My original reply was to AD's assertion that it was time to fire Q because he had 3 bad years. I'm going to assume this season isn't 1 of those 3, small sample size and whatnot, so that means he thinks Q underachieved in 2016 and 2017. One Goal was a great marketing campaign, but I simply don't agree that a 1st round exit means the season was a failure. I'm totally with you that not all 16 playoff teams are legit threats to win 4 rounds (personally I think it's around half), but sometimes you play 1 of the other legit teams in the 1st round and lose because you didn't get the breaks, or you just simply didn't play well enough. It doesn't mean the season was a complete failure. If you're telling me the 2016 and 2017 teams had no legit chance to win the Cup, then OK, I disagree. And if anyone is saying that Q's coaching and management style were good enough to win a Cup in 2015 but held us back in 2016 and 2017 to the point where we weren't even legitimate contenders, that's a head-scratcher for me.
Last season was a failure. This season is almost certainly going to be a failure. But I also agree with what you said in another post in this thread - regardless of who's coaching this is not a playoff team. So fire Q, don't fire Q, it's all the same to me. I don't think we'll be a contender anytime soon so his firing would have happened eventually anyway. It's great to take the optimistic approach to failed seasons, but sometimes high draft picks are like a birdie on 18 after a bad round - keeps you coming back but doesn't mean as much as you'd like it to about how the next round will go.
I guess I assumed that the people who are happy that Q is gone expected some better results with this roster. Is it too soon to make the call that it's not going to happen this year? I don't think so. Would it have been different if JC had all of training camp to install his way? I highly doubt it.
And I do appreciate your attempt to explain the complaints with Q's puck possession system. If I understand you correctly, you're just saying the puck should always move forward in the D zone. When I think of the great 10-year run, I don't think of the forwards all hanging out up high and lots of stretch passes. Instead, I recall the quick breakouts up the middle from nifty D passes to centers in our zone who then moved the puck quickly up to their wings. I haven't noticed a league-wide shift to just get the heck out of the zone without any D-to-D passing but I'll try to watch the better teams closer.
My three years comment is in fact 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19...we didn't need to see anymore of this year to know that Q couldn't turn things around. What happened in 16-17 was a disgrace IMO, and showed how much our coach got "out coached" that playoffs. And even before the playoffs that team was hard to comprehend because of all the weird ass decisions Q kept making with players he was dressing and lines/pairings that were getting blended. He rode one damn line to the playoffs, it was obvious.
Now this isn't meant for you but for the few that continually want to simply bitch one way or the other. I actually do appreciate what Q did here. I am not blind, I saw the good that he brought here. I also see the same with Bowman and what he has done here. But these topics typically have to fall one way or another meaning people say it is either Q's fault or Bowman's fault. Most of my comments are pretty tongue in cheek because of how outlandish the stupid few but vocal few are when they need to trash Bowman for this.
There are enough of us posters that give Bowman blame for a number of things. We have and will continue to do so, if it is deserved. BUT, those posters that trash Bowman NEVER give him credit for the good he has done, and NEVER blame Q for anything. It is so obnoxious to read these posts that sometimes we get sucked into the dumbness ourselves.
I am a pretty level headed guy on here, I typically see the good in all with the Hawks. It was apparent Q's time had run its course after the 2016-17 season. I was okay like many of us where with bringing him back for one more year which we did in 17-18, but the team looked even worse. Now Crow went down and our core players did not play well, so Q got another chance. We saw what happened yet again this year and now he is gone. There are those that just cannot see that Q can't coach a mediocre team into a winning team, they cannot see that he is the type of guy that needs a contender to work with..he really isn't great with young players and we heard this time and time again..I am not bashing Q, this is the reality for him and it doesn't tarnish his legacy. He just is no longer the right fit for this team and what we need to do moving forward.
I have no clue if JC is the answer, I would like to see him get the rest of this entire season to see what he can do, watch him bring up some more kids from Rockford that he wants up here, and have a full training camp to get everyone on board...I don't know if he gets all that with how this executive management team seems to still be in a win now mode.
But to sum up my long post, I did enjoy a lot of Q, but anyone that did not have their head firmly planted up their ass the past few seasons saw his flaws and how he was actively hurting this team instead of helping it. The same people that keep crying over Q are the ones putting this all on Bowman. How about the blame kind of lies on 3 things - Q, Bowman, and the players...many of us have said this in fact and still do. The players have to show up, and our core star players have not done that successfully enough the past few years. Our GM is on his last strike here as well, he has drafted extremely well and retooled this roster not just once but twice in a hard cap world winning 2 more cups..
Q needed to go, his fanboys just can't get over that. Now they have a scapegoat in Bowman for everything, and some of it is justified which has been discussed to death, but a lot of it is not which is why he still is our GM.
