Granato will be head coach of Avalanche next season

Avalanche GM Francois Giguere: “Tony has gained tremendous coaching experience over the last five seasons behind the Avalanche bench. He has great knowledge of our depth chart, a strong admiration for our players and really enjoys working with the organization’s young and talented group of athletes.”

Here is the full article courtesy of TSN.

My take: This is an interesting move by the Avalanche organization. First off, it always seems risky to move an assistant coach over to head coach in the NHL. The risk is that both the coach and players will have a difficult time adjusting to the new arrangement. In this case, it is especially interesting considering that Granato was actually head coach of the Avalanche from 2002-2004 but was then demoted back to assistant coach. During those years, Granato had far more talent to work with than he will have next year. One of my concerns with Granato back during 02-04 stint was his obsession with mixing and matching his lines all game. It looked like the players were never comfortable with their linemates and had trouble developing chemistry. That being said, I believe Granato does have what it takes to be a good coach in the NHL and obviously the Colorado management regime feels that Granato is ready to take the next step and return to head coaching.