The music has stopped. The dancing is done. . . . And that can mean only one thing. . . . The Kamloops Blazers are set to introduce their new head coach. . . . Introductions will take place Thursday, 1 p.m., at the Sports Action Lounge inside Interior Savings Centre. . . . Barry Smith, please stand and take a bow. . . . Yes, the 47-year-old Smith, fired in the spring after five years – four seasons and one lockout season – as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, has signed on as the Blazers’ newest head coach. The official announcement will be made Thursday. While Blazers general manager Craig Bonner wouldn’t confirm having signed Smith, a source familiar with the WHL team have told me the deal is done.
Bonner, however, did confirm that he inquired into the availability of Don Nachbaur, who has one year remaining on his deal as head coach of the Tri-City Americans. Bonner said he felt a responsibility to check out all avenues as he looked for a head coach and that he spoke with Tri-City GM Bob Tory about Nachbaur. The fact that Nachbaur has a year left on his contract pretty much stopped that thought in its tracks. . . . Never say never, but it’s doubtful that Nachbaur would have left Tri-City, the team he guided to the WHL’s regular-season championship last season. His name is being bandied about in NHL circles and it was thought that the Los Angeles Kings may have had some interest in him. While that hasn’t happened, you can bet that NHL teams know Nachbaur is out there. . . . You have to know, though, that Tory wouldn’t have stood in Nachbaur’s way had he asked out of his contract, and that says a lot about that organization. You do have to wonder, however, just what the compensation might have been. When the Blazers signed Bonner as GM, he was under contract to the Vancouver Giants. Kamloops surrendered two third-round bantam draft picks to sign Bonner, an untested general manager. What, then, might it have cost to sign one of the WHL’s top coaches? How about two first-round bantam picks, just for starters?
The signing of Smith by the Blazers means that each of the WHL’s 22 teams has a head coach under contract at the moment. . . . Smith replaces Greg Hawgood, who took over as interim head coach on Nov. 8 following the sacking of GM/head coach Dean Clark by the Blazers’ new ownership group. Hawgood, who has one year left on his contract, was interviewed by Bonner for the head-coaching position and may stay on as an assistant.
More later . . . including the signing of Colton Yellow Horn. . . . Now it’s back to washing windows. No, Van the Man isn’t playing in the background.