Marlies GDT: Marlies vs. Checkers Series Talk | Checkers win 4 - 2 | Next game 2019-2020 Season

[RoadWarrior]

I agree all he has done is win a Calder Cup, graduated a host of players and got to two semi finals! What a disgrace! # Fire Keefe

I never suggested he should be fired but like Babcock against the Bruins he was outcoached in the series. Trying to pretend it doesn't matter is a mistake.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.

Smart coach's learn from mistakes and get better.

If keefe were eliminated the same way again next year then I'd have serious concerns over his abilities.

 

[Kazparov]

I never suggested he should be fired but like Babcock against the Bruins he was outcoached in the series. Trying to pretend it doesn't matter is a mistake.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.

Smart coach's learn from mistakes and get better.

If keefe were eliminated the same way again next year then I'd have serious concerns over his abilities.

You don't judge an AHL coach on winning AHL championships but on developing players to play in the NHL. Calder Cup's are a bonus.

In my view Keefe has done an outstanding job.

 

[RoadWarrior]

You don't judge an AHL coach on winning AHL championships but on developing players to play in the NHL. Calder Cup's are a bonus.

In my view Keefe has done an outstanding job.

He's done a great job developing players in the minors but that doesn't make him ready to coach a contending team in the NHL.

 

[Kazparov]

He's done a great job developing players in the minors but that doesn't make him ready to coach a contending team in the NHL.

Yeah that's fine. I was just disagreeing with the poster who said he would fire him after the special teams let them down this year

 

[SprDaVE]

I never suggested he should be fired but like Babcock against the Bruins he was outcoached in the series. Trying to pretend it doesn't matter is a mistake.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.

Smart coach's learn from mistakes and get better.

If keefe were eliminated the same way again next year then I'd have serious concerns over his abilities.

What has he not learned from this? I think this was just a matter of running into a better team. It happens. This Marlies team went undefeated in the first 2 series where we had everything going.

It's pretty bizarre criticizing the coach here on the outcome of the series. Are you blaming coaches every time a team loses in the playoffs and completely ignore what has happened in the past year or 2? I don't understand what kind of coaching mistakes he did in this series. Charlotte basically had the Marlies team we had last year, which was quite a few blue chippers in their lineup.

 

[RoadWarrior]

Yeah that's fine. I was just disagreeing with the poster who said he would fire him after the special teams let them down this year

I never suggested he should be fired. Just that he needs to learn from his mistakes on the powerplay.

Fake news.

 

[RoadWarrior]

What has he not learned from this? I think this was just a matter of running into a better team. It happens. This Marlies team went undefeated in the first 2 series where we had everything going.

It's pretty bizarre criticizing the coach here on the outcome of the series. Are you blaming coaches every time a team loses in the playoffs and completely ignore what has happened in the past year or 2? I don't understand what kind of coaching mistakes he did in this series. Charlotte basically had the Marlies team we had last year, which was quite a few blue chippers in their lineup.

Except that the Marlies were the better team at even strength. In game 6 they drove puck possession and badly outshot the checkers.

The difference in most of the games was special teams.

 

[SprDaVE]

Except that the Marlies were the better team at even strength. In game 6 they drove puck possession and badly outshot the checkers.

The difference in most of the games was special teams.

Yes. I don't think this is an issue with the coach, more like a mix of bad luck, Charlotte having a great goaltender and good players to kill those penalties.

I'm not saying it's not disappointing and the Marlies had plenty of chances to put that game away but... I really don't understand how you can blame the head coach when you said it yourself they outplayed the other team on even strength.

The Marlies had a 25% power play. It just went cold in the worst possible game.

 

[RoadWarrior]

Yes. I don't think this is an issue with the coach, more like a mix of bad luck, Charlotte having a great goaltender and good players to kill those penalties.

I'm not saying it's not disappointing and the Marlies had plenty of chances to put that game away but... I really don't understand how you can blame the head coach when you said it yourself they outplayed the other team on even strength.

The Marlies had a 25% power play. It just went cold in the worst possible game.

The PP went cold for a reason. Charlotte began to smother Bracco and attack the forward at the point.

However that left 3 other players wide open yet somehow the Marlies failed to get them the puck consistently.

It shouldn't have been difficult for Keefe to make those adjustments.

