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Moncton Wildcats looking for new coach, with Danny Flynn pushed upstairs

Neate Sager

Moncton Wildcats owner Robert Irving, as anticipated, has shown he who pays the piper calls the tune. The 'Cats, one of the more well-heeled franchises in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, are going to have a new coach next season following their five-game first-round upset loss against the Victoriaville Tigres.

As Patrick King (@SNPatrickKing) noted Monday, the Wildcats leveraged themselves to the hilt for this season with acquisitions through the import draft and trades with Shawinigan and Victoriaville. Following a pedestrian sixth overall finish in the regular season, the club laid an egg against none other than the 11th-seeded Tigres in the first round.

From the Wildcats:

Flynn will transition on a full-time basis into the role of Director, Hockey Operations for the Moncton Wildcats, and will no longer continue with his previous coaching responsibilities.

The organization would like to thank Danny for his past contribution and for his continued support in the future.

The search for a new Head Coach will begin immediately, and it is the Wildcats anticipation to fill this position within the next several months.

The Moncton Wildcats are committed to a winning hockey program, which our fans have come to expect and we will continue to operate the hockey club on this basis.

One wonders how long Flynn would remain in his desk job. The 'coaches coach' cliché comes to mind, plus that raises the question of how secure the new coach would feel if his predecessor is still in the organization.

It's believed Moncton will definitely look outside the organization for a new coach. The University of New Brunswick's Gardiner MacDougall and Saint Mary's Trevor Stienburg, who just went head-to-head in the Atlantic University Sport championship series and the University Cup final, are somewhat popular local suggestions. Each has New Brunswick ties, since Stienburg played two full seasons for the AHL's old Fredericton Express in the late 1980s.

The Wildcats, though, have the wherewithal to land a big name, like they did in 2005 when former NHL coach of the year Ted Nolan came in with Flynn as his aide-de-camp. Please note they expect it to be a long search. That confirms they are thinking big.

There is an element of Flynn being victim of his own success. Winning in 2010 with a team which finished fifth overall in the regular season surely whetted the appetite to return to the top. The cycle of junior hockey defies doing so and players at this level are unpredictable, but that's the way it is.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.