The Wheeling Nailers are mired in the second-longest playoff drought in organization history.
Only the five-season absence from 1998-99 through 2002-03 spans longer.
The team needed to hire a new coach with a winning pedigree. Safe to say Nailers’ Governor Don Rigby can cross that off his to-do list.
Wheeling announced Monday that veteran coach Mark French has been named the team’s new leader.
“After a long search, I’m excited to announce Mark French as your new head coach and director of hockey operations,” Rigby said. “He’s had tremendous success as a head coach throughout his career, both in putting winnings teams on the ice and developing NHL Talent.
“We believe he will be instrumental in leading the team back to the playoffs while working to get our younger players ready for the next level.”
No pressure, right?
But French has won everywhere he’s been.
Coaching History
French’s first head coach position was as Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. His Golden Hawks finished above .500 for two seasons, improving total goal and win outputs.
He stopped in the ECHL for a season to assist Atlantic City before taking a CHL head job with Wichita. The Thunder made the postseason two of his three years.
French then joined the AHL’s Hershey Bears as an assistant in 2008 and then as head coach in 2009. Both teams were Calder Cup champions, with the 2009 team winning an AHL record 60 games.
Hershey’s record stood at 182-100-32 under French’s direction with one Calder trophy and four postseason appearances. His .627 winning percentage is third in AHL history among coaches with at least 300 games.
Most recently, French coached HC Fribourg Gottéron in Switzerland’s NLA, the ‘A’ division of the Swiss National League.
Ready to return to North America, French felt the Wheeling organization, the Class AA affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins, was a great fit.
“You always look at your career as a coach in stages, and, going into the future, I wanted to return to North America and coach,” French said. “It’s been a dream of mine to come back and coach in the North American game, and I was looking for opportunities where I could challenge myself and work for an organization that allowed me to be successful.
“The relationship between Wheeling and Pittsburgh was a big determining factor.”
Style of Play
French believes a key component for winning hockey is team identity.
He’s worked to establish that at every stop along the way, and Wheeling will be no different.
“The players and fans will have an understanding of how the team will perform any given night,” French said. “Competitiveness and speed are two things that are important to me.
“I think they are representative of the current Pittsburgh Penguins and some of their philosophies.”
The Penguins utilize their speed to play hard on the puck and force teams into making mistakes.
Ideally, that is a similar brand of hockey to what French will implement in Wheeling.
The coach knows, however, that a good coach also adapts his system to the skillset of his players.
“You have to be adaptable,” French said. “Some of that is dictated by the players that you have and the ability of the coach to see what the groups strengths are and how to best utilize that in terms of system and structure.
“You want a set of values for your team to play with, but it’s also important to pick the right style of the players that you have.”
Speaking of Playing
Rigby was asked the situation surrounding the 2020-21 ECHL season.
The League is in a similar boat as other professional sports leagues.
The current season was shortened and ultimately canceled by COVID-19.
The status of the next season is still a topic of discussion.
“We are trying to get that figured out,” Rigby said. “The executive committee talks on a regular basis, about two meetings a week.
“We are working toward coming to a decision and hopefully get started pretty close to right on time, or even right on time.”
On-time would mean Nailers’ hockey in October, a welcome sight for fans thirsty for game action and hoping, with the winning pedigree infused into the organization, that playoff hockey will return to WesBanco Arena next season.
