Line Combos: AV can't make lines

[Vinny DeAngelo]

This is beginning a split of older posters who give AV more room.

And the younger posters(myself included) who see AV making awful decisions

 

[Bluenote13]

This is beginning a split of older posters who give AV more room.

And the younger posters(myself included) who see AV making awful decisions

I understand why he makes some of these moves. Might not like those decisions, but I get it.

I don't know, this guy is hardly Ron Low, his resume shows he's made some good decisions with winning teams, I'll give him benefit of doubt, like I did with Torts, who I disliked.

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

So AV is the reason they made it to the ECF x 2 and SCF x1, but now that the team is garbage, it's the players?

The way it looks from my perspective is that the under-performing players are illuminating many of the underlying flaws in AV's system and roster decisions. Things that were previously masked by the excellent performance, and in some cases over-achievement, of certain players.

Henrik Lundqvist was able to mask and overcome the flaws of Tort's collapse defense for an entire season and carry a very underwhelming team to the ECF almost single-handedly.

AV is accountable. His system is accountable. His staff is accountable.

Who said that the coach is the only reason they made it that far? Thats nonsense. To reach the conference finals, you need players to overachieve. You need excellent performances.

Of course Henrik hasn't been himself and its no surprise the wins are hard to come by. You could go down the line and rattle off how many players are underachieving this year. Its a struggle.

Of course the coaches and his system have to be held responsible - but we are talking about lines here are we not? Line combinations get too much attention in the NHL. If the players are in the right spots and are doing their jobs its seldom ever an issue. This isn't EA NHL on Xbox.

Could he make adjustments, absolutely. Could he try every combination until they work - sure. He could throw out the exact combos that each and every one of us would like to see and you know what- they would still struggle. Its about individual performance and if each player is doing what they are asked of. (especially down the middle)

Kevin Hayes looked like a sure-fire 2nd line player last season, doing everything imaginable with the puck, showed the coaching staff that he could be a very important cog in the system. They bought into him... Didnt we all? Kris Kreider stretched the play and used his speed effectively to help the system as well. Thats gone. The defense is another issue all together.

Its more about adjusting the system than adjusting the lines at this point - which is a completely different subject. but do you really want to do that after less than 1/2 season removed from making the conference finals and winning a presidents trophy with basically the same set of players? Cmon.

Line combos only come up when the team sucks. The TEAM sucks right now. Including the coach, the GM. Everyone is accountable. But if you ask me who is the most responsible for this mess right now, its the players.

 

[Ail]

Who said that the coach is the only reason they made it that far? Thats nonsense. To reach the conference finals, you need players to overachieve. You need excellent performances.

Of course Henrik hasn't been himself and its no surprise the wins are hard to come by. You could go down the line and rattle off how many players are underachieving this year. Its a struggle.

Of course the coaches and his system have to be held responsible - but we are talking about lines here are we not? Line combinations get too much attention in the NHL. If the players are in the right spots and are doing their jobs its seldom ever an issue. This isn't EA NHL on Xbox.

Could he make adjustments, absolutely. Could he try every combination until they work - sure. He could throw out the exact combos that each and every one of us would like to see and you know what- they would still struggle. Its about individual performance and if each player is doing what they are asked of. (especially down the middle)

Kevin Hayes looked like a sure-fire 2nd line player last season, doing everything imaginable with the puck, showed the coaching staff that he could be a very important cog in the system. They bought into him... Didnt we all? Kris Kreider stretched the play and used his speed effectively to help the system as well. Thats gone. The defense is another issue all together.

Its more about adjusting the system than adjusting the lines at this point - which is a completely different subject. but do you really want to do that after less than 1/2 season removed from making the conference finals and winning a presidents trophy with basically the same set of players? Cmon.

Line combos only come up when the team sucks. The TEAM sucks right now. Including the coach, the GM. Everyone is accountable. But if you ask me who is the most responsible for this mess right now, its the players.

Right now the only thing I want is for AV to play the right players, players who deseved to be played, and use his players properly. He is doing neither. No accountability, biases, poor roster decisions.

If they were winning you could overlook some of these things to a degree, but they're not.

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

This is beginning a split of older posters who give AV more room.

And the younger posters(myself included) who see AV making awful decisions

And herein lies the problem. The older posters have been through this several times before, with many coaches. We've built up a patience born out of the same frustrations the younger posters are spewing lately.

Its easy to blame the coach once things go this awry. Whats the end game here? Fire AV? Then what? Awful decisions arise out of desperation. Desperation is born out of ****** play. You cant tell me that he's been that different and that bad with relatively the same team that won a presidents cup last season. Like he's suddenly lost the ability to coach. Was he ever perfect? No. Is any coach perfect? No. Bring in Quennvile or Babcock. Ask yourself what would they do with this team, as currently constructed...

Its a big time slump, with some aging players on D and underperforming F's who are breaking down the system. But you cant uproot the whole thing, you just have to try and ride it out, which AV is trying to do. If he knee-jerked and gave a D rookie top playing time against top lines and force some line combinations, things would get worse. Even though im not sure how much worse it can get.

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

Right now the only thing I want is for AV to play the right players, players who deseved to be played, and use his players properly. He is doing neither. No accountability, biases, poor roster decisions.

If they were winning you could overlook some of these things to a degree, but they're not.

Do we really know what the Rangers coaching staff is holding players accountable FOR? There may be a set of standards and responsibilities both on and off the ice that need to be met in order to gain trust. We have no idea what that is in its entirety.

The play we see on MSG and what they see within the confines of the system that THEY designed for this team is entirely different in detail. Of course we have every right to challenge decisions and sure, AV isn't doing a perfect job right now - but no one is. Its about execution.

If they were winning and playing well - we wouldn't care if the first line was Boyle - Stepan - Glass. cmon.

 

[Vinny DeAngelo]

And herein lies the problem. The older posters have been through this several times before, with many coaches. We've built up a patience born out of the same frustrations the younger posters are spewing lately.

Its easy to blame the coach once things go this awry. Whats the end game here? Fire AV? Then what? Awful decisions arise out of desperation. Desperation is born out of ****** play. You cant tell me that he's been that different and that bad with relatively the same team that won a presidents cup last season. Like he's suddenly lost the ability to coach. Was he ever perfect? No. Is any coach perfect? No. Bring in Quennvile or Babcock. Ask yourself what would they do with this team, as currently constructed...

Its a big time slump, with some aging players on D and underperforming F's who are breaking down the system. But you cant uproot the whole thing, you just have to try and ride it out, which AV is trying to do. If he knee-jerked and gave a D rookie top playing time against top lines and force some line combinations, things would get worse. Even though im not sure how much worse it can get.

that's the problem tho.. you can't be entirely set in your ways. Girardi and staal aren't in temporary funks they haven't been good all year and it goes back further than that... It's about playing the best players available. It's not like girardi or staal have shown signs of improving like mcilrath has.