THE Fire Torts Thread

[Cyclones Rock]

Can we re-name this thread to the Fire Brad Larsen thread?

6 Powerplay goals

3 SH goals against

We are almost nearly as likely to be scored on with a man advantage than we are scoring with a man advantage.

No powerplay saps energy quite like ours.

Could be wrong, as Fox Sports' stats only go back to last year, but have we had a bottom ranked powerplay every year he's been here aside from 16-17 where we had the unreal start carry the PP all year?

NHL.com - Stats

This goes back to 1917-18. I hope that is far enough.

Since Torts has been here, the CBJ are 25th on the PP. Includes Todd Richards for 7 games in 15-16. They are 19th on the PK during that same time frame.

NHL.com - Stats

At the very least, a different set of eyes needs to be brought in for the PP. The current coaches and players are (obviously) out of answers. A coach can only look at so much video and come up with different schemes which they think will work.

Add an assistant coach or maybe even let the Cleveland coaches draw up a new scheme. The collective approach of the current staff needs to be scuttled on the PP and they can't do that themselves.

 

[EDM]

Seems to me that if Torts really wanted to do something to shake things up that, now with Dubie back, he would tell Wennie to take a seat in the press box until Wennie decides to play the way that Torts wants him to play. Then after Wennie finally gets and accepts the message, Torts should move on to the next malingerer and repeat the sequence again. I am really getting tired of hearing about inconsistency yet, other than Milano, no action is taken against the practitioners of inconsistency.

 

[KJ Dangler]

Seems to me that if Torts really wanted to do something to shake things up that, now with Dubie back, he would tell Wennie to take a seat in the press box until Wennie decides to play the way that Torts wants him to play. Then after Wennie finally gets and accepts the message, Torts should move on to the next malingerer and repeat the sequence again. I am really getting tired of hearing about inconsistency yet, other than Milano, no action is taken against the practitioners of inconsistency.

Yep, there’s a huge double standard that is enabling this garbage . That was crystal clear after we heard about how guys would have to earn there spot in camp, and quite a few young players did just that , yet Stenlund and Robinson were sent down. Sedlak was garbage, Hannikainen did nothing, and Wennberg was flat trash . All stayed , and kept their spot .For 1.5 years we’ve heard Torts complain about Wennberg, his soft play , no accountability . Quite a few other regulars had long stretches of terrible play, no accountability. Powerplay sucks , no accountability . Clearly the problem his him, and his record has followed him . Milano and Bjork have a bad shift, Bjorkstrand ice is severely cut, and Milano is benched .

 

[Viqsi]

Do you guys believe the coaches of the bottom 3-5 teams in PP% and PK% and overall should be fired each year?

Its laughable the things you want to blame the coaches for.

And its laughable what you guys want to claim about this team after a dozen games.

Its not laughable that you guys are doing the same exact thing 3 years in a row.

Oh right, its also Torts and JD's fault that the team didn't win in 2005.

When it's consistently at the bottom of the league, clearly something significant is wrong.

 

[Mayor Bee]

I posted this in the GDT thread tonight but,

It’s sickening how perfectly fine this team is with being mediocre. Yes, the team but moreso the coaches. I see absolutely no urgency in changing up the gameplan, changing up the power play... etc. etc.

Torts seems to not mind having atrocious power play’s over the years.

Powerplay rankings of a team coached by Torts:

2017-2018: 30th (current)
2016-2017: 25th
2015-2016: 12th
2013-2014: 26th
2012-2013: 23rd
2011-2012: 23rd
2010-2011: 18th.

Since 2010, a Torts coached team has averaged a 22nd ranking in the league on the PP. Sickening. Absolutely sickening.

Btw, I think this answers your question @CBJWennberg10 about a Larson-led PP rankings ^^

CBJ power play rankings over time:

2005-06 - 29th
2006-07 - 26th
2007-08 - 26th
2008-09 - 30th
2009-10 - 14th
2010-11 - 29th
2011-12 - 24th
2012-13 - 28th
2013-14 - 11th
2014-15 - 5th
2015-16 - 21st
2016-17 - 12th
2017-18 - 25th
2018-19 - 30th (ongoing)

Just for comparison, here's Tampa Bay the year before Richards took over and since:
2015-16 - 28th
2016-17 - 6th
2017-18 - 3rd
2018-19 - 6th (ongoing)

