Nashville Predators didn't hire Admirals' Karl Taylor to be their coach. When will he get NHL shot?
MILWAUKEE — A big part of Karl Taylor's job as head coach of the Milwaukee Admirals is to help his players get better jobs.
Such is life for a minor-league hockey coach, which Taylor has been for 17 years, the past six of which have been with the AHL affiliate of the Nashville Predators.
But Taylor's players aren't the only ones who aspire to move up the hockey hierarchy.
Taylor, too, would like a better job. So when the opportunity to become head coach of the Predators didn't come to pass last year, Taylor, one of three finalists for the job, was none too pleased.
General manager Barry Trotz chose Andrew Brunette to replace John Hynes instead.
"You're not happy about it. You're massively disappointed," Taylor said while standing in a hallway outside the Admirals' locker room at Panther Arena. "You're prepared. You're ready. They're retooling. They have a lot of your players there. It seems like a good fit.
"It seemed like good timing. . . . You can be disappointed for a while but you have to get back up and go back to work."
Taylor went out of his way to make clear his disappointment was nothing personal — not with Brunette, Trotz or the Predators.
"We all think we should be somewhere else — coaches, players, trainers," he said. "We all think we should be in the NHL."
Take this job and ... love it?
Thanks to COVID-19 sidelining the Predators' coaching staff in 2021, Taylor is undefeated as an NHL coach.
He and his staff took over for two games that December and won them both.
Taylor, 52, might not have to wait long to get behind an NHL bench again.
He led the Admirals to the AHL Western Conference final last season, a step short of the Calder Cup final and the team's longest playoff run in 17 seasons. The Admirals just completed a 19-game winning streak, the second-longest in league history and longest in franchise history.
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They also have the second-best record in the AHL this season, and Taylor has the second-most wins in franchise history.
"You have to do a good job wherever you are," said Taylor, who also spent five seasons as an assistant in the AHL with the Texas Stars and one with the Chicago Wolves. "That's what I'm focused on as a coach. I have a great job.
"Do I want a chance in the National Hockey League? Absolutely. . . . Do we feel ready for an opportunity? Yeah, for sure. But I'm not in a rush to get out of here. If the right opportunity comes along, we're going to take some phone calls for sure."
If and when his phone rings, Trotz won't be surprised.
"(Taylor) has done an excellent job for us," he told The Tennessean last year.
One of the best in the business
Taylor has been an admirable Admirals coach.
Twenty-eight times in the past two seasons, he has helped players "get the heck out of here," as he put it, and go to the NHL.
He figures if he continues to do that, and the Admirals continue to succeed, his odds of getting the heck out of Milwaukee will continue to increase.
"We do that well enough, win enough games and hopefully the phone rings a little more," he said.
Until then, his plans — and his focus — will remain unchanged: Concentrate on the now.
Just as he has for the past 17 years.
"If you look at Nashville's roster, we have a lot of pride in all the guys that have been here with us," Taylor said. "They're having success. . . . Do we feel ready for an opportunity? Yes."
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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Predators' AHL coach Karl Taylor looking for shot at NHL
