Paul McFarland’s stunning departure from the Kingston Frontenacs this week has at least for now derailed plans for the much anticipated return of junior hockey to Kingston this fall.

In the end, McFarland got paid and the Fronts got played.

Fronts owners, players, and fans have every right to be upset about the surprising turn of events after McFarland signed a long term deal with Kingston just over a year ago. Now, he’s gone before coaching a single game. How did the Fronts allow this to happen? Why was he not locked down for at least the first couple years of his contract? Questions only the Fronts owners can answer.

Oh, and what about the franchise’s most valuable asset, Shane Wright, a generational player tabbed to be the first overall pick in the 2022 NHL draft. Now on his third coach and GM in just over two years in Kingston, that kind of instability doesn’t nurture that kind of talent.

Wright must have been a huge draw for McFarland to come back to Kingston. The rare opportunity to coach a generational player, with so many NHL eyes on the kid surely the coach would get noticed as well right? But now everything changes. Wright has options beyond Kingston and this news doesn’t help. I wonder how quickly the Fronts jumped into damage control mode with Wright to assure him everything will be okay. When the new coach is in place, he better be a good fit for Wright’s camp or there could be bigger problems ahead. It’s not just Wright, McFarland would have made commitments to every player to help them develop and get them to the next level.

There was plenty of buzz when McFarland was rehired by the Fronts and at the time this is how he explained his motivation to return to junior hockey after three seasons in the NHL, “In any career, you’re constantly thinking about how to best go about your development, my passion and ambition is to be a head coach. I think the only way to be a head coach is to gain that experience and the CHL for me is, if not the best, one of the best development leagues for all of hockey.”

His explanation made little sense then, today it’s pretty clear why. How does a second stint in junior better prepare you to be an NHL head coach? If you truly want to be an NHL head coach, why jump at the first opportunity to return as an assistant? Being a head coach in the American Hockey League would be a more proven path back to the big time.

It’s highly doubtful McFarland just walked away from the Leafs after one season as an assistant to take the Kingston job. McFarland was hired in Toronto when Mike Babcock was coach, Babcock lasted just over twenty games into 2019-2020 season and was replaced by Sheldon Keefe. Naturally Keefe wanted his own staff and that’s ultimately how it played out.

McFarland, who previously coached the Fronts during a successful three-year stint, was paid for the entire 2020-2021 season for not coaching a game. Not his fault we’re in a global pandemic and junior hockey was shutdown, but really would you not feel at least some loyalty to Kingston to stick around after collecting a pay cheque for a full year with no hockey? McFarland stayed busy doing Zoom calls with players in an attempt to create a new culture for the Frontenacs. Not even Tony Robbins could pull that off, but nice work if you can get it. Loyalty and accountability must be part of the new culture, I didn’t see any of it from McFarland this week.

McFarland jumping at the Seattle offer is very telling. I would expect most coaches I know would have said, “It sounds like a great opportunity but I just made a long-term commitment to Kingston and I will see it through. I want to be a head coach.”

Kory Cooper is now the new GM. Just hired last September its been a short apprenticeship for a very demanding job, especially with no hockey being played. Primarily a goalie coach, Cooper will do the work and grow into the role. Twenty years ago he got his start in Belleville with a couple of other young guys, Jim Hulton and James Boyd who went on to do pretty well for themselves. Boyd has built a winner in Ottawa and Hulton has done the same in Charlottetown.

Cooper is well connected and respected, he has built lots of relationships at both the junior and pro levels through his work with the Ottawa Senators organization. Those relationships will help a lot in his new role. His toughest and most important decision is the first one, finding a new head coach, hopefully sooner than later. He needs to get it right and ownership needs to ensure there is a contractual commitment to the organization. Two months to training camp, not a lot of time to right the ship or to ensure Shane Wright is still onboard. They have one season left with a generational player, they can’t afford to mess it up. If they do, Kingston hockey fans will be the ones shortchanged.

Mark Potter covered the Frontenacs for thirty years and is an honoured member of the Kingston & District Sports Hall of Fame.