New Head Coach search

[Bleedred]

Travis Green should be available

Think the Flyers will be interested when they have to fire Torts after the late season collapse or the Pens after they fire Sullivan?

 

[ZYXWVUT]

i'll add disco dan to my list of acceptable coaches, in place of sullivan who i'd give a .5% chance of not returning to pittsburgh. vellucci, berube, bylsma, boudreau, leach. dark and unlikely horse, savard.

I’ve been on the Vellucci train at least as someone who should be in the mix.

 

[bossram]

If there’s one thing that needs to be changed right away, it is the defensive zone. The Blues are one of the worst teams in the NHL at defending the slot, allowing a higher percentage of chances from there than almost every team. Armstrong alluded to that when asked about his defencemen: “When our team game suffers, (our defence) and our goalie looks the worst. And our variance on a nightly basis is concerning.”

32 Thoughts: What’s next for the Blues after Craig Berube firing? – Sportsnet.ca

Outside of binnington catching fire has didn’t really do much

They were near the 15-20 range at 5 on 5 most of his time there too

Most of his time in St. Louis (especially more recent seasons), his blueline personnel was atrocious.

Their Cup-winning season, the Blues were 3rd best in xGA/60. Likely should have been 2nd, as the the Wild by far had the lowest xGA/60 that season, but several analytics folks noted there was very dubious shot location tracking at the Wild's home rink for a few seasons.

In Berube's 2nd season (their last with Pietrangelo), the Blues were 8th in xGA/60.

My preference for Berube is largely related to his flexibility. He transitioned their style of play dramatically as his roster turned over. Going from a defensive, forecheck-based team a more rush-based, east-west attack under the Thomas/Kyrou core.

 

[NjDevsRR]

I'd rather see a rubber Dano mask slapped onto a Furby thats tied into Bing AI or Chat GPT (not even the good subscription ones, the free crap) behind the bench than half of these retreads mentioned, yuck.

I got you fam

 

[dzubrus8]

I think I would be okay with Bylsma. What was he supposed to do with this tream?

View attachment 848319

Defense could be better but that’s a very solid forward corps.

Eichel, ROR, Reinhart, E Kane. Okposo was still in his prime.

I’m still cool with Bylsma though his track record is not the best of the available candidates.

 

[Goptor]

Bylsma doesn't know how to coach hockey. He's a glorified gym trainer.

He's the reason Shero got fired from Pittsburgh and he managed to screw up with the 2 best centers in the league at their absolute best. Went to Buffalo and did the exact same thing as he did with the Penguins

Only positive is the players will love having him as their coach (if they can ignore the losses).

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

There has to be an assistant coach on a team that would be worth looking to bring in as well. AHL head coach , college etc...a new voice with no affiliation is what this team really needs but they need to have a winning pedigree as well.

 

[TBF1972]

Well under my stewardship a new captain will get masterful performances from Haula and Palat by yelling and throwing things around the locker room. I’m sure that will improve the team defense and reduce the injuries that have plagued the team.

if we want throwing things around and reduce injury at the same time, we need a captain who shoots wide.

 

[BurntToast]

Jay Leach (via B/R):

The former defenseman had a positive hand in getting Charlie McAvoy, Connor Clifton, and Jeremy Lauzon among other NHL blueliners ready for the NHL. Leach is a great communicator and thinker of the game.

Screw Bylsma, get his protege:
Jessica Campbell:

It would be trendy. Campbell's expertise in skating and skill training. Let’s make the Devils fast again.

Mike Velluci:

He's extremely well-rounded with experience in front-office and developmental roles along with his coaching.

Source:

7 First-Time Names to Watch for the Next NHL Head Coach Openings

The NHL's tendency to recycle a short list of head coaches when vacancies appear is well-documented, and it isn't always necessarily a bad thing.

syndication.bleacherreport.com

Maybe we should do a poll, just to keep track of everyones top 10.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Defense could be better but that’s a very solid forward corps.

Eichel, ROR, Reinhart, E Kane. Okposo was still in his prime.

I’m still cool with Bylsma though his track record is not the best of the available candidates.

If it was prime Eichel and Reinhart that would be a good forward core. But they were 20 and 21.

 

[Guttersniped]

Defense could be better but that’s a very solid forward corps.

Eichel, ROR, Reinhart, E Kane. Okposo was still in his prime.

I’m still cool with Bylsma though his track record is not the best of the available candidates.

If it was prime Eichel and Reinhart that would be a good forward core. But they were 20 and 21.

Eichel missed the first 21 games when got a high ankle sprain in practice, right before opening night, which is a tough injury to come back from.

