TrueBlueGED
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Posts posted by TrueBlueGED
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2 minutes ago, IKnowPhysics said:
I don't have strong opinions about McLellan yet, but here's a non-scientific concurrence: Oilers management is and has been terrible. Their rosters have been bonkers in different ways for more than a decade.
Unfortunately, the same can be said for us.
5 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:Is that how's it's going to be? McL? Anybody up for a McBotts?
HCNGMTM
Sign me up for McBotts.
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11 minutes ago, nfreeman said:
From this article:
Yes please.
I don't want to poop in your lunch here, but the Oilers PP was bad. Anyway, I think there's a lot to like from his SJ days and very little to like from his EDM days. So who knows.
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32 minutes ago, nfreeman said:
Does anyone have a #fancystats breakdown of McLellan?
I can't post all of the numbers right now, but his Edmonton teams were bottom-10 in the important stuff. I honestly don't know what to make of it. I was a big fan of his after San Jose (he was my 2nd choice to Babcock), but his Edmonton tenure was wholly unimpressive. Of course, godspeed to anyone who thinks they can meaningfully separate his coaching from Chiarelli gradually trading away the entire worthwhile supporting cast.
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32 minutes ago, dudacek said:
We broke Risto.
Yea well, Risto's play broke us.
Note: By "us," I mean people like me who supported him and expected him to grow and justify the contract. Whoops.
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In before the rampant overreaction to canned player statements.
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6 minutes ago, DHawerchuk10 said:
Lafontaine scored 40 with him, and hired him as coach. I’d say that is pretty good evidence, unless you consider him to be a grinder.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the other side of the argument, but it just ignores taking into account favorable things due to bias against that brand of hockey.
I personally think letting him go after the tank year was a mistake. I’m pretty sure I am one of only a couple of people who feel this way, and also believe that if given some talent, he’ll get us into the playoffs. I’m not seriously suggesting we hire Nolan back as I jokingly did in another thread, but as dark mentioned, too much Nolan hate in here.
So, are you saying the biggest problem with this team was effort? I saw plenty of trying hard. I can count on one hand the number of nights I recall them just not showing up. Lots of mistakes, lots of cluelessness, etc. But effort? I think the effort was there. I certainly don't think lack of effort left 10 wins on the table, which is what it would have taken for this team to be in the playoffs. Also, a few more wins through sheer will could easily be offset by a few more losses through sheer lack of tactics.
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6 hours ago, dudacek said:
I don’t want a yeller and I don’t want an *****.
I do want someone who will say “that wasn’t good enough” when it wasn’t, instead of “I thought parts of our game were really good tonight”
I think elite players like Jack and Rasmus want to be challenged, they thrive on being challenged.
I want someone to say “you are Jack Eichel, and good isn’t good enough. You should be great. Together we will be.”
If Paul Hamilton's reporting is to be believed (always an open question), Housley did plenty of this behind the scenes. All accounts are he had the respect of the team. And it didn't work.
Edit: what the team really needs, in my estimation, is a coach who has the acumen to coach to the talent on the team. It's why I point to Boudreau if he gets canned, a guy who has won with vastly different rosters. Housley's biggest flaw is he didn't realize what he did and was a part of in Nashville worked because it fit with the blue line they had, not through some outstanding practice sessions with lesser players.
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4 minutes ago, nfreeman said:
Well, the question is pretty reductive and I assume not a real question so much as snark, but of course it’s impossible to know why exactly they underachieved. Certainly crappy goaltending was a major factor.
Having said that, the team strikes me as immature, of intermittent focus and in some cases entitled. It’s certainly plausible that these factors contributed to consistent sloppiness in the D zone, and that these failings are susceptible of being remedied with diligent and attentive practice, motivated by the desire to avoid a scary dude.
Separately: there is NFW they are hiring a Swedish coach who doesn’t even coach in the SEL.
I could easily argue a "yeller" is just as likely to make the players tune out entirely if maturity is that big of a problem. I just don't really think the style of coach is all that important. From all accounts, Housley did plenty of yelling during practice and it didn't matter.
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6 minutes ago, darksabre said:
Pat Lafontaine doesn't count eh?
Not really. It was 30 years ago. Thirty!
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2 minutes ago, Scottysabres said:
You mean, like the high skill players we have now that win games for us (insert eye roll here)
They do win games for us. Swap out Eichel, Reinhart, Skinner, and Dahlin for low skill grinders and we'd be the tank teams (ya know, teams that won a lot less).
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11 minutes ago, JJFIVEOH said:
Bob Boughner.
He has the players playing with heart, all the time. Injuries killed them at the start of the year. Watch the 3rd period of the last Panther's game to see how his players play for him.
Death, taxes, and JJ hyping something involving the Panthers. You were right on Gallant, I'll give you that, but you've also been wrong on a whole lot of Panthers hype ?
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4 minutes ago, darksabre said:
I'm a little tired of the Nolan hate. I know most of us who liked him only suggest him jokingly, but there's no denying that players like him and work really hard for him. It might not be a sustainable way to coach a hockey team, but it works in the short term and that shouldn't be discounted. He's a motivator if nothing else.
The grinders love him. There's no evidence the high skill players that actually win games love him.
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2 hours ago, Weave said:
It's not a de facto exclude. This team lacks experience, especially experience with what it takes to win at this level.
Bylsma didn't. He was bad, too. I'm not against hiring an experienced coach, but to say experience matters so much that you'd just say no to a stellar up and comer is really the wrong way to go about it.
