Credit Where Credit is Due (Hitchcock)
- Thread starter trevorftw
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trevorftw
Voice of Reason
PS - If you have to hate on someone, focus on Mueller and the powerplay. We can't even get a lucky one.
bleedblue1223
Registered User
- Jan 21, 2011
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I mean he's always been great in the regular season, he needs to make better adjustments in the playoffs.
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Hitch has never had a problem playing a more offensive structure, that was always an unfounded argument. Our overall style of play in the regular season has actually bee quite different in each of his seasons, becoming more offense drive in each of the years.
Equally, his willingness to use young players hasn't been a huge issue. It gets overstated because people want to mix the arguments of him overusing veterans (like Morrow) with how young players have been used. While somewhat linked, they aren't as directly interchangeable as some want to suggest. His development of the likes of Schwartz and Tarasenko was excellent.
The main problem is that Hitch reverts back to things he should know don't work when the postseason rolls around. He has made some brutal personnel decisions, that make no sense from any angle. During the regular season teams tend to play their own game, with some minor adjustments to the opposition. During the postseason, the game plan to play a specific opponent is much more detailed. When that happens, we get shut down and he has no answers. I suppose last season was progress since we didn't get eliminated on 4 consecutive losses for the first time.
He's had a good start to the season, and I'd expect nothing less from him. But, this isn't where the question marks are.
Equally, his willingness to use young players hasn't been a huge issue. It gets overstated because people want to mix the arguments of him overusing veterans (like Morrow) with how young players have been used. While somewhat linked, they aren't as directly interchangeable as some want to suggest. His development of the likes of Schwartz and Tarasenko was excellent.
The main problem is that Hitch reverts back to things he should know don't work when the postseason rolls around. He has made some brutal personnel decisions, that make no sense from any angle. During the regular season teams tend to play their own game, with some minor adjustments to the opposition. During the postseason, the game plan to play a specific opponent is much more detailed. When that happens, we get shut down and he has no answers. I suppose last season was progress since we didn't get eliminated on 4 consecutive losses for the first time.
He's had a good start to the season, and I'd expect nothing less from him. But, this isn't where the question marks are.
Oberyn
Prince of Dorne
- Mar 27, 2011
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My only gripe at the moment is his love fest with Upshall. He played 17 minutes last night and all he did was turn the puck over because he couldn't hold on to it longer than two seconds. It baffles me that Hitch sees something in Upshall, he's more of a liability than the rookies would be.
EastonBlues22
Registered User
Getting the most out of a limited roster during the regular season is nothing new for Hitchcock.
I like the philosophy switch with regards to the activation of the Dmen, but time will tell if the Blues stick with it all year and into/through the playoffs. I'm optimistic they will.
My biggest reason for skepticism involves our transition play. We simply are not able to effectively find and exploit the soft spots of the ice at a level that's needed to go deep into the playoffs against quality opponents. This has been an Achilles heel for the Blues for far too long, and it's one reason why teams have had so much success when game planning against us in a series format.
I've seen nothing this year that suggests the Blues have turned a page on that front.
I like the philosophy switch with regards to the activation of the Dmen, but time will tell if the Blues stick with it all year and into/through the playoffs. I'm optimistic they will.
My biggest reason for skepticism involves our transition play. We simply are not able to effectively find and exploit the soft spots of the ice at a level that's needed to go deep into the playoffs against quality opponents. This has been an Achilles heel for the Blues for far too long, and it's one reason why teams have had so much success when game planning against us in a series format.
I've seen nothing this year that suggests the Blues have turned a page on that front.
When Upshall was playing 10-12 minutes on the 4th or at best 3rd line, I thought he was a good pickup. Skates fast, tries hard, gets the puck deep. But when he's getting so much ice time on what should be a scoring line, you get reminded why he had to settle for a PTO and not a UFA contract over the summer.
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I've had some issues all season with our transition play, and last night was a microcosm of this problem. The defense generally handled the puck like a live grenade all night long, even when we had been able to turn the momentum. I don't know if it is structural or execution, but they seem to be valuing speed at the expense of accuracy, and the result is a lot of pucks passed directly to the opposing forwards. In my mind, the goal should be to complete an accurate outlet pass as quickly as you can rather than to complete a quick pass as accurately as you can.
