…I was sitting in my little grey Toyota listening to 850 the Buzz for confirmation that yes indeed, Chairman Mo had been deposed after his too-long tenure behind the Hurricanes’ bench.

I was, of course, not disappointed–nor was I unsurprised by Adam Gold’s whining that the Hurricanes were making a mistake by firing the guy and hiring some “unknown” named Peter Laviolette. Of course, this is the same guy that bashed the Hurricanes left right and center for the bulk of of the team’s existence here in North Carolina (and would cut off and proceed to insult on the air anyone who called in to disagree with him), so nothing came as a surprise to me with that guy. The ‘Canes were making a mistake, Paul Maurice is a great coach, they shouldn’t have fired him, blah blah blah Scotty Bowman blah blah blah….

Yes, he really did make a Scotty Bowman comparison–conveniently ignoring the fact that Bowman had been fired at least twice in his career (most notably by Buffalo).

(note to any 850 the Buzz fanbois that are tempted to call me out on this: I am many things, but I am not a liar. Just because Adam Gold is a revisionist, that doesn’t mean that I have to be.)

Toolbag Junior also whined and cried that the ‘Canes had made a big mistake–and those of us that knew better laughed at him.

So three years and a Stanley Cup later, what do I think of it all?

I think it was a decision that had been too long delayed. A Stanley Cup does little to negate a corporate culture where slavish loyalty is more valued than excellence and where those who do mediocre-at-best work are retained long past the point where they should be let go in favor of somebody who can at least try to do a better job. I love my team, but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to the organization’s faults.

I never had a problem with Mo personally–he’s a good guy and all–but his tenure here was a serious case of arrested development. Being retained for so long in a job where the average shelf-life of a coach averages about four seasons was a bad thing for him, especially because he was just thrown into the job without having had the opportunity to really learn from a more experienced coach. It was an exercise in LR2: Lather, Rinse, Repeat. Collapsing defense, 3-2 forecheck that was so textbook that quite a few more experienced coaches could (and did) beat it with astonishing regularity, and veterans ridden into the ground while promising rookies were left to languish on the fourth line (if they were lucky) or in the stands (if they weren’t lucky) until circumstance forced the Great Helmsman to use them.

Sami Kapanen, anyone?  In Hartford, he was left to die on the vine as a checking wing on the fourth line until injuries forced Chairman Mo to put the then-rookie in on the top two lines, where he could show off his scoring skills. Shane Willis is another good example. Chairman Mo was never a big fan of his, because the kid wasn’t very defensively-minded. He was a scorer, and that was something that wasn’t exactly in vogue on a team where “we don’t need to score any more goals” and stifling defense was the watch-word. Guys like Jaro Svoboda were the big thing for us, because they were defensively-minded. We fans used to joke that our team never scored much because the players were afraid they’d get benched if they scored–and sadly, it seemed to be true when guys that had a big night one night would get benched the next night.
Man, I still remember a holiday get-together where I got into an argument with a friend over Lavi. “Laviolette SUCKS,” she said. “We give up WAY too many goals!  That’s not good!  He’s a horrible coach!”

“Have you seen that we’re scoring more goals?”  I asked. “Your boy Joe, Lord of Evil is on the way to a 20-goal season. Never would have seen that with Chairman Mo. Yeah, we give up a lot of goals–but that’s the way the system works.” What we saw in that first season was the burning-away of 8 years of smoke-and-mirrors. Fans were, after 8 seasons, so used to defensive snore-fests that seeing actual offensive output (and aggressive offense, at that) was a huge surprise. Pleasant for a lot, hard to adjust to for some, but it makes for a far more exciting game.

I come not to praise Chairman Mo, but to finally–at long last–close the door that part of the team’s past. Win or lose, I think that this game is something that will let the fans finally say goodbye (or “good riddance”, if you prefer) to the coach that bridged two eras of the team’s existence.

Lots are already open as I write this, doors open at 6:00, and the puck drops at 7:30 (at the request of Rogers Sportsnet–is there a NASCAR race going on again?)

Go Canes.