Coach John Hynes Discussion

[NjDevsRR]

Good coach. Not great, not bad.

 

[None Shall Pass]

Hynes rules.

I'm half saying that because people will whine about it, and half saying it because our team is better this year and he's mostly been doing positive things, like scratching people who aren't playing well.

 

[Edmonton East]

I think Hynes is a good coach....but he makes some unjustifiable, absurd personnel decisions at times.

1) Greene in OT. Enough.
2) Palms today vs the Isles on the PP (OT) and getting OT time in general. He was awful all game. How about Bratt? Or Nico?
3) Palms in the shootout.....Gibbons....
4) Not holding Vatanen accountable for single handedly costing the team a game with lazy play, poor positioning, and childish penalties vs the Stars. Yet other dmen get scratched for much less. Vatanen responded by playing beer league defense again vs the Isles, aside from one nice play on Tavares in OT.

 

[Bleedred]

He's just whatever.

I don't think we're where we are in spite of him, but I also don't think we're where we are because of him. If you give him most of the credit for this year, you have to give him a lot of blame for last year.

The fascination with Andy Greene, especially in 3 on 3 is becoming a very noticeably glaring blunder of his.

 

[JimEIV]

Terrible coach.

 

[NJDevs26]

He's just whatever.

I don't think we're where we are in spite of him, but I also don't think we're where we are because of him. If you give him most of the credit for this year, you have to give him a lot of blame for last year.

The fascination with Andy Greene, especially in 3 on 3 is becoming a very noticeably glaring blunder of his.

I have my issues with his game management too but this meme Greene shouldn't play 3 on 3, okay well who else are you giving the minutes to besides Severson? And Severson has had his share of being outmuscled/punked in the 3-on-3 in the past. Moore's the only other defenseman I would even want playing the 3-on-3. Greene may be slow but the other defensemen aren't exactly burners either. You're not playing Santini or Lovejoy, or at least you shouldn't. Butcher's all-or-nothing - great if it's in the other zone but if you have to have him play defense in open space...oyiee. These days Vatanen looks much the same - all offense.

 

[Darkauron]

Hynes is pretty damn average and makes some dumb calls. But lord jesus is assistant coaches are sooooooooooooooooooooo much worse. Ward is trash as is the D coach... Clowe I have no idea what he does.

 

[Devils731]

My one big problem with Hynes is the wingers positioning and responsibilities in the D zone, the wingers are next to useless at times.

Otherwise he normally has the team playing hard which is to his credit.

 

[Bleedred]

All in all, I think goaltending made him look worse last year (and good in 2015-2016) and it's making him look better this year.

Fortunately, one of his favorites is Cory and I'm very glad that he's been riding him, as Kinkaid hasn't looked good this year at all. I give him a lot of credit for that.

 

[Bleedred]

Hynes is pretty damn average and makes some dumb calls. But lord jesus is assistant coaches are sooooooooooooooooooooo much worse. Ward is trash as is the D coach... Clowe I have no idea what he does.

Ward is the PP coach, Nasreddine is the D coach. I'm also not sure what Clowe does.

Our special teams are good this year, but Ward is very prone to outsmarting himself with idiocy by some of his moves on the PP. He's not bad at designing a PP, but some of the PP decisions are pretty bad. If Nasreddine is the one who controls the D pairings and how much they play and who they play against, I think he’s a bit worse than I might have otherwise thought.

 

[jkrdevil]

I think Hynes is a sub-replacement level coach.

I don't think he is John MacLean/Rick Tocchet/Patrick Roy level bad, but I don't think he adds any value to the team.

 

[Bleedred]

I have my issues with his game management too but this meme Greene shouldn't play 3 on 3, okay well who else are you giving the minutes to besides Severson? And Severson has had his share of being outmuscled/punked in the 3-on-3 in the past. Moore's the only other defenseman I would even want playing the 3-on-3. Greene may be slow but the other defensemen aren't exactly burners either. You're not playing Santini or Lovejoy, or at least you shouldn't. Butcher's all-or-nothing - great if it's in the other zone but if you have to have him play defense in open space...oyiee. These days Vatanen looks much the same - all offense.

I would give those 3 on 3 minutes to anybody on D, other than Santini or Lovejoy, as they probably don't do much to help there either.

I know he'll never do this, but I'd rather roll 3 forwards and just f***in go for it. If we lose, at least it's on a REAL goal and not in the shootout.

I'm not saying to play 3 forwards, but it ain't much worse than playing Greene.

 

[Bleedred]

I think Hynes is a sub-replacement level coach.

I don't think he is John MacLean/Rick Tocchet/Patrick Roy level bad, but I don't think he adds any value to the team.

