Coach Discussion: Coaching Thread 3

[surixon]

That's not the same thing.

He will want a good product to help ensure a strong recovery after Covid. Period. It is not that he is spending money and will demand a commensurate result.

Maurice will be on the hot seat because he will have had enough chances, enough good players, enough time, etc. He will have had enough. Period. Covid or no Covid.

I'm not even sure that excuses will save him this time, if there are excuses.

So ....... is Paul feeling the pressure? If he is, will it make him a better coach, or a worse one? Or neither?

All good questions. We will just have to wait and see.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

All good questions. We will just have to wait and see.

I suspect it might make him stick to his patterns even more stubbornly. To prove he is right. To prove he is not worried. I hope it makes him decide to try something else. We will have to wait and see, but I would rather see Maurice succeed than see him fired.

 

[surixon]

I suspect it might make him stick to his patterns even more stubbornly. To prove he is right. To prove he is not worried. I hope it makes him decide to try something else. We will have to wait and see, but I would rather see Maurice succeed than see him fired.

I just want a good entertaining team. If that is with Maurice fine. While I share your concerns around him potentially doubling down, I still have to remind myself of the year where Maurice and the org dissected their play and used data to come up with something different in 17-18 and we had an exceptional year. I hope that the coaching staff and org is undergoing a similar process this summer and they come up with something that will better take advantage of the talent we have on the roster. As shown in my post there is a lot of work for the coaching staff to do. I expect there will be a lot of system related drills this camp.

 

[voyageur]

Now that it looks like we likely have the roster that we are going to run with barring perhaps a Roslovic for Weager type of deal I figured it is time to look at what we might expect from our coaching staff in terms of systems and style of play:

Last year the Jets were bottom 3 in terms of both offensive and defensive XGF% so in essence we need to improve across the board.

Offensively last year are systems were a nightmare and according to Murat obsolete based on what the best teams are running right now:

"I’ll also share that one of my biggest takeaways from these playoffs is that Winnipeg’s 5-on-5 game in the offensive zone is old-fashioned and lags behind this year’s Cup contenders. Modern NHL teams pick apart the offensive zone in sections, knowing when to cycle down low but also when to cycle up high and attack the middle of the ice from all sides. Winnipeg appears to want to make plays off the rush or move to the middle from the endboards after what has become an increasingly ineffective cycle. To me, that’s on coaching."

Jets mailbag: Winnipeg's Cup window, judging Jets' draft record and more

According to that same article it appears Maurice understands this and says the Jets will need to do different things next year but given this and the teams atrocious defense the Jets have an awful lot of catching up to do.h

Defensively the Jets have retained and added some defensive ability in:

DeMelo
Forbert

They also look to have Samberg another noted defensive dmen make the team.

As a result I would expect that the increased size/grit and defensive ability should lead to stronger team defense. I also expect Morrissey to bounce back now that he has a year of experience of being the guy under his belt, I also expect that all this time off will have allowed him to fully rehab what ever injury's he was dealing with last year.

So given that our defense should be much more solid I would have to think Maurice wont be passive and restrictive with the rest of his systems.

Upfront we have added Stastney and have a number of kids who should be better.

I still have major reservations on how Maurice is going to set up his forward lines. We should be able to dress a real strong top 12 this year and also should be able to better manage our top forwards ice times.

I will be very curious if we see any of the new aged offensive schemes in his game plan. If we do I think we have the skill to pick apart a good many of the teams in this league.

We also will need to improve both of our special teams significantly.

I personally think this is it for Maurice. Chevy has solidified the defense and brought in a good veteran 2C so there should be no excuses for Maurice not to have the horses needed to win this year. I don't feel this org can afford to fall further behind the 8 ball in terms of schemes so Maurice had better have done his homework this summer.

You can't emphasize how much this team changed over a year. You had 3 RD that all could jump off the boards, and play in a cycle game, and attack the net. All of a sudden Tucker Poolman is your top pairing RD. That affected the best player left, Morrissey's game alot. Not to mention he was also injured, and you could tell he was avoiding contact.

We had to change our whole defensive structure to keep the game in front of the defense for the most part. While Hellebuyck faced alot of shots, the team limited its odd man rushes against, reducing both the number of high quality chances for and against, though the slot was definitely an area where teams could walk in, break us down in a man to man defense. But it's hard to expect guys like Beaulieu, who could hardly skate from injury, or Sbisa, who was in the same boat, and was never fleet of foot to begin with, or Bitetto or Dahlstrom to infuse much of an offensive sustainability. Even Kulikov who went from a #5/6 to a #3 was in too deep. I'm sure the organization would have liked to have seen Niku bring some of that, but he didn't have a positive impact either, whether that be because of personnel or development is still contentious. Looking at the forthcoming roster, we still don't have defensemen who shoot alot, both Morrissey and Pionk are good passers, and capable skaters to join the rush, nor do we have defensemen who attacked the net hard like Buff and Myers, though Myers was often criticized for being too focused on offense.

