Why Gerard Gallant didn't have a choice but to start coaching

Forty-three seconds after watching his team surrender its lead from inside the penalty box, Tomas Nosek beat his man to the danger area in the offensive zone on fourth-unit linemate Pierre-Edouard Bellemare’s wrap-around try and banged in the rebound to reestablish the advantage for the Vegas Golden Knights.

The near-immediate opportunity to make amends was one that not all NHL head coaches would be so quick to provide — especially given that the depth winger’s penalty came deep in the offensive zone, let alone the fact that this was Game 4 of the Western Conference Final.

But Gerard Gallant knows what to expect from his players. So he had a good idea that Nosek’s short memory would allow for him to turn in a positive shift immediately after his ill-advised trip on Jacob Trouba cost Vegas the lead.

Scoring was just a nice bonus.

“When a guy makes a mistake you want to get him out there as soon as you can,” Gallant explained at his press conference after the 3-2 victory.

“That’s what we’ve done all season long.”

This is Gallant’s strength as a head coach — and the players will be the first to tell you. An expert communicator, he’s developed relationships with each and every player on his roster and understands how to treat the individual based on their personality, motivation and ambition.

Gallant knows how to put people in position to succeed. But most importantly, he follows through.

It’s one reason the Golden Knights are within a single victory of advancing to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season.

It’s what launched Gallant’s coaching career in the first place.

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After his near three decades of competitive hockey, Gallant returned home to Summerside, Prince Edward Island, nursing injuries in 1995, looking for something to do.

So when Gerard Smith, his former grade-school teacher and the coach of the Maritime Junior Hockey League’s Summerside Western Capitals called him up with hopes that he could lend a hand, Gallant agreed.

A long and successful NHL career separated the last time the two had worked together, but Smith had a good idea of the sort of person he was recruiting to help out.

Gallant — or, Turk — wasn’t a superb student by any means, Smith says, but he always knew how to handle people.

It’s what he’s always done well.

“I just thought it would be good to get him involved. The kids would love to have him on the ice.”

So Gallant joined the staff, and soon he was running practice and beginning to shape athletes eager to learn from the town’s star export, who over a span of four seasons in the late 1980’s with the Detroit Red Wings scored 147 goals in the NHL.

Smith’s suspicions were soon confirmed: Turk was a natural.

“I think he got the bug right there.”

Smith and Gallant each returned the following season but after a handful of preseason games, Smith, now approaching retirement at the school, came to the conclusion that juggling teaching and coaching had become too onerous.

So Smith approached management and suggested that his understudy take the reins, effective immediately.

Only he did this without approaching Gallant first.

“The rest is history,” Smith laughed.

The junior outfit left in Gallant’s hands that season, Summerside won the Canadian Junior A championship, beating the South Surrey Eagles in the final.

So began Gallant’s ascent in a profession that was never necessarily in the plans.

Success led him through Fort Wayne, Louisville, Columbus and Russia, where he worked on Canada’s staff at the World Championships. He then moved back east for his first high-profile head coaching position and won the Memorial Cup with the Saint John Sea Dogs before returning to the NHL with stops in Montreal and Florida.

Then the NHL’s 31st franchise called.

In Vegas, where he inherited a group of ego-bruised players discarded by their previous franchises, Gallant has done a truly masterful job. The Golden Knights — or Misfits as they call themselves — are one win from playing for the Stanley Cup and have already established the greatest expansion season in the history of professional sports in North America.

The success of the Golden Knights is something no one predicted, but it’s no surprise to the folks in Summerside.

If anyone were to help players see opportunity, not rejection, and inspire them to be great for themselves, each other and the city that they represent, it was Turk.

“He’s always had terrific communication skills,” Smith said. “He had a firmness about him. If somebody needed to be told they were doing something wrong, he had no problem telling them. But when someone did something right, he also told them. He always had something to say to everybody, negative or positive. Once it was said, it was over.

“Fair and consistent,” Smith said, “You can’t ask more from a coach.”

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