Video: Senators coach Paul MacLean coaches youth team for a practice

Caught in the middle of the NHL lockout are the coaches. They deal on a daily basis with the players but are technically part of the team/franchise side. Most don't have a great opinion one way or the other, they just want a deal done so they can get back to doing what they do best: coaching hockey.

Unfortunately, there aren't any NHL teams they can coach at the moment. So to fill that void they can do what Ottawa Senators coach Paul MacLean did, go coach a kid's team for a day.

This is awesome to see. My favorite part is when the coach of the team is introducing MacLean and you can hear the kids gasp in excitement before they start straightening up the gear.

MacLean had some fun with the kids, telling them the Maple Leafs and Canadiens fans were going to have the extra reps in practice as their punishment for not being Senators fans. He also explained to the kids the cameras weren't paparazzi, just the news media before realizing "for you it probably is like paparazzi."

It's a little more than just a feel-good day, too. MacLean is out there doing some serious coaching, running the players through drills and driving home the message that forwards need to crash the net down the middle. It wasn't just a casual day at the rink for the photo ops.

On a side note, you'll notice around the 3:30 mark there is a kid with the name Vezina on the back of his sweater. Shouldn't a kid with the name Vezina be required by Canadian law to be a goaltender? Food for thought, Canadian Parliament.

Things like this make lasting impacts; what a great moment for the kids, something they won't forget. We saw a similar (and perhaps even cooler) scene in Nashville where Barry Trotz coached one team in a game.

Good on them and it would be great to see every coach doing this across the continent. It's about the best PR the NHL can get these days.

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