On the roster front, I've still yet to hear a satisfactory explanation as to why guys like Rattie and Fabbri get buried on the bench in the 3rd and OT when playing well all game, while guys like Upshall who have been largely ineffective all night get bigger minutes because of their experience. When constructing and utilizing your game day roster, I believe the goal should always be to play your best players the most.
I don't think anyone is suprised Hitch is making magic happen in the regular season, he always has. However, I think we all get annoyed at the double standard he will set for veterans and rookies. Ty Rattie gets benched for an unknown reason to everyone, while Upshall continually makes mistakes and goes back out on the ice shift after shift. The same can be same for Gomez, who again has offensive skill, but he needs time and space to do that which he has a hard time creating for himself at 35.
As for as giving Hitch credit for developing Tarasenko and Schwartz, to me that is just crazy talk. Those 2 guys clearly have a drive and a desire to be great in this league and it shows in the way they play.
As for as giving Hitch credit for developing Tarasenko and Schwartz, to me that is just crazy talk. Those 2 guys clearly have a drive and a desire to be great in this league and it shows in the way they play.
Vincenzo Arelliti
He Can't Play Center
This is without a doubt my biggest question mark for the team going forward. I'm not sure if it's the lack of options on the breakout, or if we are taking too ling to transition, or if we're missing the forward personnel to pull it off, or what, but this has to be our biggest problem.
If the opponent tries to clog the neutral zone, or simply lineup alongside the boards, we crumble and handover possession on our first or second pass.
2 Minute Minor
Hi Keeba!
The Kings demonstrated a nice blueprint for shutting down the Blues this week. Until the Blues are able to exploit the center of the ice better in transition and stop relying so much on overloading one side of the boards, I think other teams will be able to copy and find some success. I frankly don't know what Chicago's plan was.
I like the more aggressive offensive activation of the defense. And it really hasn't resulted in any more odd-man rushes against than what we saw last year with a more conservative approach.
Vladdy the Impaler
Moar Sobotka
I think he has made important adjustments with our offensive system, especially with accommodating more skilled players like Vladdy. But we still struggle against transition teams in the playoffs and I think that is inherently due to Hitch's system. We will see if the presence of the young guys changes anything. I hope Hitch continues to give them big roles so that they're ready come playoffs.
Halak Ness Monster
Registered User
He did a great job last year. We fell behind in the series 2-1 and he switched up a lot going into Game 4. We won 6-1.
We came out on fire in Game 5 at home and grabbed a 1-0 lead. Then Allen let in a weak goal and the team crumbled. They absolutely lost all confidence.
In Game 6, Allen let in more weak goals and the team crumbled yet again.
No fault of Hitch's in my opinion. This is just a mentally fragile team that felt the pressure of another quick playoff exit.
A coach can only do and say so much.
stl76
No. 5 in your programs, No. 1 in your hearts
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To be fair, last night Rattie was -3 in 7mins and Upshall was +2 in 17...obviously +/- doesn't tell the whole tale and I agree Upshall is at his best as somebody said playing 10-12 on a checking/energy line. However, you can't argue with results and last night I think it's pretty clear Hitch made the right call playing Upshall and sitting Rattie.
Also, I think it's unfair to not give Hitch any credit for Vavo and Schwartz's development. Players with drive and desire have had their development sabotaged many times due to poor managerial and coaching decisions. At worst Hitch didn't **** up too badly and at best he helped them a lot.
Rattie played the Seabrook goal as well as anyone else on the team would have. And the other goals were nowhere near Ratties doing.
stl76
No. 5 in your programs, No. 1 in your hearts
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Rattie did as good of a job covering Kane as is humanely possible on the the Seabrook goal, no doubt. If anyone, Brodziak/Butler misplayed that. I'll have to wait to rematch the other goals once the game is available on gamecenter because I don't recall Ratties involvement exactly on them.
However, I will say just because they other goals were not necessarily Ratties fault or due to a single mistake of his does not mean that his play (and others play around him influenced by his play) did not have an impact on why the other goals went in.
You tell me the last time a player with skill looked good playing with Ott and Brodziak as his line mates.. Hitchcock does a bad job of setting up rookies for success. Its the same issue we had Tuesday night, when he had Jaskin center Fabbri and Rattie. Everyone knew that wasn't going to work, but Hitch basically put all 3 of them in a recipe for disaster as it was.
