Lack of Structure in Blashill's System?

[InGusWeTrust]

Actually in 28 games Mike Green already surpassed his 2007 season in which he played 70 games for in Washington.

So... there's that.

When you can pass the puck to Ovechkin on the PP you are bound to rack up the assists.......hahaha

 

[obey86]

Sheahan moved up to the 2nd line for tonight's game.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

Sheahan moved up to the 2nd line for tonight's game.

Good move provided that Glendening is moved off of the line. Sheahan is exponentially more skilled than Luke.

 

[aar000n]

please fire him this team is lost to him and he is clueless.

 

[mikerooooose]

Surely if things don't turnaround soon he's gone, right? They are still close to making the playoffs (east is tight). With the last few games though and the current trend of the team you think Holland would dump him soon if he really cared about the streak. Maybe he doesn't though.

 

[Reddwit]

I think Blashill is finally on the chopping block. A jkutswings posted in the game thread, the recent Helene St. James article is scathing, and that is just not like here.

Here's the article. I highlighted some key points. Since its clear that St. James' job is to build a rhetoric that justifies the organization's moves, this is very interesting.

St. James Scathing Review of Game

Playing for the second time in two nights played into the lack of energy Wednesday at Joe Louis Arena, but mostly it was the same old story: A non-threatening power play, mediocre goaltending from Petr Mrazek, carelessness with the puck.

Usually, she'd just stick with the excuse that the team was tired from the night before.

It’s the seventh time the Wings have been shut out this season.

Stats like this are usually nowhere to be found in her articles, unless they come with a justifying "but.." following them.

Leafs fans had something to cheer soon after the game began. As usual, it involved franchise-reviver Auston Matthews, the first overall pick from 2016. A bad matchup had Riley Sheahan's latest line, with Anthony Mantha and Athanasiou on the wings, out against Matthews. Matthews’ line dominated in their offensive zone and Matthews stole the puck off Jonathan Ericsson, took a stride and lifted a backhand top shelf, at 5:30.

Hmm, straight up calling out the coach for allowing a terrible match-up in a home game?

A Wings power play didn’t even result in good zone time,

Wow. HSJ really calling it like it is for once.

The penalty killers did their usual good job, even skating the puck deep into Toronto’s zone twice. At even strength there was little to like, as the Leafs continued to own Detroit’s end while Frederik Andersen grew cold. It took a shift from Zetterberg to gain some offensive zone time, with thee Frans Nielsen line following up and drawing another penalty – not that the power play led to anything.

I actually chuckled reading this part. This is so uncharacteristic of HSJ.

Even her tweet about the game was critical.

I didn't really watch the game, and only had half an eye on it as I was at the bar, but I had to laugh when I saw that the pregame review of the Wings was that they were "on a 6 game point streak!" And yet, after the game, that review became "Wings haven't won in 4 straight games." More priming for an impending firing?

Also, as an aside, it seems like that article about trading Mrazek being a good idea is a legitimate organizational brainchild if this article has everything to do with it. She made no excuses for Petr's play here, even going out of her way to call him out. Laying the groundwork for Wings fans to be OK with the organization moving on from what was once their next great goalie? Stay tuned.

 

[Squirrel in the Hole]

Smith? Gtfo with that BS. Smith shouldn't even be in the ****ing nhl. Larkin has promise but is a boy playing against grown men and doesn't have the strength. Also unless he is with AA no one with skill can keep up with his pace. AA is more like Tatar in that he is a shooter he has at best average passing and vision for dishing it around.

Tatar is too narrow visioned to be a good breakout man and while he has a nice shot lacks the passing chops to dish it around once he enters. Green is never gonna get the green light to puck move it in given are sad state of defense plus he is like the only defender with a body healthy enough to "pass" to our "offense" to get the transition going.

Watching the Red Wings play, I think there's more of a problem with passing too much and not enough shooting.

 

[Flowah]

Watching the Red Wings play, I think there's more of a problem with passing too much and not enough shooting.

Our passing sucks. It's not tape to tape very often, it's telegraphed, and they take too long to make one. It's gotta be crisp and fast or it's pointless.

 

[Squirrel in the Hole]

Our passing sucks. It's not tape to tape very often, it's telegraphed, and they take too long to make one. It's gotta be crisp and fast or it's pointless.

Agree, but what I was on about is the incessant pass-around that happens on our power play. I end up yelling at the TV: shoot the ****ing puck already

 

[Mount Suribachi]

So what's the plan? Wait for TB to fire Cooper and have him replace Blash?

 

[Bench]

So what's the plan? Wait for TB to fire Cooper and have him replace Blash?

I've been hopeful they can pry Tippett away from Phoenix, you now, wave those dolla dolla bills that they can't offer. But he seems to like it there and the new GM seems to love him.

Tippett coaches a Babcockian boring brand of hockey, but this roster needs that defensive structure something fierce. Once they add some skill to the lineup they'll thrive with it.

 

[Sami]

How about Paul MacLean?

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

So what's the plan? Wait for TB to fire Cooper and have him replace Blash?

Odd in a thread about his system that you would propose the guy running as close a system to Blashill as there is in the league.... If you want a change from it, you don't want Cooper.

 

[Big Poppa Puck]

I'd love Tippett.

It's clear Blashill is an AHL coach at this point. I was on board with him being the obvious replacement for Babs but at the same time was skeptical after how awful he was an assistant under Babs. It sucks the latter came true.

We're awful and still within shouting distance of a playoff spot. I think with Babs (or a Tippett) we're in the playoffs or maybe a point or 2 out right now.

 

[Reddwit]

I've been hopeful they can pry Tippett away from Phoenix, you now, wave those dolla dolla bills that they can't offer. But he seems to like it there and the new GM seems to love him.

