Fleet's Danielle Marmer Names Third Coach In Franchise History, Explains Protection Decisions
François Méthot succeeds Kris Sparre on the bench
The Boston Fleet on Thursday named François Méthot the third coach in franchise history following the departure of Kris Sparre after one season at the helm.
“I can’t express how excited and honored I am to join the Boston Fleet,” Méthot said during his introductory press conference Thursday. “It’s been a whirlwind- unexpected- but getting to talk to (general manager) Danielle (Marmer), and seeing where the organization is going and the foundation and the culture that’s been built, especially this past season, got me really excited to join it. And now, it’s going to be all about taking the next step.”
Méthot most recently served as the general manager and head coach of the Rochester Jr. Americans of the North American Hockey League for three seasons. He will succeed Sparre, who departed the club on May 27 to become the head coach of the PWHL expansion team in Hamilton, Ontario.
Being able to identify Méthot as a top candidate and close the deal so quickly is a testament to Marmer’s ability to attract not only someone with a great hockey mind but also to continue building on the success Sparre had in his lone season.
“I’ve hired now three head coaches in the span of four years,” Marmer said. “I’ve had a lot of experience in the interview process. So, a combination of that experience, knowing exactly what questions to ask, what I’m looking for, and then combine that with what Kris had done, what I really liked about what Kris had done, and wanting to find those similar qualities from a style of play standpoint, from an effective communication standpoint, the vision and the approach of where we’re going and how we can value every player and communicate their roles so that it’s very clear how they’re going to help us win a championship.”
Marmer continued: “I connected with François — we had a pretty immediate connection and alignment in our vision for this organization. I think we became really drawn to this idea of working together and taking this program to the next level. (…) I wanted him to be part of this process as we move into this expansion phase.”
Méthot also served as the Jr. Americans youth hockey director in Rochester, NY, where he launched a girls’ hockey program that now features eight teams.
Among the players Méthot helped develop in Rochester is Fleet defender and PWHL rookie-of-the-year candidate Haley Winn.
“I retired (from playing) in 2015 and started coaching a team, and Haley Winn was on the team,” Méthot explained. “She was 13 years old, and really quickly I realized that she was an elite athlete just through her commitment and passion for the game.”
Winn was named as one of the three players, joining captain and fellow defender Megan Keller and goaltender Aerin Frankel, the Fleet protected as part of the PWHL’s Expansion Roster Distribution Process.
Boston once again faces the possibility of losing key players, including forward Alina Müller.
“They both would have been the right decision,” Marmer said of protecting Winn over Müller. “I think part of that decision was really securing two different position groups in goaltending and having two elite defenders.
“And now the plan moving forward is, ‘How do we add offense to our team? How do we add centers?’ And then with the team that we have, ‘How do we generate offense?’ Because Alina is a world-class player. There is nothing that she could have done differently for this protection to have gone a different way. It was strictly the strategy of this build and this process.”
Losing key players to the expansion process is not anything new to Marmer or the organization. Before last season, Boston lost its heart and soul, Hilary Knight, to the Seattle Torrent.
Marmer remains optimistic that history will not repeat itself with Müller, but the conversation with the star forward was still difficult.
“It’s one of the hardest conversations that I’ve had to have,” Marmer said. “She was such a professional, the way that she handled it. That just speaks to who she is.
“She is a phenomenal person and human being. We know who she is as a hockey player. We know she is an incredible hockey player. But as a person, just wonderful, understands the challenges from a roster-building perspective that this expansion process created. (…) I let her know that there’s nothing she could have done differently for this decision to have been made differently. It strictly came down to the strategy and the path that I felt was the best move forward in rebuilding this team.
Marmer continued: “I told her how much she means, I’m going to get emotional, how much she means to this organization and this city. I told her I love her and that starting now, it’s the path to get her back here in Boston.”
The decision to protect Keller, Winn and Frankel was definitely a priority because those three players would have certainly ended up elsewhere in the expansion process.
“With Aerin, it wasn’t just ‘I’m going to protect a goalie.’ I get the pleasure of protecting the best goalie in the world,” Marmer said. “Regardless of how other teams were going to handle that protection, and if goalies were going to be a priority for them, that was always going to be a priority for us.”
Frankel, a finalist for the league’s Goaltender of the Year, finished the season with a 1.17 goals-against average, a .953 save percentage, and made 631 total saves in a career-high 26 starts. She also recorded eight shutouts — a PWHL record — in 19 wins.
Keller led all defenders in scoring with 22 points, and Winn was tied for third with 19. Both are PWHL Defender of the Year finalists.
“Megan Keller is one of the best leaders that I’ve been around … She is the heart and soul of this team, and having been here since our inaugural season, she has an incredible feel of what the culture is, and how to get our team and our players to align with those values, and to buy into that culture,” Marmer said. “Haley Winn stepped in and is maybe one of the best pros I’ve ever seen, and it’s incredible for how young she is, how she treats this, how she shows up every day, how she takes care of her body, how serious she takes it, without having been in pro hockey and watching players do that, it’s really impressive, her ability to be so professional. I think players in our locker room are going to learn a lot from her as well.”
The PWHL expansion process continues on June 5, focusing on the league’s four new franchises.
Phase 2 allows each expansion team to build the foundation of its roster by acquiring five players through signing and, if necessary, a player selection process.