Still don’t get why a GM, who trades the future fir Kessel and Hall, refuses to dump a crappy coach for a coach who is a proven winner. Is it about penny pinching?
This is a little bit of a hard one, because it is almost a microcosm of the game that Kuemper got injured. Coyotes go up 1-0, then give up 2 to Minnesota. Then, we get one back. Followed by another 2 from Minnesota. Within the first four minutes of the 3rd period, we are back to being tied.
Our issue is that we never look so resoundingly awful that we are forced to do some drastic, like pulling Kuemper there. Likewise, we are just good enough that we keep hopes up across all levels, just as how we were always matched with goals. rt was not joking when he stated that we will win 7-1 against Tampa and everything will be good. A win like that gives us some hope, but then we can't capitalize and lose to teams well below them in the standings.
I believe that part of the reason for Tocchet being kept around is that Tocchet probably prepared his interview to highlight some things that Chayka believes to be crucial to success. Therefore, he will coach the team with those basic ideas. I do find it kind of interesting that it was mentioned how Dave Tippett would coach so many different scenarios defensively, but then his offense was very basic and simple (how many times did we hear about keeping the gameplan simple?). It seems like we have the opposite with Tocchet, but I don't know what the thought is.
I have tried my best to convince myself that Tocchet still has a shot at being a good coach, but I am done with that. This team had every single possible good thing happen to it - trades to bring in offense with Soderberg, Kessel, and Hall, minimal coaching staff changes, some players being 2 years into a system. Two very good goaltenders. We had more injuries with a worse team last year, and are actually under-performing last year's team.
Get rid of Tocchet soon.