Ted Nolan. Photo courtesy of Dean Bear.
Former NHL Coach of the Year Ted Nolan says if the right coaching job comes up, he would definitely entertain offers from prospective NHL teams.
Nolan was the keynote speaker in a morning forum at the U of S with university senior administration and Indigenous leaders from across the province.
He will also meet with students and staff in Huskie Athletics and the College of Kinesiology about Aboriginal athlete development and will cap his day on campus with a Speakers Forum address this evening at the Gordon Oakes Red Bear Student Centre.
Nolan says he has never lost the itch to get back into coaching in the NHL.
“I’m just waiting for someone to make the right offer. I love to coach and I love to make differences in people’s lives and in hockey lives, it’s about winning. And if you have the opportunity to formulate the right game plan with the right people, then you have a chance for success,” he added.
Nolan hasn’t coached in the NHL since being fired by the Buffalo Sabres just over two years ago. Nolan had two stints with Buffalo. He won the 1997 Jack Adams Trophy as NHL Coach of the Year.
After a falling out with then general manager John Muckler and star goalie Dominik Hasek, Nolan was let go. His other NHL coaching stint included being the bench boss of the New York Islanders from 2006-2008, before returning to Buffalo in 2013. Sandwiched in between that was a brief tenure as head coach of the Latvian men’s hockey team.
Nolan says seeing more Aboriginal players in the NHL would be a dream come true and says there are many talented players out there. He also says many are faced with a lot of challenges off the ice.
Nolan left his home reserve of Garden River First Nation when he was 16 to play junior hockey in Kenora and says many times, he cried himself to sleep at night, being homesick for his family and friends back home. He said he did not like the place where he was playing and didn’t like his teammates and wasn’t fitting in. He said he was tempted to call home and have his mom and dad come and pick him up, but he persevered and stuck with it.
Eventually, he ended up playing junior with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and played on the same team as Wayne Gretzky before being drafted 78th overall by Detroit in 1978.
He says being able to overcome those obstacles helped prepare him for the rigors of coaching.
“The fact that I didn’t quit when I was 16 years old helped me further in life, and there are so many Aboriginal kids that have to persevere and overcome those challenges to make that next step, but they have a lot of support to be able to do that,” Nolan said. “That’s the message I want to relay to students. If a skinny Ojibway kid from Garden River with oversized skates can make it to the NHL, anyone can do anything.”
As for this year’s NHL playoffs, Nolan says there is so much parity in the league, it’s tough to predict a Stanley Cup winner.
“Whoever can predict this one, they have to get themselves a job in Vegas, because it will be hard to pick. What it will come down to is getting the right bounce at the right time,” he said.