Confirmed with Link: John Hynes to be named head coach

[Legionnaire11]

I don't like the length of the contract, but I find it hard to judge Hynes on half a season with an obviously flawed roster that was actually doing worse in most metrics under the previous coach.

And if there's not significant roster changes this offseason, how much can Hynes or anyone else really get out of this group?

One thing that has to happen is that the second line wingers need to be changed to players who fit with Duchene, Turris is obviously not going to be a success on the wing and Granlund doesn't seem like a fit with Duchene. Granlund needs a shoot first center like Stamkos. I feel like Duchene needs a speedy shooting winger and a bigger two-way winger.

Similarly the defense pairs are not optimal, but with the group assembled it's hard to optimize more than one pair (Ekholm-Ellis).

Hynes might be a disaster, but there are too many issue with the roster to seriously put any decent amount of blame on Hynes at the moment.

 

[Scoresberg]

Hynes has two seasons left on his deal, not three.

 

[Predsanddead24]

I really don't think Hynes contract is that big of an issue. Like it or not he was always at least getting this past season and the upcoming one. Firing him with one season left on his contract really isn't a big deal.

If ownership is ever willing to force Poile out I doubt it is this offseason since they probably don't want to bring someone new into what is sure to be a strange offseason. If this next season goes poorly though I could see a Poile retirement, a Hynes firing, and a new GM being brought in and picking his own coach.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I really don't think Hynes contract is that big of an issue. Like it or not he was always at least getting this past season and the upcoming one. Firing him with one season left on his contract really isn't a big deal.

If ownership is ever willing to force Poile out I doubt it is this offseason since they probably don't want to bring someone new into what is sure to be a strange offseason. If this next season goes poorly though I could see a Poile retirement, a Hynes firing, and a new GM being brought in and picking his own coach.

Agreed entirely. Poile and Hynes have the upcoming season to establish something. It's going to be complicated by the Covid situation, unfortunately. But somehow, some way, they are going to have to establish Progress. The team cannot flounder or regress again.

Now, Progress doesn't necessarily have to mean winning a Stanley Cup or anything as dramatic as that. But if we are going to tread some water and be a borderline playoff team, it has to be while integrating some youth into the lineup and explicitly trying to build something. That would count as Progress also. I don't know how easy it will be for Poile to plug our lineup holes and for Hynes to figure the team out and turn us back into the hoped-for contender status for next season. So to me, the kind of Progress I am really hoping they can make is to do some of that building. Integrate a few players from Milwaukee, find some better chemistry on forward lines and defense pairs, try to make some cultural changes, etc. It might not add up to any more points in the standings next season. But it can still be marked a successful season for the GM and for the Coach if they find the right way to accomplish those things.

 

[JustaFinnishGuy]

Hynes has two seasons left on his deal, not three.

When he was signed it was basically a 3 year deal.

 

[Armourboy]

Agreed entirely. Poile and Hynes have the upcoming season to establish something. It's going to be complicated by the Covid situation, unfortunately. But somehow, some way, they are going to have to establish Progress. The team cannot flounder or regress again.

Now, Progress doesn't necessarily have to mean winning a Stanley Cup or anything as dramatic as that. But if we are going to tread some water and be a borderline playoff team, it has to be while integrating some youth into the lineup and explicitly trying to build something. That would count as Progress also. I don't know how easy it will be for Poile to plug our lineup holes and for Hynes to figure the team out and turn us back into the hoped-for contender status for next season. So to me, the kind of Progress I am really hoping they can make is to do some of that building. Integrate a few players from Milwaukee, find some better chemistry on forward lines and defense pairs, try to make some cultural changes, etc. It might not add up to any more points in the standings next season. But it can still be marked a successful season for the GM and for the Coach if they find the right way to accomplish those things.

Ellis' comments after the last game were very telling to me and gives me hope some things might improve.

Basically he said the team had increasingly become more mentally soft under Lavi and it was something that Hynes has already been pushing to correct since he walked in.

I got the sense from it the players were just about as ready for Lavi to go as many of the fans were.

May be projecting a bit but the tone of his voice said alot imo.

 

[glenngineer]

There were two things in game 4 that really bothered me about Hynes's coaching.

1. When Arvy doesn't come back for the third, he moved Duchene up to the top line. While not the end of the world, JOFA was clicking and I'd put the player to have that same type of playing style as Arvy and that would be Grimaldi. That would've made sense to me.

2. When we got the PP in the third, he moved Jarnkrok up to the first unit. I honestly don't know why he's on the second unit with Bonino sitting on the bench but why jack with the chemistry of both units? Put Bonino or another defenseman out there instead of moving Jarnkrok up. I just didn't understand that move.

On to the bigger picture items, he seemed to keep a lot of the status quo as far as lines and pairings go with a few minor adjustments. If I'm the coach and coming into a new situation, the first thing I want to do is shake up the status quo and move guys around until I find some chemistry that works. I've seen a lot of teams that use the theory of finding two guys that gel together really well and then find a third that works with them. Not sure why he was so afraid to move things around but that's why you're the new coach. Change it up.

 

[Preds Partisan]

Terrible coach gets terrible results. Who would have guessed?

 

[Armourboy]

Terrible coach gets terrible results. Who would have guessed?

Not really defending Hynes here but every team has one of these every single season, the real answer lies in what happens after this one and does it continue or is it just one of those games?

 

[Roman Yoshi]

No, I'm pretty sure Hynes is a terrible coach with great connections. This guy is the definition of failing up.

