Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
I mean, credit to Ward for listening to his players. It's better than not listening to your players. But should it ever have gotten to a point where a guy like Backlund needed to come in and have a private discussion about his role? When he was playing center early in the season, yeah the finish wasn't there but he was still driving play. Once he was moved to RW he became one of the worst forwards on the team and we slipped to one of the worst possession teams on a nightly basis.
I'm glad that Ward is listening to his players. But I don't see that as value-added. I see it as value-not-subtracted.
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I think it's a huge credit to any coach or manager that listens to feedback and adjusts. I think it's an even bigger credit to anyone who would take feedback as far as abandoning a plan and hitting reset. I think it's a sigh of relief to be listening to your players that have not been producing when it could be just as easy to point the finger back at them. One fear people must have in going back to a recipe that worked is suggesting that your involvement was to the detriment of the team
I think they saw that Lindholm could carry his own line, and I think they saw that the more ice-time you give Tkachuk the better. Backlund's production at wing and Johnny+Mony having difficulty without Lindholm were costly outcomes of the plan, but I didn't really think what Ward (inherited by Peters as well I think?) was on a bad path. Personally, I would be a bit worried if the team adjusting nothing after getting walked out of the first round.