Quote:
Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache
Glad you are finding whatever funny. Different players get different results because of how the team is coached.
You mention Brent. Yes, he had a year where the team was more offensive. First year he believed that reeling everything in was the way to succeed. Second year, he reflected that perhaps he focused too much on defense and opened things up. Third year, he realized that didn’t work did him so he went back to his junior / NJ style and got frustrated and beat up a garbage can
Nobody out of these coaches got it perfect, but they all sure put their stamp in the team. And had varying degrees of success
This roster has the talent to be a top team in the league. We know because we have seen it. Then they changed the way they play. Not because they tuned out the coach, because they were trying to implement the game plan
As for being a top team? Should be, based on the lineup. Not happening under this coach
I’ll defer to Versteeg. He knows that coaching makes a material difference
Again, this was in response to Jiri’s asking me why I think the failure of team to achieve to its potential is more on coach than players. (And I acknowledge that you need both doing a good job to win)
I just don’t buy the view that players are mentally fragile, or that a young pretty good roster needs to be blown up.
And I was wondering if it was just the reality that you can’t just change a coach to fix things, if that was a contributor to why people are inclined to look elsewhere for the solution.
Because when you have something that looks like it may be hopeless, and you are stuck with it, well... that’s no good
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Coaching can make a difference. On rare occasions. But your opinion this should be a top team? That’s a stretch. I agree with Jiri. This team has an elite goalie, a good D and a suspect forward group.
Their top forwards have skills that, if they are defended badly, can result in lots of nice goals. But those same forwards have flaws and are easily predictable, and that makes them not that difficult to defend. Johnny is small and not that fast, and teams have learned they can play him tight. Monahan is slow and doesn’t dangle, so teams know he can be controlled if he doesn’t get a pass. Tkachuk is even slower than Monahan and needs to be within a foot or two of the goal because he doesn’t really have a great shot.
Other teams that they need to beat have more well rounded top end forwards. Matthews does it all. Scheifele does it all. McDavid is predictable but he manages to beat guys that know what he’s going to do just with pure physical ability, like Jordan dunking.
A better coach can win a couple more games with these guys, and maybe even make a difference over a season. Long term is where I have my doubts.