New Head Coach search

[NjDevsRR]

The Green hysteria on here has been weird for the last month. There was a 0.000000001% chance he was returning to NJ

 

[Saugus]

I'm quite confident we would have made the playoffs if we simply hadn't fried Ruff. Sorry about that for you guys...

I'm not convinced we would have gotten there if Ruff had stayed. But we definitely agree that Green ain't it.

 

[Cheddabombs]

Sens looking for a goalie coach too by chance?

 

[My3Sons]

The Green hysteria on here has been weird for the last month. There was a 0.000000001% chance he was returning to NJ

@Bleedred is going to be crushed that NJ did not retain Green. He's fast running out of players and coaches to call "shitbag".

 

[Devils731]

I'm not convinced we would have gotten there if Ruff had stayed. But we definitely agree that Green ain't it.

The question is, what did Ottawa see that looked good? Its possible Fitz felt he saw the same thing even though most of us fans don’t see it.

I won’t feel 100% safe until Green sign somewhere else or the Devils sign someone else but I didn’t think Green was coming back from the start.

 

[1specter]

You guys might not want to hear this, but Keefe would actually be a solid hire. He got put into a strange toxic situation in Toronto where the inmates ran the asylum and I think he was too soft on guys in his earlier years (probably cause of Dubas, e.g walking back comments on Marner), but this season he did an admirable job through some adversity and seemed to push some different buttons with the team and had more of a 'take no prisoners' approach. Unfortunately he struggled again to get offense out of the team in playoffs and the PP was bad again, but he did a good job in changing their style of play to more of a heavy forecheck.

I think he's learned a lot in his time here and it's time for him to go and get a fresh start, and I think he would do excellent with the talent in New Jersey tbh.

 

[Stephen Gionta]

I think Keefe would be a great hire by the Devils.

Would still prefer Sullivan, Berube, or Quenneville though.

 

[tailfins]

The question is, what did Ottawa see that looked good? Its possible Fitz felt he saw the same thing even though most of us fans don’t see it.

I won’t feel 100% safe until Green sign somewhere else or the Devils sign someone else but I didn’t think Green was coming back from the start.

So much of this goes to trust between the GM and coach. Looks like Green and Staios didn't play together, but perhaps they clicked on the interview?

IMO, partial season results are hard to judge a coach on.

All of this said, I REALLY hope Toronto steps in front of that Berube bullet for us. Personally, I'd rather have Green.

 

[Better Call Sal]

You guys might not want to hear this, but Keefe would actually be a solid hire. He got put into a strange toxic situation in Toronto where the inmates ran the asylum and I think he was too soft on guys in his earlier years (probably cause of Dubas, e.g walking back comments on Marner), but this season he did an admirable job through some adversity and seemed to push some different buttons with the team and had more of a 'take no prisoners' approach. Unfortunately he struggled again to get offense out of the team in playoffs and the PP was bad again, but he did a good job in changing their style of play to more of a heavy forecheck.

I think he's learned a lot in his time here and it's time for him to go and get a fresh start, and I think he would do excellent with the talent in New Jersey tbh.

From everything I've gathered, and maybe it was just because the inmates were already running the asylum, the team was notoriously unprepared for starts of games and Keefe always kind of never had an answer for it when addressed to the media. Do you agree this was a problem?

If so, it leaves me wary on him because we dealt with this exact issue with Lindy. But sometimes, a new scenario can work. It depends on how much Keefe has taken from the Toronto job and what he believes he can change with his next position wherever it ends up being.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

thank Christ

 

[Guadana]

You guys might not want to hear this, but Keefe would actually be a solid hire. He got put into a strange toxic situation in Toronto where the inmates ran the asylum and I think he was too soft on guys in his earlier years (probably cause of Dubas, e.g walking back comments on Marner), but this season he did an admirable job through some adversity and seemed to push some different buttons with the team and had more of a 'take no prisoners' approach. Unfortunately he struggled again to get offense out of the team in playoffs and the PP was bad again, but he did a good job in changing their style of play to more of a heavy forecheck.

I think he's learned a lot in his time here and it's time for him to go and get a fresh start, and I think he would do excellent with the talent in New Jersey tbh.

There are fans who thinks that Keefe is solid. At least me. He isn't my perfect candidate, not even in my "very good tier", but i will not be unhappy with his hire. I like what he did with half of salary for 4 players. And I think those players are doing the best they can give in this circumstances.

 

[TrufleShufle]

The Green hysteria on here has been weird for the last month. There was a 0.000000001% chance he was returning to NJ

The chances of being in a plane crash are slim, but I'm still relieved when it lands.

