The skinny on the coaching situations . . .

It isn’t often that a coach gets fired and anyone within the cozy confines of the WHL will offer up a comment.
Usually, when another team’s general manager, or anyone else for that matter, is asked about it, the response will be something along the lines of: “I’ve got enough to worry about over here without wondering what’s going on over there.”
That wasn’t the case with Monday’s firing of head coach Jim Hiller by Darryl Porter, the governor and general manager of the Chilliwack Bruins.
It was early Tuesday when I heard from a WHL insider who, unsolicited, offered this on the Hiller firing: “I think this guy will surface soon. He is a good coach.”
And so begins the WHL’s silly season, one in which there will be at least two coaching changes — in Chilliwack and in Prince George where the Cougars said in December that interim head coach Wade Klippenstein is strictly that.
As the playoffs begin, then, here’s a look at the coaching situations around the WHL . . .
BRANDON: The head coach isn’t going anywhere unless he decides to move. That’s because the head coach is owner Kelly McCrimmon.
CALGARY: All Dave Lowry did in his first season as head coach is lead the Hitmen to first place overall.
CHILLIWACK: Send resumes to the Bruins' office. . . . You have to wonder if Dean Clark, a veteran of the WHL coaching wars who has been on the sidelines for almost two seasons, might be interested in trying to get back into the game here.
EDMONTON: Steve Pleau signed as head coach on June 21, 2007, getting a two-year deal with a club option on a third season. Indications are that management is pleased with the job he has done.
EVERETT: The Silvertips are near the end of the poorest season in their six-season existence. John Becanic has been there since the start but this is just his second season as the team’s head coach. You have to wonder how much heat he’s feeling. On Monday, after an embarrassing 10-0 loss to the host Seattle Thunderbirds of Kent the previous night, Becanic decided to close all practices, meaning the media wouldn’t be able to attend. By Tuesday, the practices were open again. Becanic was named head coach on May 31, 2007, but no terms of his signing were announced.
KAMLOOPS: Barry Smith signed on July 3. He got three years with a club option on a fourth season so he isn’t going anywhere. He and GM Craig Bonner got on board knowing they were in for a long rebuilding process and they know the work has just begun.
KELOWNA: Ryan Huska, one of major junior hockey’s bright, young coaches, isn’t going anywhere. Not yet anyway.
KOOTENAY: Mark Holick’s contract was extended through 2010-11 on Feb. 17. Considering the injuries the Ice has had this season he should be a coach-of-the-year candidate.
LETHBRIDGE: On Nov. 27, 2007, the board of directors of the community-owned team picked up the options on head coach Michael Dyck and GM Roy Stasiuk for 2008-09. All has been quiet since then, though, so there could be a lot riding on these playoffs. The bar was set high last season with an appearance in the championship final.
MEDICINE HAT: Willie Desjardins and associate coach Shaun Clouston aren’t going anywhere, unless they choose to leave.
MOOSE JAW: The spectre of Marc Habscheid, who is unemployed but wants back into the coaching game, hangs over the Warriors. There has been contact between the board of the community-owned team and Habscheid, who could end up replacing GM Chad Lang and head coach Dave Hunchak. Lang was given a three-year extension on May 18, 2007; Hunchak signed a month later, likely getting a two-year deal.
PORTLAND: GM/head coach Mike Johnston has just gotten started.
PRINCE ALBERT: GM/head coach Bruno Campese is signed through 2009-10 with a club option on 2010-11.
PRINCE GEORGE: The Cougars fired Drew Schoneck on Dec. 1, replacing him on an interim basis with assistant coach Wade Klippenstein. The Cougars have said they’ll hire a head coach after this season and owner Rick Brodsky has talked with Marc Habscheid.
RED DEER: Jesse Wallin just completed his first season as a head coach. He’ll have to show better results next season when his club will be a year older. And there always is the possibility that owner Brent Sutter, now the head coach of the New Jersey Devils, could return. Sutter has been tellings folks on the East Coast that he will re-evaluate his situation at the end of this season, as he does at the end of every season.
REGINA: The Pats, under freshman head coach Dale Derkatch, imploded and didn’t make the playoffs. And now the navel gazing has begun. . . . Derkatch has two years left on his contract. What makes this all the more interesting is that Marc Habscheid was the second choice last summer when Parker signed Derkatch, who is something of a local hero in Regina after putting up amazing numbers during his playing days with the Pats.
SASKATOON: How about Lorne Molleken for mayor? The personable GM/head coach has the Blades enjoying their best season in years and he’s signed through 2012-13.
SEATTLE: Rob Sumner is completing his fifth season as head coach here, but this season was an anomaly because of the midseason move into a new arena in Kent, Wash. Next season may tell the tale.
SPOKANE: Hardy Sauter, an assistant coach under Bill Peters on the Memorial Cup-winning team of last season, is finishing up his first season as head coach. He has two years left on his contract.
SWIFT CURRENT: The team has improved its victory totals each season under GM/head coach Dean Chynoweth and that includes back-to-back 40-win seasons. In June of 2007, Chynoweth agreed to a two-year deal with a team option on a third season. . . . The Broncos also are believed to have some interest in the aforementioned Marc Habscheid, who lives on a ranch near Swift Current and coaches the city's midget AAA team. . . . Oh, to have been a fly on the wall at the last board meeting, which was held March 10.
TRI-CITY: Don Nachbaur, one of this league’s top two or three head coaches, is signed through 2009-10.
VANCOUVER: Don Hay is the head coach. Enough said. He is working on a five-year deal he got on Aug. 23, 2007. That deal made him the highest-paid coach in the WHL, according to majority owner Ron Toigo. And you can bet that Toigo has made sure that Hay has continued as the highest-paid coach in the WHL. This definitely is a case of getting what you pay for.