Boucher and his system are a joke

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

Lots of rustled jimmies here. Understandable after last night's dismantling of historic New York Rangers, and the upcoming facewashing (with fresh snow at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa), of the also historic Montreal Canadiens playing the historic and resurrected Ottawa Senators.

History will be made...with renewed confidence in his contract and skills, Boucher may well get us...a few more wins, perhaps enough to put a scare into the Tampa Bay Lightning in round one of the playoffs? Oh, what drama that would be.

 

[NyQuil]

Lots of rustled jimmies here. Understandable after last night's dismantling of historic New York Rangers, and the upcoming facewashing (with fresh snow at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa), of the also historic Montreal Canadiens playing the historic and resurrected Ottawa Senators.

History will be made...with renewed confidence in his contract and skills, Boucher may well get us...a few more wins, perhaps enough to put a scare into the Tampa Bay Lightning in round one of the playoffs? Oh, what drama that would be.

I do not endorse this post.

 

[PeterSidorkiewicz]

And it's only gonna get worse folks.... A LOT worse. The Lightning weren't exactly a stellar team but Boucher's categorical refusal to adjust exacerbated every issue we had tenfold. Teams figured out how that all they had to do was skate faster than us and get behind our coverage on the dump and chase and we were dead in the water. Every weakness we had defending was exposed. And then the next thing to go was our power play. Once teams figured out "cover Stamkos" our power play just consisted of passing back and forth without shooting. I have never seen a coach so utterly mind ****ed before. Days turned into weeks, into months and he was mercifully let go.

To Boucher's credit he's rarely using the 1-3-1 lately -especially during the losing streak. He just runs a 1-1-3 or 3-1-1 however you want to say it. But the same problem in continuity continues.... he's so concerned about creating offense though neutral zone turnovers that the Senators literally never get to touch the puck to attack because other teams have figured out how to not screw up against them.

And when they do get the puck holy moly it's bad. It's such a cluster..

I like Boucher a lot and I think this is a good assessment of some of the negative qualities he can have. I do hope we continue to employ him as our coach and should at least start next season behind the bench for us.

Also I am curious since the OP is a NYR fan how he enjoyed Torts system in NYR of collapsing in front of Henrik the entire game and blocking shots?

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Boucher has a high risk system? Are we talking about the same coach? He's the opposite of high risk. It's soccer on ice. He can coach however he wants but he's absolutely not a high risk coach.

 

[Analyst365]

It's why he's bounced around all over the place and why his teams never won anything.

He plays very unsustainable, high risk hockey.

It's bad for the sport, bad for offensive players bound by his offensive black hole system.

It's why Ottawa regressed this year. They are bottom the barrel in most analytics and offensive statistics.

If his teams are just gonna line up 1-3-1 like this, the refs should be allows to nullify icing and let the team shoot it down without gaining center red.

Yes a little salty.

I still to this day don't understand how the Flyers sitting voluntarily pinned in their own end is somehow mocking anyone but themselves.

 

[These Are The Days]

I like Boucher a lot and I think this is a good assessment of some of the negative qualities he can have. I do hope we continue to employ him as our coach and should at least start next season behind the bench for us.

Also I am curious since the OP is a NYR fan how he enjoyed Torts system in NYR of collapsing in front of Henrik the entire game and blocking shots?

He's not a bad coach at all. He's really not but his flaws are all related to the fact he does not adjust. The right move is indeed to continue to employ him because unlike the Lightning I don't think the Sens have given up as much as they've just hit the collective wall. As for Torts his system is antiquated but it still works if and only if your guys are going 200 mph at all times. He managed to get the Lightning to do it and well... I guess we can say he was successful at it lol.

 

[firstemperor]

He's playing the system that will allow the Sens to succeed in today's game. The reality is, they don't have enough talent up front to be a strong team in today's NHL. Take out Boucher the last few years and they'd be closer to a basement team, which they were projected to be, pre-Boucher. People have short-term memories. It's a boring, perhaps despicable brand of hockey depending on who you ask- but it gets results.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Refusing to play in the offensive zone at times is pretty risky if you ask me.

I don't think you understand what the term/phrase "high risk hockey" means ...

 

[Pi]

There is a much simpler explanation: Ottawa overachieved last year.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

I don't think you understand what the term/phrase "high risk hockey" means ...

And I don't think you understand that 'high risk hockey' doesn't refer to one particular way to play hockey.

They rely on counter rush attack and Craig Anderson being perhaps best goalie in the league.

Once again, pretty risky if you ask me.

 

[Korpse]

And I don't think you understand that 'high risk hockey' doesn't refer to one particular way to play hockey.

They rely on counter rush attack and Craig Anderson being perhaps best goalie in the league.

Once again, pretty risky if you ask me.

I don't agree with the idea that they were a disaster in their own zone. The slot location data, which unless its made major strides in the past couple years has its flaws, shows they were middle of the pack in defending the slot but doesn't tell the whole story. They were very good at contesting shots from the slot and clearing rebounds. I addressed it in my previous reply but they play a very passive style in the DZ, they let the opposition have the perimeter and protect the middle of the ice, this leads to a lot of time defending but reduces quality of chances. Their DZ turnover rate being high is once again because of the conservativeness of their style. The plan is to push the puck forward and get it out of the zone above all else. Everything in their game plan is to prevent risk, so its bizarre that you are so adamant that they play risky hockey.

 

[Micklebot]

I don't agree with the idea that they were a disaster in their own zone. The slot location data, which unless its made major strides in the past couple years has its flaws, shows they were middle of the pack in defending the slot but doesn't tell the whole story. They were very good at contesting shots from the slot and clearing rebounds. I addressed it in my previous reply but they play a very passive style in the DZ, they let the opposition have the perimeter and protect the middle of the ice, this leads to a lot of time defending but reduces quality of chances. Their DZ turnover rate being high is once again because of the conservativeness of their style. The plan is to push the puck forward and get it out of the zone above all else. Everything in their game plan is to prevent risk, so its bizarre that you are so adamant that they play risky hockey.

My assumption was that the risk he meant wasn't so much in taking risks to create offense, but rather putting a lot of faith in the goalies making the saves they should (and some that maybe they shouldn't be expected too). It's a really odd way to describe Boucher's style, and a bit counter-intuitive for sure, but I think of it this way; the most low risk plays are chiping it out of the zone, and dumping it in (and go for a change, don`t want tired legs out there). But, if all you do is make the safest possible play all the time, it's really hard to score, and you'll use up all your energy in the defensive end. You need to take some risks to create offense, because you can't win without doing so, so playing too defensive is risky in that sense.