After Hours: Paul Coffey Discusses His Decision To Return To The Bench As An Oilers Coach

thank you Ron yes pleased to welcome to after hours four-time Stanley Cup champion three-time Norris Trophy winner honored member of the Hockey Hall of Fame Paul coffee who joins us tonight as we sometimes have to say on this program under less than ideal circumstances but look we're in the oiler Hall of Fame room fair share of the credit for a lot of the stuff that's on display here goes to you what do you think when you look around this room well it's pretty uh it's pretty exciting it's great

for the province of Alberta and the City of Edmonton I mean you know led by led by Wayne of course and the rest of us following suit it's it's pretty cool it's just a testament to this organization and what it means to the Edmonton area and I'm proud to be a part of it so just before we switch to present tense here's something to remind you of how you felt on the night you won your first Stanley Cup with the Oilers here this has happened to the Edmonton Oilers now unbelievable John I think that

they'll probably sink in tomorrow but I'll tell you one thing it's the best feeling I've ever had in my life now does that feel like for 40 years ago yeah almost looked like I knew what I was talking about but that uh it seems like yesterday as we know time time flies when you're having fun but uh that was that was a nice part of my career for sure okay we won't spend all the time we have with you tonight living in the past Louie you've been in your share of Battle of Alberta but this one tonigh

t had a little bite to it had a little chip but the Flames seemed to have your number from the get-go uh what did you see from this game tonight from your team uh they deserved a win uh they were skating they worked hard um we were a little bit late on most plays but uh that happens I mean we're won the first two against them you knew they were going to come out hard we just didn't answer the Bell but uh it's a long season and we'll be better tomorrow Paul November 12th Chris snob block was intr

oduced as the new head coach with you as an assistant I think one of the first things out of your mouth was you never really planned on coaching so clearly you took the job on your terms uh it was your choice to take it you didn't have to why did you take it um I I mean first and foremost J woodc a good coach and so was Dave Manson and I was kind of asked a couple times if they did a change would I be interested and I said to darl no um I like I like my job I like my life and kind of asked me ag

ain and it looked like they were going to make that move so I felt that I had a decent relationship with the players anyway so I might as well throw myself in the ring not everyone thought the job was tailor made for you what did the great one Wayne Gretzky say to you about it he kind of said oh that's great yeah good for you but then I heard through the great F and he said is he crazy but but you know what for me personally like I I've coach the kids all the way up my kids and different kids in

Toronto and I learned more from them than I could pass on to them even as kids and I felt the same working with these guys here and it's been a lot of fun on the topic of Wayne Gretzky the great one Lou's done some research yeah you guys played together on a team when you guys were 14 years old and we were talking a little bit this morning about it and you know one of the things that he said was uh you guys weren't the best player on the team number one Daryl Evans Was Daryl Evans Daryl Evans y

eah and uh um you know just that that relationship with him through the years I mean having that uh just talk about that and how that developed into what it is now well first and foremost Wayne tried out for the team I was on and didn't make it it was a bantam team so he went and played Junior B instead there's me Imagine That was supposed to be wearing white and I only brought my red but that's the middle and we can pick out Wayne second you did that on purpose to stick out amongst everybody ye

ah look at the hair that's the first year my dad let me grow my hair that's darl Evans behind us uh Mark Osborne to the right of the goenda of g a lot of buddies there Peter white Etc guys I still keep in touch with Steve Gatos and it was a good time but Wayne didn't make that team because he couldn't get his legal guardianship but I love to tell people that we cut him yeah that it's not true and that one that was uh that was our second Stanley Cup uh check those glasses out that was at Commonwe

alth Stadium that was a lot of fun those were hot back then they were they're coming back out here yeah and this next picture is the best the best part about that picture is the little stubby in the right hand corner the little molon Canadian there but that was just uh that was just a fun we had as a team and and we all know Louie you played as well winning is fun and that's that's what it's all about where was that that was in the old Coliseum dressing room all right awesome um tonight was toug

h but generally speaking the oiler coaching since the change has come in for rave reviews Louis on making plays yeah you know what it's amazing you came in and everybody thought you were going to come down and buckle down on the defensive system but you went a completely different way and you empowered the defense to make plays that was one of the first things they said is that you asked them to do a little bit more where did that come from well that's just the way way I coach kids when I coach

and I just felt that the first thing I said to these guys is you guys are all nhlers and you're here for a reason it's the best league in the world and and we can make some plays but we're successful in this team by committee U we're successful when all sixd are playing well we're successful when our forwards are helping out our D and vice versa the D are helping out our forwards and we've got away from out a little bit lately and uh we've been getting no work but we'll get it back let's uh get

to the Oilers best young defenseman Evan Bard this question comes from uh Oilers are back that's the name of the account how high of a ceiling do you see Evan buard reaching uh bu is one of those guys he's a special player you know I said them probably three or four days into my tenure that uh you know you were a risk reward type player and I was the same way and if the risk uh is outweighs reward we're going to be in trouble here so you got to start playing more of a complete game and he's done

that um give him nothing but ice time but I did say to him when he I think he had a 12 or 14 game point streak and my record was 28 I said just so you know I'm the guy that puts you on the ice but no bush is great great kid he's got a hockey IQ great shot and uh the beauty of him is's only going to get better you're not killing your players with video Lou yeah this is the one and only picture you're never going to see it again you doing video analysis on the plane and I had to snap that shot ea

rly but you know we've had this conversation a lot you like to go about the approach a little different way you're more about communicating with your players and the eye test you're you're a player that can pick things up quickly when you played and now as a coach you pick things up on the ice so um talk about that relationship and how the players have responded to that just talking about you sneaking up on me you didn't see that either you were you were in depth there and no it's been uh sorry

