Report: Vancouver Giants in talks with Nolan over coaching gig

Ted Nolan could once again be heading back to coach in the Canadian Hockey League. According to a report in the Vancouver Province, the former Buffalo Sabres head coach has been in contact with the WHL's Vancouver Giants about their vacancy.

The Giants parted ways with former Winnipeg Jets head coach Claude Noel in March after the team finished last in the WHL's Western Conference with a 27-41-2-2 record.

Nolan was fired by the Sabres in April after a lackluster 23-51-8 season in which they were accused of tanking for Connor McDavid the top pick in the 2015 NHL draft. Nolan has an extensive coaching resume in junior, having coached in both the Ontario Hockey League and the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

He started in 1989 with the Sault Ste. Greyhounds, close to his home at the Garden River First Nation. The 57-year-old coached the Soo to two OHL championships in 1991 and 1992, and a Memorial Cup title in 1993. After a stint as a coach in the NHL, he returned to junior to coach the QMJHL's Moncton Wildcats in 2006, when the team won the President's Cup and were Memorial Cup hosts. The Wildcats lost in the Memorial Cup final to Patrick Roy's Quebec Remparts.

Unlike Noel, who had difficulty adjusting to the junior game after a lengthy absence, Nolan has proven on multiple occasions he can still relate. It's also important the Giants have more consistency at the helm, since Noel's departure marked the third coach - Don Hay, Troy Ward, and Noel - in two seasons for Vancouver. The Giants are a young team with some top-end talent like Tyler Benson, the first-overall pick at the 2013 WHL Bantam Draft.

At this point in his career, Nolan might be the perfect fit for a team in transition like the Giants.