Wheat Kings part ways with David Anning

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This article was published 12/06/2019 (2525 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An offseason of change continued for the Brandon Wheat Kings on Tuesday as the club announced that head coach David Anning won’t be returning.

The move comes a month after the Western Hockey League team said general manager Grant Armstrong wouldn’t be back. The three-year contracts for the hockey staff ended on May 31.

Wheat Kings owner Kelly McCrimmon said it was time for a change, but it wasn’t an easy one, in part because Anning served directly under him for four years when the pair coached together.

“I just felt that we might have an opportunity where a change might change our look a little bit,” McCrimmon said. “Organizationally, I felt it was maybe the right time. We made the decision with Grant a while ago and I thought long and hard about this because I think Dave is a good coach and he’ll be a good coach in his next stop. At this point I felt this was the direction I wanted to go.”

Anning politely declined comment.

The 34-year-old Winnipeg product joined the club as an assistant coach for the 2012-13 season after working in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League for six years. He served as an assistant coach for four years, winning a league title with the team in 2015-16.

Anning was promoted into the head coaching role after McCrimmon left to become the assistant GM of the National Hockey League’s Vegas Golden Knights in the summer of 2016.

As head coach, Anning compiled a record of 102-87-23, the fourth most wins in franchise history.

Anning’s teams made the playoffs twice, losing to the Medicine Hat Tigers in the first round in 2017 and the Lethbridge Hurricanes in the second round in 2018.

They narrowly missed the post-season last season.

“It’s not directly tied to missing the playoffs,” McCrimmon said of his decision. “I’m disappointed we did, and the coaches are disappointed so it’s not a case of anyone accepting that. I don’t think that collectively any of us were pleased with that, but neither is it the sole reason that I made the decision that I did.”

The team has a couple of options. It could bring in one person to fill both the GM and head coaching jobs, or make separate hires.

McCrimmon has been working on hiring a GM, saying the process has been ongoing. He expects to make that announcement first.

“The decisions that were made on Grant and David were made independently, so that would speak to the notion that my expectations are that I would hire a general manager and that person will be involved in the process of hiring a head coach,” McCrimmon said. “Again, I won’t tell you that couldn’t change but that’s the mindset that I go into it with.”

He said there is no time frame for his decision, adding it will be announced in due course.

McCrimmon added he is hoping to retain the services of assistant coach Don MacGillivray.

“Don’s contract has expired as well and I’ve spoke to Don,” McCrimmon said. “We’d sure like to keep him in the organization, and as well will consider him a candidate for the head coaching position. That will be something that plays out here in time.”

The Wheat Kings iced one of the youngest teams in the league last season, a transition that seems sure to continue this year with another large group of 16- and 17-year rookies set to earn spots.

Brandon is the second team to let its coach go recently, with Medicine Hat parting ways with Shaun Clouston on May 30 and then hiring Willie Desjardins a day later to take his place.

The other teams in the league looking for a coach are the Kamloops Blazers, Spokane Chiefs and Prince George Cougars.

The Blazers announced on April 11 that they would be parting ways with Serge Lavoie after one season. Dan Lambert left the Chiefs a week ago to become an assistant coach with the NHL’s Nashville Predators, and the Cougars fired Richard Matvichuk in February and GM Mark Lamb took over behind the bench.

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