Actually it's very fair to criticize Willie for last year....Canucks had the worst record of protecting third period leads in the entire NHL by a country mile....For the stats crowd, even bad teams like Edmonton, TO, Carolina and Buffalo win 80-90 percent of their games when leading after two periods....Canucks weren't even at 50 percent...This is ALL on coaching...bad line match-ups, poor line changes and being unable to get tired players off the ice, and poor lineup decisions all contributed directly to last year's mess....and if it doesn't get any better Willie will be gone inside 20 games.
Willie Desjardins' comments on SiriusXMNHL today
- Thread starter jeromemorrow
- Start date
Actually it's very fair to criticize Willie for last year....Canucks had the worst record of protecting third period leads in the entire NHL by a country mile....For the stats crowd, even bad teams like Edmonton, TO, Carolina and Buffalo win 80-90 percent of their games when leading after two periods....Canucks weren't even at 50 percent...This is ALL on coaching...bad line match-ups, poor line changes and being unable to get tired players off the ice, and poor lineup decisions all contributed directly to last year's mess....and if it doesn't get any better Willie will be gone inside 20 games.
PG Canuck
Registered User
- Mar 29, 2010
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- 24,433
It will be funny when we are all proven right again about WD. These posters must be hanging onto that playoff berth in WD's first year.
That will be the peak of his coaching career here.
Nick Lang
Registered User
- May 14, 2015
- 2,043
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See this is what I mean. He never said this at all. You're making up a story with a negative spin. Also you named six players, or one third of the team he was given to work with. And I don't even particularly care for Willie one way or the other.
The Stig
Your hero.
Is your theory that Willie was actually part of the 'stealth tank' and that's the reason for his bizarre line-up choices; god-awful line match-ups and terrible third period bench management?....maybe he's not really as bad as I thought
mossey3535
Registered User
- Feb 7, 2011
- 13,518
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Ironically, Sullivan didn't do much line matching in Pittsburgh. Maybe if Willie had actually taken that job he might have been more successful.
I guess you don't really have to line match if your team depth is unbelievable. IMO AV as demonstrated the same thing for two SCF teams, including us.
Again, WD's systems are fine. Everything else is piss poor. Including his rolling of four lines - we aren't the penguins.
I guess you don't really have to line match if your team depth is unbelievable. IMO AV as demonstrated the same thing for two SCF teams, including us.
Again, WD's systems are fine. Everything else is piss poor. Including his rolling of four lines - we aren't the penguins.
I understand. I understand completely: talk is cheap. Action shall speak louder than words by a hundred folds.
Will watch WD's lines again and see if he's gonna shower with Sbisa and Dorsett with top 4 and top 6 minutes, respectively.
Should WD come to do so, barring an incalculably remote miracle where Sborsett both plays at over 9000% their capacity, it's gonna look quite disgusting.
me2
Go ahead foot
I just had Gudbranson as a guaranteed top 4 and didn't think about him getting demoted. Tryamkin or Larsen would have to be playing very well for that to happen I think.
Sutter played 20 games last season. Who were Sutter's wingers when he played? Vrbata and Burrows? Baertschi was with Horvat, it seemed to me that Desjardins was rolling 4 lines like he was doing from the start. Regardless, Horvat had a good year taking tough minutes for the first time in his career. It's going to make him a better player for next season if he plays those minutes again because he has experience in that role now. Horvat playing tough minutes benefited him and will benefit him, I don't know if you're aware but he was drafted to be a shutdown centre. He did great in that role last season, he's not that young anymore. Going into his 3rd season I don't see what's wrong with him playing defensive minutes if that's his role.
Like Birtubo mentioned, Horvat is going to be a shutdown centre in his prime, why can't he play those minutes and that role right now this year? It's better long-term and Sutter's PPG was better than Horvat's last season. So I could see Sutter doing well in an offensive role.
What am I making up?
Did he not say, when asked who might play with Guds, Hutton or maybe Sbisa? Considering Gudbranson has been described endlessly as a top 4 D then it is a fairly small and safe leap to interpret that comment as saying Hutton or Sbisa can both play a top 4 role.
I can see you want to completely ignore Willies words and pretend they have 0 bearing on his plans and thinking but I don't think you can do that. He speaks based on his perceptions of players and if he didn't think Sbisa couldn't handle top 4 minutes with Gudbranson then he simply would have said Hutton and left it at that.
As for the number of "mistakes" above, ya that is 1/3 of his team and that is a ton of mistakes to be making. And it's not like I am the only one. Willie himself admitted he made mistakes in the Calgary series and professes to have "learned from it". There was also the HNIC crew mocking his coaching decisions on an online broadcast. How many times has that happened with another coach?
