Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
I think it's possible to see it both ways.
I never advocated for not firing Ward. I didn't after the bubble on our radio bit, and I haven't on the forum.
Honestly I wasn't pushing for it because I thought it unlikely they'd bring in an upgrade in a pandemic with the quarantine etc. I thought it was Ward or Huska for the season.
So elated with the boost in coaching for sure, but that doesn't mean I have to love this core or think they're absolved for not preparing themselves and competing within the system for either of the previous two coaches.
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To me it’s not that, though. What exactly is ‘preparing yourself’?
When only 2 or 3 of 5 guys are in the right place on the ice, for example, you are more likely to be exposed. It’s that attention to detail that the coach has to instill. Players can’t prepare themselves to make the other 2-3 guys do their jobs. There has to be someone championing the messsge of what all 5 guys should be doing and for accountability to each other. Players can’t do that alone as individuals
There are the issues of each player knowing his role, and of developing chemistry. When the only tool in the toolbox is a blender, how do players prepare for inevitable uncertainty?
Then there is accountability. The old coach was more interested in sending a message to his poster boy, Bennett, than to, for example, Tkachuk.
Systems wise, that passive low pressure D zone structure does not lead to good results
The old coach was a bad head coach, and I have to believe it’s tough for players to ‘prepare’ themselves when there are so many things concurrently going wrong.
That’s where leadership is needed.