Head coach Carbonneau likely to find success, players say

by Jennifer Floyd for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 24, 2002

Guy Carbonneau finally had adjusted to being Coach Carbonneau, not Carbo. Or so he thought.

Coaching his first playoff game Thursday in Boston, Carbonneau said he had a relapse. He felt like he did 17 months ago when Montreal named him an assistant only four months after he retired - like somebody had made a huge mistake. Wasn't he supposed to be wearing a sweater and playing instead of wearing a suit and coaching?

"I had a tough time the first 30 minutes," Carbonneau admitted. "Waiting for the anthem, it was so tense. I got caught kind of yelling and things like that a little more like last season."

His adjustment to playoff coaching was a lot like his adjustment to coaching: Quick, seamless and ending happily. Not only are the Canadiens back in the playoffs for the first time in four seasons, but they beat the heavily favored Bruins in Game 1 and took a 2-1 series lead thanks to Tuesday's come-from-behind 5-3 victory. Good things have a tendency to follow Carbonneau, which is why he is on the short list of seemingly every NHL team in the market for a head coach. Carbonneau is one of a handful of names on the Stars' short list, which is said to include, but is not limited to, interim coach Rick Wilson, recently fired Stars coach Ken Hitchcock, former North Stars defenseman Craig Hartsburg and Los Angeles Kings assistant coach Dave Tippett.

Wilson is likely to know his future before the end of the week because Stars general manager Doug Armstrong leaves for the World Championships in Sweden on Monday. But if the interim isn't removed from Wilson's tag, it is unlikely the Stars will name a coach until after Armstrong returns.

"I am sort of still wrestling through some of it," Armstrong said Tuesday before sitting down to a cup of coffee with former Stars general manager Bob Gainey.

If the Stars don't go after Carbonneau, affectionately known in Texas as "Ga-eeeee," somebody will.

The New York Rangers are expected to talk to him about their coaching vacancy once the Canadiens are out of the playoffs.

"I like what I do. I like what I do here," said Carbonneau, who is under contract with Montreal until the end of the season. "At the end of the season, I'll sit down and see what is open."

Carbonneau admits the Stars are intriguing to him for the same reasons they are worrisome.

The good news is he won one Stanley Cup, and played for another, with a core group that for the most part remains intact. The bad news is he played with a lot of the guys. Stars assistant Craig Ludwig has made the transition from teammate to coach, and he said it's tricky. You can make it triple tricky when it is transitioning from teammate to head coach.

"The hardest part is when you come in and you have to try to separate yourself as much as you possibly can in a relatively short time, and to get that response, the correct response from the players coming your way," Ludwig said. "Because they always want to joke around and do those kind of things with him, and that's just nature."

If hired in Dallas, Carbonneau would be coaching his son-in-law. Brenden Morrow is marrying Carbonneau's oldest daughter, Anne-Marie, in July.

"It's something that is complicated, something I would have to sit down and see what their direction is and what they want to do, changes they want to make," Carbonneau said. "I enjoy coaching. I don't need it. Like Hitch, he needs it. Hitch, Bowman, Keenan, they have a passion for coaching. They need it."

Which isn't to say Carbonneau isn't just as good at it.

"He's been a winner all of his career and he's been a great leader, and guys respect that; so, it's not really what he says, it's what he does," Canadiens defenseman Sheldon Souray said. "Carbo knows what he is talking about, and he has the respect of the players."

Such as Souray, who is wearing a cast on his left wrist. Carbonneau was there when they put in on. He told the doctors how to mold it so Souray would best be able to play. Carbonneau knew. He had worn a cast for most of the Stars' 2000 playoff run.

Yes, sometimes you look at or talk to coach Carbonneau, and you can't tell any difference from Carbo. Other times, like Monday, you see him behind a desk jotting down notes in preparation for Tuesday's game against Boston, and you think the role is perfect.

He leaned back from his work when a visitor interrupted. Behind him, on a mirror, was a hand-written message in blue marker from daughter Kristina, wishing him luck in games and practices.

"I couldn't get it off," Carbonneau said. "To be honest, I'm not sure what I need luck for."

No, wherever he goes, good things just seem to follow.