James Patrick won more games than any other coach in major-junior hockey over the past two seasons.
But the 60-year-old Winnipegger won’t be riding the buses again this fall. He is without a job and not actively pursuing work, although his employment status is only partly by choice.
His previous gig to coach the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice ended on June 16 when club management, unable to build an arena that met minimum league standards, were compelled to sell the franchise to a group in Wenatchee, Wash.
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Despite an offer to be an assistant coach in the NHL and offers from two other WHL teams, former Winnipeg Ice head coach James Patrick will probably take a year away from coaching.
Only the returning players, including stars such as Zach Benson, Conor Geekie, Daniel Hauser and Matt Savoie, will be making the move west with the team.
Patrick was planning to coach at least another season in Winnipeg and had heard speculation about the possibility of a franchise move but only found out about the sale following an announcement by the league. The Wenatchee ownership group chose to start fresh, bringing its existing hockey staff from an established BCHL franchise.
“As it looks right now, I’m probably going to take a year off,” says Patrick, whose three-year contract with the Ice expired following the club’s loss to the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL championship series.
“I loved every minute of coaching these last six years – the last two years were awesome,” said Patrick, who guided the Ice to a combined regular-season record of 110-20-4-2 between 2021 and 2023.
“The kids were awesome. They were so much fun to coach. That part – running practices, running games – was as much fun as I’ve ever had on the coaching side, and I feel like I got better at what I do. And I know I want to do it again.”
Patrick had a six-year run with the Ice that started in Kootenay and moved to Winnipeg for a four-year stay in Manitoba that also included a trip to the Eastern Conference final in 2021-22. He had heard speculation about the team moving prior and that was confirmed when the league announced the franchise transfer last month.
Almost immediately, he had an offer to return to the NHL as an assistant coach and two WHL teams expressing an interest in his services.
“I talked to a couple of teams in our league and, just for me, I wasn’t sure where my next move was or what I was going to do and maybe just there was a bit of kicking the tires (going on)…,” says Patrick, who has 23 seasons as an NHL defenceman on his resume. “I think you have to be in the right frame of mind. You have to know that this is what you want to do, that this is where you want to be and you have to go out and really show that you want it and I couldn’t be there a day after the team got sold or three days after the team got sold.”
Patrick would not say where the NHL interest came from but confirmed the offer did not come from the New Jersey Devils, where his good friend Lindy Ruff is entrenched as head coach. Patrick served for 12 seasons on Ruff’s staff at previous stops with the Buffalo Sabres and Dallas Stars.
Patrick, who was well-liked by his players and respected by the media, says he won’t be taking a complete break from the game.
While he is unlikely to have official ties with an organization, Patrick has the option of becoming a consultant in the way former NHLer Adam Oates has forged a career as an independent skills coach.
In fact, an agency representing NHL players has already approached him about serving as a mentor for its players.
“I know a lot of NHL and junior players have gone to him and I think he’s become real successful in that field,” says Patrick of Oates. “Could I do that? It’s certainly something I’ve considered.
“If you’re talking about a mentorship (program), how to play the game the right way and playing defence and what I think you need to do to be successful – yes — I feel I have definitely have something to offer in that way.”
Moving on isn’t without regret. Patrick says he will miss coaching players such as the outrageously talented Benson, a first-round choice of the Sabres in the recent NHL Draft, or defenceman Carson Lambos, the Ice captain who will be turning with the Minnesota Wild organization this fall.
“I’m sad that there’s no longer a Winnipeg ice franchise – that it’ll be forgotten,” says Patrick. “I think about Carson (Lambos). He kind of stands out for me because he played his whole junior career here, was a first-rounder from Winnipeg. I mean, he epitomized what it was to be a Winnipeg Ice player.”
Twitter: @sawa14
