More on the Blazers . . .

The Kamloops Blazers became the first WHL team to make a coaching change when they relieved Barry Smith of his duties on Monday morning.
Craig Bonner, the Blazers’ vice-president and general manager, went into the office Monday morning at 7:30 and told Smith that a change was being made.
Scott Ferguson, in his second season as an assistant coach, was promoted to interim head coach. Geoff Smith, the club’s other assistant coach, will become more involved with the team after being in something of a part-time role.
Ferguson and Geoff Smith, who is not related to Barry, are former NHL defencemen. Ferguson (1990-94) and Smith (1988-89) both played for the Blazers, as did Bonner (1988-93).
The Blazers returned home Sunday from an East Division swing in which they went 1-5. They opened by beating the Pats in overtime in Regina and then lost five in a row. But, Bonner said, it wasn’t the losses, so much as the way the Blazers lost. They weren’t aggressive, there was little emotion and they continued their habit of giving up far too many shots.
This was a case of a head coach who tried to fit the players into a system, rather than fit a system to the players. The Blazers spent far too much time playing in their zone and gave up far too many shots, something Smith, on most nights, sloughed off, saying that while the team was giving up shots it wasn’t surrendering many quality chances.
It was laughable earlier in the season when the Blazers suddenly surfaced at No. 7 in the CHL rankings, a move that was followed a week later by a jump to No. 5. But then they were whipped 12-5 by the visiting Medicine Hat Tigers on Oct. 12, followed by their six-game road swing.
The Blazers’ present ownership group -- majority owner Tom Gaglardi and NHLers Shane Doan, Jarome Iginla, Mark Recchi and Darryl Sydor -- now has made three coaching changes since taking over the franchise in October 2007.
On Nov. 7, 2007, the owners dumped Dean Clark, who was the GM and head coach, and replaced him with Greg Hawgood, a former NHL defenceman who had played for the Blazers. Hawgood, who didn’t have any coaching experience when he was hired, was dropped over the summer of 2008, which is when Smith was hired. (Hawgood now is in his first season as head coach of the junior B Kamloops Storm.)
When Clark was dumped, he had the remainder of 2007-08 and 2008-09 left on his contract, while Hawgood had a year left on his deal when he was dropped.
When the Blazers signed Smith to a deal, on July 3, 2008, they gave him three years with a club option for a fourth season. So he had this season and next left on the deal.
When the Blazers hired Smith, they were hiring the guy who was actually No. 5 on their list. Originally, they tried to hire Marc Habscheid, a former Blazers player and coach, who was between jobs. When that didn’t work out, they attempted to bring in Don Nachbaur, who had one year left on his contract as head coach of the Tri-City Americans. That didn’t work out, either.
Also considered was Eric Thurston, the head coach of the U of Alberta Golden Bears, who submitted a resume and later took his name out of consideration, and Brad Berry, who had been on the staff of the U of North Dakota Fighting Sioux and now is an assistant coach with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.
In the end, Bonner said, Smith interviewed well and came highly recommended after having been on the Vancouver Canucks’ staff for six seasons.
In speaking with Bonner on Monday morning, it seems that he is quite content to let Ferguson take the coaching reins and run with them. That could be because the GM has at least some confidence in Ferguson, who has no head-coaching experience. Or it could be because the field of available candidates is rather slim, what with it not even being the first of November.
You can bet Bonner is hoping that Ferguson has at least some success and that he can get the Blazers to the spring without a complete implosion. That would allow Bonner time to explore his options, which would include removing ‘interim’ from Ferguson’s title or seeing who would be available in the off-season.
In the meantime, Ferguson will run his first practice as a head coach on Tuesday. The Chilliwack Bruins visit Kamloops on Friday and you can bet they will find a Blazers team that is eager to play more of the game in their offensive zone than they have been.
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The Blazers franchise began as the Junior Oilers and played its first season in the WHL in 1981-82. During that season, a midseason coaching was made, with Ron Harris replacing Lyle Moffat.
The organization then played through 20 straight seasons without even once making a midseason change.
Now, over the last seven-plus seasons, the Blazers have made a midseason change on five occasions. One of those, with Mark Ferner taking over from Troy Mick, occurred between the end of the 2002-03 regular season and the start of the playoffs. Mick had to step aside for health reasons.
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Every team in the B.C. Division now has a head coach with ties to the Blazers.
Dean Clark, the head coach of the Prince George Cougars, played and coached in Kamloops, as did Marc Habscheid, now the GM and head coach of the Chilliwack Bruins.
Don Hay, the head coach of the Vancouver Giants, is a former Blazers coach -- he also played junior for the WHL’s Kamloops Chiefs in the 1970s.
Kelowna Rockets head coach Ryan Huska played for the Blazers and, in fact, won three Memorial Cups with them.
And now there is Scott Ferguson, the Blazers’ interim head coach, who also is a former player.
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This from Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province:
How bad have the Kamloops Blazers been defensively so far this season? Somebody made this crack in the press box at the Vancouver Giants-Kelowna Rockets game Sunday night: "The Blazers aren't even playing tonight and they've still already given up 22 shots on goal."