It turns out that the summer is a time for long drives. A few weeks back, the journey was to Allentown just to hear the Lehigh Valley Phantoms head coach, John Snowden, introduce himself as the new head coach. This time, it was a drive to Hershey, but not for the theme park and dancing chocolates. It was to introduce Derek King as the 29th head coach in Hershey Bears history.
Most fans know King for his short time with the Chicago Blackhawks, where he was an assistant and notably the interim head coach in the 2021-22 season. King is more than that and is a proven great coach regardless of the level. That’s what the Bears are betting on as the American Hockey League (AHL) team looks to rebound after a disappointing season by their standards (after winning the Calder Cup in back-to-back seasons, they were eliminated by the Charlotte Checkers last season.
1. The Following Up Act to Todd Nelson
The big question for the Bears all summer was who they’d find to fill the shoes of Todd Nelson. The previous head coach led them to back-to-back Calder Cup titles in three seasons behind the bench. Yet, it’s not only the on-ice success the Bears are looking to replace but Nelson’s vision off the ice.
Nelson could relate to the players and got the most out of the roster because of it. He knew which players could win high-scoring games and who to put on the ice to win low-scoring games. Head coaching is a combination of the arts and sciences, two things Nelson mastered in his three seasons with the Bears.
If there was ever a coach capable of following up Nelson, it’s King. “What I like about Derek is he’s a lot like Todd, where he can adjust midgame,” Bryan Helmer, the Bears’ vice president of hockey operations, noted after the introductory press conference. The Bears are looking for a Nelson replacement, and they found someone who mirrors him both on and off the ice. “I’m not coming in here to throw (things) out and change things up,” King noted in his introduction, a sign he’s trying to pick up where Nelson left off.
“They just find a way to connect with players,” Helmer added when talking about the impact King has as a player’s coach. King will be someone the Bears and their prospects can relate to, and at the same time, he’s focused on the production on the ice, making him a great fit in Chocolatetown, where anything short of a Calder Cup championship is a disappointment.
2. King Being The Ideal Balance For The AHL
King, being a player-friendly coach, is commonplace at the AHL level. It’s often the first or second thing mentioned about most hires at this level, and it’s understandable. In a league that’s focused on development and youth, a coach must relate to the players, most of whom are still learning the game.
There is an extreme to being this type of coach, and it can backfire. Many teams at this level will play a free-flowing game and showcase their prospects at the cost of discipline and structure.“If you want to score off the rush, that’s fine but you can’t turn over the puck, and if you turn over the puck, you better be the first one back on defense to help out,” is what Nelson preached to the Bears when he was their coach, helping them balance being a team that could score and defend.
King will let the prospects thrive and play well on the offensive end. “We want to play with some pace. We want to play fast hockey,” he noted in his presser on Wednesday. At the same time, King is the type of coach who will preach accountability. The Bears didn’t make mistakes under Nelson, and it gave them an edge. This team will play the same way under King to find an advantage as well.
3. King’s Readjustment To The AHL
Many hockey people say that the AHL is tougher to coach than the NHL. Players get called up and sent down to the ECHL all the time, and the roster can look different every night. So, how will King handle it?
King last coached at the AHL level in 2021, a good enough gap to return to a league that’s changed. It’s still equally talented but the game is faster, and teams are playing with more pressure. For King, his experience with the Rockford IceHogs helped but so did his time with the Blackhawks in the NHL.
“With Chicago, we had such a young group, so it felt a little like the American League,” King mentioned following the press conference in a post-media scrum. The Blackhawks, on the fly, became a rebuild with young players moving up to the NHL once he was hired, leaving him with a mess to handle in a rough 2021-22 season for the Blackhawks. “The big thing I learned is to be patient, to be calm, and not blow too many gaskets when guys make mistakes,” King continued, something that will help him with a prospect-filled Bears team.
4. The AHL is Hiring Young, So Is King a Risk?
Taking a look around the AHL, the norm is to hire an up-and-coming coach in their early 40s. The Phantoms hired a 42-year-old Snowden, and the Abbotsford Canucks won the Calder Cup with Manny Malhotra, a 41-year-old first-time coach, leading them.
King is 58, which is the same age as Nelson, who just left for the NHL. This makes the hire a risky one, as the Bears are hiring a coach who won’t improve or mature with the team. King is who he is and only has so much room for improvement.
However, King’s background makes him the right coach for the Bears to bring in and lead them to a Calder Cup. He’s also had few chances to stand out and make a case to become a full-time coach in the NHL. Hershey is his final chance to do so.
5. King’s Eye on the NHL, Someday
King going to Hershey is a stepping-stone decision. He will have plenty of success and prove he can be an NHL head coach someday. He never got a fair chance, and a team that has a coaching opening might give him one. The question is how King will stand out in Hershey and how he will look better than Nelson?
He will make his mark with the X’s and O’s and how the team looks on the ice. It will be hard to win the Calder Cup, and it’s not fair to compare him in that regard. King’s coaching style, however, is what will turn heads in the NHL circles. This is the season he can prove what he brings on the ice, which is different than most coaches.
Other Notes From The Day
After the press conference and media scrum, Hershey allowed the local TV stations to interview King. In that time, I got to meet his wife, who was in attendance for the press conference. The first thing King did when he was introduced as the head coach was thank her for the support and ability to handle all the obstacles of being in a hockey family. It was great to chat with her about life as a coach’s wife and her journey to Hershey, which is tied closely to his.
It was also great to catch up with many of the media members who work with Hershey and the AHL. Patrick Williams, Jesse Liebman, and Bears’ announcer Zack Fisch are the type of people I could’ve talked to for hours, but there was a long car ride waiting for me.
The day was a reminder that hockey is best experienced in person. To understand the background and what’s happening, it’s best to have boots on the ground to see and understand the people who make the game what it is. The five hours on the road won’t pay the bills. That said, it was a worthwhile trip, one is rewarding for those who cover hockey.
