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

[Hivemind]

He is the worst coach I have ever seen.

He may have been bad, but once again this is ridiculous. He's more in line with Davis Payne-level bad than Wayne Gretzky-level bad.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

He may have been bad, but once again this is ridiculous. He's more in line with Davis Payne-level bad than Wayne Gretzky-level bad.

I dunno man. I have never seen a coach that bad. Literally the only thing he did right was put Ovie in the turret spot. He was atrocious.

 

[txpd]

Oates was bad. Worst that some of us have seen. I think we can agree on that

 

[tycoonheart]

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.

Don't think the 'Skins comparison is apt. GMGM, for all his flaws, did know how to draft. We've had a good scout team to boot, for years. 'Skins have absolutely nothing. Talent is trash, GM is trash, scouting department is trash.

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

He may have been bad, but once again this is ridiculous. He's more in line with Davis Payne-level bad than Wayne Gretzky-level bad.

How do you figure? Is there a single thing he was even average at? The one positive aspect of the team's play was down to Blaine Forsythe.

It's not hyperbole at all to call him the worst coach you've ever seen.

 

[Blades of Steel]

He may have been bad, but once again this is ridiculous. He's more in line with Davis Payne-level bad than Wayne Gretzky-level bad.

No offense (no pun)

He was the worst coach I have seen. If we didn't have Ovechkin, we would have been dead last without a doubt.

He literally damaged everything the touched, except.. the power play. The ONLY thing we had going for us.. hard to fail with the weapons we had on the man advantage.

 

[PRicci09]

At least Beagle loved Oates

 

[KevinM]

Hard not to be happy with that performance last night.

Holtby looked phenomenal and was out challenging pucks and taking away angles and generally doing what he does best, that makes me really excited about the rest of the season. Green had some solid defensive plays, D men were moving up and keeping play alive offensively, Backy had that beaut of an assist for Ovi at ES and Fehr is an excellent complementary 2-way player for that line. They seem to be playing so much more cohesively than they have in the past and the boys have a lot more zip and apply pressure to the puck carrier. PK looked incredible.

I've not been watching hockey for as long as some of you but I would definitely throw my lot in and say that Oates is the worst HC I've ever seen. He did talk the talk though.

 

[g00n]

Oates did a lot of things that seemed to be based on total overthinking, micromanagement or contrarianism. And he appeared to do so intentionally with a big ole "**** you" attitude on top of it.

Yeah, there have been worse coaches in terms of being helpless or incompetent or just flat out not getting results. But Oates was maybe the worst in terms of the gap between his perception and everyone else's.

 

[Burakovsky95*]

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.

It's Milan Lucic. I don't think he needs to show people he can stand up for himself.

 

[RandyHolt]

He may have been bad, but once again this is ridiculous. He's more in line with Davis Payne-level bad than Wayne Gretzky-level bad.

How are you grading bad....

Did Payne or Gretzky coach goalies not to play the shots? Goaltending is a HUGE part of every single game.

I am not sure my opinion is up for debate on this one

 

[third man in]

How are you grading bad....

Did Payne or Gretzky coach goalies not to play the shots? Goaltending is a HUGE part of every single game.

I am not sure my opinion is up for debate on this one

Honestly I could have done a better job solely because I would've let the assistants do their jobs. I'm convinced Oates was getting revenge on the organization for something or other.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Awesome win, as complete a game as I've seen in the past few years. It's becoming clear just how in over his head Oates was.

 

[g00n]

Honestly I could have done a better job solely because I would've let the assistants do their jobs. I'm convinced Oates was getting revenge on the organization for something or other.

 

[PRicci09]

In 20 some years of watching, I can say Oates is the worst coach i've ever seen. I think the main problem was simply his personality. The guy was both delusional and extremely stubborn.

Smartest guy in the room mentality. Rather than re-evaluating his system or coaching style, he just juggled lines the whole year. Even after exhausting pretty much every reasonable line combo, he still could do no wrong. He puts Ovechkin and the great 1C Beagle together.

Logic is not is not something Oates is familiar with.

 

[txpd]

we can just go back to the goaltending. Prior was a highly respected coach. He runs him off and Holtby and Neuvirth go in the dumpster playing his game. Only Grubauer who is playing Prior's program can stop the puck. and Oates didn't notice that?

 

[RandyHolt]

Honestly I could have done a better job solely because I would've let the assistants do their jobs. I'm convinced Oates was getting revenge on the organization for something or other.

Despite spending to the cap, without Blaine's PP expertise, we were likely a lottery team!

His time here was very bizarre. Hats off to posters that immediately hated the hiring at the time IIRC Foy and others.

 

[ynotcaps]

Don't think the 'Skins comparison is apt. GMGM, for all his flaws, did know how to draft. We've had a good scout team to boot, for years. 'Skins have absolutely nothing. Talent is trash, GM is trash, scouting department is trash.

Skins comparison here was solely from the coaching standpoint -- the litany of sins for the franchise overall extends so, so far beyond any comparison here. My point was that the Caps FINALLY opted for an experienced head coach after too many toe-dips in the "we can discover the next coaching diamond." And the results so far seem to reinforce the wisdom of finally making that decision.

With two exceptions, the Snyderskins have pretty much taken the same approach of hoping to strike oil, with even worse results. (And those 2 exceptions were fatally flawed on their own demerits). OK, sorry, enough of that -- I'll drag my gridiron-based bitterness to the appropriate board, and be thankful that it looks like we'll have a winter team that may actually not be torture to watch.

 

[Hivemind]

Oates sucked, don't get me wrong. But I really don't think he was worse than a number of other recent coaches. Being a control freak and failing to utilize your players strengths aren't exactly rare shortcomings in hockey coaches.

For reference, read up on Bill LaForge and Ned Harkness. Though, showing up and rearranging someone's furniture to teach hockey does sound like something Oates would do.

 

[Acallabeth]

Hard to complain about the game. Holtby had to make too many saves, and the amount of own zone breakout turnovers was alarming, but it'll get better.
Oh how I missed this player movement, actual forechecking and physicality. New defensemen are just what doctor ordered.

For reference, read up on Bill LaForge and Ned Harkness. Though, showing up and rearranging someone's furniture to teach hockey does sound like something Oates would do.

Fun read, thank you man of metal
However, Oates still stands as the worst head coach I have ever seen. Just thinking we wasted 2 years with this idiot makes me sick.

I can’t evaluate (Harkness) as a coach because he isn’t one. He can’t coach

This quote form the Harkness article is exactly what I think of Oates. He reminded me of a kid who tries to edit all the players in a video game just to see if he can make the best.

 

[BobRouse]

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.

Like others have said you pretty much nailed it Marcel. Very impressive!

Oates was terrible. And although I'm like really awesome at hyperbole in this case its not hyperbole to say that he's the worst coach I've ever seen.

 

[SkinsFan09]

Worst coach ever is excessive but Oates was HORRIBLE. TERRIBLE.

 

[RandyHolt]

Without knowing what coaches had what skill level of their players, and knowing what coaches asked those players to do, the "worst" coach is very subjective.

I hang my worst hat on him for having goalies treating every potential shooter as an Oates clone, one very likely to pass.

Keep it simple, and compare him to Washington's coaches only.

I even think Hanlon was better.

 

[OVrocks]

I think that Oates is a prime example of why HOF players rarely make good coaches. He just couldn't fathom the fact that 99.9% of players don't have the natural talent or hockey IQ that he possessed. I'm sure that his system would work great if every player was an Oates clone, but not with a roster largely made up of mere mortals.

 

[searle]

The thing I hate the most about Oates is the fact that we're still talking about him.