Wolves coach shooting for the stars
Chicago Wolves coach John Anderson had just settled into a booth at one of his favorite Schaumburg restaurants when the waitress approached him.
"I hear you're leaving us?" she said.
"Not yet," Anderson replied with a laugh.
It's a question that Anderson can't avoid anywhere he goes these days.
From a local waitress to friends and family to Toronto media to people within the Wolves organization, everyone is interested in whether Anderson will get his first shot at the big time and be hired as the Atlanta Thrashers head coach.
For now, Anderson has no answer for them. His agent has contacted Thrashers general manager Don Waddell and expressed Anderson's interest in the job.
From there, it's wait and see.
It's something Anderson is used to, as he's had to wait 10 years between interviews for an NHL head-coaching job. His first chance came in 1997 after Anderson had guided the Quad City Mallards to a Colonial Cup. It was then that he got a call from the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to possibly fill their opening.
The Ducks ended up passing over Anderson and hired Pierre Page. Looking back, he's glad it worked out that way.
"Quite honestly, you wouldn't have told me this back then, but if I had gotten that job in Anaheim it might have been a disaster," Anderson said. "It might have been crushing mentally. It might have been crushing politically. Really, I probably wasn't ready. Too much, too soon, too fast."
Anderson doesn't feel that way any more. Now 50 years old and with a decade of coaching and winning with the Wolves behind him, Anderson believes he's prepared for the NHL.
"Right now, there's a lot more things I'm so much better at," Anderson said.
He understands situations better. He isn't as high tempered with officials. He realizes his deficiencies, such as making goaltenders better, and understands how to fix them, such as surrounding himself with an assistant like Wendell Young.
Of all his coaching strengths, Anderson's knowledge and willingness to run multiple systems may be his greatest. It's made the Wolves a contender nearly every season he's been coaching them.
"I don't believe you can survive on one system," he said. "You'll always come across a team who will pick you apart. I like to think our team is like a chameleon who can change with the atmosphere."
Anderson's coaching style would be slightly different than that of Bob Hartley, who was fired as the Thrashers coach and ran one system.
Despite the Thrashers' 0-6 start under Hartley, Anderson believes they have the pieces to be a winning team.
Now he just wants a chance to prove it.
If he doesn't, it won't be the end of the world. He's been told "No, thank you" plenty of times before.
He heard it two years ago when interviewing for the Boston Bruins assistant opening. He heard it from the Pittsburgh Penguins. Of all of them, the one that hurt the most was when he got rejected from his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs for another assistant gig.
"When you don't get it, especially with Toronto, your feelings get hurt, your confidence gets hurt," he said. "You go back and start to think, 'What did I say that was wrong, what turned them off?' "
Plus, Anderson realizes the odds of being hired at the NHL level. He knows he's fortunate to just be coaching in the AHL with the Wolves.
"There are only 30 jobs," Anderson said. "There are very elite guys. It's a very difficult game. It's maybe one of the hardest jobs in the world to get.
"To me if this doesn't happen, what's the downside for me? I'm in a great city."