Speculation: Potential future coaches

[Clayonator]

Todd Nelson (Dallas assistant) would be on my radar as would Ralph Krueger. Both got screwed by the Oilers for bigger names like Eakins and McLellan, despite getting the most out of a garbage roster. Nelson is as up tempo as I’ve seen in a coach with a self professed “ram it down their throats” style, and Krueger took team Europe to the final against Canada two seasons ago. Brilliant guy. I’d put Ducharme and Keefe on the list too. Similar styles to Nelson. I like Dineen’s work/resume and think he’s young enough to keep growing. Stevens I’ve always respected and think he’d be a good choice.

I in all honesty am a Boucher fan, but if this think goes south, I think they may fire him in favour of Crawford to ride out the year then explore those options. Even if things end decently there’s no guarantee he’s back next year. My shortlist of candidates I’d look at in any event and in no particular order:

- Krueger: Overall Brilliant.

- Stevens: Good body of work and resume, great communicator.

- Bylsma: See above, and don’t let the Buffalo sting fool you, there were more problems there than any one person could control.

- Dineen: Got a lot done in a short period of time as a HC, and learned from one of the best in Coach Q. Still young.

- Muller: See above, minus the coach Q.

- Ducharme: Agressive and decisive, has horse balls.

- Keefe: See above.

- Nelson: See above.

- Eakins: Smart guy, reminds me alot of Boucher, was victimized in the coaching kill zone also known as Edmonton, still young and will he better the next chance he gets.

Some candidates I would absolutely not look at whatsoever who will surely be mentioned anyway:

- Martin: I don’t get why some people still have a boner for this guy, he’s as dull as rye bread with a room temperature glass of
water.

- Hartley: Outdated approach.

- Vigneault: Overrated.

- Tippet: See above.

- Yeo: Not fired yet but he will he and was a finalist for the job before we chose Boucher, he’s too one dimensionally defensive.

- Bowness: Too old, although I’d offer him an assistant’s gig.

- Mann (like him but let him grow with the kids down in B town)

Didnt include Coach Q because he won’t come here and we won’t offer him his worth.

For the record I hope it works long term with Boucher. I really like the guy. Have since his Tampa Days.

 

[dumbdick]

2 Teams always striving to be better, which the easy decision for them would have been to stay the status quo, but they don't. A team just fired a coach that won 3 Stanley cups for them in 5 years. As opposed to our team who's gonna back up an unproven assistant junior coach that has been responsible for league worst special teams and gets no respect from the players he coaches.

This is what it looks like when 2 organizations are always striving to be better compared to a an organization that's always looking to just survive and barely stay above water with no clear goal of winning it all.

Haha. Yeah. Man I wish this team wasn't afraid to change up its coaches once in a while.

 

[RAFI BOMB]

Fire the coaching staff already. Time to make some changes.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Fire the coaching staff already. Time to make some changes.

Got any spare change?

 

[Sensung]

Fire the coaching staff already. Time to make some changes.

So do you think the coach is a bigger problem than the roster?

 

[topshelf15]

Got any spare change?

Only if you wash my windshield.....lol

 

[RAFI BOMB]

So do you think the coach is a bigger problem than the roster?

The coach is a big enough problem. The roster is bad which is also an issue but that doesn't excuse the fact that Boucher is not a quality NHL coach. We have a bad owner, a bad gm, bad coaches and a weak roster. Boucher has his contract end this season so it makes sense to move on from him. He shouldn't be sticking around after this season. If they can sign Joel Quenneville or John Stevens you fire Boucher right away and give some real coaches a chance. I would even be in favor of firing Boucher and hiring Paul MacLean to finish the season.

This coaching staff is just bad. The weak roster and injuries mask the fact that the coaching staff is also weak and also a major issue. In fact the weak roster and injuries just give people excuses to not push to have Boucher fired. I am confident that there are a number of coaches that could do a better job with this roster and at least show that they can make improvements. Boucher is a problem.

 

[RAFI BOMB]

Can we finally fire Boucher? This guy sucks

 

[swiftwin]

I hope we can keep Boucher. He's a good coach.

 

[HSF]

no coach can make that defense half decent

 

[Gil Gunderson]

New owner, new coach.

 

[Satoru Gojo]

Boucher is fine, no coach can fix that defense and goaltending

 

[Xspyrit]

Boucher is fine but he can't do 2-way hockey though. It's either his team will be good defensively (2016-17) or good offensively (this year). He took the PP in charge this year and the results are immediate, and the offense in general is very good, best GF/GP in the NHL right now.

Ideally, I would have him as an assistant coach, in charge of the PP and helping with offense, but also the psychological side with players. Not sure how much he can do with that as the head coach. I would have a guy like Jacques Martin in charge of the PK and defensive side of the puck. Look at what he did with Pittsburgh and a subpar defense (on paper)

Then, you'd need a great head coach, with modern systems that prioritizes puck aggression and puck possession.

That being said, they really really need a good goalie who can at least split with Andy 1A/1B, who is still good but not in his prime anymore, he can't have this type of workload and put up good numbers., 0.901 SV% right now. I know people will say terrible defense, yadiyada, it's true but it's not just the team defense. Goaltending is inconsistent and just terrible when Andy is not in nets.

