Kevin Dineen and coaching staff fired!

[Egblad]

He tried. He's scratched a bunch of players and tried to send a message. The players on the team just aren't good enough. Do you think Dineen approved of what he saw on the ice?

For those saying that this is basically the same talent as in 2011, did Kevin Dineen suddenly become a different coach?

I agree with the assessment that the roster isn't good enough, but I don't agree with the absolute train-wreck style hockey they were playing, and I have a hard time believing that Dineen couldn't influence that in some way or form. Instead of all this east-west cross ice bullcrap that end's up in zero shots, why not pound the idea of a north-south style into their heads and shoot from all areas -- something their skill-sets could probably handle better. Yet this team still goes to the ice each night playing a style of game well-beyond their abilities. Is that coach, or is that the players tuning them out? I don't know, they've played this style since Dineen first coached here in 2011. It hasn't changed. In 2011 it worked for a half of season, it hasn't since. The complete lack of organization is evident on the ice. I don't claim to be a head coach, but it doesn't take a rocket-scientist to see how incredibly illogical things are on the ice. Dineen takes the blame for that in my opinion.

 

[Haj]

I doubt this changes anything. Still have the worst roster in the NHL.

This is Tallon covering his own ass. I'm not sure what he expected given the craptacular roster he put together. He should fire himself too.

 

[adam graves]

They aren't first line talents, you're right, but tell me why this team has looked completely dumbfounded on the ice at all times, in all zones? Kevin Dineen can't change that? Or are we going to say that Dineen shouldn't have responsibility in controlling what his players do, and how they play the game? If the answer to that is affirmative, I then ask what the hell is the point of a head coach.

He of course has some responsibility in this. And look you can't fire the team, as the old adage says. I hope it completely changes things. It's not like I peak in on a few minutes here or there; I'm vested in this and am fatigued at the walk of shame. So I hope this works. I just can't adopt the opinion that a coach who brought us to the playoffs in his only full season is THE blame. But I again, do get after 8 loses the coaches job is at risk and it's the nature of sports. I am not offended by this move at all. Could not hope more we make a 180 turn.

 

[zeroG]

He's made too many mistakes. Firing the coach is just the easy way out. Dineen will get another job some place else and win. He did it here in his first year with a group that was not expected to make the playoffs. He did it in the AHL. He did better than your favorite coach, Pete DeBoer. It's ridiculous to think that a coaching change is going to turn things around. It'll just be more of the same crap as long as this core of players are here. It's no surprise that fans around the hockey world heavily criticized all of Tallon's moves at the time they were made. These guys were never that good and they're only getting worse as they get older as is usually the case with long-term contracts.

let's talk again at the end of the year. and then the year after when we see where dineen ends up. i'm on record for a long time as saying he's done in the NHL as a head coach after he's fired here.

 

[Chino Oscar]

He replaced Jason Garrison by overpaying for Filip Kuba. Let me guess, he deserves no blame for that either, right? His crystal ball didn't tell him!

Kuba had been averaging about 30 points a season for the last 10 or so years. The previous year he played extremely solid for Ottowa. Yes, he overpaid for Kuba, but as we can all agree on that is what you have to do to get players to come to FL. Did anything in the previous 10 years tell Tallon that Kuba was going to suck as much as he did? I don't think so. At that point in time, we were also ALL thinking that Gudbranson would take the next step based on his playoff performance, same with Kulikov. I gues you knew all along what was to happen

 

[Egblad]

He of course has some responsibility in this. And look you can't fire the team, as the old adage says. I hope it completely changes things. It's not like I peak in on a few minutes here or there; I'm vested in this and am fatigued at the walk of shame. So I hope this works. I just can't adopt the opinion that a coach who brought us to the playoffs in his only full season is THE blame. Could not hope more I am wrong and we make a 180 turn.

As in any sport, it's always just a factor. A lot of different factors are involved in why this team is underachieving so terribly, from the coaching, to the gm, to the owners. Everybody has their hands in this. Everybody.

 

[MintyFresh88]

I hope Horachek keeps line combos together for more than one period at a time. Dineen basically spent the first 15 games switching lines around.

 

[adam graves]

This wasn't the same team that barely made the playoffs two years ago. It really not that difficult. You didn't need a crystal ball to know that this team was likely not a playoff team.

Are you just going to make excuses for Dale Tallon? Usually excuses are made by the people who don't win. Winners don't make excuses.

Removing garrison, Samuelson , Weiss and a hot Theodore is a 10 point season difference.

