Habs lose 4-3

[Kriss E]

I think too many beeyotches are catching feelings on behalf of these players. Eller learned a media lesson, and you can be sure they've talked about it at length behind doors, so our perceptions turned concerns as fans are likely just as misconstrued as Eller's original comments were by the media.

I don't think it has much to do with how Eller feels. It's more about me, as a fan, I don't like to see the coach not defend his player. Just like I wouldn't like Moen not back Gionta after he gets bullied around.

 

[Whitesnake]

I think too many beeyotches are catching feelings on behalf of these players. Eller learned a media lesson, and you can be sure they've talked about it at length behind doors, so our perceptions turned concerns as fans are likely just as misconstrued as Eller's original comments were by the media.

I can't talk for Eller. So I'm talking for me. And seeing that, for me, pissed me off. Just like tons of other non-comments by Therrien. And some of his "habits". Obviously, it does start with 2 strikes as I've followed him quite a bit before he was chosen by the Habs and there was just nothing in his comments that made me believe he was up to the task. But we won the conference so it's more than I ever thought we'd achieve. We'll see how it will evolves though. Pretty obvious that Therrien is the type of coach that if he wants to win....he needs to do it pretty quickly.

 

[Habsawce]

I can't talk for Eller. So I'm talking for me. And seeing that, for me, pissed me off. Just like tons of other non-comments by Therrien. And some of his "habits". Obviously, it does start with 2 strikes as I've followed him quite a bit before he was chosen by the Habs and there was just nothing in his comments that made me believe he was up to the task. But we won the conference so it's more than I ever thought we'd achieve. We'll see how it will evolves though. Pretty obvious that Therrien is the type of coach that if he wants to win....he needs to do it pretty quickly.

Not a huge fan of him kicking trash cans, slamming doors and screaming at Subban when he asked a simple question (as per 24CH)

The guy is too much of a roller-coaster for a professional coach.

 

[Whitesnake]

Not a huge fan of him kicking trash cans, slamming doors and screaming at Subban when he asked a simple question (as per 24CH)

The guy is too much of a roller-coaster for a professional coach.

Same here. If people would have seen that done by Patrick Roy, they would have called him a "Junior" coach....

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Therrien is probably just a bit dense with regards doing PR damage control, but he was also answering a very specific question, and might not have been aware of the extent of what the other side had just said. "Lars Eller said some comments that got to the other side, do you think there is a lesson to be learned here". Therrien's agreement is with regards to whether a lesson to be learned or not, not agreeing with the entire Oilers' comments and mockey in toto.

 

[OldCraig71]

The sky has fallen. This team has too much character to win. We need some cancer in that locker room, Bergevin and all his buddies were supposed to restore a winning culture, did they forget that plan? We are a team that is too small and we are still lacking in so many areas. This team with one line producing reminds me of 2011-12 when dd centered patches and cole, we all know how that ended. I predict Therrien is done before the year is over.

 

[Habsawce]

Therrien is probably just a bit dense with regards doing PR damage control, but he was also answering a very specific question, and might not have been aware of the extent of what the other side had just said. "Lars Eller said some comments that got to the other side, do you think there is a lesson to be learned here". Therrien's agreement is with regards to whether a lesson to be learned or not, not agreeing with the entire Oilers' comments and mockey in toto.

The way Eakins handled it was bush league just like Therrien. Nothing Lars said was a travesty, especially if you take it in full context, but the media is also very good at spinning things to make it controversial.

Overall, it had very little bearing on the game. I am willing to bet every game had bulletin board material for players to go out and play hard, but the fact remains Edmonton didn't win because of Lars said, they won because Montreal played 20 minutes and packed it in for the night. The sooner they realize that due to injuries they're a sub-par team and won't win without out working teams, the better off they'll be.

 

[Habsawce]

The sky has fallen. This team has too much character to win. We need some cancer in that locker room, Bergevin and all his buddies were supposed to restore a winning culture, did they forget that plan? We are a team that is too small and we are still lacking in so many areas. This team with one line producing reminds me of 2011-12 when dd centered patches and cole, we all know how that ended. I predict Therrien is done before the year is over.

I doubt it, there are too many ready made excuses to be firing or knee jerk trading anyone this season.

1 - last year was a shortened season and not a good indicator of where we are
2 - injuries are sometimes unavoidable but can have an affect on performance
3 - year 2 of the re-tool, no one was expecting it to happen overnight.
4 - Look at Galchenyuk and Gallagher, Therrien is a good coach with young kids etc.

Just to name a couple.