Then on opening night Evander Kane crashed into the boards and cracked a few ribs. He didn’t miss that much time but that likely contributed to his slow start w/ scoring.

2016-17 was a weird, cursed season for the Sabres. Well, maybe not that weird, since cursed is very on-brand for them.

Most of the top forwards had odd injuries O’Reilly: Emergency Appendectomy
Oposo: “Mystery Illness” that turned out to be a concussion combined w/ bad reaction to a medication

The team’s biggest issue was their newly built defense was hit hard by injury and imploded, bunch of those guys bombed out of Buffalo relatively quickly.

Bogosian and Kulikov missed significant time with injuries. Cody Franson’s and Josh Gorges’ careers died Buffalo.

The injuries and poor performances meant 22 year old Ristolainen and a 23 year old Jake McCabe were the team’s top two defensemen.

So yeah, you could say “the defense could be better” about the 2016-17 Sabres. (The goaltending was great though.)

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

He's the reason Shero got fired from Pittsburgh

More like, Shero refusing to replace him is the reason he got fired himself.

 

[Bleedred]

Most of the criticism and unfavorable opinions on Disco Dan started well before that stint in Buffalo.

They began in Pittsburgh, and several years before his firing.

They underachieved quite a bit in the playoffs after he won the 2009 (He won the cup, so he must be good, blah blah blah!) cup and a lot of that was on Fleury, who had several epic meltdowns along the way during those years, Some of them were on par with Vitek last year. Bylsma was always looked at as a JAG, who caught fire with Crosby/Malkin/Letang at the right time. The team did make the finals the year before under Therrien, who got fired down the final stretch and replaced with Bylsma.

Not too long after they fired him and hired a real coach (who has now become persona non grata among Pens fans lol) they won two cups in a row.

But not before they hired a JOKE coach in between (I always forget his name, but he looked like he worked in a funeral home) and easily getting blown over and turned upside down by the Rangers, and that was even with a solid series out of Fleury for the first time in many years.

For all we know Bylsma may be a better coach this time around than he was when he won the cup not even 50 games after becoming a head coach for the first time in the league.

He's kind of just in the ''Better than Travis Green'' bin for me, along with almost every hockey coach on the planet.

 

[jkrdevil]

I feel like the Olympics in 2014 killed Bylsma’s reputation. I remember reading that a lot of the US players walked away unhappy with the system the played, especially against Canada. Add on top of that the Penguins getting manhandled by the Bruins in 2013 playoff and then their 2014 exit that got Shero (and Bylsma) fired.

 

[Guttersniped]

Most of the criticism and unfavorable opinions on Disco Dan started well before that stint in Buffalo.

They began in Pittsburgh, and several years before his firing.

They underachieved quite a bit in the playoffs after he won the 2009 (He won the cup, so he must be good, blah blah blah!) cup and a lot of that was on Fleury, who had several epic meltdowns along the way during those years, Some of them were on par with Vitek last year. Bylsma was always looked at as a JAG, who caught fire with Crosby/Malkin/Letang at the right time. The team did make the finals the year before under Therrien, who got fired down the final stretch and replaced with Bylsma.

Not too long after they fired him and hired a real coach (who has now become persona non grata among Pens fans lol) they won two cups in a row.

But not before they hired a JOKE coach in between (I always forget his name, but he looked like he worked in a funeral home) and easily getting blown over and turned upside down by the Rangers, and that was even with a solid series out of Fleury for the first time in many years.

For all we know Bylsma may be a better coach this time around than he was when he won the cup not even 50 games after becoming a head coach for the first time in the league.

He's kind of just in the ''Better than Travis Green'' bin for me, along with almost every hockey coach on the planet.

I wrote “Injuries kill any real playoff hope a lot of years after the first Cup in 2009.”

Then, as I’m wont to do, I looked it up and that was less of thing than I remembered. Pretty much once in 5 years.

2010: 2nd Rd L, 3-4 MTL
just a regular old loss

2011: 1st Rd L, 3-4 TBL
No Crosby or Malkin in playoffs

2012: 1st Rd L, 2-4 PHI
The “I don’t like them because I don’t like any guy on their team” series
A wild one, endless brawls and penalties, and goals, goals, goals.
All those goals meant bad goaltending and Fleury won the bad goalie anti-duel.

2013: ECF L, 4-0 BOS
It happens

2014: 2nd Rd L, 4-3 NYR
A collapse after having a 3-1 lead gets everyone fired.

 

[Bleedred]

I wrote “Injuries kill any real playoff hope a lot of years after the first Cup in 2009.”

Then, as I’m wont to do, I looked it up and that was less of thing than I remembered. Pretty much once in 5 years.