Tippett coaches a Babcockian boring brand of hockey, but this roster needs that defensive structure something fierce. Once they add some skill to the lineup they'll thrive with it.

I'd love Tippett.

It's clear Blashill is an AHL coach at this point. I was on board with him being the obvious replacement for Babs but at the same time was skeptical after how awful he was an assistant under Babs. It sucks the latter came true.

We're awful and still within shouting distance of a playoff spot. I think with Babs (or a Tippett) we're in the playoffs or maybe a point or 2 out right now.

Tippett, guys? Wow. Why? He's stuck in the 00s with that coaching style and makes terrible roster decisions to boot. He's also basically a czar over in Phoenix, which is lamented by Arizona fans. He's not leaving his post as coach and effective GM under the guise of being "President" and I wouldn't want anything to do with him either.

Also disagree that the team needs a defensive system badly. A defensive system to do what? Reduce our scoring chances anymore than they already are? Stop Coreau and Mrazek from letting in so many soft goals that have no business going in? Give our incomplete forwards more responsibility than they know what to do with?

A defensive system would only mire us in low-scoring games that we can't win because our goaltending just isn't there and we don't have the personnel to grind down other teams in the offensive zone. Its a dead end. If anything, we need to find a way to get the puck out of our defenseman's hands as fast as possible.

So what's the plan? Wait for TB to fire Cooper and have him replace Blash?

Why Cooper? Cooper is effectively what Blashill would be with a more talented lineup.

 

[SoupGuru]

Does Blashill even have a system?

Unless "stand around and wait for your teammate to do all the work" is a system

 

[Winger98]

I like Tippet. It's not just having a defensive system, but something that just has a clear structure to it that some of our guys could lean on when things get hairy. Blashill seems to be going for some sort of controlled chaos but our guys turn it into a free for all because they're just not experienced/skilled enough to pull it off.

How about Paul MacLean?

Another guy I like and I think got a raw deal in Ottawa for essentially being too tough on the players. I don't think we'd have a problem with him not coddling guys here.

 

[PelagicJoe]

There is something wrong with our current coaching system, especially on offense. We have Vanek, Zetterberg, Tatar, Nyquist, Larkin, Nielsen, Mantha, Abby, and AA who are all very capable of scoring 25-35 goals, yet most of them aren't scoring all that much. Something is wrong there.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

There is something wrong with our current coaching system, especially on offense. We have Vanek, Zetterberg, Tatar, Nyquist, Larkin, Nielsen, Mantha, Abby, and AA who are all very capable of scoring 25-35 goals, yet most of them aren't scoring all that much. Something is wrong there.

I agree with your basic point but Zetteberg hasn't cracked 25 goals since 2009. But he'd sure have more assists if someone could friggin score.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

Does Blashill even have a system?

Unless "stand around and wait for your teammate to do all the work" is a system

Clearly Blashill is telling the forwards that they don't need to support the guy with the puck or move their feet when they don't have the puck and that they can aimlessly skate away from the defensemen with the puck on the regroup. I mean what self respecting NHL coach doesn't coach this. It is clearly a winning formula validated year after year by the best coaches in the game. I am just really happy that no teams in the league overload the strong side in the defensive zone and on the PK. If they did, we would really be in trouble.

 

[Lgw]

Blash's biggest downfall is his inability to get the best out of his players. He sits the you guys costing them valuable ice time to learn and adapt to the NHL every time they make a mistake. How about giving them **** then telling them to get back out there and work their ***** off to make up for it. He has single handedly destroyed the confidence of every player on this team under the age of 30. Everyone plays scared and team plays most games trying not to lose instead of trying to win. Anyone who thought Babcock needed to go was just wrong but it doesn't matter because he wasn't staying even if the wings matched the leafs offer.

 

[Pavels Dog]

There is something wrong with our current coaching system, especially on offense. We have Vanek, Zetterberg, Tatar, Nyquist, Larkin, Nielsen, Mantha, Abby, and AA who are all very capable of scoring 25-35 goals, yet most of them aren't scoring all that much. Something is wrong there.

Very few players will get anywhere near 25+ goals unless they're getting plenty of help from the powerplay.

Athanasiou and Tatar have zero PP goals. Mantha, Nyquist, Z and Nielsen have 1 each.

A lot of these guys really aren't doing bad in terms of their ES numbers. We're not a great team on ES, but the fact we're by far the worst on the powerplay is what's truly hurting everyone's offensive numbers and costing us a ton of points in the standings.

 

[SoupGuru]

It is very apparent that either there is no system, the players don't know the system, or the players know the system but are choosing not to play it.

The whole team looks lost out the most of the time.

 

[Claypool]

It is very apparent that either there is no system, the players don't know the system, or the players know the system but are choosing not to play it.

The whole team looks lost out the most of the time.

Starts from the back end. They can't move the puck out quickly and cleanly, and opposing teams know this so the forecheck constantly. That leads to more turnovers and more scoring chances against, then your top scoring lines have to spend more time defending and getting the puck out than trying to score. Sprinkle in a bad power play and there's not much they can do.

They have no transition game, thus, no real system.

 

[Debrincat93]

in tribute to Ilitch and all he did, i watched the 08 cup finals game when we hoisted the cup.

Boy, you watch the team then vs today, there's a lot of elements missing from a cup winning team, not just structure. Houda has done an admirable job with the defense but Torchetti has been terrible with the offense, and i thought going into this he would utilize the players the best since of how well he did this with the Wild's players, more so the youngsters, down the stretch last year.

There is either a lack of strcture upfront, a lack of proper direction that correlates with the overall game plan or the players are just done with Blash and even Torchetti.