Management Dean Evason - Fired!

[AKL]

I think Bruno wins coach of the year this year but does Dean finish runner up??

Sutter should win that award by a very wide margin.

 

[TaLoN]

Props to the coaching staff, the team looked completely different tonight on both the pp and pk.
The blocked shots tonight, the clearing out of the rebounds, all made the team look so much better.

The offense had fewer shots, but they were much more dangerous shots tonight. Husso had to move tonight and just like Flower in game 1, he couldn't move enough to make the difference.

 

[Wabit]

Props to the coaching staff, the team looked completely different tonight on both the pp and pk.
The blocked shots tonight, the clearing out of the rebounds, all made the team look so much better.

The offense had fewer shots, but they were much more dangerous shots tonight. Husso had to move tonight and just like Flower in game 1, he couldn't move enough to make the difference.

G1 it was Kulikov/Merrill with the heaviest d-man usage and 9 FWDs. (some of this might have been score related?)
G2 they stuck with the top-4 d-men and 7 FWDs for the PK.

The PP had luck on their side tonight. It was aggressive at times, but still tries to be too pretty/perfect. I still think Spurgeon needs to be the halfwall and not running the point.

 

[TaLoN]

G1 it was Kulikov/Merrill with the heaviest d-man usage and 9 FWDs. (some of this might have been score related?)
G2 they stuck with the top-4 d-men and 7 FWDs for the PK.

The PP had luck on their side tonight. It was aggressive at times, but still tries to be too pretty/perfect. I still think Spurgeon needs to be the halfwall and not running the point.

Kulikov didn't play. You mean Goligoski.

 

[Digitalbooya]

Kulikov didn't play. You mean Goligoski.

Weirdly enough, I thought Goligoski was a nice stabilizing presence tonight.

 

[TaLoN]

Weirdly enough, I thought Goligoski was a nice stabilizing presence tonight.

He was mostly invisible, which isn't bad for a 3rd pair d-man. He did get that 2 minutes for being Goligoski penalty though, but he's Goligoski... only way he doesn't get that call is if the ref forgets he's on the ice.

 

[Wabit]

Kulikov didn't play. You mean Goligoski.

G1 and the Kulikov/Merrill pairing had a combined 9:53 in PK ToI. The top-4 d-men had a combined 8:30 (ish) ToI combined.

G2 the Goli/Merrill pair had a combined 17 secs of PK ToI. The top-4 d-men had a combined 17:30 (ish) ToI. (Dumba seemed to shake some of the rust off helps too)

Who would have thought playing your best d-men on the PK was important?

 

[BagHead]

Weirdly enough, I thought Goligoski was a nice stabilizing presence tonight.

Totally agree. A welcome change after Kulikov's Wild Adventure in game 1.

 

[BagHead]

Sutter should win that award by a very wide margin.

Kind of agree. Bruno would be a nice story, but Florida was just as good under Quenneville, which puts the doubt in my mind saying that "maybe it's the players making the coaches look good".

Of course, I have that same doubt for all of the coaches, so...

 

[TaLoN]

I hate this guy as coach so much...

 

[Wabit]

I hate this guy as coach so much...

I think he's a good "ra-ra type" bench coach as an offset to a serious head coach.

I don't think he's a good head coach. He's just not tactically strong enough to figure out what's wrong and make needed adjustments.

 

[16thOverallSaveUs]

Deano annoys me with his decisions too, but he just coached this team to a 113 point season. I assume he knows what he’s doing more than I.

 

[Wabit]

Deano annoys me with his decisions too, but he just coached this team to a 113 point season. I assume he knows what he’s doing more than I.

I take this season's point total with a big grain of salt. I think he's had the easiest time of any HC of the Wild. He has Kaprizov and he's heads above any other player to wear a Wild sweater. Without Kaprizov this team is still one of the better ones MN has put on the ice, but it would have been fighting with DAL, NASH, and VGK for a WC spot.

I'm sure he can do a better job as HC than I could too. I don't set myself as the bar for being a good NHL HC though.

 

[AKL]

Maybe he was telling on himself all those times he said the team takes over during intermission and they figure out what they have to do themselves.

 

[Wabit]

Maybe he was telling on himself all those times he said the team takes over during intermission and they figure out what they have to do themselves.

Knowing when to shut up is part of coaching/leadership/management too. Say a couple of words to steer the topic and then let the players take over from there. If they are doing/saying the correct things themselves, then he doesn't need to say much.

 

[Spurgeon]

He needs to make some type of adjustment. f***ing anything.

The 4th line is literally useless. Get Dewar or Bjugstad in there over DLo. What a stupid f***ing acquisition that was btw, completely ruined any semblance of a 4th line that could contribute offensively. Dewar has shown a ton of jump in every game hes played, it’s a shame he hasn’t gotten a shot. Bjugs looked decent right before the playoffs too.

Change up the Fiala line. Jost has shown he’s got offensive talents & Dean clearly thinks Fiala has some type of defensive ability if he plays him on the PK. Why not let Gaudreau take the defensive responsibilities of a high-energy 4th line instead?

