GDT: Caps @ Bruins | 10/11/14 | 7 PM | CSN

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

Not much wrong with that game. Any complaints would be nothing more than niggles.

One marked difference form last year that was particularly noticeable tonight is how active and effective players' sticks are on the forecheck. Puts a lot more pressure on the opposition.

 

[txpd]

the team is pushing rather than hovering. the defense is engaged in the play. the goaltender is playing aggressive. these are things oates told them to avoid.

green and niskanen hit hard tonight. Johansson and Kuznetsov both hit and took guys off their skates. Oates didn't want that. Whole different level of engagement

 

[sycamore]

Philly chokes up 3 goal lead in 3rd period to Mtl, loses 4-3 in OT. Good night gets better.

Wow! Got ahead over to the Flyers board to check out the meltdown.

 

[Hivemind]

Point conceded...I meant more drilling a guy in the back along the boards nasty.

I miss the edge Green used to play with. He was borderline dirty in his first few years. It started to vanish after the Philadelphia series, and was completely gone after his series of injuries. Wonder if Trotz can coax it out of him again.

 

[Sam Spade]

Someone from PuckDaddy has us winning the cup

The former Nashville beat writer that just got let go. I think his name is Josh Cooper.

 

[Bananas]

It's fun to watch talented players play with determination and direction. Hopefully they don't go all limp dee on us anytime soon.

 

[Holtbyisms]

So in scrolling down through the list of time on ice I like what I see. Looks like Barry rolled for the most part with the exception of the 4th line. Though Kuznetsov did end up with more TOI than Burakovsky somehow. I think limiting the minutes of 65&92 early in the year as they both continue to develop and adjust to the NHL is wise. I think game one against MTL was a bit too low for Kuznetsov but what do I know, I'm not in the game.

On a side note Liam O'Brien does everything right, he's 100% in the faceoff dot

 

[troyerlaw]

Wow! Got ahead over to the Flyers board to check out the meltdown.

Reading HFBoard meltdowns of hated rivals is one of life's true, pure pleasures. Up there w/ cradling a newborn. Maybe even better than cradling a newborn.

Especially when it's a Penguins postseason meltdown. Those are the very, very best.

 

[um]

Green laid him out with a maybe questionable hit that didn't get a call. Puck went down the ice but Lucic decided he'd rather make his team shorthanded than play actual hockey by chasing Green down and cross-checking him.

to be fair if we did that trotz would say its worth it and we here would love the idea of a caps players standing up for himself.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Reading HFBoard meltdowns of hated rivals is one of life's true, pure pleasures. Up there w/ cradling a newborn. Maybe even better than cradling a newborn.

Especially when it's a Penguins postseason meltdown. Those are the very, very best.

I frequent a Redskins board also, and reading the Cowboys board after their meltdowns is epic.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

It's only been two games for The Trotz, but I maintain my belief that Oates was the worst hockey coach I've ever seen. At any level.

 

[txpd]

Oates must have talked a really good game because its hard to believe that Leonsis knew that Oates was going to coach the entire teams both individually and as a group out of doing the things that made them good players. But he sure as hell did. Just watching Holtby and Backstrom shows me that.

Pretty clear this team no longer sucks.

Meanwhile Boston fans think they are a lottery team after last night. LOL

 

[txpd]

I miss the edge Green used to play with. He was borderline dirty in his first few years. It started to vanish after the Philadelphia series, and was completely gone after his series of injuries. Wonder if Trotz can coax it out of him again.

Oates. I am sure Green was tentative physically after the concussion, but I am sure that Oates told him not to do that. Because you can see the difference in Carlson as well. Carlson hit in the world pre Oates.

Makes you wonder why Grabovski liked him

 

[Koized]

Can't believe they let Oates waste two years of the primes of our top players.

Although Boudreau was a decent coach, it would have been great to have a coach like Trotz when some of the Caps top players were younger to teach them better habits and structure.

 

[um]

Oates. I am sure Green was tentative physically after the concussion, but I am sure that Oates told him not to do that. Because you can see the difference in Carlson as well. Carlson hit in the world pre Oates.

Makes you wonder why Grabovski liked him

Oates doesn't come across as an *******, i think he's a terrible coach but as a person he seems decent. That's why no players would take shots at him, unlike hunter.

