Poll: How is everyone feeling about Derek Lalonde?

[14ari13]

Send this man into the sun.

Someone needs to tell him timeouts aren’t like vacation days, you can’t carry them into the next year

Like after caness 2nd goal.

 

[eojsmada]

Lalonde is fine. The issue is the lack of talent on the roster. Yzerman and Lalonde have admitted as much, throughout the year. The team is too fragile and needs every player going at the same time for them to be competitive and even then they can be "caught out" on road games with teams being able to matchup against certain forward lines or defensive pairs.

Once the Holl's/Petry's/Fabbri's/Sprong's/Czarnik's no longer occupy the roster and you have solid upgrades on them, as well as the prospects coming in and starting to drive the team forward, you'll see your team find the Playoffs more regularly. There's just too much inconsistent effort and too many players playing higher than they should be.

 

[ColdToiletSeats]

fire him and get a proven NHL coach

 

[Pavels Dog]

fire him and get a proven NHL coach

Who?

There’s no chance he gets fired and if he did it would be no different than Devils/Isles who still struggle and are behind us, because coaching isn’t the issue.

 

[SCD]

It is amazing how a string of victories in the fall can create such unrealistic level of expectations for a season.

 

[K1900L]

He's doing okay. The standing mirrors the overall quality of players. There is no high end talent.

My problem with him is the usage of Seider. Mo has hit a plateau since Lalonde became head coach and even worsened in some aspects of his game (physicality, confidence). Hence there are a few concerns about his usage of upcoming players as well.

 

[GMR]

Who?

There’s no chance he gets fired and if he did it would be no different than Devils/Isles who still struggle and are behind us, because coaching isn’t the issue.

Gallant
McClellan
Boudreau
Quenneville

Probably like 10 other guys I’m not thinking of this early in the morning.

You really can’t think of a single coach available with more experience than Lalonde?

 

[jkutswings]

Why is this on the coach exactly? Do the players not know when the game starts? Do the players not know what they need to do to their individual bodies to have them ready to go from the first drop of the puck? I understand over-practicing a tired team and load management, but I am not about to absolve the people who actually play the f***ing game. Not being prepared is not having an answer to your opponent's powerplay or forecheck. Coming out stone cold flat is something completely different.

Speaking only for myself, I'm not absolving the players of anything. They're an incredibly streaky bunch who have shown disturbingly little ability to refocus once things start to go south. I expect multiple guys on the current roster to NOT be here in October.

But for easy math, let's say that hockey is 5 percent on coaches putting guys in places to succeed and 95 percent on players executing in those places. I think that even if Lalonde might be doing fantastic things with his 5 percent during practice, he's doing absolutely nothing with his 5 percent during the actual games.

I firmly believe that this imperfect roster still has the talent for around 95 points in a season. And they're completely blowing their legit chance to make the playoffs, which I view as a much more important milestone than some fans. At the moment I wish I could fire half the roster, but I don't see a justification to retain a coach who is a total passenger during games.

 

[Snuggs]

It is amazing how a string of victories in the fall can create such unrealistic level of expectations for a season.

What about January/February ?

I mean really Red Wings had a bad stretch in December and this month, March, has just totally sunk them. Yzerman and the HC are going to get a pass, but they screwed things up. Signs slightly before the trade-deadline the team was slipping and when it passed, and Larkin got injured it just snowballed.

Also, there are good coaches out there available, there was when Yzerman hired him.

Sucks, wanted to see some playoff hockey. Instead, I get to read the handful of HF Yzerman's disciples telling me he's always doing the right thing as the Red Wings ship is sinking, painfully slow.

I don't think people are grasping well that Kane, might not resign, and that there is a really good chance this roster is worst next year than this one!

I've been told wait till the summer, but honestly, I'm not seeing a holy grail move Red Wings can make where they are clear favorite to land, X-player. It's QUICKLY trending towards a "RE, re-build". Not enough high end talent.

Circle back to Lalonde, he keeps his job I think and is fired sometime in the season next year if Red Wings struggle. Brutal loss last night but treading water, Capitals lost too.

 

[Ezekial]

It is amazing how a string of victories in the fall can create such unrealistic level of expectations for a season.

Team was 16-4-2 to start 2024.

 

[better Red than Dead]

I’m a bit annoyed with him, some of his roster decisions are
Head scratchers

 

[saska sault]

Team was 16-4-2 to start 2024.

It's amazing the peaks and valleys of this team. Yet they still somehow never manage to find the middle ground and just be consistently average for really any time period.

 

[Frk It]

It's amazing the peaks and valleys of this team. Yet they still somehow never manage to find the middle ground and just be consistently average for really any time period.

Yeah, I guess my biggest knock on Lalonde would be that I would think a good coach would be a stabilizing presence for their team. We have seen little to none of that this year.

I don't think a team that has big peaks and valleys reflects well on their coach or leader.

 

[dj4aces]

Lalonde is in no danger right now... but I do feel like he needs to be more assertive, he needs to learn to call out our worst performers, and he's gotta learn to effectively use our timeouts (if we're down by four goals, we're probably not using it for a final push at the end of the third period) and change goalies mid-period (I don't recall seeing a goalie change at all since he started, other than for injury, during a period). Both of those things can absolutely light a fire under the boys.

My choice in the poll is that he's fine... but this explains how he has some work to do yet.

This has nothing to do with any playoff hopes we as fans had, or still have, for this team.

 

[wings95]

I put I am happy with him. Only so much he can do when the goal tending and defense is not up to par. The back end needs more snarl and speed. Goaltending needs an upgrade. I also think he can sit someone like Fabbri, who I like, and in get Spring some time. The wings can always use some more scoring. It would also help if some of the forwards that can score go into the dirty areas more often...

