The Toronto Marlies have been absolutely dominant to start out their first season under Rebuild Number We’ve-Already-Lost-Count; the baby Leafs have gone 14-3-1 to not only pull to first in the AHL’s North Division, but to pull into first in the AHL altogether.
They’ve got even more exciting news for fans this fall, though.
The team has hired retired forward-turned-hockey-writer Justin Bourne as the team’s new assistant coach, where he’ll be working with the team’s video coaching. As a stats-accepting former pro, Bourne brings yet another insightful voice to the club’s developmental team as they head into the middle of the season.
Hearing Bourne will join Marlies coaching staff, with video coach Ryan Ward moving up to join the Leafs. Another loss for the media wing.
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) November 25, 2015
Undrafted at the NHL level, Bourne spent four seasons skating for the University of Alaska-Anchorage following his junior career with the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers. Predominantly playing in the ECHL during his time in the pros, the 32 year old Kelowna, BC native has 16 games of AHL experience in the middle of his three year post-collegiate skating career. He never made it to the big show, but does boast an NHL training camp invite from his time pre-retirement.
Since skating off the ice, Bourne has picked up writing; he’s been featured over at The Score as both a thoughts columnist and a systems breakdown analyst. He’s looked at everything from how a type of shot can beat certain goaltenders to whether or not certain players truly do ride passenger to their linemates; he broke down how the Canadiens were beaten with their own forecheck, talked about why Brad Marchand isn’t a product of Patrice Bergeron, and recently talked about what he thought the answer was to the increasingly-irritating ‘more scoring’ debate around the NHL.
Of course, he hasn’t just been writing.
Bourne worked with the Toronto Maple Leafs proper over this past summer, so he’s both fresh off a brief stint working in the coaching world and someone the Leafs liked enough to bring back. He’s got the kind of perspective that the Leafs likely want to see; a former player, but also someone who gets how statistics work in hockey. He’s analytical, but he also knows what’s realistic – and applicable – and what isn’t.
I’ve liked how the Leafs have assembled their staff at each level of hockey this year; they aren’t just looking at their AHL and ECHL development as an afterthought, and that’s hugely important. Adding a guy like Bourne at the minor league level is almost more important than adding a guy like him to the NHL coaching staff this year; he’ll be working with the kids of the future, and that makes him (and the rest of the team’s minor league coaching staff) pretty crucial this season.
If you follow Bourne on Twitter, you’ve seen that he’s approachable and open to new ideas; that’s promising for the Marlies. This is a well-deserved hire; I like it.
There going full moneyball on this rebuild.
*They’re
I’ll miss his reportage though.
How times have changed from the days Roger Neilson was initially, sarcastically referred to as “Captain Video”.
Congrats to Justin Bourne… Really don’t know much about him, so I’m neutral at the moment….
Lots of talk everywhere about William Nylander.., especially since he is now top scorer in the AHL…
So here’s a recap of this 2015-16 season, so far…
Courting Lady Blue: William Nylander 2015-16 Highlights
—> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nsjmYZvRA0
nice hire. i always liked his writing. he’s young and has experience playing and analyzing the game so this should be a great fit now when is steve simmons, dave feshuk and rosie di manno getting wiped out of the journalism world?
When the Habs start up their analytics department.
Good news for Bourne; bad news for those of us who love his blog!
For those who haven’t read it:
His blog on The Score:
http://www.thescore.com/author/justin-bourne
(not sure why, but the first 2 articles are from a year ago, the others are more recent)
His personal blog from before he got picked up by The Score:
http://www.jtbourne.com/
Great hire for the Leafs/Marlies Bourne is a very bright mind who’s experienced & knows a lot about analytics as well as game situations where to be etc. I’m happy for him & praise goes to the Leafs Organization on another excellent hire