 

[marcel snapshot]

the team is pushing rather than hovering. the defense is engaged in the play. the goaltender is playing aggressive. these are things oates told them to avoid.

green and niskanen hit hard tonight. Johansson and Kuznetsov both hit and took guys off their skates. Oates didn't want that. Whole different level of engagement

Basically Oates coached all the Caps to play hockey like Adam Oates - putting a premium on read and react. As a player, few were better than Oates at reading the play.

But the reason why Adam Oates was a special player was that most hockey players don't have that as their primary skill tool - so a guy that is highly adept at reading and reacting becomes a unique asset when playing with guys who on the ice who are mostly initiators - whether through speed, physicality, puck-handling, tenacity, shot, etc.

But a team of Adam Oateses, is a team of passive, read-reactors. You have to have guys on the ice being aggressive and taking the play to the other team, otherwise you're on your heels the whole time and you're never in control of the game - the tempo is dictated to you, instead of by you.

Oates, as we all know, never tried to coach to his player's strengths and weaknesses. Instead, he coached to validate his own analysis of what works and what doesn't for players like Adam Oates.

Obviously, Trotz is taking a very different approach. Just seeing how much more pace we play with is such a relief - guys are pushing the play, instead of worrying that they'll get chided for missing a read.
We seem to have cast off the bonds of passivity - hail Trotzsky.

 

[tycoonheart]

Basically Oates coached all the Caps to play hockey like Adam Oates - putting a premium on read and react. As a player, few were better than Oates at reading the play.

But the reason why Adam Oates was a special player was that most hockey players don't have that as their primary skill tool - so a guy that is highly adept at reading and reacting becomes a unique asset when playing with guys who on the ice who are mostly initiators - whether through speed, physicality, puck-handling, tenacity, shot, etc.

But a team of Adam Oateses, is a team of passive, read-reactors. You have to have guys on the ice being aggressive and taking the play to the other team, otherwise you're on your heels the whole time and you're never in control of the game - the tempo is dictated to you, instead of by you.

Oates, as we all know, never tried to coach to his player's strengths and weaknesses. Instead, he coached to validate his own analysis of what works and what doesn't for players like Adam Oates.

Obviously, Trotz is taking a very different approach. Just seeing how much more pace we play with is such a relief - guys are pushing the play, instead of worrying that they'll get chided for missing a read.
We seem to have cast off the bonds of passivity - hail Trotzsky.

Thats an excellent observation.

 

[g00n]

Basically Oates coached all the Caps to play hockey like Adam Oates - putting a premium on read and react. As a player, few were better than Oates at reading the play.

But the reason why Adam Oates was a special player was that most hockey players don't have that as their primary skill tool - so a guy that is highly adept at reading and reacting becomes a unique asset when playing with guys who on the ice who are mostly initiators - whether through speed, physicality, puck-handling, tenacity, shot, etc.

But a team of Adam Oateses, is a team of passive, read-reactors. You have to have guys on the ice being aggressive and taking the play to the other team, otherwise you're on your heels the whole time and you're never in control of the game - the tempo is dictated to you, instead of by you.

Oates, as we all know, never tried to coach to his player's strengths and weaknesses. Instead, he coached to validate his own analysis of what works and what doesn't for players like Adam Oates.

Obviously, Trotz is taking a very different approach. Just seeing how much more pace we play with is such a relief - guys are pushing the play, instead of worrying that they'll get chided for missing a read.
We seem to have cast off the bonds of passivity - hail Trotzsky.

Yup. All true. Even more galling is Oates' insistence that he knew everything by virtue of knowing something, and that the way to coach professional athletes was to NOT coach them as professional athletes, but manage them as adult employees in a business. It's how HE wanted to be treated when he was a player, so he assumed (due to narcissism, I guess) that everyone will benefit the same way he did. It was practically his entire M.O.

In fact, I recall how announcers would gush over Oates' cerebral play and talk about how he was destined to be a coach when his playing days were over. I remember thinking "god, I hope not for the Caps". Whoops.

Just watching and hearing Trotz literally barking orders and instructions from the bench is, to use a word I typically hate, refreshing. It's been SO LONG since we've had a coach with NHL experience who actually COACHED UP the players and stayed with it 24/7 from a balanced perspective. How many years have we suffered rookie coaches faking their way through things or pounding pet theory square pegs into round holes??

I may question some things about this organization at times but this is one thing they clearly got right. I just wish they'd done it sooner.

