BUFFALO, NY – Does Dave Cameron have the inside track to join
the Vancouver Canucks as an assistant coach?

The career coach is out of work after being fired by the Ottawa Senators in
April. He has a wealth of experience as both a head coach and an assistant in
the National Hockey League. And, perhaps most importantly, he has served as
Willie Desjardins’ right hand man once before.

Cameron was an assistant to Desjardins on the 2010 Canadian
World Junior team that finished runner-up to the United States in Saskatoon. It’s
interesting to note that Ben Cooper was the video coach for that team and he
now serves in the same capacity with the Canucks. So Desjardins has gone down
that road once to add to his staff. Perhaps he’ll do so again as he looks to
replace Glen Gulutzan who was introduced as the head coach of the Calgary
Flames one week ago.

Although he wouldn’t name names, Canucks general manager Jim
Benning revealed yesterday that he and Desjardins will meet with a handful of
prospective candidates here in Buffalo.

“I sat down with Willie the other day and we put together a
list of guys we want to interview for the position,” Benning explained. “We’re
going to start that process (this) morning. We’re going to interview two or
three guys and we’re going to continue it on when we get home next week. I’m
hoping in the next week to ten days we have someone in place.”

This hiring will be the second change to the Canucks
coaching staff in the off-season with Dan Cloutier recently promoted to
full-time goalie coach to replace Rollie Melanson who remains in the
organization as a goaltending consultant. Cloutier joins Doug Lidster, who remains
in his role working with the club’s defensemen, and Perry Pearn who serves as
the team’s eye in the sky during games.

With Gulutzan bolting across the Rockies, both the Flames
and Canucks are in the process of rounding out their staffs. Perhaps there will
be a battle to land the services of Cameron who is one of a number names being
linked to openings in Calgary:  Cameron
and Craig Berube both have NHL head coaching experience along with former Flame
and Canuck Dave Lowry, now head coach of the Western Hockey League’s Victoria
Royals and Keith McCambridge, who spent the past five seasons as the head coach
of the Winnipeg Jets American Hockey League farm team.

Cameron was fired by the Senators following a 38-35-9 season
in the nation’s capital – his second year as head coach after three seasons as
the team’s assistant. The Sens were 25th in the NHL last season in
team puck possession controlling 47.5% of shot attempts. The Sens were
ninth in the NHL with 230 goals, but had defensive issues, as they finished the campaign sandwiched between
Toronto and Edmonton at 26th in the league, permitting 2.94 goals per
game. They also had below average special teams — their power play was 26th
in the NHL at 15.8% while their penalty kill was 29th at 75.8%. 

Those are hardly glowing numbers and perhaps one of the reasons Cameron was not
considered a candidate for head coaching vacancies around the league this
off-season.

However, he may be a fit for an assistants job and his prior
ties to Desjardins could put him ahead of others in the running.

“There are some guys Willie knows from coaching up through
the ranks he wants to interview and there are some people I have worked with in
the business I think we should talk to,” Benning explained. “We’re going to interview
those people and at the end of the day it has to be a good fit for him (Desjardins),
because he’s working with him on a day to day basis, but he’s going to listen
to our input too.”