2010: 2nd Rd L, 3-4 MTL
just a regular old loss

2011: 1st Rd L, 3-4 TBL
No Crosby or Malkin in playoffs

2012: 1st Rd L, 2-4 PHI
The “I don’t like them because I don’t like any guy on their team” series
A wild one, endless brawls and penalties, and goals, goals, goals.
All those goals meant bad goaltending and Fleury won the bad goalie anti-duel.

2013: ECF L, 4-0 BOS
It happens

2014: 2nd Rd L, 4-3 NYR
A collapse after having a 3-1 lead gets everyone fired.

I remember 2013 was the Vokoun year. I remember Fleury starting the playoffs, but losing the job halfway through the first round against the Islanders (I think?) and he allowed a late goal in one of the games that was probably softy of the playoffs for that year. And it wasn't the only one.

I Vokoun entered that series when it was tied at 2 and they went on a pretty good run with him. I think they won the rest of the games in that Islanders series, then took down Ottawa in either 4 or 5. I remember it went pretty quickly. Then they stopped scoring and were swept by Boston, despite Vokoun still playing well. I swear they were shutout a couple of times in that 4 game series and I believe they lost at least one game in OT.

 

[jkrdevil]

I wrote “Injuries kill any real playoff hope a lot of years after the first Cup in 2009.”

Then, as I’m wont to do, I looked it up and that was less of thing than I remembered. Pretty much once in 5 years.

2010: 2nd Rd L, 3-4 MTL
just a regular old loss

2011: 1st Rd L, 3-4 TBL
No Crosby or Malkin in playoffs

2012: 1st Rd L, 2-4 PHI
The “I don’t like them because I don’t like any guy on their team” series
A wild one, endless brawls and penalties, and goals, goals, goals.
All those goals meant bad goaltending and Fleury won the bad goalie anti-duel.

2013: ECF L, 4-0 BOS
It happens

2014: 2nd Rd L, 4-3 NYR
A collapse after having a 3-1 lead gets everyone fired.

It’s the combo in short order of that Bruins series in 2013 (that was the year they loaded up with Iginla, Doug Murray and I want to say Brendan Morrow), followed by the Olympic disaster vs Canada, followed by the collapse vs the Rangers. I’m a span of a year his reputation tumbled (remember when HBO portrayed him as the cerebral one vs Boudreau).

In Buffalo he apparently had a bad relationship with Eichel. Then he was part of Blashill’s go nowhere staffs in Detroit.

 

[NJDevs26]

I wrote “Injuries kill any real playoff hope a lot of years after the first Cup in 2009.”

Then, as I’m wont to do, I looked it up and that was less of thing than I remembered. Pretty much once in 5 years.

2010: 2nd Rd L, 3-4 MTL
just a regular old loss

2011: 1st Rd L, 3-4 TBL
No Crosby or Malkin in playoffs

2012: 1st Rd L, 2-4 PHI
The “I don’t like them because I don’t like any guy on their team” series
A wild one, endless brawls and penalties, and goals, goals, goals.
All those goals meant bad goaltending and Fleury won the bad goalie anti-duel.

2013: ECF L, 4-0 BOS
It happens

2014: 2nd Rd L, 4-3 NYR
A collapse after having a 3-1 lead gets everyone fired.

Christ I forgot how bad some of those were...of course when you're not a fan of the team you basically forget within a year unless it's something REALLY shitty like the Louie Domingue disaster.

 

[GameSeven]

I'd rather see a rubber Dano mask slapped onto a Furby thats tied into Bing AI or Chat GPT (not even the good subscription ones, the free crap) behind the bench than half of these retreads mentioned, yuck.

Courtesy of Dall-E, lol

 

[Based Anime Fan]

So what options to we have?

Not working atm:
Jay Woodcroft
Gerard Gallant
Guy-who-was-fired-from-Minnesota
Bruce

Could be pried:
Guy Boucher
Berube

Is Dineen still in Utica?

 

[crashline]

So what options to we have?

Not working atm:
Jay Woodcroft
Gerard Gallant
Guy-who-was-fired-from-Minnesota
Bruce

Could be pried:
Guy Boucher
Berube

Is Dineen still in Utica?

 

[Omar Little]

Jay Leach would be good

 

[glenwo2]

Jay Leach would be good

Jay Leach - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

which one?

 

[Omar Little]

Jay Leach - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

which one?

Jay, the younger

 

[Nubmer6]

So what options to we have?

Not working atm:
Jay Woodcroft
Gerard Gallant
Guy-who-was-fired-from-Minnesota
Bruce

Could be pried:
Guy Boucher
Berube

Is Dineen still in Utica?

Not enough Green