Luc, in a statement: "For the first time in LA Kings history we will have one coach strictly dedicated to an 'Offensive Coordinator' role."
— Jon Rosen (@lakingsinsider) July 10, 2017
The Los Angeles Kings are trying something new and having an offensive co-ordinator, Pierre Turgeon. This is an interesting tactic that could change how teams view coaching if it is done correctly.
First of all, all though teams have forwards and defencemen, offence is not created more by one group. Defencemen contribute to offence by starting breakouts, maintaining possession, and generally getting the puck out of the defensive zone quickly. There is a saying that championships are won with defence and that is technically true if you assume that defence includes the ability to limit defensive situations by helping create more offence.
The NHL is devoid of any innovation. Because hockey is not broken up into offensive time and defensive time like football it is rare that a team has a coach called an “offensive co-ordinator”. However, this does not mean that this experiment will not work. If the Kings use this role to have a coach dedicated to finding ways to create offence, they might be on to something. If they simply use Turgeon as a coach who runs the forwards, nothing would be different from every other NHL team out there. If he is used to find ways to create offence from defence, he might be a benefit to the whole league by helping change the way hockey people think about offence.
The LA Kings might be innovative in their newest coaching staff announcement, but fully depends on Turgeon’s usage by John Stevens and Kings.
