Penguins fire Hlinka
Associated Press
Pittsburgh ? The Pittsburgh Penguins fired coach Ivan Hlinka and replaced him with assistant Rick Kehoe on Monday, hoping to turn things around after a franchise record-tying 0-4 start.
The Penguins have scored only seven goals while losing their first four games for the first time since the 1983-84 season.
Hlinka, one of only two born-and-bred Europeans to become an NHL head coach, coached the Penguins to the Eastern Conference finals last year in his only full season leading the team.
He was brought in the year before after leading the Czech Republic to the gold medal in the 1998 Winter Olympics, mostly because the Penguins had the league's most European-dominated roster at the time.
However, Hlinka clashed at times with NHL scoring champion Jaromir Jagr, who was traded this off-season to Washington, and language problems prevented him from establishing a close working relationship with Penguins players who aren't Czechs.
Players said Hlinka rarely talked to the team before or during games and that Kehoe ? a former Penguins player ? often did most of the talking and handled many of the in-game moves.
The Penguins ordered Hlinka to take English lessons during the off-season, but he instead returned to the Czech Republic.
Team owner and star Mario Lemieux was upset that Hlinka was not communicating better with his players than he did last season.
After the Penguins' 4-1 loss Sunday in Buffalo, Hlinka said he was aware that his tenure as coach might be over.
"You have to accept the possibility if you take the job. That's part of the job. But I'm not thinking of that right now," he said.
Lemieux has missed two of the Penguins' games and has yet to score a goal going in to Tuesday night's game against Ottawa.
Associated Press
Pittsburgh ? The Pittsburgh Penguins fired coach Ivan Hlinka and replaced him with assistant Rick Kehoe on Monday, hoping to turn things around after a franchise record-tying 0-4 start.
The Penguins have scored only seven goals while losing their first four games for the first time since the 1983-84 season.
Hlinka, one of only two born-and-bred Europeans to become an NHL head coach, coached the Penguins to the Eastern Conference finals last year in his only full season leading the team.
He was brought in the year before after leading the Czech Republic to the gold medal in the 1998 Winter Olympics, mostly because the Penguins had the league's most European-dominated roster at the time.
However, Hlinka clashed at times with NHL scoring champion Jaromir Jagr, who was traded this off-season to Washington, and language problems prevented him from establishing a close working relationship with Penguins players who aren't Czechs.
Players said Hlinka rarely talked to the team before or during games and that Kehoe ? a former Penguins player ? often did most of the talking and handled many of the in-game moves.
The Penguins ordered Hlinka to take English lessons during the off-season, but he instead returned to the Czech Republic.
Team owner and star Mario Lemieux was upset that Hlinka was not communicating better with his players than he did last season.
After the Penguins' 4-1 loss Sunday in Buffalo, Hlinka said he was aware that his tenure as coach might be over.
"You have to accept the possibility if you take the job. That's part of the job. But I'm not thinking of that right now," he said.
Lemieux has missed two of the Penguins' games and has yet to score a goal going in to Tuesday night's game against Ottawa.
