Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray has a history with Detroit Red Wings assistant coach Paul MacLean. Murray also has a job open -- possibly one MacLean would like to have. And the Wings would like to have MacLean around a bit longer.
The job is head coach of the Senators, open after Murray canned Cory Clouston at season?s end. MacLean has interviewed for the job, an NHL source told MLive.com.
MacLean isn?t the only candidate for the job. Murray also plans to interview AHL Binghamton coach Kurt Kleinendorst once that team?s season is over.
For now, the flirtation is with MacLean, a former NHL player and longtime assistant. His contract expired with the Red Wings? season, so he?s free to pursue other opportunities.
The Wings want him to stay and have pitched an extension.
"We've offered him a contract," GM Ken Holland told the Detroit Free Press in May. "We're prepared to sit tight for a bit. He's hoping to get an opportunity to interview with some of the head-coaching jobs available."
Murray hired MacLean in 2002, when Murray was Anaheim Ducks GM, to be an assistant under Mike Babcock. MacLean continued to served as a Babcock assistant with the Red Wings since joining the team in 2005.
In addition to Kleinendorst, whose team is playing in the AHL?s Calder Cup finals, the Ottawa Citizen reported Murray hopes to talk to two other AHL coaches -- Hamilton?s Randy Cunneyworth and Houston?s Mike Yeo.
The Red Wings? Babcock will have a decidedly different staff next season. MacLean could be the second assistant to leave this spring. Brad McCrimmon was first, and he has become coach of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of Russia?s Kontinental Hockey League. There is speculation that Bob Boughner, a long-time NHL defenseman, could join the staff. Boughner left the Columbus Blue Jackets, for whom he was an assistant, after the season to be closer to his home, family and OHL Windsor hockey team. Windsor is across the river from Detroit.
MacLean might be getting looks from other teams as well. The Minnesota Wild continue their coaching search and might like to have a word with MacLean.
This isn?t MacLean?s first foray into the coaching job search process -- he interviewed with the Columbus Blue Jackets before they decided to hire Scott Arniel.
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