EastonBlues22
Registered User
The Blues were at home with last change. Hitchcock decided that he would rather play them together in favorable sheltered situations, even if it meant fewer overall minutes. The majority of the rest of the minutes went to the guys he trusted more defensively.
On the road without that luxury, he mixed up the lines to spread the offensive talent and more trusted defenders out so that the other team had less extreme matchups to try to exploit.
It's not that uncommon as far as coaching strategies go. Younger players are rarely as polished defensively as seasoned pros who have managed to stick on NHL rosters for many years, even if the latter obviously less skilled.
Majorityof1
Registered User
I still stand by my avatar. Fire Hitch. He is a great regular season coach, but for reasons described, he is terrible in the post-season. As already stated, in the regular season teams play their system and don't deviate much. In the playoffs, they implement systems to counter the other team and make changes on the fly. Hitch gets outcoached badly. This is more so true now then ever before. The game has evolved and he hasn't evolved with it.
He has made some good adjustments to start the season. I, for the most part, are happy about them. Again as already stated, we will need to see how long they last. The more important thing for me is how long it took him to come up with them. This board was clamoring for changes all playoffs. For the most part, people agreed with several changes that needed to be done. They never got done. Then Hitch takes 2 weeks to watch film and think. He comes back after those two weeks with a plan that this board had come up with on the fly. That is not going to cut it. He needs to make changes on the fly, not after 2 weeks of film study. He can't. Therefore, we lose.
And as far as hating Mueller because he runs the powerplay, do you think Hitch has no say in the powerplay? Since the injuries, its starting to look a lot like it did before Mueller got here. Even if it is Muller's fault, as head coach, Hitch needs to step in and make adjustments or find someone better to run it.
He has made some good adjustments to start the season. I, for the most part, are happy about them. Again as already stated, we will need to see how long they last. The more important thing for me is how long it took him to come up with them. This board was clamoring for changes all playoffs. For the most part, people agreed with several changes that needed to be done. They never got done. Then Hitch takes 2 weeks to watch film and think. He comes back after those two weeks with a plan that this board had come up with on the fly. That is not going to cut it. He needs to make changes on the fly, not after 2 weeks of film study. He can't. Therefore, we lose.
And as far as hating Mueller because he runs the powerplay, do you think Hitch has no say in the powerplay? Since the injuries, its starting to look a lot like it did before Mueller got here. Even if it is Muller's fault, as head coach, Hitch needs to step in and make adjustments or find someone better to run it.
stl76
No. 5 in your programs, No. 1 in your hearts
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First you're complaining about rookies getting benched in favor of ineffective veterans, now you're complaining about Hitch rolling a line of 3 rookies? Look, I won't defend Hitch starting the kid line against LA other than to say it was an experiment that FAILED miserably haha. I think we can all (including Hitch) admit that in hind sight it was a terrible idea, and Hitch probably should have known better.
Hitch is far from perfect and doesn't always set up his young players for success, but can you admit that at least he tries and sometimes he succeeds? Last night Hitch did a pretty good job setting Fabbri up for success IMO.
trevorftw
Voice of Reason
I'd argue that he's done a very good job setting up parayko and edmundson for success. Fabbri, while sheltered, is also excelling in his role. Fabbri is getting the same treatment as Schwartz, and it's a pretty successful way of bringing up rookie forwards while remaining competitive as a team.
The Rattie V Hitch situation has a lot of parallels between Perron V Murray in terms of the outspoken fans on blues forums. IMO Rattie shouldn't be relied on in key situations.
trevorftw
Voice of Reason
I don't think a system change is wise in the middle of a playoff series. It takes time. The new system was developed over preseason.
Adjustments are another story completely. We saw Hitch try to change things up game to game last time around, but I tend to agree that he was outcoached at times against Yeo. The consensus following our elimination was that Hitch failed to make in-game adjustments, which I tend to agree with. I believe he's doing a very nice job of adjusting to adversity mid game in our small sample size this season.
Yes, prior seasons the blues won a lot of regular season games, but they tended to do it the same way every game. To my eyes, this looks like a more creative team so far. I hope that continues to develop. A good balance of creativity and structure can maybe get us over the hump.