Out of 56 goalies (min 300 mins to avoid too much of a sample size), Anderson is :

- 39th in SV% (but yes highest SA/60)
- 46th in HDSV% (but only 32nd highest HDSA/60)
- 41st in average goal distance (despite being 44th in average shot distance)
- 36th in Rush attempts/60

Player Season Totals - Natural Stat Trick

There's a reason why teams try to shoot from everywhere, they know goaltending is a weakness and that defense doesn't clear rebounds well enough.

Just my 2 cents useless wall of text

 

[Liver King]

Any chance we can actually get a legit head coach?

Or are we stuck wihg bargain bin coaches forever

Boucher is not fine - glaring weakness every year in the structure and icetime of players. Like not 'needs some improvement' - worst in the league items

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

They should fire Crawford and hire Yeo as an assistant to get our Dzone straightened out. He'd also make a better heir apparent

 

[BondraTime]

The best bet is to identify a young CHL/NCAA coach and groom him over the next year or two.

 

[edguy]

The best bet is to identify a young CHL/NCAA coach and groom him over the next year or two.

I may be biased here but they should look at Jim Hulton in Charlottetown. He is the reason for Chlapik's emergence, and PO Joseph's fantastic play. He has completely turned Charlottetown around. Went from complete mediocrity to a strong competitor every year.

Known for getting the most out of his players and playing sound 2 way hockey. Best Coach/GM in the Q the last few years.
He will be an NHL coach one day.

 

[Liver King]

The best bet is to identify a young CHL/NCAA coach and groom him over the next year or two.

Well technically the best bet is to actually hire an established NHL coach for the first time in over a decade.

But that would take common sense and a willingness to win.

 

[Lenny the Lynx]

I love how Guy Boucher has somehow pulled off the most run and gun team ever

 

[GCK]

Right, but if Quenneville is getting 5 Mil, have a hard time believing he wants another 5?

There is likely offset language in his Hawks contract.

 

[edguy]

There is likely offset language in his Hawks contract.

In most, if not all, coaching contracts the team who fired the coach pays the difference in new contract vs old one. So if Q gets more then 5 CHI is off the hook, if he gets less (likely) CHI will have to pay the difference.

 

[swiftwin]

I love how Guy Boucher has somehow pulled off the most run and gun team ever

....but Guy never changes!!111

 

[DrakeAndJosh]

I love how Guy Boucher has somehow pulled off the most run and gun team ever

The change from last year is pretty incredible. Don't think I've ever seen a Senators team completely 180 on style like this. It's so frustrating because so many of our goals against are just dumb mistakes, things that can be fixed. I think I'd rather just give Guy the year to see if he can figure it out, if he can't, spend time looking for a new coach in the offseason. Mids-season replacement coaches tend to be rush decisions unless you get a prominent guy, but I doubt we would go after someone like that.

 

[swiftwin]

Todd Nelson (Dallas assistant) would be on my radar as would Ralph Krueger. Both got screwed by the Oilers for bigger names like Eakins and McLellan, despite getting the most out of a garbage roster. Nelson is as up tempo as I’ve seen in a coach with a self professed “ram it down their throats” style, and Krueger took team Europe to the final against Canada two seasons ago. Brilliant guy. I’d put Ducharme and Keefe on the list too. Similar styles to Nelson. I like Dineen’s work/resume and think he’s young enough to keep growing. Stevens I’ve always respected and think he’d be a good choice.

I in all honesty am a Boucher fan, but if this think goes south, I think they may fire him in favour of Crawford to ride out the year then explore those options. Even if things end decently there’s no guarantee he’s back next year. My shortlist of candidates I’d look at in any event and in no particular order:

- Krueger: Overall Brilliant.

- Stevens: Good body of work and resume, great communicator.

- Bylsma: See above, and don’t let the Buffalo sting fool you, there were more problems there than any one person could control.

- Dineen: Got a lot done in a short period of time as a HC, and learned from one of the best in Coach Q. Still young.

- Muller: See above, minus the coach Q.

- Ducharme: Agressive and decisive, has horse balls.

- Keefe: See above.

- Nelson: See above.

- Eakins: Smart guy, reminds me alot of Boucher, was victimized in the coaching kill zone also known as Edmonton, still young and will he better the next chance he gets.

Some candidates I would absolutely not look at whatsoever who will surely be mentioned anyway:

- Martin: I don’t get why some people still have a ***** for this guy, he’s as dull as rye bread with a room temperature glass of
water.

- Hartley: Outdated approach.

- Vigneault: Overrated.

- Tippet: See above.

- Yeo: Not fired yet but he will he and was a finalist for the job before we chose Boucher, he’s too one dimensionally defensive.

- Bowness: Too old, although I’d offer him an assistant’s gig.

- Mann (like him but let him grow with the kids down in B town)

Didnt include Coach Q because he won’t come here and we won’t offer him his worth.

For the record I hope it works long term with Boucher. I really like the guy. Have since his Tampa Days.

Krueger is not coming over. He has a big time gig in the Premier League.

 

[Clayonator]

Krueger is not coming over. He has a big time gig in the Premier League.

You’re likely right.