And so the question is this: with Dave Tippett set to become coach of the Stars, is Glen Sather being thorough in his search for a successor to Ron Low, or is he just thoroughly unconvinced that any of the candidates he’s interviewed is capable of handling the job?
The list of candidates is dwindling. There’s Herb Brooks, interviewed by Sather 10 days ago; Guy Carbonneau, the Montreal assistant who has yet to talk to Sather, but may well be on his way to the Dallas front office . . .
And who?
If Sather isn’t comfortable enough to have offered Brooks the job by now, will he ever? And if he isn’t convinced by now that Brooks is the right man at the right time – both to coach the team and to help recruit unrestricted free agents – then how in good conscience could he ever offer the miracle worker the job?
Sather has no interest in Ron Wilson. None in Pat Burns. It’s hardly likely the GM will wait and see whether San Jose’s Darryl Sutter, whose contract expires June 30, will become available, unlikelier than that he can hit 12:00:01 AM on July 1 without a head coach in place, unlikelier than that he’d hire Sutter, anyway.
Actually, if Sather is in fact undecided – and not simply running a game on the media – his best bet is to give Larry Robinson another call and ask the former Devil coach whether he might like a couple of more weeks to reconsider his decision to withdraw from consideration. How could that hurt?
If Robinson, mentally exhausted after a season in which he was fired for no good reason before returning as an assistant to fill a breach created by John Cunniff’s fatal illness, couldn’t commit last week, maybe he’ll be able to next week or the week after that. Maybe by June 1, he’ll feel refreshed.
Maybe not, but if Sather truly doesn’t have his man in sight as of yet, what’s to lose by finding out?
Nothing; that’s what.