If Ovechkin loses in the cup final against Vegas .... man that is not a good look for the league. I really ****ing hate this Vegas team. I have a new hated rival.
I changed my vote so you and John C Reilly can take a chill pill now.
I changed my vote so you and John C Reilly can take a chill pill now.
Gallant didn’t have this much success in Florida. He’s got a better roster in Vegas. I don’t think you can call them “mostly average”.Vegas. I am not an Ovie fan. Also, I think that a great coach can accomplish truly great things with a team made up of mostly average players. Vegas has already proven that, but it would put a few more exclamation marks on it.
btw - cheering is probably the wrong word for my. I don't care much who wins, just the better of two bad options for me, for the reasons that I described above.
Gallant didn’t have this much success in Florida. He’s got a better roster in Vegas. I don’t think you can call them “mostly average”.
Gallant didn’t have this much success in Florida. He’s got a better roster in Vegas. I don’t think you can call them “mostly average”.
He was pretty meh in Columbus, certainly nothing to write home about. Regardless, I think it's pretty crazy to take anything away from what Gallant has accomplished this season as a coach. Just in the same way it's crazy to take anything away from Maurice.
Both of them have had great seasons. Does that make them great coaches? Probably not, too much gets made of coaching greatness imo. Coaching in general is a fools game.
Top 4 teams in the NHL failed to reach the final.
Coaching, I guess.
Only 1 of those teams beat the best team in the league and only one lost to the 7th place team. Of the top 4 teams, only Boston lost to a higher ranked team.Only 1 of those 4 was beaten by Vegas.
Only 1 of those teams beat the best team in the league and only one lost to the 7th place team. Of the top 4 teams, only Boston lost to a higher ranked team.
What's your point?
Pretty convenient logic really. Doesn't hold much water.You made the point that coaching was the reason that the top 4 teams in the NHL didn't make the cup final. I was pointing out that only 1 of those 4 teams was knocked out by Vegas, the expansion team.
2 of the 4 top teams were knocked out by 2 of the top 4 teams. That portion of the post season was pretty normal, so probably not a coaching issue there.
I'm bull headed and a bit ignorant so I am still hoping for the Jets...Poll on which team you want to win the cup
Maurice only had a .695 winning percentage this year.Pretty convenient logic really. Doesn't hold much water.
True, just by the nature of the fact that Florida didn't make a deep playoff run but he had a lot of success there.
Some Vegas players were above average (MAF, March, Neal). Some were considered replacement level. The hockey pundits sure considered the lineup to be average. Even almost up until the Christmas break most were calling for them to fall out of contention. I don't recall them being even considered a playoff team at the start of the year. That was based upon roster evaluation - that's all people had to go on. So if they weren't even a playoff team, I think that makes them actually below average based upon roster evaluation. Of course, after this year some of them will be considered stars.
Re Florida, Gallant gets hired and takes a team that had 66 points the previous year and then turns them into a 91 point team. The next year, he is a Jack Adams finalist coaching the team to a 103 point year. In Tom Rowe powerplay, Gallant is ousted from Florida early in the season. Remember when he was fired and had a cab waiting for him - shameful Florida Panthers management to do that to anyone. Anyway, the team sucks under Rowe as coach. Rowe is fired the following season. Gallant gets hired by Vegas and takes a team that almost everyone in hockey said did not have the talent to compete at a high level (these are the people that know hockey / the pros / the guys that are paid to hockey analyse everyday). Even when Vegas was competitive, they were saying that it wouldn't last. They started to turn in December. Now Gallant and Vegas is at the All Star Game, winning the standings in the West, beating LA, San Jose and now Winnipeg to reach the Stanley Cup Final.
So what do we have here: 25 point improvement in first year with Panthers. Jack Adams finalist his second year with the Panthers, taking team to 1st in Atlantic. All Star Game coach first year back coaching. Takes expansion team to first place in the West in expansion team's first year. Against what all hockey analysts said would / could / should happen. Yeah, I think he deserves some credit as a good coach.
2 of the 4 top teams were knocked out by 2 of the top 4 teams. That portion of the post season was pretty normal, so probably not a coaching issue there.