General coaching talk thread

[Chainshot]

I still subscribe to the old coaching book titled Practice Perfect.

You don't accept sloppy practice habits. they become sloppy game habits.

Practice like you play, play like you practice is an old adage that fits here.

 

[Ace]

The Sixth longest tenured coach in the league after allowing six straight goals to lose 8-3

 

[sabremike]

The Sixth longest tenured coach in the league after allowing six straight goals to lose 8-3

That might be the most tone deaf thing I have ever heard a coach say. They got murdered and outright quit in as embarrassing a manner as you will ever see, there was nothing good about last night.

 

[Chainshot]

The year Dahlin came into the league I saw a team with far worse talent that was everything you just described and then some and who lost their best player for nothing finish 5th best in the league that season. We don't even need Trotz level coaching, just getting an average solid pro instead of the worst coach in the league would make so much difference.

Housley remains the most unprepared coach I've ever seen them employ.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

In my experience coaching and playing sports, tempo in practice has never affected how teams start games.

It does affect how players play in general and how they finish games. But, getting off to strong starts is 90% mentality and focus from the jump and not related at all to tempo in practice.

You might be right, but it seems that either way you look at it, the coaching staff is failing at having the team ready at puck drop. Some of that does fall on the players (either poor mentality or inexperience...both).

 

[Chainshot]

You might be right, but it seems that either way you look at it, the coaching staff is failing at having the team ready at puck drop. Some of that does fall on the players (either poor mentality or inexperience...both).

The players are more responsible for not being ready to play than the coaches. The powerplay, the lack of details, the lack of defensive commitment... I will put that on this group of coaches though.

 

[Jim Bob]

You might be right, but it seems that either way you look at it, the coaching staff is failing at having the team ready at puck drop. Some of that does fall on the players (either poor mentality or inexperience...both).

The coaching staff absolutely did not do a good enough job this season.

I just think that some of the arguments that people are making based off of the comments by Mitts & Okie post-TDL are not the best arguments to make against the coaching staff.

The piss poor PP and the regression of most of the top producers from last year are the two best arguments against the current coaching staff.

Granato's practices are great for player development. That phase of this current build should have ended last season. Neither Granato, his staff, nor Adams shifted their approach after last season when they should have been moving to a different stage in the build. They neither evolved the roster nor their practice structure. And the results did not take the next step as a result.

Small Area Games work. (At least at the levels I've coached.)

But they have to have a purpose and replicate real game conditions. (Close in work on the boards, rapid transitions.)

Despite what USA Hockey says, you don't employ them mainly for fun or to keep players from being bored and inactive standing around in line drills.

Every NHL team uses small area games in practices. But, from everything that I have read about how Granato designs practices, he uses them more than other NHL coaches. I think that is OK if you are trying to develop players. I do not believe that it is the best approach when you are trying to win now.

 

[Jim Bob]

I still subscribe to the old coaching book titled Practice Perfect.

You don't accept sloppy practice habits. they become sloppy game habits.

The high tempo to low tempo spectrum is different than the sharp to sloppy spectrum for me.

You can have sloppy, high tempo practices and sharp, low tempo practices. Ideally, you have sharp, high tempo practices that try and replicate game pace when you have the recovery time to have the players recovered from the previous game and enough time to recover before the next game.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

The high tempo to low tempo spectrum is different than the sharp to sloppy spectrum for me.

You can have sloppy, high tempo practices and sharp, low tempo practices. Ideally, you have sharp, high tempo practices that try and replicate game pace when you have the recovery time to have the players recovered from the previous game and enough time to recover before the next game.

Practice Perfect mean getting it right in practice at game speed.

The coaching staff absolutely did not do a good enough job this season.

I just think that some of the arguments that people are making based off of the comments by Mitts & Okie post-TDL are not the best arguments to make against the coaching staff.

The piss poor PP and the regression of most of the top producers from last year are the two best arguments against the current coaching staff.

Granato's practices are great for player development. That phase of this current build should have ended last season. Neither Granato, his staff, nor Adams shifted their approach after last season when they should have been moving to a different stage in the build. They neither evolved the roster nor their practice structure. And the results did not take the next step as a result.


Every NHL team uses small area games in practices. But, from everything that I have read about how Granato designs practices, he uses them more than other NHL coaches. I think that is OK if you are trying to develop players. I do not believe that it is the best approach when you are trying to win now.

You've hit the nail on the head. Donny thinks he's developing. The fans want wins.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Hockey knowledgable fans here are currently gushing over Mitts.

Bednar centered Mitts between BOTH Nichkuskin & Rantanen and Lekoenen & Drouin tonight. And Mitts excelled in both instances.

 

[toddkaz]

Not blaming him for the poorly ran practices, but each and every player is responsible for the effort they put on the ice. If they are requiring the coaches to "motivate them" to practice or play harder, then I think they have the wrong attribute that I want in a Sabres player. The primary person responsible for pushing the players, are themselves.

I will say, my take may have come across harshly against Mittelstadt, but when we have seen games where the players have coasted, or not played hard, or did things on the ice where you question if they quit or done enough, and then one of those players says they never sweated that much in a morning practice, something that THEY can control themselves, it's just something I to commented on.