 

[Capathetic]

I'm not sure his ego will allow it anymore but I maintain that Oates is a terrific assistant coach.

Ted wanted him here. It didn't work out and the only positive being that Ovechkin now has a "sweet" spot like uncle Jesse with Kareem in full house lol.

 

[txpd]

Here's the scary thing. Oates would still be here if he hadnt messed with the goaltending

 

[marcel snapshot]

I'm not sure his ego will allow it anymore but I maintain that Oates is a terrific assistant coach

Totally agree - Oates' is best-suited for a position in which team leadership is essentially free to disregard what he says. The guy has an undeniably smart hockey mind - but it takes a lot more than that to be a good head coach. He has a lot of interesting insights - some of which are probably very helpful, but a a lot of which just aren't for most types of players.

And it's no surprise that he was good at coaching the power play - because that's more of a chess board, read and react circumstance. Guys have time and space to assess the next move with the puck - that's his wheelhouse. Everything else - not so much.

 

[Hivemind]

Agreed with marcel's take on Oates, and that he could still be a really good assistant coach (similar to a number of other failed head coaches). A lot of what he encouraged has a sound idea behind it in principle, even the frequently maligned handedness preferences, but he let the tail wag the dog. He seemingly wanted to win hockey games the technically correct way more than he wanted to win hockey games any way possible.

I also think some of the "worst coach ever" stuff is absurd hyperbole. There have been some truly awful coaches fired in recent years (Joe Sacco, Wayne Gretzky, Barry Melrose), let alone historically bad coaches like Bill LaForge, who clearly top Oates in awfulness. I'm not even sure if Oates is the worst Leonsis-era hire by the Capitals. Both Cassidy and Hanlon were pretty terrible.

 

[tempofound]

Reading HFBoard meltdowns of hated rivals is one of life's true, pure pleasures. Up there w/ cradling a newborn. Maybe even better than cradling a newborn.

Especially when it's a Penguins postseason meltdown. Those are the very, very best.

I'm honestly not all that interested in hockey, I just hang around these boards for the meltdowns. Penguin meltdowns are great, but Leaf meltdowns are the very best. Like fine wine.

 

[ynotcaps]

Basically Oates coached all the Caps to play hockey like Adam Oates - putting a premium on read and react. As a player, few were better than Oates at reading the play.

But the reason why Adam Oates was a special player was that most hockey players don't have that as their primary skill tool - so a guy that is highly adept at reading and reacting becomes a unique asset when playing with guys who on the ice who are mostly initiators - whether through speed, physicality, puck-handling, tenacity, shot, etc.

But a team of Adam Oateses, is a team of passive, read-reactors. You have to have guys on the ice being aggressive and taking the play to the other team, otherwise you're on your heels the whole time and you're never in control of the game - the tempo is dictated to you, instead of by you.

Oates, as we all know, never tried to coach to his player's strengths and weaknesses. Instead, he coached to validate his own analysis of what works and what doesn't for players like Adam Oates.

Obviously, Trotz is taking a very different approach. Just seeing how much more pace we play with is such a relief - guys are pushing the play, instead of worrying that they'll get chided for missing a read.
We seem to have cast off the bonds of passivity - hail Trotzsky.

Literally TWO posts before this one I was planning out my post genuinely asking what about Oates -- either his approach, style, experience -- made his tenure such a failure. Thanks so much for anticipating my question and answering in advance!

With that out of the way, I am trying very hard not to get overly excited about two games. The buy-in is there, the structure is there, the skill is there, and it looks like the confidence is there. I'm hoping the results continue to be there, but even if they aren't consistently, as long as the process remains sound and consistent, it won't take long for the results to follow. And as long as the process is right, the team should be so much more enjoyable to watch.

Looking at Trotz makes me wonder what watching the Redskins would be like had they hired Jeff Fisher when he was available. Like Trotz, a guy who hasn't had the ultimate success, but always seems to have gotten more out of his teams than the talent alone says he should have. And always had his team play tough and smart -- two things that haven't been able to be said of the Redskins for a couple of decades now.

 

[RandyHolt]

It is really strange to say I am surprised to see our top line scoring at even strength using what I would call quality passing. You would think with dumb luck we would have some good passing in recent years, but nope.

Ovi and Nick had been struggling long before Oates had us hit rock bottom.

Great write up Marcel. IMHO the reason Oates was so cerebral was because he was not an elite skater. He is the worst coach I have ever seen.