It’s what people are talking about in any rink you walk into, and I can already imagine the post-game banter in the beer-league dressing room later tonight: “Hey Pagz, what’s the story with Turk?”

Surely, a head coach doesn’t just resign with his team in first place. Anyway, some observation and thoughts about how the head coaching position has evolved in the four years I’ve been covering the team:

When GM Guy Blanchard stepped down from behind the bench after taking the Skyhawks to the Dudley-Hewitt Cup final in 2003-04, he was tired of dealing with “hot shot” players, the high-maintenance guys brought in for big money who don’t produce.
Thus, for the entire 2004-05 season, with experienced European pro coach Randy Edmonds running things his way behind the bench, Blanchard stayed away. Blanchard was the GM, but it was Randy Edmonds’ dressing room. Edmonds also had the support of veteran coach Alex Geisler working with him.
Edmonds won the league. And Blanchard didn’t even have to bring many high-maintenance superstars in.

A year later, Kevin Kerr came in as a rookie coach, and Geisler was no longer serving as an assistant. Blanchard had to get back to providing some “coaching mentorship.”
Thus, Blanchard was slowly drawn back into things like game-planning, defensive systems and helping the defencemen at practice. He had more stake in the results. Do you think Kevin Kerr, the all-time minor pro leading goal scorer, was solely responsible for that boring, defence-first style, trying to win every game 2-1?

With Kerr gone, Darren Turcotte took over for 2006-07 and, although he was more experienced as a coach than Kerr, Turcotte still needed some assistance. If Alex Geisler was still there, he might have been fine, but Turcotte was given two rookie assistants to help him along.

The Skyhawks started 12-5 in 2006-07, but after a losing skid at Christmas, guess who was behind the bench with Turcotte? Guess who was stepping past Turcotte and Boucher to go have a word with one of the forwards coming off the ice after a shift? Guess who was in the room talking systems with the players before practice, sometimes without the head coach even in the room? The general manager.

In any workplace, in any situation, it’s not a good sign for the players — who do they listen to, the coach or the GM? It could also be seen by the players as a sign of weakness — is our coach so lost that the GM has to step in?

The model was supposed to change for 2007-08, with Blanchard working full time elsewhere and also out of town at times. But if Blanchard is angling toward stepping away from the team, why is he seeking out Turcotte’s father after a 4-0 loss and venting to Butch that he “can’t get through to Darren” about playing a grittier style against Sudbury?
Would Blanchard react the same way if Randy Edmonds was behind the bench? If Alex Geisler was still there as an assistant?

Maybe the whole situation, with the general manager perhaps meddling, isn’t what Turcotte had in mind when he took the gig. And maybe Turcotte does have some things to sort out.

At the same time, Blanchard can’t be faulted for making his coach accountable if he’s not getting through to the players to prepare properly for games.

Anyway, the pressure’s not on Turk anymore, he stepped down while on top, and while he still had the dressing room. He hands over a first-place team — if they hit a losing skid, someone else can take the heat.