This isn't to waive any responsibility of the organization as it seems very obvious that they just aren't good enough of an organization in everything they do.

Is this also Mittelstadt's fault for going so slow in practice? He just should have went faster regardless in which the speed of the drills are being held.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

It was drilled into my head coaching seminar after coaching seminar that you play like you practice. There are no excuses.

Maybe that's part of the reason why my former Association has such a positive national reputation (we are both envied and hated) and has brought home numerous USAHockey Tier II Championships and a bevy of NHL players....

The Sabres aren't clueless. They are simply denying the obvious and trying to deflect it. What a bunch of pathetic losers this organization has turned into.

 

[sabremike]

Those Flyers players must be so miserable playing for that mean old dinosaur Torts and headed to the playoffs against all odds. Bet they wished they played for Donny where they get milk and cookies after their neverending losses and failure.

 

[itwasaforwardpass]

If KA doesn't fire Granato this offseason, then he (KA) will be looking for a new job in 2025. He must know this.

Actually I think Adams knows that is not the case, which is part of the problem. He is safe.

I think Pegula feels he has been burned in the past (largely due to his own decisions) with trusting the wrong people in hiring past GMs and coaches. In Adams and Granato, he has found people he trusts and will keep him involved. Whether "trust" means some level of yes man and exactly how involved Pegula is, is up for debate.

The past two regimes were fired due to personality clashes or unwillingness to make cost cutting moves on the staff. Never was the main reason about performance or winning.

 

[Ace]

Just think…if Adams hadn’t extended him early….his whole thing would have just taken care of itself. Instead we are going to be stuck because of owner cheapness. And people will still try to argue that it isn’t about f***ing money. No one whose opinion should be respected, mind you. But people. I’d love to hear them explain away keeping this coach as anything other than a financial decision. It will be hilarious.

 

[Tatanka]

I still subscribe to the old coaching book titled Practice Perfect.

You don't accept sloppy practice habits. they become sloppy game habits.

Practice does not make perfect it makes permanent so practice perfectly. It is really hard to change ingrained habits. See Thompson Tage

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Practice does not make perfect it makes permanent so practice perfectly. It is really hard to change ingrained habits. See Thompson Tage

If you don't play the way I want you to play, I nail your ass to the bench and the Press Box. And send you elsewhere.

Instead, Buffalo gives him a fat new contract.

 

[Chainshot]

I don't know if it's Dylan Hunter's unit, Rick Steadman's unit, or some combo of the two under Dale as HC... but it's not like it's ALL about purchased talent.

 

[toddkaz]

 

[TheMistyStranger]

I think what frustrates me about this season is that it feels like a big step backwards. If we were Caps fans, we'd expect that because older team blah blah blah. But this is the youngest team in the league, who at least on paper became stronger in the off-season, and yet here we are, toiling. Clearly there needs to be a major shakeup, and the coach is the easiest shakeup to make.

 

[Dirty Dog]

He’s just lost control of the team. Progression has stopped.

 

[Snippit]

We wasted this season when it was still salvageable by not firing the coach at Game 20. If he’s here in the fall (and it seems he will) it just really, really sucks.

 

[kirby11]

All we hear about from Granato and by extension the players is that "they're learning" and "they're young."

1st point: They're clearly not learning if they're continuing to screw up in the same ways over and over.

2nd point: Sure, they're a young team...but most of them have also played a ****ing shitload of NHL hockey to this point.

Cozens-270ish GP
Thompson-363 GP
Dahlin-427 GP
Joker-338 GP
Greenway-394 GP

It's not like it's all dudes in year 2 or 3 of being in the league. They are committed, almost to a man, to a juvenile, immature, lackadaisical, lazy brand of hockey. And the coaching staff, IMO, both approved it at first (at least tacitly) and has since failed, at every turn, to get them to embrace a more complete game. Factor in how Byram has regressed in a hurry, and it's clear that Donny and co. are in over their heads, even though the organizational rot starts with Pegula.

Also, whoever the next HC is, please toss every other coach in the organization out on their ass and get actual qualified assistants with legit NHL credentials (if T-Pegs allows the needed money to be spent, and if such coaches would actually come here). I remember McD bringing in Frazier and Dennison since they'd both been around the block and Frazier specifically had HC experience with a defensive background for McDermott to draw on when he was starting in the head gig. Meanwhile, in Sabreland, we have Matt Ellis being called a wizard post-game for drawing up a ****ing give and go, and a batch of defensemen who seem unaware that they can use their bodies to initiate physical contact with people in front of their own net.

 

[kirby11]

I think what frustrates me about this season is that it feels like a big step backwards. If we were Caps fans, we'd expect that because older team blah blah blah. But this is the youngest team in the league, who at least on paper became stronger in the off-season, and yet here we are, toiling. Clearly there needs to be a major shakeup, and the coach is the easiest shakeup to make.

Adams just blithely/naively assuming that everyone in the top 6 would repeat career years, no one would get injured, Levi would be an effective NHL starter from day 1, and VO would be a passable long-term Quinn replacement on line 2 still pisses me off. He didn't have that many holes to fill, and yet, he still went with the Botterill plan of sitting on his hands and doing nothing.

 

[Ace]

It is impossible to look at a team with less talent being closer to where you tried to be and not see a giant difference is right here in this statement.