Back when he was an assistant coach with the University of Denver, Derek Lalonde was offered an opportunity to move up.



In 2010, Jon Cooper left the Green Bay Gamblers after winning a championship to take the head job in Norfolk, making the jump from the USHL to the AHL. The Gamblers were interested in hiring Lalonde as his replacement.



Lalonde was hesitant. He had a newborn who was just a couple weeks old, giving him a total of three kids. That’s a handful. He also had a good job in Denver. The timing wasn’t great, with the interest coming at the end of the summer and it wouldn’t have been easy to move cross country with a young family. So, he declined to pursue the opportunity.



That’s when he received a call from Jeff Blashill.



“He called me and scolded me,” Lalonde told The Athletic this week. “He said, ‘You’ve got to decide if you’re going to be a coach. You do that by challenging...