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Midseason NHL coaching changes not always bad

Change starts on the bench for struggling NHL teams.

The scuffling Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks made coaching changes this past week in an attempt to spark players who don’t seem to be skating with much life. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the front office playbook, and it’s used for one simple reason: Sometimes it works.

“A lot of times it’s just a change,” Kings interim coach Willie Desjardins told reporters Monday, a day after replacing the fired John Stevens. “Sometimes when you get going, it’s the same thing day after day. So I don’t think it’s any disrespect to John or anybody that’s been here. I think sometimes it’s just a change and guys get excited again.”

There were no midseason coaching changes last season for the first time since 1966-67, but now teams are back to their old ways.

Stevens was fired after being swept by the Golden Knights in the playoffs last season and starting this season 4-8-1. The Blackhawks fired longtime coach Joel Quenneville on Tuesday 15 games into his 11th season with the team, a tenure that included nine playoff appearances and three Stanley Cups.

The dismissals came early — Stevens’ firing was the NHL’s quickest since 2015 — but that doesn’t mean either team is looking to tank the rest of the way. Teams have made 16 midseason coaching changes in the previous five years, and seven still made the playoffs. One of them went all the way, as the Pittsburgh Penguins replaced Mike Johnston with Mike Sullivan on Dec. 12, 2015, and won the Stanley Cup.

That’s not to say the Kings or Blackhawks are destined for greatness, but it’s not time to count them out, either.

“I don’t really have answers on a lot of things right now,” Blackhawks star Patrick Kane told reporters Tuesday. “Just one of those things where you’ll have to wait for time to tell you what it is. A lot of us have had the same coach for 10 years, so it’s definitely something new for us, but at the same time, you try to be a professional and keep an open mind to what the organization is doing.”

Thin ice

Quenneville’s firing makes Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper, who was hired March 25, 2013, the longest-tenured coach in the NHL with his current team.

Cooper’s stint in Tampa Bay is an outlier compared to the longest-serving coaches in the other three major pro sports leagues. Gregg Popovich is in his 23rd season with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs, Bill Belichick is in his 19th season with the NFL’s New England Patriots, and Bruce Bochy just completed his 12th season managing MLB’s San Francisco Giants.

Gritty 2020?

The Philadelphia Flyers’ orange, furry mascot, Gritty, has seen his notoriety extend into politics.

The Flyers said on their videoboard Thursday that Gritty received write-in votes in 46 states during Tuesday’s midterm elections. Notably, he received 14 votes for various offices in Camden County in New Jersey, including two for sheriff.

Just wait until 2020. Sheriff Gritty is change we can all get behind.

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.

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