the funny thing is, green was a good defensive player. as a rookie, he was assigned to mario and the islanders upset probably the most unstoppable penguins team of that era.
Without Turgeon, who had 13 points in the first round, the Islanders faced a tall task against Pittsburgh, which was led by Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr and coached by the legendary Scotty Bowman. Arbour told rookie Travis Green and journeyman Brad Dalgarno to defend Lemieux's line — no pressure.
"That line did a hell of a job against them in the series," Ferraro said. "Al told them, 'That's your job, do it. Do it the best you can.' Who wouldn't want to play for a guy like that?"
After winning four Stanley Cups, Arbour shined again with 1993 Islanders
green just has no idea how to coach what he did on the ice.
like, i think there's no reason that someone like phil housley, who never played a minute of PK, could coach it. he made his living picking apart other teams' PKs so he knows how they work. (i think the actual phil housley is not a very good coach, but just as an arbitrary example, he
could be good...)
it's ironic to me, actually. green is a player who got an almost unfathomable chance as a rookie. freakin' hall of fame and four cups al arbour let him center the islanders' checking line with brad dalgarno and brian mullen in the playoffs. they were assigned to mario lemieux at his absolute peak. (tbh i have no memory of green in that series, but i do remember rookie darius kasparaitis, who
worked mario.)
but green as a coach is flat out not able to grow his young players. he even almost seems aware of it. here's an old province article —
Travis Green not only played six seasons with the Islanders, he finally broke into the National Hockey league in 1992-93 after three seasons in the minors. The hotshot junior centre quickly learned that Arbour would break his bad habits and push him far enough to almost break his spirit.
Arbour was as blunt as a stick to the face. He also knew when encouragement was more important than outrage. It’s how the Islanders won four-consecutive Stanley Cup titles from 1980 to 1983.
Arbour presented the opportunity and let players decide their roster fates. Sound like Green? The 46-year-old rookie NHL coach you see in Vancouver today is a product of the environment he endured in Uniondale.
“Sometimes I laugh to myself when I think of some of the things I talk about,” recalled the Castlegar native. “
As a coach, I wouldn’t like the young player I was, but I would like the older player. The older player had a better understanding of how to win and the younger one didn’t.
“But I also understand why. I was nervous as hell for a long time. I was a shy kid. And sometimes, I showed it in cockiness, but deep down I was very insecure. It took me a while.
“I remember my fifth game in the league and we were in the old arena in St. Louis. I was playing OK, but not great. Al kicked me in the ass from behind — like hard. He bent down and whispered: ‘You need to decide if you want to play in the NHL. And you need to decide right now.’
“I wasn’t fooling him with my game. I wasn’t playing well, but he double-shifted me the rest of the game. I never went back (to playing poorly) after that. He forced me out of my comfort zone and made me uncomfortable and said sink or swim.”
...
That had such a profound affect on Green that he can remember the exact day of the week that Arbour went from menacing mentor to caring coach.
The Islanders were pushing for a 1993 playoff spot — they snuck in and then dispatched the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins before losing to the Montreal Canadiens in five games of Eastern Conference final — and along the way Green saw a lasting side of Arbour.
“It was a Thursday night,” Green vividly recalled of his checking line being outclassed by Adam Oates and Cam Neely of the Boston Bruins. “Our line was minus-3 and I was distraught.
“I was in my stall and it wasn’t even 10 minutes after the game and he (Arbour) was standing right in front of me: He said: ‘Listen, those are Hall of Fame players. They’re going to have nights like that. It’s going to happen again. You need to go home and forget about it, learn from it and not stay up all night and worrying about the game.
‘You’ve got Mario Lemieux coming in Saturday and I’m putting you up against him. I need you to be ready.’
“He knew that (minus-3) could really take away a young player’s confidence and I didn’t realize then how important it was. Years later I did. It was very special.”
Kuzma: Al Arbour's tough love allowed Travis Green to grow as player, potential NHL coach | The Province
i mean, how can you read all that and not think to yourself, what a f***ing dumbass.
idk but it's a problem that isn't gonna just go away without some either renewed investment by the players or roster changes. You just dont score goals without either catching goalies off guard with quick strikes or disrupting the space of the goalies. I'm not sure why this is so hard to figure out.
