[News] Vancouver fires Desjardins

[Locke]

Originally Posted by getbak

He said in his media availability today that he doesn't anticipate any changes to the coaching staff for next season.

How does that guy still have a job? His whole MO is 'do nothing, see what happens.'

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Locke

How does that guy still have a job? His whole MO is 'do nothing, see what happens.'

If I was a Jets fan I would be calling for Checy's head. 6 seasons and only 1 playoff appearance where they were swept. Keeps Noel and Maurice beyond their expiry, makes no changes to goalies. The Jets have some nice pieces and prospects but need a better GM to get them over the hump

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by shadowlord

There was a slide shown somewhere that the last few former Canucks coaches go on to some success in their next job.

Alain Vingneault - Makes Cup final with Rangers
John Tortorella - Columbus in playoffs with 16-game win streak
Glen Gulutzan - Flames in playoffs with 10-game win streak
(one other example?)

WillLie D's next coaching job may have a bright side.

You forgot one. And it's kind of a big one...

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by LanceUppercut

Willie was the least of their problems.

he took a bad team and made it worse

I do wonder if he could be a coach for a better, veteran laden club

but for a rebuilding club he wasn't good, they didnt play hard for him, they quit down the stretch in 2 straight seasons

his usage is downright baffling, which is weird because in year 1 he was praised as a very progressive coach by stats people, and in years 2 and 3 he was horrible

he consistently played 'vets' who struggled and were producing extremely negative results over others

[Violator]

Eight game losing streak to end the season.
Haven't won at home since beating Calgary in ot
Plays the strangest people top line minutes or with the Sedins see megna chaput labate.
Goblin scores in first game gets benched.He scores last night gets benched.
Megna megna megna megna chaput chaput chaput labate labate labate
Doesn't challenge goals that are obviously offside decides to keep the time outs for latter doesn't use timeouts at all.
Doesn't coach on the fly.
Megna megna megna megna megna megna megna.

Not everything was his fault as the team is aging and lack of top end talent hurts them.

But he's coached likes he's been trying to loose.

[shadowlord]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

You forgot one. And it's kind of a big one...

Thank you! I knew I missed one, just couldn't remember the name. It's funny how living in Vancouver and listening to the local sports media, I never really made a strong connection in my mind between Sullivan and the Canucks. He must have kept a low profile in the media.

... And that was one monster-sized image you put in there...

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Crap, it's not giant on my phone...

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Winnipeg has it tough being in the central. They might've made the playoffs in another division. I think any analysis of them has to take into account that they play in arguably the toughest division in the league.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

If I was a Jets fan I would be calling for Checy's head. 6 seasons and only 1 playoff appearance where they were swept. Keeps Noel and Maurice beyond their expiry, makes no changes to goalies. The Jets have some nice pieces and prospects but need a better GM to get them over the hump

It's remarkable that the franchise has literally never won a playoff game - made it once under Hartley and got swept by the Rangers. That was the year they rented Keith Tkachuk and gave up Braydon Coburn for 2 months of Alexei Zhitnik.

Jets should be better than they are.

[Firebot]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Winnipeg has it tough being in the central. They might've made the playoffs in another division. I think any analysis of them has to take into account that they play in arguably the toughest division in the league.

Metropolitain? The Central division had the worst team in the 21st century in points.

[868904]

I always felt like he did a good job with the young players, even though this is what Vancouver fans claim he hasn't.

I mean he did what Hartley couldn't do, turned Baerstchi and Granlund into NHL players.

He played Hutton, Stecher and Tryamkin regularly on the blueline. All rookies.

Horvat has developed well, even though the Willie haters say it is inspite of him.

Virtanen was rushed to the NHL by management and to some scouts he wasn't even a top 10 pick. I think Willie knew better.

Canuck fans don't understand Willie's methods, but I think the results speak for themselves. EVERY coach in the league makes young players "earn it", I don't understand why Canuck fans get so mad that Willie wanted Goldobin to earn it.

But whatever, hire a coach that will listen to management and don't have any accountability. Give your prospects everything they want without earning it. I'm fine with that.

I think the Canucks are going to be in for a rude awakening when they start interviewing coaches and ask them how they would treat young players. I'd love to see them hire Hartley or Hitchcock, Sven might have to demand another trade.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Locke

How does that guy still have a job? His whole MO is 'do nothing, see what happens.'

The Jets have essentially a captive audience in Winnipeg. It doesn't matter what they do—that one-horse town is just happy to have a team that bears a passing resemblance to an actual NHL team.

Some things just never change.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by diane_phaneuf

he took a bad team and made it worse...

I very seriously doubt that. The Canucks boast one of the most uninspiring collections of talent in the entire league, and no coach could have willed this group to a better finish.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Firebot

Metropolitain? The Central division had the worst team in the 21st century in points.

