It’s the 11th season of the Binghamton Senators and the Ottawa Senators have brought the B-Sens possibly their best candidate for a Head Coach, Luke Richardson.
Now I know most will go back to mid June 2011 and have fond memories of Kurt Kleinendorst hoisting the Calder Cup at the parade celebration and say “Bob, isn’t Coach Kleinendorst the best coach in Binghamton hockey history”? And yes to this moment, Coach K. certainly will go down as the coach that brought the most success to the B-Sens of the six coaches to man the bench in the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena; but the appointment of Coach Richardson maybe the best candidate Ottawa has ever sent to Binghamton.
John Paddock certainly was an excellent first coach for the first few seasons here in Binghamton, no question. Paddock previously won AHL titles as a player twice in Maine and then coached three different AHL teams to Calder Cup titles in Maine, Hershey and Hartford. Paddock saw time in the NHL as well playing in Washington, Philadelphia and Quebec before a long standing coaching career that saw him coach in Winnipeg in the NHL, Hershey and Hartford in the AHL. With the success that Paddock had in previous cities, I think most people including myself thought that Paddock would be a sure fit as a Coach that could bring a title to Binghamton NY.
And the talent surely was here in Binghamton during his years as Coach. Jason Spezza, Antoine Vermette, Ray Emery, “Shooter” Brad Smyth and Joe Murphy are just highlights from the first season which saw the team make it to the Conference Finals vs. the Hamilton Bulldogs. Though losing to the Bulldogs 4 games to 1, this was a pretty good start to Binghamton’s return to the American Hockey League and Paddock’s return to Binghamton as coach. However the next two season’s failed to see the same success as the team bowed out of the playoffs in the Qualifying Round in season two and in Round 1 during the last lockout (04/05) with a pretty loaded Binghamton Senators team. Paddock then moved on and up to the Ottawa Senators as coach and never fulfilled the expectations of the B-Sens fans or owners.
Then came Dave Cameron, Cory Clouston, Curtis Hunt and Don Nachbaur. The four coaches all had time with major junior clubs in Canada with very limited coaching and/or playing experience in the professional ranks whether it be in the AHL or the NHL. Success in the juniors doesn’t always translate into the pro ranks for players and in the case of these four only Cory Clouston in his second season with Binghamton started to see success through his constant insistence of systems before being summoned to Ottawa after a coaching change.
Without over stating the title run in 2011, Kurt Kleinendorst found a way to take a group of players from previous B-Sens teams, a few rookies and some new/old vets and had the team heading into the playoffs playing more like a team then any coach had done previously. The reward? A Calder Cup Championship to go with Kleinendorst’s previous years success as the coach of the US’s Under 18 team which won the 2010 IIHF U-18 World Hockey Championship. Two years in a row Coach K. took two teams that were not expected to compete at a high level and won titles with them.
Winning is important and development is the purpose of the American Hockey League and Coach K did both of the those. However, when Ottawa signed Kleinendorst to be the Head Coach of the Binghamton Senators he did not have the resume of the now current Head Coach, Luke Richardson.
Luke Richardson is a NHL veteran and has only seen the NHL since leaving OHL’s Peterborough Petes in 1987. Drafted #7 overall in the 1987 NHL draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Richardson then played in 20+ seasons & 1417 games in the NHL for the Maple Leafs, Oilers, Flyers, Blue Jackets, Lightning and Senators. Running deep in the Stanley Cup playoffs with the 2000 Flyers, Richardson knows what it takes to make it to the playoffs, deal with the grind in professional hockey and even escaped a brutal attack by Dino Ciccarelli who clubbed him over the head several times with his stick.
When talking with Richardson, who has been an assistant with the Ottawa Senators the last three seasons about the change to Head Coach but down here in Binghamton he said “…personally there is more responsibility being a head coach then assistants, my approach is still the same, I like working with the young guys, and that’s whats really is here, its a bunch of young athletes that want to become/learn how to be pro athletes everyday and that’s the key, to make sure were working with them everyday, and we will see the progression and the guys that progress the fastest obviously will rise to the top and they’ll really show us, so our decisions really won’t be really that difficult even though at the end the result there always is a couple tough ones.”
If anything, no Coach has come to Binghamton with Richardson’s resume, willingness to work with the young players as he has done the last three seasons in Ottawa and with being only 43 years old can still relate in many ways to today’s player trying to get to the NHL or stay in the NHL.
In 11 years, Ottawa finally hired Binghamton a coach that when game 1 of the regular season begins on October 13th isn’t the start of a pro-career or the resurrection of one; but the continuation of an all ready very successful one. For that Ottawa got it right.
[…] -Bob Howard wonders if Luke Richardson will be the best coach in Binghamton’s history, basing his speculation on Richardson’s past as an NHL player. I don’t follow the logic–Scotty Bowman never played in the NHL and that didn’t hurt his coaching acumen, while there is a long laundry list of former players who have crashed and burned as head coaches. […]
I think Richardson has a good chance to be the best coach in Bingo history. The organization is giving him their full support and I think everyone is rooting for his to succeed. Great write.
Are you going to be writing more on the B-Sens throughout the season?