 

[Kimota]

Whatever Eller said, it didn't seem to fire up Edmonton early on in the game.

 

[groovejuice]

Wrong thread

 

[OldCraig71]

Whatever Eller said, it didn't seem to fire up Edmonton early on in the game.

Eakins is using anything to try and deflect just how crappy that team is and used Larry's comments to try and do it. When the oilers go on another 4 game skid and give up 20 goals, he will be calling Lars to beg him for some more comments.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Should have said, in public, that those comments were taken out of context, like Eller said, and that while he will clearly choose his words better next time, that Eller isn't a guy who thrash talk, like Eller himself said, and if the Oilers want to see him as the bad guy, it's their problem as it wasn't his intention at all. How about defending your player and just acknowledging what his player said and how he feels? When Ference made that gesture to the Habs crowd....what did Julien said?

MT could've taken that approach. I just don't think it was necessary. His player said something he shouldn't have said and MT acknowledged it. I don't think this is throwing the guy under the bus.

Geez...did Eller said all the Oilers wives were ugly and that nobody on that roster deserved to live? You're saying we're making a big deal out of this by thinking that Therrien should have protected his player, and by reading your posts, you really believe Eller killed babies while eating his cereals....

Uh... what?

Come on man, there's TONS of things Therrien could have said that would have made Eller learned his lesson. Therrien could have nothing and Eller would have learned his lesson by the way the clown Eakins made a big show out of it.

Sure, he could've said nothing. But I don't think that's the right way to do it. I think we owed the Oilers an apology and MT gave them one. No big deal.

By the way.....Eakins, ALSO, did make a big thing out of it...and I hope to got it explodes in his face real soon. But when you have an opponent coach laughing at your player and the only thing you say about it is "inappropriate"....sorry, tells me a lot about the coach. Only time when Therrien "reacted" to being ridiculize was against Julien after the "diving" speech. And guess what....he needed a full day to do something even if he knew what Julien had said before. But he reacted. Bravo. I want more reaction. I want more fire from the coach. I obviously want him to coach better, though that might not be so obvious, but a little emotion wouldn't be bad. And it shoudl start by protecting his players and his team, especially with all that diving fiasco we're still witnessing when the Habs are probably one of the few teams that get calls on diving while all the others do it....How about protecting your team? Any chance making comments about how he is totally for the diving penalties THOUGH it has to be called for everybody? How about not accepting that you might be the only team that should be targetted as a diving team?

On the larger stage I think he's far from the perfect coach.

On this matter though, I have absolutely zero problem with how he handled it. No reason to be upset here.

What fire? Are we going to play the Oilers and we're so afraid they'll use that for the upcoming 6 games that we had to put an end to that? Nope. We're done against that. So what other fire? All the other teams will use that? Even if they would...do really think that saying "We'e sorry" will fix anything? Therrien should have protected his player in public. Period. We don't owe anything to anybody. Everybody is criticizing us, bashing us, yet, not only we "No comments" all around, but when we comment, is to bash our own. That's just great.

I think when you acknowledge something like this and end it with 'he's a young player and will learn from it' - you're putting out a fire that the media would run with. You comment on it briefly and move on. If you ignore it - or worse - challenge the Oilers by saying it was out of context - then the story continues to fester.

Again, the comments (regardless of intent) were stupid. So acknowledge they shouldn't have been said and move on. Still don't see the problem here.

Same here. If people would have seen that done by Patrick Roy, they would have called him a "Junior" coach....

I wasn't supportive of Roy coming here. But (I'd like to think anyway) I wouldn't have a different opinion on this if it was him. Can you say the same? (Not saying you couldn't - just asking the question.) How much of this anger stems from you not liking the coach? Any of it? Or you wouldn't have liked this from any coach? Does who it came from matter here to you?

 

[Kriss E]

Sure, he could've said nothing. But I don't think that's the right way to do it. I think we owed the Oilers an apology and MT gave them one. No big deal.

An apology?? For what? He described them perfectly. I think that's Whitesnake's point about your making it seem like Eller did something way worse than he actually did, and then saying we're making a big case out of it.
The kid did nothing absolutely wrong. He was spot on. Now because you have a coach who's in charge of a team that's doing so poorly he uses it as some sort of motivation. Except that they didn't even come out of the gate looking strong!
We were owning them, and they looked exactly as Eller described, heck even Denis said Eller was completely right in his analysis as he was showing clips breaking down the Oilers.

An apology? Please man. Why so sensitive? Kid was right, said nothing wrong.

