Brad Larsen and Pascal Vincent didn’t know each other before this offseason, but perhaps it’s not a huge surprise it didn’t take them very long to decide to work together.
Both are coaches who were never superstar players but have found their calling on the bench. Both have served apprenticeships as AHL head coaches and NHL assistants, and both are equal parts personable and intense.
So as Larsen went about filling his staff as the new Blue Jackets head coach, Vincent became more and more obvious as an option to fill a role on his staff, something that became official Friday when Vincent signed a three-year contract with Columbus to serve as associate coach.
“Everything that I’ve heard about Brad is outstanding, but those are only words until you speak to the guy,” Vincent said. “Our first 15 minutes, I felt like, ‘OK, I feel like I’ve known this guy forever,’ like we were old buddies or something. We just connected, and I feel very lucky that he felt the same way toward me.”
Yet don’t expect Vincent, who spent the past 10 years coaching in the Winnipeg Jets organization, to be a yes man for Larsen. The new CBJ head coach made clear when he was hired that he wanted voices that would challenge him as the new guy in charge, and Vincent said he plans to do just that as the two work together going forward.
“He’s looking for a different opinion, a different set of eyes,” Vincent said. “The one thing that he knows that I’m going to give him is I’m going to be totally honest. Sometimes we may disagree, and that’s fine. At the end of the day, he’s the head coach, and if he decides that we turn left, we’re going to turn left. If he decides we’re going to turn right, we are going to turn right.
“So I’m going to be supportive of him, but I’m going to tell him my honest opinion. We all have an ego, and I’m aware of that, but my ego never gets in the way. It’s all about the team.”
Those are lessons the 49-year-old Vincent has learned along the way during a largely successful coaching career that includes being named the 2018 AHL coach of the year. The Laval, Quebec, native’s playing career consisted of playing in the QMJHL followed by a year in the ECHL, but the centerman was never a big scorer and hung up the skates on a pro career after one season with the Knoxville Cherokees.
But Vincent’s coaching career didn’t take much time to blossom, as he served eight seasons as the coach and general manager of Cape Breton of the Q, a tenure that included four 40-plus win seasons including a 49-16-2-3 record in 2003-04 and a 46-22-2 mark in 2006-07. After three years with Montreal’s squad in the Q, including his 46-12-10 team in 2010-11, he was hired by former CBJ head coach Claude Noel to join his staff in Winnipeg.
Noel would eventually cede the job to Paul Maurice, but Vincent stayed on staff with the NHL team for five seasons as the Jets started to lay the foundation for the squad that has now made four straight playoff appearances. Vincent was a key part of that run but at the AHL level, as he took over the Jets’ top farm team in Manitoba in 2016-17 and spent the past five years leading the Moose.
Vincent has been lauded for his work with the minor league squad and helping bring along a young core that became a huge part of the Jets’ success, and he says his varied experiences have all prepared him for what is to come next with the Jackets.
“(Being hired in Winnipeg) was a real good eye opener because I knew what my assistants were doing, but I had never experienced it on a daily basis, so that was important getting to know the NHL and the players and how they function at that level,” he said of starting with the Jets on Noel’s staff in 2011. “It gave me a solid five years to really study on systems, creating offense, on defending, on a different set of skills, working with individual players — all the things I couldn’t do as a coach and GM in the past.
“Then when I went to the American League, I felt that I was way more ready to be a head coach at the pro level but also had my five years of being an assistant coach with two great coaches in Claude Noel and Paul Maurice. And my five years, I had a great staff here and the ability to work with younger players. I was told this by so many people, the best league to learn coaching hockey at this level is the American League. It’s a great league to learn the craft of being a hockey coach.”
That breadth of experience should serve Vincent well with the Blue Jackets, where his role will be nailed down during conversations with Larsen in the coming weeks. When it comes to working with players, while Vincent has been lauded for his ability to work with up-and-coming prospects, he said he’s also had great relationships with veterans in Winnipeg like Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd, to name a few.
“Some people like to put a stamp on coaches and how they coach — ‘He’s a defensive coach, he’s an offensive coach, he’s an old-fashioned kind of coach.’ I’m not any of that,” he said. “I am highly adaptable. I think that’s one of my greatest assets.”
Vincent said the only non-negotiable attribute is that a player must be willing to work, and from there, honesty will be a key to any relationship he has with players.
It’s similar to the message Larsen delivered at his introductory press conference. Maybe it’s no wonder, then, that the two seemed destined to work with one another once the interview process began.
“I think Brad and I will have a great partnership,” Vincent said. “We get along, and I love the intensity that he has. His values are off the charts. You can tell he’s just a good, good man, and Columbus is quite lucky to have him as a head coach now.
“Everyone is telling me it’s a great city, and getting to know the 5th line as well, I can’t wait for that. I’m very, very excited.”