 

[Erick*]

I agree with the assessment that the roster isn't good enough, but I don't agree with the absolute train-wreck style hockey they were playing, and I have a hard time believing that Dineen couldn't influence that in some way or form. Instead of all this east-west cross ice bullcrap that end's up in zero shots, why not pound the idea of a north-south style into their heads and shoot from all areas -- something their skill-sets could probably handle better. Yet this team still goes to the ice each night playing a style of game well-beyond their abilities. Is that coach, or is that the players tuning them out? I don't know, they've played this style since Dineen first coached here in 2011. It hasn't changed. In 2011 it worked for a half of season, it hasn't since. The complete lack of organization is evident on the ice. I don't claim to be a head coach, but it doesn't take a rocket-scientist to see how incredibly illogical things are on the ice. Dineen takes the blame for that in my opinion.

We play an east-west style of hockey because our players are east-west style players.

Many Blackhawks fans used to like dislike Versteeg for this. Flyers and Leafs all hated Versteeg for this.

Flash has always been soft.

Our best players are smallish forwards who aren't skilled enough to be top line players playing that style of hockey. That's who they've always been.

If Tallon wanted to play a different style of hockey, he should've brought in different players.

 

[Erick*]

let's talk again at the end of the year. and then the year after when we see where dineen ends up. i'm on record for a long time as saying he's done in the NHL as a head coach after he's fired here.

He's definitely not.

 

[Erick*]

Kuba had been averaging about 30 points a season for the last 10 or so years. The previous year he played extremely solid for Ottowa. Yes, he overpaid for Kuba, but as we can all agree on that is what you have to do to get players to come to FL. Did anything in the previous 10 years tell Tallon that Kuba was going to suck as much as he did? I don't think so. At that point in time, we were also ALL thinking that Gudbranson would take the next step based on his playoff performance, same with Kulikov. I gues you knew all along what was to happen

Kuba was also playing with Erik Karlsson. This is why scouts exist. They're supposed to scout other teams, and I'm guessing that Kuba was already skating slower than molasses the year before we signed him. That couldn't have just happened over night.

Expecting Gudbranson to improve to the point that he'd be putting #'s like Garrison was probably foolish. He's very raw offensively.
This is what happens when you rely on potential. We're doing the same thing now with Markstrom. Solely relying on an unproven guy to be our future at the position. This is why we should bring in some competition in net.

 

[Egblad]

We play an east-west style of hockey because our players are east-west style players.

Many Blackhawks fans used to like dislike Versteeg for this. Flyers and Leafs all hated Versteeg for this.

Flash has always been soft.

Our best players are smallish forwards who aren't skilled enough to be top line players playing that style of hockey. That's who they've always been.

If Tallon wanted to play a different style of hockey, he should've brought in different players.

The players are over-zealous for their skills for sure, and that does fall on Tallon, but Dineen should also be able to focus them and have them play a certain way in my opinion. He likely "lost the room" as the saying goes, but that's the nature of coaching in any sport seemingly.

 

[Chino Oscar]

We play an east-west style of hockey because our players are east-west style players.

Many Blackhawks fans used to like dislike Versteeg for this. Flyers and Leafs all hated Versteeg for this.

Flash has always been soft.

Our best players are smallish forwards who aren't skilled enough to be top line players playing that style of hockey. That's who they've always been.

If Tallon wanted to play a different style of hockey, he should've brought in different players.

For once in this thread I'll agree with you. We need at least 2 power forwards to replace some of the soft players we have.

But to the main point, lets see if Horacheck brings a different playing style/system that the players can actually play. Too many times this team has looked lost out there, not knowing what to do. They may not have the talent, but lets at least have some sort of idea of what system we want to play and try to follow it through.

 

[Egblad]

For once in this thread I'll agree with you. We need at least 2 power forwards to replace some of the soft players we have.

But to the main point, lets see if Horacheck brings a different playing style/system that the players can actually play. Too many times this team has looked lost out there, not knowing what to do. They may not have the talent, but lets at least have some sort of idea of what system we want to play and try to follow it through.

This is what I am getting at. It'll be interesting to see if Horacheck brings a different style of execution to the table.

 

[Erick*]

Removing garrison, Samuelson , Weiss and a hot Theodore is a 10 point season difference.

Yup. Maybe more as we've seen since then. Those guys might not seem like a big deal (well, Garrison is even though some thought he was a product of Campbell for some reason), but they played a big part in getting us to the playoffs that year. That's our first line center, 2nd line RW, top line D-man and starting goalie. This isn't the same team.

 

[EnforceTheLaus]

We play an east-west style of hockey because our players are east-west style players.

Many Blackhawks fans used to like dislike Versteeg for this. Flyers and Leafs all hated Versteeg for this.

Flash has always been soft.

