Marlies Discussion: Spotts secret to development...

[Brewsky]

What an idiot, he let his secret out, now they're going to lose!

 

[BiggestLeafsFanEVER*]

i understand that everyone is entitled to an opinion, but this is 100% baseless garbage. Eakins was nothing short of a phenomenal development coach. Obviously he wanted to be an NHL coach, but the guys stayed on with the marlies longer than he had to. He developed some really good young players for us. To make this sort of post is, frankly, somewhat offensively narrow-minded.

lol, someone's mad. you're also wrong.

He did not stay with the marlies longer than he had to...he wanted Wilson's job after he was canned, but Carlyle was hired, didn't get any offers over the summer, so came back and then after this season interviewed and got a job. He left when he got his NHL job.

I never said anything was wrong with that, it's normal for someone to want to work in the NHL but I felt this past year his greater ambitions came through in his on ice coaching decisions so am glad that he got a job and moved on. I don't think Spott will be thinking as much about an NHL job.

I actually wish the Leafs had hired him not Carlyle but that is another thread.

 

[The Magic Man]

I also wasn't a big Eakins fan. His coaching style reminds me of Quinn. I didn't like that he relied heavily on vets, but in his defense he utilized what was given to him, and Burke gave him too many AHL journeyman. One or two is nice, but I personally thought we carried too many, and it bumped out guys that should've been allowed to play and make rookie mistakes in the AHL.

Guys like Devane and Ross should've gotten a full season as utility guys. If our management sees these guys as useful players down the road, you have to be willing to accept immature play from them while their young.

After tearing up the college ranks and looking like a fringe NHLer, D'amigo should've been given minutes as well. A lot of players seemed to stall under Eakins. Only the elite and veterans did well. Even Bozak looked bad in his short stint with Eakins.

Take a look at the list of true, young prospects that flourished for him and it seems small to me. Kadri, Gardiner....... Frattin. Although he's still somewhat an unknown in the NHL.

 

[Brew]

I'm willing to give him a chance because I was fed up with Eakins by the end and was happy he moved on but I was not impressed with Spott's coaching at WJC and it seems like the Rangers fans have had negative things to say about him.

So is it safe to assume you've seen nothing of D'Amigo then?

 

[namttebih]

So is it safe to assume you've seen nothing of D'Amigo then?

I know that a lot of it was a byproduct of his ice time last year but he didn't stand out to me during the regular season. I went to half a dozen games, streamed a dozen more and was purposefully looking for him. It's great that he's a clutch performer and excels in the PO but it would be nice if he could channel some of that in regular season.

 

[Christ]

The WJC's aren't for development purposes, they're for winning. This is entirely different.

And Spott did an excellent job doing winning did he? I seem to remember Spott sticking to favourites, even when these favourites were underperforming and costing Canada wins. While there are many examples of this favouritism, Murphy is probably the biggest soar spot for Leaf fans. It can be argued that Murphy only made the Canadian team because of Spott and thus should have only played a limited role. Instead Murphy somehow wound up as quarterback for Canada's powerplay. Rielly, who was considered by most hockey experts, not just Leaf fans, to be the best offensive defenseman in the whole tournament going in barely played.

That Canadian WJC may have been the best Canadian team in recent memory talent wise, yet they failed to even win a medal arguably due to the coaching. I am far from sold on Spott as coach.

 

[egd27]

i understand that everyone is entitled to an opinion, but this is 100% baseless garbage. Eakins was nothing short of a phenomenal development coach. Obviously he wanted to be an NHL coach, but the guys stayed on with the marlies longer than he had to. He developed some really good young players for us. To make this sort of post is, frankly, somewhat offensively narrow-minded.

who did he develop for us?

I'd like to see that list as well.

A 7th overall draft pick and.......?

 

[Swervin81]

And Spott did an excellent job doing winning did he? I seem to remember Spott sticking to favourites, even when these favourites were underperforming and costing Canada wins. While there are many examples of this favouritism, Murphy is probably the biggest soar spot for Leaf fans. It can be argued that Murphy only made the Canadian team because of Spott and thus should have only played a limited role. Instead Murphy somehow wound up as quarterback for Canada's powerplay. Rielly, who was considered by most hockey experts, not just Leaf fans, to be the best offensive defenseman in the whole tournament going in barely played.

That Canadian WJC may have been the best Canadian team in recent memory talent wise, yet they failed to even win a medal arguably due to the coaching. I am far from sold on Spott as coach.

That wasn't the point. I was trying to say that Spott is being used to develop our players with the Marlies, not necessarily to win games. In the AHL, first priority is always development, then winning. In the WJC's, winning is all that matters. Spott is NOT a good coach if you want to win games, but he is if all you care about is the development of players, which is the top priority in the AHL. The fact that the Rangers have spewed talent into the NHL en masse and that some junior players come overseas just to play with them (Landeskog as a recent example) shows how highly Spott is regarded in the world of developing players.