Coyotes hire rookie coach Tourigny

Interesting hire, thoughts?

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 2 years ago
Coyotes hire rookie coach Tourigny
Zuma Press

According to multiple online reports including a confirmed report from the Associated Press, the Arizona Coyotes have hired longtime Canadian junior coach Andre Tourigny as the team's new head coach.




From the AP:

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The Arizona Coyotes are hiring veteran NHL assistant and junior coach Andre Tourigny as head coach, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the official announcement won’t come until a Thursday morning news conference.
Tourigny replaces Rick Tocchet, who was fired May 9 after the Coyotes failed to reach the playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons.
The 47-year-old Tourigny has spent the past four seasons as coach and vice president of hockey operations for the Ottawa 67s in the junior Ontario Hockey League. He previously served as an assistant coach with the Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators.
Earlier this month, Tourigny was an assistant coach to Gerrard Gallant on the Team Canada team that earned gold at the world championships. He also led Team Canada to gold at the 2020 world junior championships and was slated to coach at the world juniors again later this year, but will now need to be replaced.
Tourigny earned his second straight OHL coach of the year honors in 2020 after leading the 67s to the league’s best record in consecutive seasons. He began his coaching career in 1998 at the junior major level, and became a head coach in 2003-04 with Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

By all accounts Tourigny is a very qualified coach and brings a lot of experience from the junior level into his first head coaching position in the NHL. However, it's interesting that the Coyotes elected to go with a rookie coach who hasn't been in the NHL in years. Typically a rookie NHL coach would receive a promotion from an NHL assistant coaching role or at least would have some head coaching experience at the AHL level. In any case, it appears that Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong sees something in Tourigny and the way that he motivates and develops young players. Here's hoping it works out because to me it feels like the Coyotes have been stuck in a perpetual developing and rebuilding stage for two decades now.