Coach?

[2xJack]

The rumor is Gallant is not interested in the job here. I can't blame him. It is hard to find a coach willing to tackle a dumpster fire.

That aside, he is at the top of my wish list as others have said.

 

[14ari13]

I am one of those.



Aaaaaaaaaand that's where I bow out.

As far as I can see it is only 6-7 posters on this board.

We all know we need top talent and they are top 3 picks. We finish last this season and maybe Yzerman goes for another season like this. We were unfortunate with draft picks 3 years in a row, now we get top 4 no matter what.

 

[odin1981]

As far as I can see it is only 6-7 posters on this board.

We all know we need top talent and they are top 3 picks. We finish last this season and maybe Yzerman goes for another season like this. We were unfortunate with draft picks 3 years in a row, now we get top 4 no matter what.

We are gonna need 2-3 kicks at the top 4 can to get enough talent to eventually open another 6-10 year contention window. Past this year's one.

 

[RedMenace]

As far as I can see it is only 6-7 posters on this board.

We all know we need top talent and they are top 3 picks. We finish last this season and maybe Yzerman goes for another season like this. We were unfortunate with draft picks 3 years in a row, now we get top 4 no matter what.

I'm just saying I'm not an intelligent poster, so I can't get into any meaningful discussions.

 

[14ari13]

I'm just saying I'm not an intelligent poster, so I can't get into any meaningful discussions.

I think you are, you are just impatient. The season has been painful. But that is the only way we get top talent.

None of the players we have are elite, or not in their prime.

 

[RedMenace]

I think you are, you are just impatient. The season has been painful. But that is the only way we get top talent.

None of the players we have are elite, or not in their prime.

Oh you, flattery won't get me to agree with you any more than I already do...

I honestly haven't been a huge fan of Blashill since he got here, but it's not like I'm going to stop watching if he's still the coach next year.

Do you think we would have "elite" players with a different coach developing them?

 

[odin1981]

Oh you, flattery won't get me to agree with you any more than I already do...

I honestly haven't been a huge fan of Blashill since he got here, but it's not like I'm going to stop watching if he's still the coach next year.

Do you think we would have "elite" players with a different coach developing them?

Closest player on the current roster would be Larkin potentially. But I think he is in for a rough couple years. We have no one else outside of him that is a durable scoring threat. So every team is gonna line match the crap outta him with their top shut down d pair's and defensive forward lines.

Once we get other credible scoring threats throughout the lineup teams won't be able to isolate matchups on his line.

But for the next 2-3 years expect him to be in the 55-65 point production range due to having no other line worth drawing attention too.

 

[RedMenace]

Closest player on the current roster would be Larkin potentially. But I think he is in for a rough couple years. We have no one else outside of him that is a durable scoring threat. So every team is gonna line match the crap outta him with their top shut down d pair's and defensive forward lines.

Once we get other credible scoring threats throughout the lineup teams won't be able to isolate matchups on his line.

But for the next 2-3 years expect him to be in the 55-65 point production range due to having no other line worth drawing attention too.

If Mantha can stay healthy and SFY can get a legit 2C, I really think the "offense by committee" approach will work; Bert, Fabbo, Zadina, and couple of other Griffins graduates or free agents could solidify the scoring depth.

Defensively, there's a lot more work to be done, and it looks like Seider is a good freaking start.

But can Blashill make the transition? Granted the roster isn't sterling, but they're really not THAT bad... I guess at this point it's really a back-and-forth over which is worse: The roster or the coaching staff?

Personally, I'm going with the latter.

 

[14ari13]

Oh you, flattery won't get me to agree with you any more than I already do...

I honestly haven't been a huge fan of Blashill since he got here, but it's not like I'm going to stop watching if he's still the coach next year.

Do you think we would have "elite" players with a different coach developing them?

I do not think we have any elite players.
The closest one is Mantha. Both the stats and the eye test support it.
After him we have Larkin, Hronek, Bertuzzi, *Green and Bernier.

Bernier has been an average (backup) goalie at best his whole career until this season when since December he has been a top 5/10, and even that could be argued.
Green was a great offensive defenceman many years ago, but now he is on his way out of this league and it is questionable if he can survive another season (in addition we have traded him away).

I think it is impossible to evaluate the coach at this point.
The only thing which is important is that Yzerman has said that he supports Blashill and I think Yzerman has done all the right moves so far as a GM.

Yzerman has said that we are far from getting the core in place. So maybe we have to be prepared for another painful season like this.

I think we need another top 5 draft pick (in addition to the one coming this summer), and maybe one more.