THE NHL / HELENE ELLIOTT : Ducks’ Stability Gives Wilson Longevity

As the Buffalo Sabres prepared for their third NHL season, they were skating for their third coach. By their third year, the Washington Capitals were on their fourth coach. So were the Kansas City Scouts, who had also changed locales and names, having moved to Colorado and become the Rockies, predating the baseball team of the same name by more than a decade.

By contrast, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are a model of stability. This week, when they opened their third training camp, the guy drawing X’s and O’s at Disney ICE was Ron Wilson, who was behind the bench for their first NHL game.

Wilson isn’t the first coach to last this long with an expansion team. Rick Bowness of the Ottawa Senators and Terry Crisp of the Tampa Bay Lightning share that distinction, each having completed three seasons.

But Bowness and Crisp should have asterisks next to their names. Bowness is still in Ottawa because the Senators are so awful that his bosses couldn’t even pretend firing him would make a difference. Crisp has made the Lightning semi-respectable, but his friendship with General Manager Phil Esposito is what keeps him employed.

Wilson is the first expansion coach to have survived this long on merit. And there’s every reason to believe he will outlast Bowness and Crisp, because his performance in keeping the Ducks in the Western Conference playoff race in their first two seasons has led club executives to discuss extending his contract beyond this season.

“All the teams that are successful, no matter what the sport, are the ones who have the most stability in the front office,” said General Manager Jack Ferreira, whose own extension is overdue. “I think he’s done a terrific job. I think he’s allowed the players to feel they really contribute. He hasn’t pigeonholed anyone and has instilled a work ethic and discipline. He’s created an atmosphere here where guys enjoy coming to the rink.”

Veteran defenseman Randy Ladouceur considers Wilson a good teacher, ideal for a team that is getting progressively younger.

“He’s a players’ coach,” Ladouceur said. “He makes himself available to the players, and because of that, players tend to like the coach and tend to play harder for him. Ron and the two assistant coaches [Tim Army and Al Sims] run excellent practices and are well prepared. When the coaching staff is prepared and practices are run smoothly, that carries over to the games.”

No question, Wilson is among the NHL’s top young coaches. He’s intelligent and skilled at getting the most from limited resources. He’s almost as good as he seems to think he is.

Wilson, 40, is often perceived as brash. In the Ducks’ first season, he refused to call them an expansion team because he claimed the “E-word” had negative connotations. He yaps at referees, delights in tweaking the Kings at every opportunity and last season got into a towel-flinging match with Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman, a Hall of Famer and family friend.

He also complained that referees don’t show him or his team the deference shown Toronto Maple Leaf Coach Pat Burns, even though Burns has won 233 more NHL games than he has and has coached more playoff games, 102-0. He conceded that his gripe “might not be a professional thing to say,” but doesn’t regret it. He also said he didn’t intend to seem arrogant.

“It was said in defense of your team,” Wilson said. “I was upset about our team being lightly regarded and not given respect. We paid $50 million to get into the league and the same rules should apply. It draws attention, sure, and gets people talking, maybe negatively. But it gets the refs talking too. . . . From that point on, the refereeing turned [more equitable].

“The players expect us to stand up and defend them. I’m not the type who’s going to throw a stick, but the ref was toying with Pat Burns on line changes and looking at me and laughing.”

Perhaps surprisingly, Wilson’s remarks drew no rebukes from the image-conscious Disney organization or his own boss.

“I can relate to it,” Ferreira said of Wilson’s perception. “I find that whenever I talk to other GMs. But I know that in this league, if you want respect, you’ve got to earn it.

“I don’t know if what he did was rash. He usually says what he thinks. [His complaint] was more frustration than anything. Things aren’t handed to you in this league.”

No one ever handed Wilson a coaching manual, but a book by former Stanford and San Francisco 49er Coach Bill Walsh has become his bible. Wilson has read Walsh’s “Building a Champion” several times and is now reading “The Winner Within,” a motivational guide written by Pat Riley.

“When [Walsh] took over the 49ers in the early ‘80s, he said they were worse than an expansion team,” Wilson said. “They struggled along and threw young guys in there. He talks about teaching them a certain way from Day 1 and sticking to it, and it was an interesting book for me to read, preparing to coach an expansion team. . . . “I think we do have a philosophy of stability, and that’s from the people who started the franchise analyzing successful franchises and what it took them to be successful. Look at the 49ers. And the L.A. Dodgers are the most successful team in the National League because they’ve only had two managers in L.A. Maybe Tommy [Lasorda] grates on some people, but he wins and he’s there. Maybe players will understand the coach will weather the storm.”

In the Ducks’ first two seasons, novelty, curiosity and their challenge for a playoff spot made them a hot ticket. They sold 99.3% of The Pond’s seats, and had 49 consecutive sellouts. But coming close to the playoffs may not be enough to satisfy fans and keep seats filled in the future. The Ducks have to win this season. Wilson knows it, and he accepts it with his usual confidence.

“I expect to make the playoffs,” he said. “I expected to make the playoffs our first two seasons. I don’t view that as brash. That’s what I’m here for. I’m here to win the Stanley Cup, plain and simple.”