Obviously the checkers deserve credit for their PK success but the failure to adapt is on Keefe.

 

[SprDaVE]

The PP went cold for a reason. Charlotte began to smother Bracco and attack the forward at the point.

However that left 3 other players wide open yet somehow the Marlies failed to get them the puck consistently.

It shouldn't have been difficult for Keefe to make those adjustments.

Obviously the checkers deserve credit for their success but the failure to adapt is on Keefe.

I think there's a lot more that went wrong in that game/series other than "failure to adapt", which is always said when a team losses in the playoffs anyway. Find me a team that lost in the playoffs and I'm sure there was "failure to adapt" in that.

Either way, I think you're being overly critical and ignoring a lot of the success he's has this season. Another cup final would have been great but the ability to make the conference finals again and a bunch of consistent results since Keefe has taken over the coaching duties speaks quite a bit to his abilities. He's been able to muster a lot of contributions from a ton of different players in the past couple years.

It's disappointing they lost a game they should have won.

 

[ULF_55]

I think there's a lot more that went wrong in that game/series other than "failure to adapt", which is always said when a team losses in the playoffs anyway. Find me a team that lost in the playoffs and I'm sure there was "failure to adapt" in that.

Either way, I think you're being overly critical and ignoring a lot of the success he's has this season. Another cup final would have been great but the ability to make the conference finals again and a bunch of consistent results since Keefe has taken over the coaching duties speaks quite a bit to his abilities. He's been able to muster a lot of contributions from a ton of different players in the past couple years.

It's disappointing they lost a game they should have won.

Didn't they have quite a bit of turnover this year?

I was surprised they made it this far.

 

[SprDaVE]

Didn't they have quite a bit of turnover this year?

I was surprised they made it this far.

I didn't even think they'd make the playoffs with how terrible their goaltending was in the first 2-3 months of the season.

 

[Go4soda]

Curious? What made you think that?

Just seemed very reflective. And finished by saying it has been a pleasure coaching this team.

 

[Leaf Fans]

Just seemed very reflective. And finished by saying it has been a pleasure coaching this team.

Hmm. I had just assume he meant that group as players would graduate to the NHL, but now that you mention it, it is completely plausable.

 

[Go4soda]

Hmm. I had just assume he meant that group as players would graduate to the NHL, but now that you mention it, it is completely plausable.

I also considered that. Depends how you read it. Who knows. Hope he’s back next year.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

This was a very close and well played series with 2 very good teams. The only coaching move which I would have done differently is going with Hutch in game 5. Now I am biased as a jaded Jets fan too. But his effort in game 5 was absolutely brutal. 3 of those goals were house league level tending. The only good news from it was Babs saw it live so I would expect Hutch to get the thanks but no thanks letter from Dubie. Now we need to really search hard for a NHL backup at minimum NHL AAV CAP hit to compete for a spot in camp.

Also Sandin was a big disappointment to me in the Checkers series. Now I know he is so young but based on what I saw in Amerks and Monsters series I was expecting so much more. He seems to have real issues going up against a very fast team. He had no issues with size and power of Amerks and Monsters but his passes were getting constantly intercepted against the Checkers.

By contrast Lilly was the exact opposite. He was thrown off by the bigger hitting and more powerful Amerks and Monsters but he thrived against Checkers.

Both these guys need another year of development. We could wreck these gems if we move them up to Leafs next year. Bad move to make Dubie. I told Ronny to pass the message to you. We need you to get us at least one younger more experienced guy on the right side on the cheap next year. My suggestion is Rollie. He is a local kid with good Marlie roots and well trained in defense. Go getter done.

 

[hullsy47]

This was a very close and well played series with 2 very good teams. The only coaching move which I would have done differently is going with Hutch in game 5. Now I am biased as a jaded Jets fan too. But his effort in game 5 was absolutely brutal. 3 of those goals were house league level tending. The only good news from it was Babs saw it live so I would expect Hutch to get the thanks but no thanks letter from Dubie. Now we need to really search hard for a NHL backup at minimum NHL AAV CAP hit to compete for a spot in camp.

Also Sandin was a big disappointment to me in the Checkers series. Now I know he is so young but based on what I saw in Amerks and Monsters series I was expecting so much more. He seems to have real issues going up against a very fast team. He had no issues with size and power of Amerks and Monsters but his passes were getting constantly intercepted against the Checkers.

