Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - part XXIV

[Hisch13r]

Gotcha, just seems noticeably negative with regard to Holtz.

Many of the other things I don't really see much of a reason to be negative about. Sure the record's horrendously bad but the skater group was nowhere near that bad and was pretty average with the key guys looking good (outside of like Dougie who did look great before the injuries so I think he'll bounce back). The things I've been the most negative on are probably the Stillman and Mukhamadullin picks or just Fitz drafting in general outside of Holtz (lol), Mercer, and Luke. I was down on Ty earlier this year than most

With Holtz though he just looks really really bad. There could be big improvements. He made them in the AHL from last year to this year. As of now it just looked so rough. I wish I had access to puck touch and puck possession time because he might have literally been the worst on the team in that regard besides like Geertsen. The team as a whole never had the puck with him on the ice and he himself rarely would ever even touch the puck.

 

[NJDevs26]

I have been ambivalent about Ruff, and to some extent, I still am because I'm not sure if prime Scotty Bowman or Al Arbour get great results from this roster with the injuries and goalie mess. That said, anyone not sure about whether coaching really makes a difference should google and read about the changes in the New Orleans Pelicans wrought by Willie Green. He's not a brilliant strategist but he is competent there. It's the culture buy in and belief the players have shown that has made the difference. That team was 3-16. They were four games above .500 the rest of the way missing their best player for the entire season and their second best player for 30 games. They missed a number of good players for other parts of the season. They won two win or go home games to get into the playoffs and pushed the number one seed hard to six games. If a few shots fall differently there may have been a game seven. The turnaround was dramatic if gradual. Next year look for the Pelicans to win about 50 games with a healthy roster.

The Pelicans had a respected older coach in Stan Van Gundy the prior year. Clearly a brilliant basketball mind and someone who has probably forgotten more about basketball than Willie Green will ever know. None of that mattered. It's hard to explain but Willie Green took a young team looking for leadership and pressed all the right buttons and turned the entire franchise around. It was night and day.

Adding CJ McCollum as a respected vet who can still play and was all in helped as well.

If NJ can find their Willie Green I'd thank Ruff and the rest of the staff and go from there. Maybe Nas can stay in some capacity (sorry @glenwo2 I think he's an organization guy like Fitz and they often have ongoing value even if removed from day to day responsibility). It's not easy but he's out there.

Why go that far across the country for a different sport example of competent coaching making a difference in an organization previously adrift (cough Buck Showalter cough)?

 

[My3Sons]

Why go that far across the country for a different sport example of competent coaching making a difference in an organization previously adrift (cough Buck Showalter cough)?

I went to Pelicans games all season and saw first hand how the season went and how much of a difference the coach made to a young team looking to turn the corner. I can speak about it authoritatively and give multiple specifics about what changed and why and how.

 

[The Grinder]