He's actually running their penalty kill this year while Jeff Halpern has taken over the PP.
2015-16 - 7th
2016-17 - 13th
2017-18 - 28th
2018-19 - 1st

 

[EspenK]

Bring back Todd Richards and Scott Howson. Add Stamkos, Kucherov, Point,Gourde, Sergachev, Miller and various other Bolts and voila the PP is fixed.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

CBJ power play rankings over time:

2005-06 - 29th
2006-07 - 26th
2007-08 - 26th
2008-09 - 30th
2009-10 - 14th
2010-11 - 29th
2011-12 - 24th
2012-13 - 28th
2013-14 - 11th
2014-15 - 5th
2015-16 - 21st
2016-17 - 12th
2017-18 - 25th
2018-19 - 30th (ongoing)

Just for comparison, here's Tampa Bay the year before Richards took over and since:
2015-16 - 28th
2016-17 - 6th
2017-18 - 3rd
2018-19 - 6th (ongoing)

He's actually running their penalty kill this year while Jeff Halpern has taken over the PP.
2015-16 - 7th
2016-17 - 13th
2017-18 - 28th
2018-19 - 1st

Thank you, Mr. Bring Back the Glory Days of Scott Howson.

 

[onetimerguy]

The argument - Is it the players or the coaching? I feel there should be enough talent to at least be average at the power play. Players aren't put in a position to succeed. Lines changed all the time = no chemistry. This group is playing tight, and something must be done to shake things up. A trade and a coach firing may be in order. Heck they had a better power play with Gagner for half a season.

 

[blahblah]

Let's be honest, outside of the noticeable exceptions our forwards kind of suck. We've pretty much got 2/3's of a top six.

 

[major major]

Let's be honest, outside of the noticeable exceptions our forwards kind of suck. We've pretty much got 2/3's of a top six.

I'd like to see a definition of a top six player that gives us less top six players than your average club. Maybe you can make one, I don't know.

If this is meant to be a comment on our PP, I saw the Colorado game the other day, and they had Matt Calvert as the rotor on their very good top PP unit. Ottawa, New Jersey, and Detroit all have good powerplays right now with less talent to work with.

 

[blahblah]

I'd like to see a definition of a top six player that gives us less top six players than your average club. Maybe you can make one, I don't know.

Maybe you can find one in Webster's. It's my evaluation. At this point it's the top line and Josh Andersen.

I don't care what other teams "have".

 

[major major]

We don't have a shortage of scorers, or a scoring problem. We have an epic, all-consuming PP problem.

Even with the epic PP problem, they are still 6th in the league in goals scored (1st at evens). The problem is that the PP is starting to suck the life out of the team.

 

[major major]

Maybe you can find one in Webster's. It's my evaluation. At this point it's the top line and Josh Andersen.

I don't care what other teams "have".

Anderson has 7 goals, and everyone on the topline has 5 or more. Anthony Duclair already has 5 goals. There's only 76 players in the league with 5 or more goals, and we have 5 of them. There's only one other team that can match that, Calgary. 29 of 31 have less than 5.

You don't care what other teams "have" and you have no bleeping idea.

 

[blahblah]

Anderson has 7 goals, and everyone on the topline has 5 or more. Anthony Duclair already has 5 goals. There's only 76 players in the league with 5 or more goals, and we have 5 of them. There's only one other team that can match that, Calgary. 29 of 31 have less than 5.

You don't care what other teams "have" and you have no bleeping idea.

You are such a delight. I congratulate you on naming one player outside of the players I had named. Duclair isn't a top six player in the league yet. I wish you well.

As I said our forwards, outside of the obvious. kind of suck. Cheers.

 

[Viqsi]

Maybe you can find one in Webster's. It's my evaluation. At this point it's the top line and Josh Andersen.

I don't care what other teams "have".

Given that those other teams are our direct competition, what they actually have and what we have in relation to them is frequently quite relevant.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Uhm, let's not pretend like Todd Richards is a good coach. He's working with one of the best groups of players in the league. Not to mention that defensive core is solid with lots of PKing specialists. Yeah, the rankings are good, but lets not pretend its because of Richards.

 

[Johansen2Foligno]

It is nauseating to read this board

 

[Mayor Bee]

Uhm, let's not pretend like Todd Richards is a good coach. He's working with one of the best groups of players in the league. Not to mention that defensive core is solid with lots of PKing specialists. Yeah, the rankings are good, but lets not pretend its because of Richards.