Lou it it's been it's been I wouldn't say an eyon oper it's been good for me but I still think old school part is still a big part of the game video is definitely there analytics um all that stuff is part of the game but if you can't communicate with a player one-on one and and and let him see what you're seeing as he's seeing it and that's what I try to do and so far the guys are great they've been receptive uh front end back and you know we got we got Chris of course noblock uh Gully Bri yeah

Glen gon and and Stewie that have done an incredible job as well uh let's move on to a former teammate of yours this is an irresistible question and we will let Grant fur frame it for us and if you took today's rules and put cough in the game where you couldn't hook them couldn't hold them good luck trying to stop them and me you could hook hold and pretty much tackle guys back then and they couldn't stop them so now give him free wheel where you can just free wheel where you can't even get a st

ick on them you got no chance of catching them right and everybody talks about today's game versus the game back then the guys back then had to battle through a lot of things to score whereas today it's a little soft in front of the net whereas back then you could pretty much do whatever you wanted the first couple of times they might give you a penalty they might not but the game was a lot harder and then you had a red line in as well that's uh by the way from Andy Strickland's Cam and strict p

odcast um you ever thought about playing today's game um that would seem to be tailor made for you in your Prime well for me first of all Grant he's not only one of the smartest goalie or the greatest goalies that ever played he's actually pretty smart yeah but spoken no I mean today no he was very articulate in making the case there yeah he is but I mean today's game is hard these guys are big strong fast sometimes I think unfortunately the game has taken away from them a little bit but uh toda

y's game is great um I feel very fortunate to have played with uh Wayne in his prime with Mario in his prime and been able to see Connor 10 ft up close and uh and and personal out here with a jop him toing now it's pretty great it was your skating that really separated you from the pack Louie yeah you know what Wayne Gretzky told me when he played with you on that u4 14 team or 14-year-old team tono Nats that he came off the ice after the first practice and Walter said to him hey how come you ca

n't skate like that number seven and he said I don't think anybody can you know listen you were known for your skating one of the best skaters of all time in the same sense as Bobby or where did it come from like you know that something that just came naturally to you you work on it well I mean first and foremost we do have flights with the Oilers and I do go back and talk to Louis all the times and he keeps saying to me you remember that one time I burnt your white and I'm I'm I'm like Lou I re

member you I apologize but I don't what's your last name just to put just to put that perspective I caught him flat footed I caugh him standing still so I actually I actually said to him Louie when he said he burnt me wi I told him to get in line he's not the only but uh you know my skating is is what I was good at it wasn't uh it wasn't that I worked harder than anybody else I definitely made sure my conditioning was great um was a god-given talent that's your old audre bwell skates there those

are my old ones and then for the rest of the video I put on Ron McLean's skates cuz my feet were killing me you know cuz those skates are so small the thing for me the thing for me one more thing here the thing for me the first time I played against you you took the puck from the near boards and you wrapped around you saw the that we were making a change and you went all the way around and took a shot in the net and by the time we had gotten on the ice you were already back in position and very

Stafford a real good friend of yours tap me on the shoulder and goes yeah that's cough he'd seen that for years but that it was the crossovers that were just fantastic Barry was a big part of my career as well I was one yeah I was one of those guys and I I watch Conor McDavid every day his skates are big and and Langer Jeff Lang does a great job putting an incredible Edge but I I said to Barry how do I get Glide how do I get more Glide how do I get less resistance on the ice and started fooling

around my skate blades and it was uh made the game more fun well that video that we saw there a moment ago was a portion of a video that was produced I guess back in the 80s it was called how to skate like Paul cof can't imagine that any average skater could ever learn to skate like you um Ryan caveduck asks do you still go sockless in your skates a couple of sizes too small no I have the uh I have the proverbial slippers on now oh yeah the coach skates how are your toes your toes are got to be

mangled from that those years of jamming them in they were three sizes too small weren't they at least yeah they were they were tight and small I got to tell you a funny story so I'm playing with the Penguins and uh old Bucky poo the old Shoemaker in Pittsburgh who used to work on my skates and stitching he since passed away but a super guy and so he at times if my skate was too tight he when a brand new he'd adjust the toe cap and then Stevie Lattin our longtime trainer would always carry one

of those Grinders around with him right we're playing m Madison Square Garden I said Steve you got to get this a little more bigger says no problem go out for warmer I'll come back I said how'd it go he says great good news is it's going to be comfortable the bad news is put your foot in there I put my foot in there all of a sudden I saw my toe so was a it was a white sock so he said no problem I got to fix for that come up with a sharpie there you go I didn't block shots back then so it was all

good listen we've talked a lot about the circumstances under which it took the job what we haven't talked about is family and uh I I'm interested in how the conversation with your wife of 28 years Stephanie went when you had to call her and say hey I'm moving on from uh being able to set my own schedule to having to follow the NHL schedule how did that go that was great yeah we're just starting to talk to each other now it it was just one of those things that was decided fast I was actually in

Porter La Perry on a Friday I come back and it was Hall of Fame weekend did an autograph thing with a bunch of Pros Mike Tyson Etc came home walked into the house we were going to Mike Vernon's uh induction party that night the Saturday before the induction on the Monday walked into the house my wife was looking beautiful as usual her hair is all done I said man you look good he goes she goes yeah you ready and then she goes what's wrong I said nothing's wrong but I accepted the job with the Oil

ers and she goes well I guess we're not going out tonight going to start packing which was nicer but as the night went on it got a little cooler all right well whatever it takes Paul wish we had more time thanks for joining us really appreciate it awesome boys than Paul coffee doing his best to get the Oilers turned around has in fact um has them in the top three in the Pacific Division we'll be [Music] back [Music]