John Wayne Gretzky
Registered User
I am prepared to be flamed for this, but being a die hard fan and watching this team year in and year out, I really do not think it is our defense or goaltending that is to blame for our struggles. I believe it is our coaching staff.
Hear me out. I am sure everyone here watched the NJ devils embarrass us last year in the playoffs, as well as the Rangers own us all season long. My issue with Lavi is he is merely a motivational coach with no strategy. He does not have the ability to adjust mid game or in a series. Take for example his tenure in Carolina. He won a cup and was fired soon after. Essentially he is a loud coach who can motivate players into stepping their game up, at least in the beginning, over time it stops working and it shows that his system is bogus. The Devils did the same thing game in and game out, and even outshot us by a significant margin in 2 of those games, because we went in doing the same thing. We barely had any shots in the slot, we dumped and chased while they had one dman hang lower than the other and were beaten to every puck. What did Lavi do? not change the game plan, but change lines. That seems to be his only answer.
As far as our defense goes, on paper our defense should be among the leagues best. I mean a team like Ottawa played great D missing their best Dman all year and playing rookies for the most part, so there has to be something more than our Dmen are garbage. I do hate Coburn and think he should be traded while he still holds value before he becomes Chris Therrien 2.0.
Our goaltending issue. I honestly think we could have Rask, Quick or Lundqvist in this system, and their numbers would be mediocre. Lets take Bryzgalov pre Laviolette. He won a stanley cup in Anaheim (I know he was a backup) but when Giggy went down, he stood on his head posting 3 consecutive shutouts in the playoffs. In PHX, although his playoff numbers were not spectacular, in fairness he did face the high powered Red Wings both times, taking them to 7 games and then getting destroyed the next season, but during the regular season in his last 3 seasons in PHX he led the NHL in Wins and Shutouts and was nominated for the Vezina trophy. What happens when he comes to Philadelphia? He looks mediocre and shows flashes of brilliance. Now lets take a look at Sergei Bobrovsky. He looked solid in his rookie season, and then gets benched for Leighton and Boucher in the playoffs, which shatters a young goalies confidence. Last season he was the worst statistical goalie in the NHL, he wants to be a starter and is traded to the worst team in the NHL. Now, logically speaking, putting the worst goalie in hockey on the reigning worst team in the league, would lead you to believe he would be even worse somehow, but no, he ends up playing great and should win the Vezina trophy.
Something doesn't add up. I am willing to eat my own words on this, but if Laviolette is our coach this season, it is going to look a lot like John Stevens last year and we are going to struggle out the gate.
Hear me out. I am sure everyone here watched the NJ devils embarrass us last year in the playoffs, as well as the Rangers own us all season long. My issue with Lavi is he is merely a motivational coach with no strategy. He does not have the ability to adjust mid game or in a series. Take for example his tenure in Carolina. He won a cup and was fired soon after. Essentially he is a loud coach who can motivate players into stepping their game up, at least in the beginning, over time it stops working and it shows that his system is bogus. The Devils did the same thing game in and game out, and even outshot us by a significant margin in 2 of those games, because we went in doing the same thing. We barely had any shots in the slot, we dumped and chased while they had one dman hang lower than the other and were beaten to every puck. What did Lavi do? not change the game plan, but change lines. That seems to be his only answer.
As far as our defense goes, on paper our defense should be among the leagues best. I mean a team like Ottawa played great D missing their best Dman all year and playing rookies for the most part, so there has to be something more than our Dmen are garbage. I do hate Coburn and think he should be traded while he still holds value before he becomes Chris Therrien 2.0.
Our goaltending issue. I honestly think we could have Rask, Quick or Lundqvist in this system, and their numbers would be mediocre. Lets take Bryzgalov pre Laviolette. He won a stanley cup in Anaheim (I know he was a backup) but when Giggy went down, he stood on his head posting 3 consecutive shutouts in the playoffs. In PHX, although his playoff numbers were not spectacular, in fairness he did face the high powered Red Wings both times, taking them to 7 games and then getting destroyed the next season, but during the regular season in his last 3 seasons in PHX he led the NHL in Wins and Shutouts and was nominated for the Vezina trophy. What happens when he comes to Philadelphia? He looks mediocre and shows flashes of brilliance. Now lets take a look at Sergei Bobrovsky. He looked solid in his rookie season, and then gets benched for Leighton and Boucher in the playoffs, which shatters a young goalies confidence. Last season he was the worst statistical goalie in the NHL, he wants to be a starter and is traded to the worst team in the NHL. Now, logically speaking, putting the worst goalie in hockey on the reigning worst team in the league, would lead you to believe he would be even worse somehow, but no, he ends up playing great and should win the Vezina trophy.
Something doesn't add up. I am willing to eat my own words on this, but if Laviolette is our coach this season, it is going to look a lot like John Stevens last year and we are going to struggle out the gate.