Well then, we're left with only a couple of possible conclusions. If Richards isn't a good coach, but we saw a tough playoff team in 2013-14 and one that finished tied for 8th in 2012-13, then it must be one hell of a job by the person who constructed it.

But since the popular opinion is that that person did a terrible job, then it must be the coaching. But if the coaching is bad and the roster is bad but the team ends up in the playoffs, then what happened?

As for Tampa, if the defensive core is solid with lots of PK specialists, why did they finish 28th one year ago? And if the roster was tremendous in 2016-17 when their power play was 6th in the league, why was the exact same roster 28th just one year prior? And why does it follow exactly the same pattern as here, where the special teams surged and then slumped after a particular coaching change?

I suppose that, like many unexplainable phenomenon, the only possible conclusion is either aliens or voodoo magic.

 

[KJ Dangler]

So.... Joel Quinnville is available

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Well then, we're left with only a couple of possible conclusions. If Richards isn't a good coach, but we saw a tough playoff team in 2013-14 and one that finished tied for 8th in 2012-13, then it must be one hell of a job by the person who constructed it.

But since the popular opinion is that that person did a terrible job, then it must be the coaching. But if the coaching is bad and the roster is bad but the team ends up in the playoffs, then what happened?

Which is it over the past two seasons?

 

[CBJWerenski8]

Well then, we're left with only a couple of possible conclusions. If Richards isn't a good coach, but we saw a tough playoff team in 2013-14 and one that finished tied for 8th in 2012-13, then it must be one hell of a job by the person who constructed it.

But since the popular opinion is that that person did a terrible job, then it must be the coaching. But if the coaching is bad and the roster is bad but the team ends up in the playoffs, then what happened?

As for Tampa, if the defensive core is solid with lots of PK specialists, why did they finish 28th one year ago? And if the roster was tremendous in 2016-17 when their power play was 6th in the league, why was the exact same roster 28th just one year prior? And why does it follow exactly the same pattern as here, where the special teams surged and then slumped after a particular coaching change?

I suppose that, like many unexplainable phenomenon, the only possible conclusion is either aliens or voodoo magic.

I'm not saying Richards was awful, he wasn't, but he is nowhere close to the level of coach you seem to be portraying him as. You mean to tell me Todd Richards is a major reason why Tampa's special teams is so good? Not the elite level skill they throw out on each line? Come on now. He has a hand in it, but that powerplay could run itself.

The 13-14 roster wasn't bad. I actually like the forwards better on that team than this one. However the defense isn't even close and this one beats it.

They finished 28th last year because Vasilevski cooled down, they had defensive injuries, and were breaking in lots of new pieces in the middle of the year while also giving minutes to raw but talented players.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

I had no major problem with Richards-I thought he was an OK coach. I was not in favor of his dismissal though I will submit that I may have been wrong. I was at his last game-a 4-0 loss to the NYI at Nationwide Arena and the team was listless-as they had been for all 7 games of that season. So while I wasn't in favor of his dismissal, I certainly understood the reasons behind it-the team stumbled out of the gate dreadfully. Add in that the normal GM wants his "own guy" behind the bench and Richards was toast.

The CBJ wouldn't have the playoffs in 2015-16 had they kept Richards-they were already in historically impossible territory given their 0-7 start. So it was more than likely that they wouldn't have made the playoffs for a second consecutive season. The idea that Richards was some sort of wonder coach is an absurdity. He was a run-of-the-mill NHL coach. After his 0-7 start, most GMs would have probably done the same thing. Pretending that Richards was anything special is ridiculous. He's been out of head coaching for 3 years. With the turnover in the NHL, a top coach doesn't stay unemployed (as a head coach)for 6 months let alone 3 years. Claude Julien and Barry Trotz were hired within days of their partings with their previous clubs.

 

[jaxfan45385]

So.... Joel Quinnville is available

Amen brother.

I'm picking up what you are putting down.

 

[CBJ goalie]

So.... Joel Quinnville is available

And CBJ just extended Torts....so that's not happening, as much as I'd LOVE to have coach Q behind the bench here.....I think he'd get get the team going.
Thought: would bringing Quenneville here maybe help convince Panarin to stay? He did play for him in Chi-town....

 

[Viqsi]

I would be very in favor of a Quenneville hire. Not sure if I want to go all "fire Torts now and make it happen", but he'd be a nice candidate.