I think when you acknowledge something like this and end it with 'he's a young player and will learn from it' - you're putting out a fire that the media would run with. You comment on it briefly and move on. If you ignore it - or worse - challenge the Oilers by saying it was out of context - then the story continues to fester.

Well I disagree, I think it does the opposite. It gives a reason to discuss it further.
That's exactly what happened by the way. So I'm not understanding why you think it's water thrown on the fire. People were still talking to Eller about it the day after the game, people are still discussing it online, on the radio, and on TV.
So where's that water??
Therrien could have said a bunch of things that would have killed it. He didn't, he acknowledged what the Oilers said, that Eller's comments served as motivation which wasn't even true!! Oilers did not look motivated. Smid went after Eller at the beginning of the game and Eller threw him down like a girl. We owned the Oilers.
Then we stopped playing, Therrien can't adjust so obviously we didn't come back, and we lost. Defensive breakdowns after another. That's why we lost. Not because Eller motivated them. That's BS. But our coach didn't take the blame. In CGY it's PK's fault, in CLB it's PK's fault they came back, tuesday it was Eller's.
It wasn't because of PK, and it wasn't because of Eller. So the coach should have had his back instead of leaving him out to dry, and he should start deflecting the blame on the real issues.

Again, the comments (regardless of intent) were stupid. So acknowledge they shouldn't have been said and move on. Still don't see the problem here.

Stupid? Geez, again, why so sensitive man?? He said nothing wrong, there was no insult.
Let me ask you, had he not said the word ''Junior'', would it be just as stupid??? If not, that means you agree with every thing he said, but the Jr comment is just too insulting..right?
I think that's pretty ridiculous.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

An apology?? For what? He described them perfectly.

Dude, if you don't see anything wrong with what he said, I don't know what I can say to you. Even if we give him every benefit of the doubt on intent (which I'm more than prepared to do) those are comments that you don't make.

No point continuing a discussion any further than this.

And I'm pretty sure that if some opposing player said it about us, you'd see things differently. And if their coach said what MT said in response that you'd see it as a classy move.

 

[Habset]

Dude, if you don't see anything wrong with what he said, I don't know what I can say to you. Even if we give him every benefit of the doubt on intent (which I'm more than prepared to do) those are comments that you don't make.

No point continuing a discussion any further than this.

And I'm pretty sure that if some opposing player said it about us, you'd see things differently. And if their coach said what MT said in response that you'd see it as a classy move.

Well that's your opinion but I also don't feel like it was such a big deal. They do play like a junior team and if you read his actual comments it's more like he was describing that nights match up and not so much a shot at the team. Everyone knows it, including the Oilers, I'm sure, so whats the big deal?

Your post is honestly laughable because you try to make it sound like this guy is crazy just for stating a perfectly valid alternative to your opinion.

In my opinion anyone who takes a comment like that seriously takes hockey way too seriously.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Well that's your opinion but I also don't feel like it was such a big deal. They do play like a junior team and if you read his actual comments it's more like he was describing that nights match up and not so much a shot at the team. Everyone knows it, including the Oilers, I'm sure, so whats the big deal?

It's not a big deal. MT didn't treat it like a big deal. He said the comments were inappropriate (which they were) and moved on.

This is what the guy said:

“It can be anything, you know? They play a little bit like a junior team, I think, sometimes. They take a lot of risks, a lot of chances, they’re a little all over the place. There’s not a lot of structure, always, in their game,â€

You don't think there's anything wrong with this? C'mon man. If somebody said this about us, there'd be three threads on it...

We all know the guy wasn't meaning to belittle them but that's how it came across. You don't say the other team play like a junior team and don't have structure.... It was a bad quote and came out wrong. In short... inappropriate.

I'm not saying its a big deal at all. It's a teachable moment for a young player and I think that MT's comments were exactly what I'd expect from a coach.


As for it being a "big deal" the only folks making this a big deal are on this board. I don't see what the "big deal" is here....

 

[Kriss E]

Dude, if you don't see anything wrong with what he said, I don't know what I can say to you. Even if we give him every benefit of the doubt on intent (which I'm more than prepared to do) those are comments that you don't make.

No point continuing a discussion any further than this.

And I'm pretty sure that if some opposing player said it about us, you'd see things differently. And if their coach said what MT said in response that you'd see it as a classy move.

Would I? If someone said we played like a Junior team then yea, I would probably be like W.t.f was that about. But I don't get phased by what opposing guys say.
However, if someone said our defense mostly sucks, if pressure is applied on our defensive guys they cough up the pucks and don't organize plays, then no, I would not be upset because it's the TRUTH. I would think that the guy is right and we need to fix that issue, I wouldn't be offended by those comments. You gotta have a thicker skin than that, come on..

