Rapid Fire Questions with Donny "Meatball" Granato

[LGR4GM]

This is for fun so nothing crazy important here.

[WildCard]

Gotta love his answer to what he would eat for the rest of his life if he only could chose one meal

[Eleven]

His personality is way over the top.

[Thorner]

I love this guy

...though he got the year wrong for the Pens cup

[Thorner]

Duff - "Favourite color?'

"Blue"

Duff - "...like do you have a favourite shade of blue?"

lmao duff

[Thorner]

Hey he caught his first fish right near my cabin 

Good movie pick 

Edited July 9, 2021 by Thorny

[gilbert11]

On 7/9/2021 at 10:05 AM, Eleven said:

His personality is way over the top.

Yes, he’s very likable.

[Eleven]

2 hours ago, gilbert11 said:

Yes, he’s very likable.

I was being sarcastic.  He is very bland.  And that's ok as long as he gets results out of players.

[pi2000]

I Donny as a person.   

I also liked Ralph and Phil, good people.

As a hockey coach tho 🤔

[Weave]

8 hours ago, pi2000 said:

I Donny as a person.   

I also liked Ralph and Phil, good people.

As a hockey coach tho 🤔

So we’re using Donny as a verb already?

[LGR4GM]

11 hours ago, pi2000 said:

I Donny as a person.   

I also liked Ralph and Phil, good people.

As a hockey coach tho 🤔

Are you questioning Granato as a hockey coach here?

[Pimlach]

Pretty good stuff. 
 

Elvis, spaghetti and meatballs, Aunt Toots, fishing, Superman, Brady Bunch, and consumed by hockey. 

[bunomatic]

Well Ralph had everyone fooled. But Donballs has a coaching track record a mile long across multiple leagues. He’s the very definition of a coach. Ralph was all hot air.

[Stoner]

2 hours ago, bunomatic said:

Well Ralph had everyone fooled. But Donballs has a coaching track record a mile long across multiple leagues. He’s the very definition of a coach. Ralph was all hot air.

I don't see much difference between the way RaKru and Don talk.

[JohnC]

31 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

I don't see much difference between the way RaKru and Don talk.

You need to clean your ears out. The Italian coach speaks in a simpler and more direct manner. The former erudite coach used a lot of words to make a simple point. If the spaghetti coach talks to a player he will convey his message with clarity. If the pontificating coach was giving the same message to the player it would be an extended conversation with the player walking away confused. 

[thewookie1]

24 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

I don't see much difference between the way RaKru and Don talk.

It's all in the delivery and over arcing narrative.

Ralph was an inspirational speaker and very macro in his way of operating. He was all about playing to the system, regardless of the player, and believed that would work. However religiously following a specific system isn't effective when its flawed to begin with, but furthermore stunts dynamic play from more dynamic players. Last season all he said was that the team needed to stick to the system for there to be success; the further we went without success, the less the players felt confident in said system. Ralph certainly had the team playing for him for a time; they were "willing to run through walls for him" That changed over time however as he effectively ran them at concrete slabs instead of drywall.

 

Granato seems to have some similarities with Krueger in speech pattern but is much more direct and less grandiose in his demeanor. How he speaks is that he wants a loose system but primarily wants the players to use their instincts and play. Instead of demanding the team to normalize their talents to best suit the system's will; Granato seems more keen on encouraging the players learn from one another and play to their strengths. Krueger wanted most of the team to be generic players with Eichel/Hall doing the fancy stuff. Granato is more about letting the players who can deke, deke but with the caveat they don't overplay their hand. Plus, you won't be benched for trying something new or making an honest mistake. He'll bench you for refusing to adapt or ignoring situation as a whole but is far more likely to hand wave away minor errors for the sake of learning.

 

[pi2000]

5 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Are you questioning Granato as a hockey coach here?

I wish Granato success, but I just don't see it happening here.     

Really don't care how likeable of guy he is, what his interviews are like or how well he can develop young players (that's what the AHL is for).     

To me It's all about winning hockey games... and I'm concerned he'll consistently get outcoached by guys like Cooper, Quenneville, and Cassidy in the division.   

Hope he proves me wrong, but I have very low expectations at this point.

 

[Marvin]

Take a look at the video of coaching clinics HCDG from the IIHF on YouTube to see how he acts professionally.  One thing I like is that his body language does not change -- he feels the same in his interviews without feeling rehearsed.

[Stoner]

3 hours ago, JohnC said:

You need to clean your ears out. The Italian coach speaks in a simpler and more direct manner. The former erudite coach used a lot of words to make a simple point. If the spaghetti coach talks to a player he will convey his message with clarity. If the pontificating coach was giving the same message to the player it would be an extended conversation with the player walking away confused. 

He's not Italian.

[PromoTheRobot]

3 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

I don't see much difference between the way RaKru and Don talk.

It all sounds the same when you aren't listening.

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

He's not Italian.

As far as I'm concerned anyone who has an affinity for spaghetti and meatballs is either an Italian or an honorary member of the Club de la Italiano. 🙂

[Marvin]

It just dawned on me that we might be missing out on something here: will Don Granato hire his sister for anything?  She is supposed to be the best female hockey mind around.  She might be better at a lot of things than males who have NHL jobs.

[JohnC]

3 hours ago, pi2000 said:

I wish Granato success, but I just don't see it happening here.     

Really don't care how likeable of guy he is, what his interviews are like or how well he can develop young players (that's what the AHL is for).     

To me It's all about winning hockey games... and I'm concerned he'll consistently get outcoached by guys like Cooper, Quenneville, and Cassidy in the division.   

Hope he proves me wrong, but I have very low expectations at this point.

 

Granato has been at many places and levels. Wherever he has been he has been a success. His biggest virtue is his ability to adapt and develop what he has to work with. Ultimately the attributes he possesses that allowed him to succeed wherever he has been are the same attributes needed to be successful in the NHL. Good coaching is good coaching; and bad coaching is bad coaching. It's not about where you are as it is about what you are as a coach. 

The GM has done a good job in assembling a staff. Granato's one of the staffing selections I'm happy with. 

[Stoner]

2 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

It all sounds the same when you aren't listening.

Well that settles that.

[Zamboni]

2 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

It all sounds the same when you aren't listening.

Or … when all you want to see/hear is negative, that’s mostly what you’ll ever see/hear.