DeBoer Supremacy

I have to say I was a little disappointed in the tabloid headlines today in Ottawa.

"DeBoer Da Man?" was the best the Ottawa Sun could come up with regarding the story that Peter DeBoer is poised to become the Senators next head coach.

I would have liked something with a little more Hollywood pizazz like, "DeBoer Identity or DeBoer Supremacy". (And if Bryan Murray gives him 48 hours to make up his mind, we could have the sequel: "DeBoer Ultimatum.")

Now it remains to be seen whether DeBoer actually gets the job in Ottawa, but I've noticed a lot of grumbling amongst Sens fans once this story broke on Wednesday. Here is a sampling of the comments from posters on our Sportsnet Senators Forum in the past two days(usernames deleted to protect their identity):

- "I wonder if Jeff Hunt has any territorial rights in this market. He might want to keep an eye on this situation as the Senators are clearly working on becoming an OHL team!"

- "If this is true I guess it's safe to say we're no longer a Cup contender. With all the available experienced coaches, Murray chooses a rookie coach. I'm very disappointed."

- This is great! Spezza wants to be coached, so what does Murray do? He brings in a guy with zero NHL experience. I think I'm going to sit out next season and watch the LA Kings."

Clearly, there is a large segment of the population that is unhappy with this potential move. But before you push the panic button in June (which only seems to happen in Canadian markets), there are two things you should consider:

1. Murray has an excellent record in hiring young coaches. Twice in his NHL career, Murray has hired a rookie head coach with no previous NHL experience on his resume. Both times, those teams ended up in the Stanley Cup Finals in the first year.

Doug MacLean guided the Florida Panthers to the Stanley Cup Finals in his first year in 1996. And Mike Babcock took Anaheim to the Finals in 2003, before losing in seven games to the New Jersey Devils.

Murray may not be as gun-shy to hire a young and relatively inexperienced head coach as another general manager, because he's had success going down that road before.

2. Every single candidate who is available right now will come with questions marks. If they didn't have any issues, they wouldn't be unemployed, right?

Even though Bob Hartley has a Stanley Cup on his resume, some people will wonder what went wrong for him in Atlanta. Craig Hartsburg has won two straight world junior gold medals, but he never got past the second round in five seasons as an NHL coach.

Pat Burns (health concerns), Pat Quinn (ability to coach young players) and John Tortorella (candidate to kill a TV reporter) all have terrific track records as head coaches, but have some flaws to consider as well.

The fact that DeBoer hasn't coached the NHL is certainly a drawback. But it's really no different than the concerns the other candidates are bringing to the table.

To make NHL Jerseys a long story short, there is only one coach with a perfect record right now and he just signed a three-year extension in Detroit.