Teams are about to get a treasure trove of information with player tracking. I want a coach who can understand it and exploit it to his team's advantage. I want someone who understands the NHL in 2019, not 2009. And so on.
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3 hours ago, Weave said:
They aren't getting through elite levels of hockey without knowing that. I don't think they need to be coached into it.
I think the system a coach implements matters. And it's not limited to the Sabres. Darryl Sutter won two Cups in LA and that team was regularly a possession monster, but they were also a very low shooting percentage team during his tenure. Don't think it could be said that they lacked talent.
Expanding on this a little, the Sabres were 16th in the league in high danger shot generation over the course of Bylsma's 2 seasons. Housley's 2 season? They were 29th. Only the Canucks and Kings were worse. They were going to the right areas at least at a mediocre level, then Housley came in, and it tanked. I might not be able to break down a system like Flagg, but I do think they matter for what players do on the ice.
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22 minutes ago, Weave said:
Those chances also turn into gold when they are coming from high danger areas in tight. Most of the time this team wasn't playing to get chances in tight. And I don't think that was a Housley thing. Players weren't getting to the net and Housley talked about the need to do so.
He did talk about it. Doesn't mean he knew how to coach to facilitate it.
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1 minute ago, Radar said:
How did Housley work out? Sure we can find exceptions but this team is young top to bottom and I hope we we get experience.
I just don't think it's wise to de facto exclude an entire group of candidates.
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Just now, Radar said:
Please. Let's get people with a proven record. No more inexperienced coaches.
Yes, Bylsma was a splendid hire. And Jon Cooper? Who wants to find the next one of him?
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1 minute ago, LTS said:
He basically said he gave Housley a chance to see if he could get the players turned around and he failed. That's the way it goes. The guy was only in his second year. You have to give someone a chance. Based on his comments during the 10 game win streak it wasn't as though he expected this team to make the playoffs, just improve. They had improved but then dropped, like an anvil in a Road Runner cartoon.
The discussion with Quennville can happen the entire season. The only thing they wouldn't do is hire the guy while Housley is the coach. No one was missing out on the big fish. The timing of the firing may indeed have been driven by the Panthers moving quickly. The press would now be all over the Q watch and any Sabres discussion would likely come out. So, you have to make the change in order to pursue at a deeper level. If they had fired Housley 4-10 games ago then they have to put someone else in charge, etc. At that point, let the guy finish, it makes no difference.
Bottom line? The Sabres have every chance of landing a coach, but may not simply because of past relationships.
I hope my post above clarified. It doesn't seem to me that Botterill had decided to move on until very recently. I could give a hoot about actually firing him versus just letting him coach out the string.
Again, I could be off on that as it's pure speculation.
Just now, LTS said:I vote the latter. But yes, it is possible that Tallon knew he was getting Quennville and may have known for some time. In which case, there was never a chance of getting Quennville and as such... no need to be mad.
I meant getting a new coach as in making a change, not necessarily the specific one he'd land. Anyway, moving forward, I am concerned about the timeline in Botterill's head irrespective of its effect on Quenneville. Did it really take until late March or early April for him to know Housley had to go? If so, yikes.
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7 minutes ago, Die Hard said:
I thought Boughner and Housley were fired hours apart?
I don't mean the actual firing, I mean the decision to move on. Listening to the respective GMs it strikes me Tallon knew he was getting a new coach before Botterill.
It's also entirely possible I'm just being cranky about missing out on my preferred coach again and feel the need to complain.
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7 minutes ago, Die Hard said:
Other than interim coaches, I don’t recall many permanent (outside) hires of coaches coming on to fill in the last quarter of a season. Especially of a team that’s eliminated. If it’s done, it’s usually because the season is still salvageable.
I'm not suggesting hiring someone. I'm suggesting that if the decision was made sooner we'd have gotten the same jump in finding a replacement that Florida did.
1 minute ago, New Guy said:The next HC will decide who stays and goes
Spoiler alert: they're all going.
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25 minutes ago, Brawndo said:
Both John Shannon and Darren Dreger tweeted that a Quenneville Hiring by Florida could be announced as early as tomorrow
Translation: Dale Tallon hopes to close quickly now that he has completion.
As an aside, this is why you make a move on Housley sooner than the last game of the season. So you don't miss out on the big fish.
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1 minute ago, nfreeman said:
My top choice is Quenneville; #2 is AV.
I think it needs to be someone who the guys are kinda scared of.
Do you think the team underachieved because they weren't scared of the coach?
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1 minute ago, New Scotland (NS) said:
And then he went to the final 4 twice more 5 years later without him. And NO all-stars, not real ones anyway ... I can't remember who the Sabres sent then. It may have been Briere?
Ruff is a good coach that always got the most out of his players.
Miller and Campbell weren't real all-stars? Nonsense.
Ruff was a good coach. I'm not disagreeing. I'm fighting back against this fantasy that he regularly got more out his teams than talent would dictate. Those 05-07 teams were crazy deep and constructed perfectly to take advantage of the rule changes.
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1 minute ago, CallawaySabres said:
Lehner was either hungover or drunk while in net here...nothing to do with coaching. You wouldn't believe the stories if i told you.
Did that only happen under Housley? Because his non-shootout performance under Bylsma was just fine.
Updated Todd McLellan OUT of the Running Sabres HC Position
in The Aud Club
Posted
Yea, I think we can all agree "better than Edmonton on paper but worse in results" is not a good place to be.
Separately, if McLellan and LA have been talking for awhile but nothing is done yet, it seems to me McLellan really wants a better roster situation than LA has.