fire Coach Lav?????

Very quiet day today. A client who I have only been preparing payroll returns for has increased her business, so we discussed her moving to monthly accounting, and what I can help her with by seeing the books more consistently. Otherwise, nada.

Morgan is busy preparing her Baby Shower Lunch for tomorrow, and received her first income payment for her new business venture. There will be many more to come over the years.

I still read my old daily newspaper in North Carolina to keep up with certain things, especially in the local business section, due to most of my business clients being located there. It also gives me a local take on the Hurricanes. Well, this article in today's paper just got be steamed. I can't believe it is still in discussions, but there are still "rumblings" that Peter Laviolette job might not be safe. What garbage!

First of all, I don't believe it for a second, because there is still 3 years remaining on his contract, and the Canes' ownership and management is much too cheap to eat that much money. Second, if they did fire him now, it would possibly be the dumbest move the team has ever made since I have been following this franchise.

I'll get back to why he should his job should be safe a little later.

What has gotten me real upset is that this "rumbling" has been going since a day after the season ended. I first heard the general manager, Jim Rutherford, make remarks concerning Coach's job in this interview he did with a local NC sports talk station. That is one month ago, and now the owner is coming to town next week to discuss this further. How ridiculous, and unfair to Peter. What has changed in the month that the team has not played any hockey to either help or hurt him? I understand not wanting to "be rash" at season's end, but you either say it was his fault, or not. Again, nothing has changed.

This "twisting in the wind" is unacceptable to me. I understand he is a coach of a professional sports team and making more money than almost everyone reading this, but he still has a wife and kids that live in the community, and it's not fair to them either. Fire him, and it stings the family for a while, but it passes and gets better. This has been "poke, poke, poke" for a month, and now the owner wants in on the fun.

Imagine you screw something up at work. Not major, and their are reasons behind it, but you are the "point man". At the next staff meeting, your manager calls you out in front of your co-workers and colleagues (which Rutherford did by going on the air) about it, but then adds, "well, we just aren't sure if we are going to keep you or let you go". Now you go into work everyday, and your co-workers keep looking in your office to see if you are there. Then a month later, the company's owner sends out a memo telling everyone, "don't know if we are going to keep or let Joe go, but I'll be making an appearance, just to add to the suspense". Besides you, how do you think your wife and kids feel this past month? On top of that, it is not a private matter, as everyone knows the boss is coming in just to talk about you.

I know this all sounds trivial, but these are still people. Everyone should be treated with the same exact care and respect, no matter what your profession and no matter what your income. Same as if you screw up in society (criminal, etc.), you should be treated the same whether you make $10K a year, or $1M a week. Ugh!

Now going back, this is a absolute terrible idea if it is being entertained by Canes' management. Yes, they have missed the playoffs the last two years after winning the Stanley Cup, but you can not put the blame on Coach Laviolette.

In 2006-2007, the team definitely went through a "Stanley Cup hangover", but also had a ton of nagging injuries to too many players. Add in the short off season, Cam Ward's first season as the #1 goalie, plus underestimating the loss of Matt Cullen (Rutherford's fault), and you have a recipe for disaster.

This past year saw the loss of Justin Williams to a torn ACL (Plus, he was brought back way too early. I had minor knee surgery and did not feel "right" for 6 months. He had major surgery, and was trying to play, not just practice 4 months later), Ray Whitney in and out of the lineup, Matt Cullen return, play well, and then get injured, and the biggest injury of them all in losing our Captain, Rod Brind'Amour in February to another torn ACL. Factor that in with an aging defense (Bret Hedican and Glen Wesley), and so many call-ups, and again, it is not the way you want to try and make the playoffs.

In 2005-2006 when we won the Cup, we had the least amount of injury games. Stability and health are the key for every team. Coach deserves at least one more year to make this work, but also management must help. There are some key free agents of their own (Tim Gleason first on the list) that they need to re-sign, and they need to sure up the defense with one more young set of legs to play coach's upbeat system. Mix that together with a full year of Joe Corvo and Patrick Eaves playing with us, and then let's see where things shake out.

Whatever the decision, let's get it out there now. No more games. Tell him ASAP if he is employed or not. Firing is tough for all involved. Making him twist is only hard on him and those close to him.

- I called him the "Quirky Idol"
- I could have done just as bad for that kind of pay
- She gets lots of Mother's Day presents

Until the next time.....