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Windsor Spitfires name Rocky Thompson coach, capitalizing on Taylor Hall ties

Rocky Thompson has coached in the NHL, AHL and WHL (Edmonton Oilers photo)
Rocky Thompson has coached in the NHL, AHL and WHL (Edmonton Oilers photo)

It would make sense that the Windsor Spitfires would hand their coaching reins to Rocky Thompson, who has worked with Taylor Hall. The headiness of the Hall years is a beacon for the franchise, which hasn't replicated that success since being sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey League in 2012 for recruiting violations that occurred during the champoionship years.

San Jose-bound majority owner Bob Boughner and general manager and vice-president Warren Rychel somewhat tipped their and on Thursday by telling the Windsor Star's Jim Parker that Boughner's successor  "has no current or past ties to the Ontario Hockey League, but ... has NHL ties."

Thompson, who was an Edmonton Oilers assistant coach last season before being dismissed when the NHL team cleaned house after the season before hiring new GM Peter Chiarelli, fits that description. Thompson and Boughner were also NHL teammates, although that's not necessarily the most interesting connection.

 

The former NHL tough guy is also a teacher, as evidenced from his team when he coached Hall and other young Oilers with the AHL's late and lamented Oklahoma City Barons during the 2012-13 lockout. Neal Livingston had a fine column last summer about Thompson's transition into a coach.

Rocky likes the chess match of the game, and was thus a great fit for watching games from the rafters. He would feverishly mark, chop, cut, and patch game footage to use for a later date. Even when the NHL lockout was a thing he was honing the positional strategy of players like Hall, [Jordan] Eberle, [Ryan] Nugent-Hopkins, and [Justin] Schultz. They should shake his hand. He would take the good, the bad, and the entirely awful, and use those things as teachable snippets of time. The learning curve was lessened as a result, and players actually got better.

During practice Thompson was the coach responsible for coming alongside players, teaching them the proper way to check, nay finish a check. He was a fighting instructor. He was an energy guy. He was the third coach that the players really called one of their own. (Tend The Farm, July 16, 2014)

Thompson's coaching CV also includes a three-season stint as an assistant coach with the Western Hockey League's Edmonton Oil Kings, who are operated by the Oilers.

As always, it is best to wait to see how it plays out with a coach who has not been in the league previously. It's hardly a deal breaker, especially with someone who can nurture players to wean out their bad habits and get better at winning the 50/50 board battles that help a team improve its possession time. Former Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds coach Sheldon Keefe, who had cut his teeth in the Central Canada Hockey League, in that range. One could also apply that to Ottawa 67's coach-GM Jeff Brown, who brought his team up from ninth in the Eastern Conference to fourth after coming in from the USHL. (Coincidentally, Brown's son, Spitfires centre Logan Brown, is headed into his NHL draft season.)

Those areas are definitely priorities for the Spitfires. They weren't the worst possession team in the OHL last season, ranking 13th, but finished 19th in both the standings (.382 point percentage) and goals against (303).

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