I don’t think Fleury has been terrible, but he hasn’t really won us a game. His rebounds and flailing about don’t inspire any confidence either. Talbot should have gotten in there after that first Game 1 loss and they should’ve just kept their rotation. Now he’s probably rusty as hell & not as viable as a solution. Still would prefer he gets some type of shot to control the destiny of the team he was the starter of all year.

 

[Goose312]

0-6. 0-2 in the NHL, 0-4 in the AHL. He has never won a playoff series as a coach. Guerin has to start looking behind the benches.

 

[BagHead]

Deano annoys me with his decisions too, but he just coached this team to a 113 point season. I assume he knows what he’s doing more than I.

Sort of this. No head coach is ever without their warts, sometimes glaringly obvious ones that, for whatever reason, they can't fix themselves. Lemaire tinkered with the lines too much and didn't let chemistry bloom, Boudreau didn't do line matchups at all (and seemingly lost the room), and Evason doesn't make adjustments quickly enough (if at all).

Bottom line is that coaches are people, and have their flaws because of it.

To be clear here, I'm not trying to excuse Evason for his flaws, just to explain that every coach will have their own unique flaws, so I think we'll never really be satisfied if we're going to complain about a coach who just put up more than 50 wins in a season.

 

[57special]

Lemaire got us to the WC finals with a pitiful lineup of talent, was a legendary player, and near legendary coach. Putting him and Evason is the same breath is absurd.

You know, i don't think that Lemaire worried about offending his player. He put in who he thought would give him the best chance of winning.

Dumba and Foligno are probably great, friendly guys, and make everything happy in "the room". I really don't give a shit, at this point, because their play on the ice when it counts is ordinary at best. They are anything but leaders, except possibly when it comes to organizing parties and tee times.

 

[Wild11MN]

Lemaire got us to the WC finals with a pitiful lineup of talent, was a legendary player, and near legendary coach. Putting him and Evason is the same breath is absurd.

You know, i don't think that Lemaire worried about offending his player. He put in who he thought would give him the best chance of winning.

Dumba and Foligno are probably great, friendly guys, and make everything happy in "the room". I really don't give a shit, at this point, because their play on the ice when it counts is ordinary at best. They are anything but leaders, except possibly when it comes to organizing parties and tee times.

They're also probably both playing with somewhat significant injuries.

 

[57special]

They're also probably both playing with somewhat significant injuries.

Always the same story- you think we are the only team with injuries? Dumba has been a major disappointment since his pec injury, and his present shoulder injury is a result of him taking a needless run at an AHL player.

 

[Wild11MN]

Always the same story- you think we are the only team with injuries? Dumba has been a major disappointment since his pec injury, and his present shoulder injury is a result of him taking a needless run at an AHL player.

No, but the two guys you point to as "not stepping up in the playoffs" are injured. I agree with the rest of your comment.

 

[MNRube]

He’s been outclassed by Berube so far. For as excellent as Evason is at motivating the troops and getting the most out of players, he seems equally bad at the Xs & Os. We never make in game adjustments.

Case in point - why do we continue to dump the Puck in when Binnington is handling it like a boss? Why do our special teams continue to be brutal? Why does our 4th line contribute zero offense when Bjugstad & Dewar are there on the bench and capable of much more than DLo or Duhaime?

 

[BagHead]

Lemaire got us to the WC finals with a pitiful lineup of talent, was a legendary player, and near legendary coach. Putting him and Evason is the same breath is absurd.

You know, i don't think that Lemaire worried about offending his player. He put in who he thought would give him the best chance of winning.

Dumba and Foligno are probably great, friendly guys, and make everything happy in "the room". I really don't give a shit, at this point, because their play on the ice when it counts is ordinary at best. They are anything but leaders, except possibly when it comes to organizing parties and tee times.

Not sure what Dumba and Foligno have to do with the coach. Evason gets into the same breath as Lemaire because they've both been head coaches of the Wild with winning records, and not a reason other. Still, people found something to complain about with Lemaire. That's the point.

But if we want to talk about these players, Foligno has 2 points and 21 hits in 5 games. That's exactly the stat line I'd expect him to have.

Dumba hasn't been the offensive player he was before his pec injury, true. That was a long time ago, in hockey time, so I'm not sure we can act surprised by this. He's still a pretty good defenseman, though. He's playing a lot better than Kulikov would be in his position.

If we want to point out players in this thread, Fiala and Fleury are the first place to look, with Boldy not being far behind (but getting a little bit of a pass because he's a rookie). Those are the guys I expect to produce because they have the skill to do so.

 

[DeagleJenkins]

He’s been outclassed by Berube so far. For as excellent as Evason is at motivating the troops and getting the most out of players, he seems equally bad at the Xs & Os. We never make in game adjustments.

Case in point - why do we continue to dump the Puck in when Binnington is handling it like a boss? Why do our special teams continue to be brutal? Why does our 4th line contribute zero offense when Bjugstad & Dewar are there on the bench and capable of much more than DLo or Duhaime?

the one in game adjustment they did make was dumping it in higher to prevent Binnington from playing it. seemed to work a bit but i agree he is not making much if any adjustments and his lineup is questionable along with its deployment. i am all for having 4 quality lines rolling but in a 2-2 game you dont trot the 4th line out there often if at all. kap should be on the ice every other 30-45 seconds when he is your only electric player and clearly was going last night.