club of the Tampa Bay Lightning, in the American League. In the big league, “he never had a chance, not even as an assistant! added Tourigny.
So ask me to explain that. I can not.
André Tourigny, head coach of the Arizona Coyotes
In his opinion, the QMJHL does not (or no longer) have a bad reputation outside the province. “On the contrary, during my last year in the OHL, I heard that the QMJHL was more intense, more physical, more detail-oriented than the others. »
In these circumstances, why, in his opinion, are the leaders from the QMJHL shunned in this way?
“I will not embark on this, I will not play politics. But I do know one thing: there are damn good coaches, damn good general managers and damn good scouts in the Q. I hope they get their chance like I got mine. You have to give it to them. »
We will conclude that for a guy who did not want to play politics, he did not go into restraint.