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Mike Williamson canned by Calgary Hitmen, creating third WHL coaching vacancy

In January, the Calgary Hitmen parted with their first-round pick for what could be as little as a half-season's work from New York Rangers prospect Adam Tambellini and proceeded to lose in the first round of the playoffs. In a results-based business, that is not going to pass muster, which means the law of diminishing returns has kicked in with five-year coach Mike Williamson.

Such are the breaks of the game, even for the Western Hockey League franchise's winningest coach.

[CHL Chatravaganza: 12 noon ET/9 a.m. PT]

From Scott Fisher:

Hitmen GM Mike Moore said the high-powered squad just didn’t live up to expectations.

“We had a good regular season,” Moore said. “But there were holes where we didn’t play the way we needed to and that carried over into the playoffs.

“Mike’s a good coach. But we felt in order to get to the next level, we needed to make a move.”

... After putting up a 103-point season, the Hitmen were punted from the post-season in the opening round by the Kootenay Ice, a team that finished 20 points back in the standings.

“We made some deadline deals that made us better,” Moore said. “We had some injuries but we felt, on paper, we had the depth.

“We just didn’t feel our game was at a level it needed to be at to beat Kootenay.” (Calgary Sun)

The logic is pretty easy to infer. Major junior is all about four-year cycles. The Hitmen are three-quarters of the way through one that arguably began at the 2011 bantam draft, when it used the No. 1 overall choice on wing Jake Virtanen, who is expected to go in the first round of the NHL draft. An early exit lets the critics say whatever they want about whether a team will reach its ceiling. Given the moves Moore made, giving up a first-rounder in May 1 bantam draft to get Tambellini's WHL rights from the Portland Winterhawks, along with trading 17-year-old defenceman Josh Thrower for 19-year-old depth forward Connor Rankin, the buck is bound to stop somewhere.

Williamson guiding Calgary to a championship in 2010 was a feel-good story to those who knew how he had toiled away in his previous turn with the Portland Winterhawks, when that franchise was in total freefall prior to being purchased and restored by Bill Gallacher. That triumph came just before the rival Edmonton Oil Kings shed their expansion baby fat, which has cut into the competitive advantage Calgary enjoyed as a big-market team. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, although it likely didn't feel that way when the Oil Kings beat the Hitmen in the WHL semifinal last spring.

Of the three vacancies thus far — Calgary, Kamloops and Saskatoon — the Hitmen job might be the sweetest plum. (Frankly, the Saskatoon Blades are setting off red flags of late.) The franchise has resources and a good track record, along with returning building blocks such as Virtanen and his under-18 teammates Ben Thomas and Travis Sanheim.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.