Interesting logic. To me are the Avalanche really significantly worse than the Oilers pre-McDavid? Nope. They just play in a much tougher division top to bottom than the Oilers have lately. Why do the Avs have a historically horrid point total? Playing in the toughest division in hockey while sucking.

Metropolitan is certainly not the strongest top to bottom. It may have the strongest top 4 teams but I think that is debatable as well. But let's look at the bottom 4 teams. The Islanders are not great. The Flyers are not great. The Hurricanes are not great. And the Devils suck.

Now lets look the the central. Hawks? One of the best teams in the league. Wild? At times they've been one of the best in the league this year. Blues? Weaker this year but still a strong team. Nashville? Strong team. Jets? Up and coming team, probably would've easily made the playoffs if they were in the Atlantic. Stars? Weaker this year and goaltending questions but they still have some dangerous players. They also might've made the playoffs in the Atlantic IMO. Only Colorado a real weak link in that division.

I stand by my statement. I think the Central is easily the toughest division in hockey and I think the Stars and Jets paid the price this season for playing in that tough of a division. I think both those teams probably make the playoffs if they are in the weak Atlantic division.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

The Jets have essentially a captive audience in Winnipeg. It doesn't matter what they do—that one-horse town is just happy to have a team that bears a passing resemblance to an actual NHL team.

Some things just never change.

Yep. You look at it from a business standpoint, a full building and season ticket waiting list means you can afford to do nothing which is what happens annually.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Yep. You look at it from a business standpoint, a full building and season ticket waiting list means you can afford to do nothing which is what happens annually.

That's been the Leafs' plan for years.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

That's been the Leafs' plan for years.

Huh? The Leafs plan has been to do nothing? I don't equate hiring Babcock with nothing. I don't equate hiring Lamoreillo with nothing. They've acquired assets for bad contracts. Leafs have made changes and turned things around.

Don't see much similarity between their moves and the Jets lack of moves.

That said I do think the Jets are on the right track. They've got some key young pieces with Laine, Scheiffele, Ehlers, Kyle Connor, Hellebuyck and some solid vets surrounding them.

As I said earlier in the thread, the Jets looks worse than they are because of the division they play in. They are probably a playoff team if they are in the Atlantic division this year.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

That's been the Leafs' plan for years.

Under Ballard it was but the sad part is that they really tried hard for decades after to ice a cup winner. There's always been too many cooks in the kitchen in that organization.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

As I said earlier in the thread, the Jets looks worse than they are because of the division they play in. They are probably a playoff team if they are in the Atlantic division this year.

That's cherry picking as plenty of mediocre to borderline teams could have changed fates in different divisions. The Flames were .500 in their own division but 14-7 against the mighty Central. Flames still made the playoffs because they could win games outside their division to make up for a poor divisional record. 82 games is plenty of games against the rest of the league for a quality team to rise above playing in a tough division. Jets were hot garbage for most of the season as their late winning streak masks just how bad they were this season. There's definitely talent there but it's been terribly managed and coached.

[Firebot]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Interesting logic. To me are the Avalanche really significantly worse than the Oilers pre-McDavid? Nope. They just play in a much tougher division top to bottom than the Oilers have lately. Why do the Avs have a historically horrid point total? Playing in the toughest division in hockey while sucking.

Metropolitan is certainly not the strongest top to bottom. It may have the strongest top 4 teams but I think that is debatable as well. But let's look at the bottom 4 teams. The Islanders are not great. The Flyers are not great. The Hurricanes are not great. And the Devils suck.

Now lets look the the central. Hawks? One of the best teams in the league. Wild? At times they've been one of the best in the league this year. Blues? Weaker this year but still a strong team. Nashville? Strong team. Jets? Up and coming team, probably would've easily made the playoffs if they were in the Atlantic. Stars? Weaker this year and goaltending questions but they still have some dangerous players. They also might've made the playoffs in the Atlantic IMO. Only Colorado a real weak link in that division.

I stand by my statement. I think the Central is easily the toughest division in hockey and I think the Stars and Jets paid the price this season for playing in that tough of a division. I think both those teams probably make the playoffs if they are in the weak Atlantic division.

If adding all teams' points in the division and taking the average, the Metropolitain are 97.25 point average. The Central division is 88.85. Even removing the god awful Avalanche, the point average is still 95.66.

Sorry the Metropolitain is a much stronger division this year. It's not even really debatable and the Jets stunk, because they actually stunk.

And yes, the Avalanche are significantly worse than the pre-McDavid Oilers. the Oilers worst ever non-lockout point total in the past 25 years of no good is 62 points. The Avalanche are a full 14 points lower on the no good pole than the worst no good the Oilers ever came up with.