This is probably a pretty fair assessment.

Definitely not MacLean/Tocchet/Roy bad, but nothing special. People will cite his AHL time, but the Pens proved to have a pretty stacked farm system at the time he was there. I've also had people cite his time with USA hockey and reference guys like Patrick Kane, but you want me to believe that Patrick Kane wouldn't be Patrick Kane without John Hynes coaching him as a teenager? These were the best teenage players in the United States. I suppose that you can argue that USA Hockey obviously held him in high enough regard to give him the position of coaching their top teenage prospects, but don't convince me that these players weren't already the best teenagers in the country at the time they started playing for him.

 

[NJDevs26]

I would give those 3 on 3 minutes to anybody on D, other than Santini or Lovejoy, as they probably don't do much to help there either.

I know he'll never do this, but I'd rather roll 3 forwards and just ****in go for it. If we lose, at least it's on a REAL goal and not in the shootout.

I'm not saying to play 3 forwards, but it ain't much worse than playing Greene.

We don't have enough forwards the staff trusts in OT to do that lol

 

[Peter Sidorkiewicz]

We don't have enough forwards the staff trusts in OT to do that lol

I think it is time to give Miles Wood some OT time.

Do I want him from the start? No, but i think a sneaky shift from 3 minute mark may pay dividends.

We can capitalize on a rested Wood's blazing speed against a gassed opposition player taking his 2nd/3rd/4th OT shift.

In theory, we already kind of do this with John Moore. He is always first change off the bench and he has had some success utilizing his speed against players coming off a long first shift.

 

[HoliksGhost]

I think Hynes has done a good job getting us where we are.

But, I'm wondering if he can take us to the next level. The OT choices lately are cringe worthy IMO.

 

[Lindys Lazy Eye]

Great AHL coach

 

[Devils Dominion]

He's saying the right things but still makes highly questionable personnel decisions with lineups but more so in game

 

[Emperoreddy]

The stark difference between comments in here and the reality that Hynes is going to be a Jack Adams finalist is pretty interesting.

Lots of the actual criticism is fair, even if the overal assessments are a bit hyperbolic.

I can’t agree with griping about shootout decisions. Fans simply do not have access to the practices. We don’t know who is looking good when they practice the shootout and who looks like a dead fish. Not to mention the whole thing is a crap shoot anyway.

 

[MadDevil]

I think Hynes has done a good job getting us where we are.

But, I'm wondering if he can take us to the next level. The OT choices lately are cringe worthy IMO.

I don't think he's the guy for when we're contending, but for where we are now I think he's fine. Every coach has his quirks, some of which are nitpicks and some that make you question their sanity. I bet you could go to any team board around here and you'll hear similar complaints about personnel decisions, player usage, shootout choices, etc.

 

[Camille the Eel]

Judging by the results of the team this year, with a slew of youngsters, I have to give him very high marks. It can't be easy to keep this group together and growing, so that we're suddenly a contender to make the playoffs and maybe even win a series. Hischier, Bratt, Butcher, Coleman, Wood, Gibbons all growing before our eyes; Mueller was looking like he'd turned a corner before he got hurt . . . what's not to like about that coaching job.

I do quibble with his treatment of Zacha because I think he's a kid who needs to feel confidence behind him, not that with every mistake me might get pulled. But he too has lifted his game immensely since being benched.

We've got a funny mix of fast and growing kids, and some old timers like Zajac and Boyle, slow of foot but sure of positioning.
It seems we can play either up tempo or dump and chase effectively.

Surely adapting a system to the personnel this well is something to Hynes' credit.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I never have judged a coach by wins and loses. That's a bad measure.

Well that's odd....

 

[Devils090]

Hynes gets too much hate here, not that I think he’s an amazing coach fwiw. People who don’t like him will blame him for anything and everything like those do with Schneider or Zajac who don’t like them. He’s not holding us back and aside from giving Stafford and Hayes a little too much wiggle room he’s been fine with the personnel choices. Hischier and Bratt have been given tons of leverage which has helped them to continue to play well, our PP and PK are both top 10 in the league. We’ve been down Palms, Zajac, Boyle, MoJo for extended periods and still find ourselves in a great position with games in hand.

Say what you will but Hynes has done a great job so far this season. Still half way to go though so let’s see if he can get us to the playoffs.

 

[FooteBahl]

Well that's odd....

I wonder if he judges models by their IQ?

 

[devilsblood]

I have to give credit to Hynes for our current style of play. I think it has brought the best out of a lot of our players. Especially the fwd's.

It will be interesting to see how successful this style can be in the playoffs, but I can't argue against what I am seeing so far this regular season.