 

[ChicksDigTheTrap]

You guys might not want to hear this, but Keefe would actually be a solid hire. He got put into a strange toxic situation in Toronto where the inmates ran the asylum and I think he was too soft on guys in his earlier years (probably cause of Dubas, e.g walking back comments on Marner), but this season he did an admirable job through some adversity and seemed to push some different buttons with the team and had more of a 'take no prisoners' approach. Unfortunately he struggled again to get offense out of the team in playoffs and the PP was bad again, but he did a good job in changing their style of play to more of a heavy forecheck.

I think he's learned a lot in his time here and it's time for him to go and get a fresh start, and I think he would do excellent with the talent in New Jersey tbh.

As a side note, he would love the lack of media he would have to deal with here. An after game presser for NJs HC mostly consists of questions from people from the Devils Media/Marketing departments. Quite a bit different than Toronto.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Further confirmation

 

[Cheddabombs]

Further confirmation

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

I'll believe when he's behind the Senators bench game 1 of the regular season

 

[NJersey]

Thank f***ing god

 

[Devils731]

Fitz is so good at hiring coaches that his last 2 head coaches were the first picked from the job market this year.

 

[JK3]

Someone put up the Bleed signal!

 

[1specter]

From everything I've gathered, and maybe it was just because the inmates were already running the asylum, the team was notoriously unprepared for starts of games and Keefe always kind of never had an answer for it when addressed to the media. Do you agree this was a problem?

If so, it leaves me wary on him because we dealt with this exact issue with Lindy. But sometimes, a new scenario can work. It depends on how much Keefe has taken from the Toronto job and what he believes he can change with his next position wherever it ends up being.

That was more of an issue in his earlier seasons, the Leafs actually were actually a fairly strong first period team this year, being one of the top teams in first period goal differential. They also showed some resilience in coming back from many deficits this year and having to deal with lots of injuries and crap goaltending for the first half of the season while also icing their weakest D group in probably 3-4 years.

Keefe has a good base as far as creating an uncomplicated structure for his teams to follow and emphasizing a heavy possession style that forces players to play defensively responsible and support in numbers. This worked well for the team, but often the players failed to adapt to the tighter checking in the playoffs as the opponents would just collapse in the slot and push the Leafs to the perimeter; some of that is on Keefe, but a lot of it is also on the players and not stepping up to play in the dirty areas more or force their chances. Marner in particular is the worst offender of this, you won't see him go between the circles.

I think the culture was already poisoned a bit with immaturity and the young talent being handed money and keys to the city a little too early, which then snowballed with an inexperienced young GM like Dubas who didn't have the stones to lay down the gauntlet when he needed to. This impacted Keefe as well and how much the team really listened or adapted, he wasn't really allowed to be a hardass and walked back critiques of the core on a few occasions - he finally got the team to play a different way these playoffs that was more conducive to winning in tighter-checking scenarios, but it was too little too late. Part of that is also on Dubas previously for not providing him with the right resources for how they needed to play, Treliving finally brought in some muscle this season, but the defense and goaltending was not good enough overall. Keefe also has struggled in the playoffs with getting too caught up line matching battles and not adapting in a timely fashion - again he seemed to learn a bit this year.

All of this is to say, he's a good coach who's just reached his expiration here but I think wherever he goes next he will do well, and I think he can mold the Devils into a consistently good team (in the regular season at least).

 

[Guttersniped]

You guys might not want to hear this, but Keefe would actually be a solid hire. He got put into a strange toxic situation in Toronto where the inmates ran the asylum and I think he was too soft on guys in his earlier years (probably cause of Dubas, e.g walking back comments on Marner), but this season he did an admirable job through some adversity and seemed to push some different buttons with the team and had more of a 'take no prisoners' approach. Unfortunately he struggled again to get offense out of the team in playoffs and the PP was bad again, but he did a good job in changing their style of play to more of a heavy forecheck.

I think he's learned a lot in his time here and it's time for him to go and get a fresh start, and I think he would do excellent with the talent in New Jersey tbh.

I would take Keefe over Berube in NJ, though I think Berube will do fine in Toronto if they get him the right staff and Toronto typically has high-end assistants.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Someone put up the Bleed signal!

Not so fast, there was a rumor that the Devils interviewed McLellan. Bleed would have a stroke if that happened, lol

 

[Emperoreddy]

We are f***ing free. He can take assistants with him if he wants

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

i would kill to know what Ottawa saw in Jersey that they couldn’t wait to get on the Senators for next season

 

[Emperoreddy]