 

[triggrman]

Poile hired Hynes because Poile is all in on his USA Hickey buddies. He was not the best coach available at the time, still isn’t. I’m ready for both to go

 

[Legionnaire11]

I also didn't like the Hinote hiring. Obviously it's too early to tell, and it's especially difficult to evaluate assistant coaches. However, we fired Dan Muse and Team USA hired Muse to be Hinote's head coach... and then we go and hire Hinote to take Muse's old post. Doesn't make sense.

I also thought Rob Scuderi deserved more of a chance, unless he just didn't want it. The defense looked a lot tighter after he was promoted to finish out the season, he's demoted again in the offseason the defense is garbage. Maybe he had nothing to do with it though.

Ultimately when you have Johansen and Duchene leading the team (as far as salary, visibility and expectations), it might not matter who the coaches are though.

 

[Scoresberg]

I think we've tightened up defensively under Hynes and our goalies certainly look a lot better but Hynes hasn't been able to fix the main thing why Lavy was fired in the first place and in my books, that counts as a failure.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Well, all these new coaches will have a good test after that one. The team looked alright for 3 games. And then one massive stinker where if I was going to fault somebody... there were clearly a lot of key players just going through the motions. But now the job is laid out for the coaches. Can they get the players back on track? Can they actually identify where the REAL problems were... i.e. not just scapegoat easy targets like Trenin or Olivier or Benning by sitting them down a game. Can they see that it was really the star players that coughed that one up, and how can they get them to play better more consistently? Can they finally fix the special teams for real? It's all laid right out there for them to tackle.

Instead, when I see them shuffle lines and break up JoFA and keep Granlund on a top line and run the same PP system and put Trenin in the pressbox... I won't be surprised. But it'll say something.

 

[triggrman]

I liked Granlund’s game last night. He’s better than Cousins or Kunin. I would like

Forsberg-Duchene-Kunin
Granlund-Johansen-Arvidsson
Cousins-Sissons-Grimaldi
Trenin-Richardson-Oliver

Josi-Fabbro
Ekholm-Ellis
B-B

Also, Arvidsson needs to move to PP2. He’s killing possession on the power play. He’s more of a transition goal scorer

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

I liked Granlund’s game last night. He’s better than Cousins or Kunin. I would like

Forsberg-Duchene-Kunin
Granlund-Johansen-Arvidsson
Cousins-Sissons-Grimaldi
Trenin-Richardson-Oliver

Josi-Fabbro
Ekholm-Ellis
B-B

Also, Arvidsson needs to move to PP2. He’s killing possession on the power play. He’s more of a transition goal scorer

We don't really have any reliable one-time shooters outside of our D. That was one of the few things Turris could provide that would be nice to have. I wonder, if for no other reason, it may be worth exploring Tolvanen for that role.

 

[NoNecksCurse]

I liked Granlund’s game last night. He’s better than Cousins or Kunin. I would like

Forsberg-Duchene-Kunin
Granlund-Johansen-Arvidsson
Cousins-Sissons-Grimaldi
Trenin-Richardson-Oliver

Josi-Fabbro
Ekholm-Ellis
B-B

Also, Arvidsson needs to move to PP2. He’s killing possession on the power play. He’s more of a transition goal scorer

He hasn't been that either really since the whole team watched bortuzzo break him in half with those cross checks

 

[triggrman]

We don't really have any reliable one-time shooters outside of our D. That was one of the few things Turris could provide that would be nice to have. I wonder, if for no other reason, it may be worth exploring Tolvanen for that role.

At this point I’d try it

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

We don't really have any reliable one-time shooters outside of our D. That was one of the few things Turris could provide that would be nice to have. I wonder, if for no other reason, it may be worth exploring Tolvanen for that role.

I mean, if you are going to dress 4th line wingers in Olivier and Trenin who are essentially "specialists" the way you play them for 4th line energy/physicality, then why not dress a guy who is otherwise basically a 4th liner in terms of total icetime, but you run him out there on your 1st PP unit? It's the kind of thinking that I don't have any confidence this coaching staff would come up with, though.

 

[OldFan]

Hynes may or may not be a good coach. Right now, it’s not his fault; yet. These guys absolutely, positively cannot finish. Someone said every goalie looks like a Vezina winner against the Preds. And everybody thinks they are Gretzky. Looking for pretty goals. Well, only Forsberg seems to have glimpses of pretty goals. They refuse to fight for the puck in front of the net. This is a very perplexing team.

 

[triggrman]

It is his fault. Multiple proven players all playing below their norm has to be a system issue

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

It is his fault. Multiple proven players all playing below their norm has to be a system issue

Has he really had a chance to implement his system--if it's really any different than Lavy's was? Couple of short camps really. The problems with underperformance and special teams obviously existed long before him, but the lack of any clear improvement, and also the lack of any real "new coach" bump is pretty disturbing.

 

[Armourboy]

I don't think he was the right hire but he hasn't exactly had the best situation in the world to try and get things changed and going.

I think whatever hope they may have had bringing Lambert in is gone now. He really is just throwing stuff at the wall. The 2nd unit isn't helping but neither group really acts like they know what they want done.

 

[Scoresberg]

I think the powerplay is more of a mental issue at this point with the group of players we have. It hasn't worked in years, and while I think the coaching could be better I'm not sure the best powerplay coach on this planet could turn this around anymore.

What's frustrating in this situation is that the powerplay looked good in the first game and I believe if they could've gotten it rolling in the that game, we might've been able to see some success from the PP this year. But they just couldn't convert to save their lives. Especially Joey, he's had grade A chances in every game from the slot on the PP, he just hasn't been able to put one in.

 

[Armourboy]

I agree with you to a point but I'm with Crispy, when you have one of your best puck handlers in Josi passing off to someone else on purpose something isn't right there.