There's some criticism that we still play chip and chase. Well every team in the NHL does. If you defend well on the blueline, with numbers, that's your only option to attack, and the safest place to defend is in the offensive zone. That old saying about turnovers between the bluelines is still relevant. It can be questioned whether our talented players have the effectiveness to play that NHL game, which is often dictated by opponents. And you better use it, because slick skating, high end skill guys like Burmistrov found that the smaller ice didn't allow for so much manoeuvring. If anything a good chip and chase, with a strong cycle game broke down the Jets last year. This is where I think Stastny will help infinitely.

I can't believe the team went as far as it did last year, with spare parts. But relying on star players to get through the grind I feel left us playing a game that didn't have a lot of impact, aggressiveness, or tempo. Improvements on defense might allow for a more sustained pressure game that was the height of our success.

Improvement in special teams are a big part of coaching, and there better be some positive changes, or there's not going to be room for excuses, because they impact wins and losses significantly.

 

[surixon]

You can't emphasize how much this team changed over a year. You had 3 RD that all could jump off the boards, and play in a cycle game, and attack the net. All of a sudden Tucker Poolman is your top pairing RD. That affected the best player left, Morrissey's game alot. Not to mention he was also injured, and you could tell he was avoiding contact.

We had to change our whole defensive structure to keep the game in front of the defense for the most part. While Hellebuyck faced alot of shots, the team limited its odd man rushes against, reducing both the number of high quality chances for and against, though the slot was definitely an area where teams could walk in, break us down in a man to man defense. But it's hard to expect guys like Beaulieu, who could hardly skate from injury, or Sbisa, who was in the same boat, and was never fleet of foot to begin with, or Bitetto or Dahlstrom to infuse much of an offensive sustainability. Even Kulikov who went from a #5/6 to a #3 was in too deep. I'm sure the organization would have liked to have seen Niku bring some of that, but he didn't have a positive impact either, whether that be because of personnel or development is still contentious. Looking at the forthcoming roster, we still don't have defensemen who shoot alot, both Morrissey and Pionk are good passers, and capable skaters to join the rush, nor do we have defensemen who attacked the net hard like Buff and Myers, though Myers was often criticized for being too focused on offense.

There's some criticism that we still play chip and chase. Well every team in the NHL does. If you defend well on the blueline, with numbers, that's your only option to attack, and the safest place to defend is in the offensive zone. That old saying about turnovers between the bluelines is still relevant. It can be questioned whether our talented players have the effectiveness to play that NHL game, which is often dictated by opponents. And you better use it, because slick skating, high end skill guys like Burmistrov found that the smaller ice didn't allow for so much manoeuvring. If anything a good chip and chase, with a strong cycle game broke down the Jets last year. This is where I think Stastny will help infinitely.

I can't believe the team went as far as it did last year, with spare parts. But relying on star players to get through the grind I feel left us playing a game that didn't have a lot of impact, aggressiveness, or tempo. Improvements on defense might allow for a more sustained pressure game that was the height of our success.

Improvement in special teams are a big part of coaching, and there better be some positive changes, or there's not going to be room for excuses, because they impact wins and losses significantly.

Oh I completely understand why Maurice thought he had to do what he did with our dcore. Having said that was it the best strategy? Yes we cut down on rush chances against but we had to absolutely neuter our offense to do it. As mentioned 29th in XGF/60. That was near Detroit level bad last year and with our talent that should be unheard of. Also while it cut down on rush chances against it didn't really lead to even bad defensive metrics, we where still awful and third last in giving up chances with a 2.73 XGA/60. Only .05 XGA/60 behind the dead last Blackhwaks. So to me the strategy killed our offense without providing much if any benefit to team defense. Perhaps a better strategy would have been to open things up a bit and try to go out and outscore other teams especially given that we have a top 5 goalie in the league. We wont really know if that would have worked or not but I can't imagine we would have bleed much more then we did trying to play passive defense.

The Jets chip and chase more then most in large part due to Maurice liking full regroups in the nz before we attack. This allows the other team to get set up which in turn takes away space for our forwards which necessitates a dump.

What we need to see more of his hard gaps in the nz to force turnovers and then quickly counter off those turnovers before the other team gets set. That will lead to more controlled zone entries and rush chances. I have always thought this team has been better at establishing a cycle off of a failed rush chance then it has off of a dump and puck battle. Add in an aggressive 2-1-2 forecheck like we saw in 17-18 and I think that would be a good base for our attacking scheme. Work some different low and high plays in off the cycle and attack in layers on the rush when the situation calls for it and we are in business imo. Morrissey is at his best in that type of offensive scheme as he is very good at jumping into holes on the rush or off the cycle and he can get his shot away quickly. Pionk likely has something to offer in this scheme as well and I imagine Heinola will perform well here when he makes it as well.