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

I said why it's on the coach. If it was a handful of players that's one thing. If it's been a consistent problem for the entire team, then you look at the coach. Each player can only look after themselves at the end of the day, it's up to the coach to manage the team as a whole.

Needing an entire period to get up to game speed is absolutely a matter of preparation. It's not a question of 'not having an answer' if they've shown, as they have on many occasions, that they're capable of coming up with that answer in the 2nd and 3rd periods. It's a matter of their heads not being in the game at puck drop. What's more likely here, that 20+ players are each individually sandbagging at the starts of games, or that the guy responsible for managing all of them as a group needs to improve on his end?

Does holding the coach accountable necessarily mean the players are being absolved? Why is it so black and white? Roster needs to improve overall, individual players need to perform better, and the coach needs to do a better job at preparing his team.

What does "preparing his team" consist of exactly? No cliches. Just tell us what he should be doing differently to "prepare" his team. Every f***ing fan on earth knows when the game starts. It is pretty common knowledge published on schedule. Why grown men being paid millions of dollars need to have another grown man cup their nuts and spank them on the ass and tell them to be ready to play is beyond me. Pride alone and fear of embarrassing yourself should be incentive enough. Perhaps we need more internally motivated players.

For the record our inability to start on time dates back to the final years of Pav and Z. We have seen it through three head coaches and god knows how many assistants.

If Yzerman thinks the team has tunned him out, let him go and find someone new. Expecting materially different results, however, is extremely foolish given it is the players who play the game.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

Not impressed at all. Long losing streaks and lack of any in-game adjustment are fully on the coach. If you disagree and think “these athletes should be able to figure it out”, then the argument is that we shouldn’t have coaches at all.


Washington has 0 first line centres and barely any top 6 players outside of Strome and ovechkin and they’re ahead of us. Not an excuse for these absurdly long losing streaks

Coaches are grossly overrated at the professional level. Outside of football, they are largely just psychologists. They really only start to have comparatively more value when they are coaching really competitive teams where it is difficult to get better and improvements are incremental.

Let him go, hire someone else and the results will largely be the same. In the long run, water always finds its level.

 

[norrisnick]

What does "preparing his team" consist of exactly? No cliches. Just tell us what he should be doing differently to "prepare" his team. Every f***ing fan on earth knows when the game starts. It is pretty common knowledge published on schedule. Why grown men being paid millions of dollars need to have another grown man cup their nuts and spank them on the ass and tell them to be ready to play is beyond me. Pride alone and fear of embarrassing yourself should be incentive enough. Perhaps we need more internally motivated players.

For the record our inability to start on time dates back to the final years of Pav and Z. We have seen it through three head coaches and god knows how many assistants.

If Yzerman thinks the team has tunned him out, let him go and find someone new. Expecting materially different results, however, is extremely foolish given it is the players who play the game.

Bolded is false. Almost every game you get fans bitching that the 7pm game doesn't start at 7pm.

If coaches aren't the vehicle to hold players and their actions, ie starting on time, accountable then what are they even there for?

Had a shitty plant manager once that was bitching that he couldn't control one of the supervisor's attendance. Like "MFer that's literally your job.". If coach has a problem with starts, fix it or find someone that can. That manager, predictability got fired by a higher up manager that did have an understanding of what their job was.

 

[FMichael]

It's amazing the peaks and valleys of this team. Yet they still somehow never manage to find the middle ground and just be consistently average for really any time period.

Indeed…It’s as though they really worked hard at becoming mediocre by the end of the season.

 

[HeHateMeFrisbee]

Fire this guy

 

[RedWingzz]

never switches things up, never uses timeouts, loves Jeff the plug Petry, never gets angry or questions the work ethic, always has an excuse in the post-game presser

we need a coach not a cheerleader. Get him a set of pompoms and have him be the cheer squad captain next season, we need an actual NHL coach

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

Bolded is false. Almost every game you get fans bitching that the 7pm game doesn't start at 7pm.

If coaches aren't the vehicle to hold players and their actions, ie starting on time, accountable then what are they even there for?

Had a shitty plant manager once that was bitching that he couldn't control one of the supervisor's attendance. Like "MFer that's literally your job.". If coach has a problem with starts, fix it or find someone that can. That manager, predictability got fired by a higher up manager that did have an understanding of what their job was.

Oh, so now you are telling me the team doesn't have access to the internet in 2024? Please don't tell me that you literally think not knowing when the game starts is the issue. Please, please, please don't tell me that is your position.

So, if your take is that he needs to hold his players accountable for not starting on time, tell me how exactly he holds Larkin, Cat, Kane, Raymond and Seider accountable for not starting on time?

 

[SoupGuru]

What is the coaching staff responsible for versus what the player leadership is responsible for? I'm sure there is plenty of gray area in between but I see holding players accountable as more of a player thing. If your mates don't care that you've checked out for weeks, that's a problem.

I have this nagging suspicion that maybe our locker room isn't great. Maybe there are cliques. Maybe players are being shouted down. Maybe there's little cohesion. I have no idea. Maybe there's nothing wrong. I just see the same problems that persist season after season, coach after coach, and GM after GM. The Larkin era hasn't been much to be proud of, so far.

 

[RedHawkDown]

Coaches are grossly overrated at the professional level. Outside of football, they are largely just psychologists. They really only start to have comparatively more value when they are coaching really competitive teams where it is difficult to get better and improvements are incremental.

Let him go, hire someone else and the results will largely be the same. In the long run, water always finds its level.

I strongly disagree. Philly is better than us with a worse roster. Coaching matters.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

I strongly disagree. Philly is better than us with a worse roster. Coaching matters.

And over time, the novelty of Torts will wear off and they will play to the level of their collective talent. If this did not invariably happen, Torts would never get fired.