By contrast Lilly was the exact opposite. He was thrown off by the bigger hitting and more powerful Amerks and Monsters but he thrived against Checkers.

Both these guys need another year of development. We could wreck these gems if we move them up to Leafs next year. Bad move to make Dubie. I told Ronny to pass the message to you. We need you to get us at least one younger more experienced guy on the right side on the cheap next year. My suggestion is Rollie. He is a local kid with good Marlie roots and well trained in defense. Go getter done.

it comes down to goaltending
checkers goalie stopped 10 more pucks a game
next year two technically young goalies come into play

 

[aingefan]

The Marlies still had a great season. They made it this far when it wasn't certain they would make the playoffs. When you consider the regular season struggles, getting to the conference finals is pretty good.
The biggest thing that might have came out from the 2nd half and the post season is the play of Lilly.

If the leafs made it to the conference final it would be a national news miracle and leaf nation would be doing cartwheels .

 

[Sypher04]

The Checkers were better all year long than us and we lost in what 2nd OT of game 6? absolutely no shame in that. Losing this series is definitely not worth an overreaction.

 

[Knies iT]

Didn't they have quite a bit of turnover this year?

I was surprised they made it this far.

From the lat playoffs, the Marlies lost their #1D (Dermott), #1 forward (Johnsson), #2 forward (Moore; for a big chunk of the year), and #1 goalie (Sparks).

For the first few months of the season, the Marlies lost handfuls of games due to Kaskisuo and McAdam single handedly costing them wins. People love to hate Sparks, but he was the AHL's Bobrovsky equivalent and was on a different planet than Kaskisuo - undoubtedly the best goalie in the league.

Very surprising they were able to make it this far with so many graduated key players and a roster dominated by previous depth role players (e.g. Marchmant, Brooks, Timashov, Engvall, Bracco, etc.). This was a successful season no matter how you spin it, but the very thing that carried the Marlies through the playoffs (deadly PP) completely fell apart in the conference finals and it cost them.

 

[biotk]

Except that the Marlies were the better team at even strength. In game 6 they drove puck possession and badly outshot the checkers.

The difference in most of the games was special teams.

I think that during the series the Marlies were outscored 15 - 10 at ES. Part of the possession differential is that the Marlies were behind a lot. The PP was obviously not great (I think that the Marlies scored 4 PP goals, while allowing 4 SH goals against in 28 PP opportunities), but Charlotte actually had a much harder time scoring on the PP than the Marlies did (they only scored twice on the PP during the series in 17 or 18 opportunities).

 

[4thline]

Both these guys need another year of development. We could wreck these gems if we move them up to Leafs next year. Bad move to make Dubie. I told Ronny to pass the message to you. We need you to get us at least one younger more experienced guy on the right side on the cheap next year. My suggestion is Rollie. He is a local kid with good Marlie roots and well trained in defense. Go getter done.

Roland McKeown?

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Roland McKeown?

yes Rollie

 

[Joey Hoser]

I never suggested he should be fired but like Babcock against the Bruins he was outcoached in the series. Trying to pretend it doesn't matter is a mistake.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.

Smart coach's learn from mistakes and get better.

If keefe were eliminated the same way again next year then I'd have serious concerns over his abilities.

So they have to a make the finals or Keefe is a bad coach who doesn't learn from his mistakes then?

He took a team that didn't look good at the beginning of the year, without any real high end prospects or much veteran leadership, got them playing like a top team by the end of the year and went to the conference finals.

(Sandin and Liljegren may be high end prospects, but both are sort of "underage" at the AHL level)

I didn't watch every game of the last series, so maybe he blew some situations, I don't know, but the big picture looks pretty good for him.

 

[RoadWarrior]

So they have to a make the finals or Keefe is a bad coach who doesn't learn from his mistakes then?

He took a team that didn't look good at the beginning of the year, without any real high end prospects or much veteran leadership, got them playing like a top team by the end of the year and went to the conference finals.

(Sandin and Liljegren may be high end prospects, but both are sort of "underage" at the AHL level)

I didn't watch every game of the last series, so maybe he blew some situations, I don't know, but the big picture looks pretty good for him.

The team was losing at the beginning of the year because the goaltending was horrendous. The Marlies were never a bad team this season.