I've always said the same thing about AV. He is a good systems coach and is good at providing a good overall framework for a team.
Where I question him is in the area of making adjustments. I think this has shown up in the playoffs and in games like today.
I would say that AV is a solid coach but maybe not a particulary clever one. There is advantages to this b/c he sticks with things but a disadvantage when this becomes stubborness when change is necessary.
Knowing when to change AV is difficult. Right now the team continues to do reasonably well (up to today at least) and so you want to maintain the momentum and continuity. However, sometimes the mid-season change works - like with LA last year. So right now it's a hard call.
I really don't know who would replace him - although not someone like Crawford or Wilson. Guy I might consider is Brent Sutter but I doubt he's available. To me, Sutter understands what it takes to win in this League, wrings the best out of his teams, knows the division and has kind of mellowed into a better coach. He gets instant respect and credibility and maybe provides a new dyanamic to the team. Not saying we should replace AV with Sutter (especailly if it's a knee jerk reaction to one game or even a series of games) but if you were thinking of letting AV go, Sutter might be the type of coach you are looking for.
