After working for 14 years as a consultant for the Chicago Blackhawks, Scotty Bowman decided to turn the page. The 88-year-old announced via his Twitter account, adding that he wanted to stay in hockey.
Accessed shortly after this viral tweet was shared over 700 times and liked by over 6,500 netizens, TVASports.ca on Tuesday afternoon Verdano was in a cheerful mood.
“I’m like all the others! I’m a free agent!” he said from the Buffalo area.
The decision to leave the Black Hawks was made in mid-June, as he said “don’t do too much”. Add to that the turmoil the organization has been through over the past year and it’s clear that Bowman needed a new challenge.
“It’s time to leave,” he says. I had the opportunity to work with my son (Stan), an experience that I loved. He fell ill, but is now recovered. It’s been a tough year, but it’s over. I am looking forward.”
interest for CH?
Bowman won nine Stanley Cups as head coach, including five with the Montreal Canadiens. His name was engraved on the prestigious trophy five more times while serving in the management of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Detroit Red Wings and, most recently, the Blackhawks.
This means that one of the greatest hockey minds of the modern era is ready to hear 31 other teams on the track at a time when Club de hockey Canadien is at the center of the rebuilding process, both in terms of ice only on the seventh floor.
Could he be tempted by a consultant position with Sainte-Flanelle?
“I don’t shut the door, but I don’t open it either,” he said, procrastinating somewhat. I have many fond memories and no regrets there. I wish them the best.
“I think there will be positive feedback about this club. It is not far away.”
These words, Bowman pronounces easily and without restrictions. From the start of the phone interview, he himself noted the praise for the new department’s work on the amateur project last week.
“I thought they got some good players. I love what they did. Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton are doing a good job,” emphasized the person who always says he has an association with the capital, Quebec.
“The two teams I have followed the most are Montreal and Detroit. I started with the Canadian school club after I was a recruit at Peterborough and when I got behind the bench (in 1971) we won the cup in my second season.
The fun of watching hockey
Bowman spends the hockey season in Sarasota, Florida, and has recently spied nearly every Tampa Bay Lightning game during his time with the Hawks. He swears he only missed six games.
“They gave me a good seat at the press fair. I enjoy watching matches and talking to scouts. Some pass for a game or two. Many are ex-players, like Adam Creighton of the Boston Bruins. I recruited him (in 1983) with the Buffalo Sabers!”
Of course, Bowman still has excellent connections in the hockey world, and remains in suspense despite the development of the sport since the days when he had a love-hate relationship with his players, first during the Montrealer dynasty in the 1970s.
Steve Schatt, who played under Bowman from 1972 to 1979, once quipped that he was the type of coach a 364-day-a-year player would hate, until he ditched the championship ring on Day 365.
“The sport has changed a lot. There are things I have done that have been good. Others are less good.
Other times, other morals.
So some see the charismatic strategist as part of the “old school” while pedagogy and player psychology are crucial issues for the coach in modernity. The analytical aspect has also grown and influences decision makers more than ever.
However, Bowman is not looking forward to returning to the bench: “Recently I’ve spent most of my time helping coaches and discussing the coach’s role,” he says.
When it comes to his next challenge, Bowman doesn’t want to rush into anything. He knows very well that every club has to go through some cycle, sooner or later.
“I just left (Blackhawk). I didn’t tell them I wanted to end up somewhere else. I loved what I was doing and leave the organization in the same condition it was when I arrived.
“Pop culture maven. Unapologetic student. Avid introvert. Gamer. Problem solver. Tv fanatic.”