Yes yes, there's a well established story on this board that Brent sucked the creativity out of the team and if only we had Keenan back we'd lock up 8th for a ignominious exit in the first round.
There'll be no convincing anyone of anything at this time. I'll just throw down a couple of my reasons for why I think this story is not very balanced.
I perceived the biggest problem with Brent was that the players didn't buy into his system. Now, alot of people use this to then blame Brent for being a bad coach and not catering to his players. This is backward logic in my opinion. This is pro sports, it's not like Brent's system couldn't have been employed with the talent in the room, it was a system based on hard work. The problem was that Iginla and friends didn't want to play that system. Brent flat out said that the leadership wasn't buying in and Iginla retorted saying that his job is to score goals.
Now who's more to blame here? Brent responsible for putting a winning system out on the ice. The players, being paid millions, are responsible for delivering on the vision of the coach.
Further, Brent came in to address years of bad habits. Again, is it Brent's fault that the inmates were left to run the asylum prior to him arriving? Does that fact that Iginla and friends were happy being the gang under Keenan then make Brent a bad coach for trying to correct it instead of just going along?
It's a bit two-faced in my opinion to deride Keenan for being too lax, then to say Brent was a bad coach because he didn't adapt to the type of hockey the players wanted to play.
Fundamentally, I believe the reason Brent is targeted is that he's a generally easy scape goat around here. We witnessed the crumbling of a "perenial playoff contender" before our very eyes under Brent. The availability heuristic, or our need to find causal relationships even where one doesn't exist points easily and lazily to Brent. But what if Iginla and friends, high on the hog, but older slower and less committed to playing hard hockey and deteriorating in their skill was the real reason for the collapse? I know, never call out the prodigal son but to me what we witnessed was the inevitable unraveling of a core that was no longer fit to contend. Brent was unfortunate to have to preside over it but he wasn't the real problem.
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