I don't give two craps when Julien makes a big deal that our team dives when his team is ever worse at it. It's BS, why would I care about it?
The reason the Oilers took it so personal is because they know he was right, otherwise why even address it?? Why turn it into such a big thing and blabla about motivation (which wasn't even true btw seeing how they were lost for the first half and we threw the game away).

It's not a big deal. MT didn't treat it like a big deal. He said the comments were inappropriate (which they were) and moved on.

This is what the guy said:

“It can be anything, you know? They play a little bit like a junior team, I think, sometimes. They take a lot of risks, a lot of chances, they’re a little all over the place. There’s not a lot of structure, always, in their game,”

You don't think there's anything wrong with this? C'mon man. If somebody said this about us, there'd be three threads on it...

We all know the guy wasn't meaning to belittle them but that's how it came across. You don't say the other team play like a junior team and don't have structure.... It was a bad quote and came out wrong. In short... inappropriate.

I'm not saying its a big deal at all. It's a teachable moment for a young player and I think that MT's comments were exactly what I'd expect from a coach.


As for it being a "big deal" the only folks making this a big deal are on this board. I don't see what the "big deal" is here....

So teach him behind closed doors about how media can twist words around so you have to be on your guard about what you say. But don't let opposing coach and players mock your guy. That's just weak man.

Nobody here is making it a big thing, we're discussing the matter. Eakins and the Oilers made it a big thing by mocking Eller's comments, and then trying to spin it so that it looks to have been their source of motivation to win the game. They made it into a big thing.
Our coach could have said that's BS, it had nothing to do with their loss, and it would have been dead. He didn't, so the media followed up on it and helped make it even bigger.


Nobody here is saying Eller got his feelings hurt because Therrien didn't support him, or because he agreed it was inappropriate. We're just in disagreement that when your player is being mocked, you don't defend him. And again, if his words actually were offensive, I could somewhat understand, but they weren't.
If those words actually were offensive, then there's a big problem with your team.

 

[Whitesnake]

Sure, he could've said nothing. But I don't think that's the right way to do it. I think we owed the Oilers an apology and MT gave them one. No big deal.

No big deal? I believe that not supporting your player is a big deal. We've seen coaches support their players for way worst than that. Besides, by saying this, MT also happened to make a big deal out of it 'cause what was the story after? Was it Eller's actual comments? Or Therrien's lack of support? Yep....the latter. Therrien supports his player and it's even much less of a big deal....

I wasn't supportive of Roy coming here. But (I'd like to think anyway) I wouldn't have a different opinion on this if it was him. Can you say the same? (Not saying you couldn't - just asking the question.) How much of this anger stems from you not liking the coach? Any of it? Or you wouldn't have liked this from any coach? Does who it came from matter here to you?

I don't like him, never wanted to have him here and yet acknowledge the work he did last year.....with some reservations though, but I acknowledged it anyway. But I didn't want him here. I don't think he'll be a great coach on the mid-long run. Type of coach that if he can succeed, will succeed fast and then it should drop from then. Fortunately for him, the excuse is already written, the tons of injuries we had at the start of the year will clealry be the difference between making the playoffs or not. But I don't like his "teaching" from what we see during the game and off it. I don't mind him as a person when he tries to be funny and all...I think he actually is. So I have nothing against the guy, I don't know him anyway. But the coach.....we could have done better. Even if their names were Roy or Hartley. If we had to go for experience, I would have gone with Hartley who clearly proved he could win on every level. There were NO great candidates. But there were better than Therrien.

I'm sick and tired of being the doormat of the league. Whether it was true or supposed team toughness and we kept being beat up every game to now a guy who is just not saying enough when confronted to the other coaches are there who really protect their team and its players. Yet, we see that fire for Therrien.....but against his players. When nobody sees him. Unfortunately for him, there's 24 CH when we can really see the difference between the fiery guy, borderline sometimes way over the top, to the doormat he seems to be in front of the public. I'd love to see more from him in public, and better teaching from what we see at 24CH. But we don't see everything so let's hope there's more to it. I know that I loved Gallant's attack towards the Oilers bench. Was clearly intimidating Acton there.

But if it was Therrien, or Roy or whoever who would not have protected Eller, I would have been mad for that incident. Problem now is that for me, this is just one other thing on top of a whole lot more.

Anyway, game on....time to move on. Surely time to close this....