You're maybe a little fuzzy, he was an assistant in Hartford then he coached a year in Buffalo. In his second season with the Sabres, he won the Jack Adams Trophy and they did OK in the playoffs (got eliminated in the conference semis). A lot of the beef was on record. Hasek came out and said he would prefer Nolan be replaced. There was tension between the management and Nolan all along, but a bunch of bullshit with Hasek in the playoffs is what I think sealed his fate. Hasek had a wonky knee and was doing some self-diagnosing maybe. The big thing was he went out in the first round and Steve Shields came in and saved the series against the Sabres. A bunch of shit happened, Hasek got into with a local reporter, he got suspended, the whole thing was somewhat of an embarrassment for Hasek and he probably deserved to be embarrassed.

Nolan got offers coming off that, he got at least one assistant's offer with the Isles and a head coaching offer from Tampa but he didn't take any of them. After that he got nothing for several years, I don't know, seven or eight seasons. That said, he was having some success elsewhere, I know he was in the Memorial Cup final with Moncton one year and they did well while he coached them.


>No doubt he faced racism coming up though. Natives always did
>back then. I'm sure it's still there but hockey is way more
>diverse now in Canada.
>
>I didn't know he had turned down jobs. I remember hearing
>chatter at work that he had basically done something REALLY
>offsides (involving racial accusations) with Sabres management
>and was blacklisted from ever working in the nhl again. I had
>guessed that enough time had elapsed for him to make a return.
> It always confused me that the scandal was never made
>public....it's usually alot tuffer to keep that kind of
>secret.

nah he for sure got an offer from the lightning. there was just a stretch in there nothing came down the pipeline for him. his rebound now came from working with rochester, that got him back in with the sabres organization.

>In any case, my whole memory of it might be mistaken.
>
>Edit....ok, I googled it. My memory is really bad. I think
>the 'race card' thing was a part of the shitty contract he was
>offered by the Sabres. I think he said something about his
>race being a factor in their low-ball offer...and that raised
>the eyebrows of GMs around the league...possibly hurting his
>rep a bit.

i dont know if race played a factor but the offer they gave him was the offer you give a coach you don't want to keep but you don't want to reject outright for publicity reasons. sort of like what the yankees did with joe torre, just on a much smaller scale. they offered him something like 400,000 bucks and it was only a one-year deal, that was probably what he (rightfully) found insulting.

>I'm gonna make some sweeping generalizations here.....I
>wouldn't say that players are necessarily intolerant of
>minorities....but there's also a specific culture that you're
>expected to assimilate too. I think it manifests in something
>like 'it's ok to be a minority as long as you act and talk
>like a white guy'. Basically, don't be different from
>everyone else. Which obviously is NOT a policy of diversity.
>It's moreso a reluctant and conditional acceptance based on
>assimilation. I think that's part of what Evander Kane is
>going through to an extent. Perhaps Ray Emery as well. From
>the sounds of it...Nolan too. You're expected to keep your
>mouth shut and not draw attention to yourself. Those two guys
>aren't as willing to do that as some of the other minorities
>past and present. It might make for a good article. And I
>would bet that alot of players wouldn't really want to comment
>on it which kind of proves my point. Kane took some heat when
>he made those comments. I thought it took some guts to say
>that cause I'm sure he's aware there's a chance that it burns
>him amongst gms and other players.

Hmmm, I think there is some of that but I'm not really versed in Canadian culture to figure it out and there aren't too too many non-Canadian black guys in the league. I don't know Kane too well but it seems like you might be onto something there. Emery I know well. He is a very strange guy, I think he has caught a little extra shit because he's black but he's had various issues that I think would have affected any player's reputation.

It is very tough to write about because the culture has its company lines on diversity and that is what you're going to hear. You definitely won't hear anything thoughtful or interesting from non-minority players on the topic it seems. Some guys around the league had thoughtful things to contribute who actually were black, guys like Chris Stewart and Kevin Weekes, but you wind up with the same voices all the time. I feel like it's an issue that the establishment feels like it can deal with where it pops up and that's that. That's why they come down on hard on overt incidents of racism, like that bullshit with the Beezer and Trevor Daley.

>When you think about it...hockey is unique in that aspect.
>Assuming that my assertion is true....I can't think of another
>sport where the dynamic is that way.

Well I mean I think all sports have faced integrating minorities, foreign-born players, etc, but most of them have been in a predominantly U.S. context. Hockey is different to me because the paradigm of race is a little different in Canada, which is still the center of the sport's universe.

And you will know MY JACKET IS GOLD when I lay my vengeance upon thee.