Our best players are smallish forwards who aren't skilled enough to be top line players playing that style of hockey. That's who they've always been.

If Tallon wanted to play a different style of hockey, he should've brought in different players.

Versteeg wasn't brought in as a 1st liner. He was a depth scorer. We were still using Booth as a primary scorer. Tallon made the trade of Booth and Steeg filled in on the 1st. That line was one of the main reasons we made the playoffs. Flash has been nothing short of stalwart in his offense. He had lead the team in pts for 2 years.

 

[zeroG]

Versteeg, Fleischmann, Huberdeau, and Barkov aren't crappy talent...yet none of them are scoring. Because the offense is a mess. Boyes and Winchester are leading this team in goals from the back lines because, when the offense is a mess, only the hard nosed garbage goal scorers are going to get the job done.

And when the offense is a mess, you have to look to the coach to ask why there seems to be no working strategy for the forecheck.

yes, agree.

Kevin Dineen was the same coach in 2011, too. It's too bad he was fired this morning, I guess.

if you believe dineen deserves much if any credit for 2011, then i understand why you'd be confounded now. i never did. i gave and still give him very little credit. he put together flash, weiss and versteeg. and he threw theodore in net. that's what he did. the team was not well-coached but rather squeezed in on the strength of the magic that came from the guys tallon brought in. in fact, i'd argue that tallon should get the majority of the credit for the 2011 playoffs. for giggles, how about tallon at 50% (for bringing the guys in), the players, 45% (for performing, sometimes) and dineen 5% for being the easy going player's coach.

 

[Erick*]

yes, agree.



if you believe dineen deserves much if any credit for 2011, then i understand why you'd be confounded now. i never did. i gave and still give him very little credit. he put together flash, weiss and versteeg. and he threw theodore in net. that's what he did. the team was not well-coached but rather squeezed in on the strength of the magic that came from the guys tallon brought in. in fact, i'd argue that tallon should get the majority of the credit for the 2011 playoffs. for giggles, how about tallon at 50% (for bringing the guys in), the players, 45% (for performing, sometimes) and dineen 5% for being the easy going player's coach.

Dineen gets 5% of the credit that year?

 

[EnforceTheLaus]

Kuba was also playing with Erik Karlsson. This is why scouts exist. They're supposed to scout other teams, and I'm guessing that Kuba was already skating slower than molasses the year before we signed him. That couldn't have just happened over night.

Expecting Gudbranson to improve to the point that he'd be putting #'s like Garrison was probably foolish. He's very raw offensively.
This is what happens when you rely on potential. We're doing the same thing now with Markstrom. Solely relying on an unproven guy to be our future at the position. This is why we should bring in some competition in net.

Kuba did surprise everyone. It happened "overnight" because of the lockout. He came to camp out of shape and not ready to play.

 

[Erick*]

Kuba did surprise everyone. It happened "overnight" because of the lockout. He came to camp out of shape and not ready to play.

Well, how about blaming Tallon for that?

He continued to praise the team's character yet all of the "character guys" he's brought in have played like they don't give a **** for the past two years.

Maybe Tallon deserves some blame for putting a team together around the idea of character. Every overpayment has been justified with the character line.

 

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

Bob McKenzie @TSNBobMcKenzie
FLA puts Ryan Whitney on waivers.

 

[EnforceTheLaus]

Well, how about blaming Tallon for that?

He continued to praise the team's character yet all of the "character guys" he's brought in have played like they don't give a **** for the past two years.

Maybe Tallon deserves some blame for putting a team together around the idea of character. Every overpayment has been justified with the character line.

That was entirely on the players. No contact was allowed between the org and them. Steeg, Weiss,Theo, Parros, Upshall, Weaver all came to camp out of shape. Grasping to blame Tallon for the players without direction to maintain game shape.

 

[HockeyRulez]

Well, I guess 11:30 (two minutes) should be entertaining.

It's funny how he said that Jovo was the reason we made the playoffs two years ago. I can't wait to see grandpa back on the ice. Speaking of a contract that he didn't have to give and was totally ridiculous from the minute it became public...

Agree with you lol

 

[JP Mick]

That about sums it up. Got us to the playoffs in his only full year of coaching.

He's not the one who picked up Gomes etal over the winter.

That said I get it. its the nature of sports. KD will get picked up sooner rather than later and I too thank him for reminding me what playoff hockey looks like.

I just wish they hired someone with NHL experience which they didn't.

Horachek was an assistant coach with the Preds for 9 years. Or were you talking about Dineen?

 

[WESEERED]

Bob McKenzie @TSNBobMcKenzie
FLA puts Ryan Whitney on waivers.

Really? interesting