Craig Patrick has seen enough:
The Penguins today named Michel Therrien to replace Eddie Olczyk as coach.In addition to Olczyk, assistant coaches Randy Hillier and Joe Mullen, goaltending coach Shane Clifford and strength and conditioning coach John Welday were fired.
Therrien, formerly the head coach of the Montreal Canadiens from November 200 to February 2003, has been coach of the Penguins American Hockey League farm team in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the past three years.
Mike Yeo was hired as an assistant coach, while Gilles Lefebvre will take over as goaltending coach and Stephane Dube will be the strength and conditioning coach. Another assistant coach will be hired. All were on Therrien's staff with the Baby Penguins.
Speaking of the Baby Penguins, Donnie Collins is worried about the effect Therrien's loss will have in Wilkes-Barre, where the Pens' minor league club has been absolutely dominant.
Olczyk's firing isn't the only news out of Pittsburgh this morning:
Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato vowed yesterday to find a way to build a new arena for the Penguins even if it means tapping $90 million in state capital funds at the expense of other projects.Saying the city and county are reaching "crisis time as it relates to the Penguins," Mr. Onorato said he's willing to use all $90 million to help finance an arena, but added that does not necessarily mean that other projects under consideration by the city or county will be delayed.
Not necessarily? I wonder what economic development officials think of that notion. I personally don't buy a bit of this political posturing, especially when considering that the Penguins' desire to secure a license to operate slot machines downtown appears to lack support from Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor-elect Bob O'Connor:
Both he and Mr. O'Connor said they are also willing to ask the state Gaming Control Board to require the winner of the state license for the city's slots casino to dedicate a portion of the revenue toward an arena. So far, the Pittsburgh Gaming Task Force appointed by outgoing Mayor Tom Murphy has declined to tie slots revenues to the financing of such a facility.The Penguins plan to pursue the license themselves as a means of privately financing the construction of an arena. However, Mr. Onorato said the city and county won't endorse any applicant, just the idea of using part of the revenue for financing an arena.
I can’t find the article, but a week or so ago I read about how the Penguins organization has only contributed about $6,000 (via the team president, I think) to the right political coffers to secure the slots license, while the entities they are up against have given in the hundreds of thousands. Having given that much they’ll be pretty adamant against partially funding the new arena, in which they would have no interest.