The guy simply makes frequent bad deployment decisions based on things other than performance. He favours certain players endlessly despite frequently getting poor results from them. And Sbisa seems to be one of those players whom he has a blind spot for, which is why these comments are so troubling. If it was the first time or he was brand new to the team I doubt it would be getting much play. But we've seen two years of this already and it simply reads as more of the same.
Cause he's 20 and was eaten alive defensively last year?
Jesus, half of this board gives a standing O to Willie for limiting Virtanen and McCann's minutes because "you can't rush kids into the NHL" then does the same for rushing Horvat who is one year older and was absolutely eaten alive last year including a 35 game offensive drought where he scored what, 2 goals? I mean, if Virtanen is supposed to be a top 6 scoring winger why not give him that role last year too? Won't it make him better in the future? McCann too right? Just throw people into roles whether they can handle it or not and that's good for them I guess.
Besides what in the living hell did we even acquire Sutter for if not to take these tough defensive match ups? It boggles the mind that we would give the 30-point defensive centre in his prime easy offensive minutes and play the 21 year old with visibly better offensive skills in the defensive match up role.
But boggling the mind is what WD does best I guess.
- Jan 23, 2010
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Is there somewhere we can determine the offensive zone % for just when Sutter was a center? He finished at over 51% but I assume that was up a bit due to his time playing wing with the Sedins. Daniel was over 58% on the season, so maybe Sutter as a center was more in the 45-47 range? Horvat was down at around 42%. I'm just trying to figure out what would be a reasonable number for each guy. 45-50% for Horvat, 38-42% for Sutter?
The part I'll disagree with is the "skilled wingers" part. Horvat played essentially the entire season with Baertschi with a rotation on the right side of Vrbata, Virtanen, and Hansen. Sutter's most common linemates as a center were Burrows and Virtanen, with Dorsett & Virtanen coming in second. Those two wing combos accounted for most of his ES strength time as a center.
Hit the post
I have your gold medal Zippy!
Actually Sutter's PPG was worse than Horvat's:
Sutter
20 GP 9 Pts = .45 PPG
Horvat
82 GP 40 Pts = .49 PPG
Don't even know what that poster is going on about. Sutter has exceeded Horvat's PPG exactly 1 time in his entire career and by now is pretty much set as a 25-35 point guy. Giving him offensive minutes and match ups over Horvat makes zero sense.
Horvat is going to be a shutdown center is his prime? Since when? Whose idea is that? Doesn't seem like that's even remotely accurate prediction at this point. Not hopeless defensively like Hodgson, sure, but a "shutdown" center? Huh.
Horvat and his confidence was crushed last season by Willie's deployment. He struggled VISIBLY defensively and on the PK, and got a lot of heat from it (unfairly because he shouldn't be thrown into tough minutes like that). That's a perfect demonstration why he shouldn't have been playing those minutes, and what it did for his game.
He bounced back in the 2nd half, adjusted and probably stopped overthinking in the way of "I must do everything" so he was able to get his confidence back and produce in a manner Sutter has literally never accomplished, and never will.
Horvat and his confidence was crushed last season by Willie's deployment. He struggled VISIBLY defensively and on the PK, and got a lot of heat from it (unfairly because he shouldn't be thrown into tough minutes like that). That's a perfect demonstration why he shouldn't have been playing those minutes, and what it did for his game.
He bounced back in the 2nd half, adjusted and probably stopped overthinking in the way of "I must do everything" so he was able to get his confidence back and produce in a manner Sutter has literally never accomplished, and never will.
Hit the post
I have your gold medal Zippy!
Seems kind of silly especially when that is one of the areas that Sutter is supposed to be good at isn't it?
Yeah, Sutter is a "shutdown center in his prime". Like, that's the only redeeming quality regarding this player.
Horvat on the other hand struggles in that role, and is never going to be that kind of player in the future either. He's going to score points.
Makes literally no sense.
TruGr1t
Proper Villain
- Jun 26, 2003
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What makes you think Horvat won't be, at least, above-average defensively? I'd say at least as good as Sutter. He can skate, he's smart, and he has the physical size to play a defensive game. Given we hope he'll be a point producer, but there's nothing to say he can't be a two-way center. He has all the attributes. Obviously, he was way out of his depth last year, but he's demonstrated an ability to adjust and improve.
I wouldn't even qualify Sutter as a shut-down centre, personally. The only thing he really does well is skate, and I guess shoot sometimes.
- Jan 23, 2010
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So his offensive zone start % was higher as a center than they were when he was playing with the Sedins?
What makes me think that? I don't think that. I never said I did. I said he wouldn't be a "shutdown" player. He indeed can be above average defensively, and probably will be. But he's going to be an offensive player first and foremost, unlike Sutter who is completely one dimensional super safe and super reliable defensive player.
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