Where I expect to see improvement with our defensive personnel is being able to box out he slot and being able to better break a cycle. This should theoretically allow us to turn over pucks quicker and get the puck ourt of our end more effectively. I don't see a lot of offense from the points other then JoMo, Pionk and to a lesser extent Beau but our forwards should be skilled/dynamic enough that we should be able to generate enough looks. I expect we should be at least a mid table team in terms of XGF/60 next season. Add in the finishing talent on the team and that should be more then sufficient.

I agree fully with special teams. Our PK needs a complete overhaul and I hope Morrissey is fully healthy as we missed his ability to anticipate and close down passing lanes last year. We also need to pressure other teams more, we have the team speed so hopefully that is incorporated. The PP imo also needs some rethinking, we need more movement and more attacking options. I like @ecolad suggestion to run a Tampa esc PP with Laine and Conner on either side of the Umbrella forcing teams to respect both of their shots. With Scheifele in the slot and a good down low player like Stastney and I think we are in business.

Edit:

I would also like to see different fundamental strategies implemented depending on what line is on the ice. A neutral zone regroup and a soft chip and hard forecheck to set up a cycle would work very well for a Copp/Lowry lead line whereas using a quick nz counter would serve our top 6 very well. Conner, Ehelers, Scheifele, Laine etc have the speed and skill to exploit odd mand and quick rush chance situations.

 

[voyageur]

Oh I completely understand why Maurice thought he had to do what he did with our dcore. Having said that was it the best strategy? Yes we cut down on rush chances against but we had to absolutely neuter our offense to do it. As mentioned 29th in XGF/60. That was near Detroit level bad last year and with our talent that should be unheard of. Also while it cut down on rush chances against it didn't really lead to even bad defensive metrics, we where still awful and third last in giving up chances with a 2.73 GA/60. Only .05 GA/60 behind the dead last Blackhwaks. So to me the strategy killed our offense without providing much if any benefit to team defense. Perhaps a better strategy would have been to open things up a bit and try to go out and outscore other teams especially given that we have a top 5 goalie in the league. We wont really know if that would have worked or not but I can't imagine we would have bleed much more then we did trying to play passive defense.

The Jets chip and chase more then most in large part due to Maurice liking full regroups in the nz before we attack. This allows the other team to get set up which in turn takes away space for our forwards which necessitates a dump.

What we need to see more of his hard gaps in the nz to force turnovers and then quickly counter off those turnovers before the other team gets set. That will lead to more controlled zone entries and rush chances. I have always thought this team has been better at establishing a cycle off of a failed rush chance then it has off of a dump and puck battle. Add in an aggressive 2-1-2 forecheck like we saw in 17-18 and I think that would be a good base for our attacking scheme. Work some different low and high plays in off the cycle and attack in layers on the rush when the situation calls for it and we are in business imo. Morrissey is at his best in that type of offensive scheme as he is very good at jumping into holes on the rush or off the cycle and he can get his shot away quickly. Pionk likely has something to offer in this scheme as well and I imagine Heinola will perform well here when he makes it as well.

Where I expect to see improvement with our defensive personnel is being able to box out he slot and being able to better break a cycle. This should theoretically allow us to turn over pucks quicker and get the puck ourt of our end more effectively. I don't see a lot of offense from the points other then JoMo, Pionk and to a lesser extent Beau but our forwards should be skilled/dynamic enough that we should be able to generate enough looks. I expect we should be at least a mid table team in terms of XGF/60 next season. Add in the finishing talent on the team and that should be more then sufficient.

I agree fully with special teams. Our PK needs a complete overhaul and I hope Morrissey is fully healthy as we missed his ability to anticipate and close down passing lanes last year. We also need to pressure other teams more, we have the team speed so hopefully that is incorporated. The PP imo also needs some rethinking, we need more movement and more attacking options. I like @ecolad suggestion to run a Tampa esc PP with Laine and Conner on either side of the Umbrella forcing teams to respect both of their shots. With Scheifele in the slot and a good down low player like Stastney and I think we are in business.

Lots of good ideas in there.

 

[Mud Turtle]

Attacking in layers off the rush is so badly needed. you hardly ever see the jets doing a drop pass to the second layer.
And how many 2 on 1’s do the Jets get? Or breakaways?(other than coming out of the penalty box).
The Jets are at their best when they are relentless in their pursuit and when they break up plays.
A safe style of play simply does not suit or lineup.

 

[surixon]

Attacking in layers off the rush is so badly needed. you hardly ever see the jets doing a drop pass to the second layer.

Yup and we have the shooting talent that can exploit a layered attack.