Miller Time
Registered User
- Sep 16, 2004
- 23,145
- 15,563
Subban came into the season like 7 games late last year without training camp and came out flying at the top of his game. It had nothing to do with Therrien and everything to do with natural progression. He was a star waiting to happen, all it needed was time. Anyone who refuses to admit this is lying to themselves..
and I'd add to that, the fact that he came into last season flying, despite both the lock-out and missing the limited practices & first few games of the team, with a new coach/system, speaks volumes to how well he prepared himself, on his own, in the offseason.
a lot of players struggled last year, showing signs of having poorly managed their extended time off… for a 23 year old kid to show up better than he's ever been, shows exactly what kind of maturity & professionalism PK ALREADY had, before ever even interacting with his new coach.
the narrative, heavily pushed by MT/MB, that they are responsible for his progression, is beyond laughable.
I'm amazed that some people actually buy it, despite all of the evidence to the contrary.
If you can't see the difference in Subban's play since Therrien took over this team, there is nothing to debate with you. When he was first hired, Therrien described Subban as a thoroughbred needing to be guided and to even suggest that he played no role in his development is simply playing ostrich, putting your head in the sand ignoring the reality. In no way does that take anything away from Subban's character, talent or dedication to improving his game, far from there as to his credit, he obviously did apply what he was asked to do.
I was listening to Rodger Brulotte last night and he brought up a very good point about Therrien's comments about how Subban wouldn't have made Team Canada had he kept playing like he was in October... At the end of Therrien's statement, he said "Trust me on that". Brulotte thinks (and it makes sense) that Therrien knows more than people lead to beleive. He thinks that it was reported to Therrien that Subban had to improve on some aspects of his game, and that he and Subban knew about it and were working together on improving those points. The fact that he was selected could very well be, in part at least, due to the fact that Therrien knew about things to work on and that's what guided his comment about their work with him and would also explain why Subban is so humble in his comments: he knows too.
So while I'm not in the game of taking credit away from Subban, I'm also not ignorant enough to think that Subban got where he is in spite of the coach, far from there.
there is so much fail, so much conjecture, so much lack of sense, in the above post, i don't even know where to begin.
just because you keep repeating the same, baseless, stuff, doesn't make it any more true.
do you know anything about Subban's career progression before last February?
As much as I hated the Subban benching, Gorges brought something to light that got me thinking.
Markov was benched last year, during a game against Toronto, after taking a stupid penalty. No revolt there, no media frenzy asking players why it happened, no radio talk shows blasting the coaching staff. On top of that, it seems like the players understand that if PK got benched, Therrien isn't afraid to bench anyone.
On the subject of the benching itself; it was the wrong move. The team showed absolutely no energy or structure. Nobody, save for three people; Subban, Gallagher, Prust. At the time, Subban was frustrated and threw a punch at Couturier (who, by the way, looked at the ref like a prissy little baby). Was it a bad move? Of course it was. Stupid penalty? You betcha. But Subban demonstrated emotion and showed his energy through a punch that said, "You know what? **** you, I'm pissed and you're ugly." I would have benched Subban if this was a 3-3 hockey game. Down two goals? I'd pat him on the back and tell him that this was the type of energy we needed.
For this argument; I see both sides of the coin. Stupid to bench your best player but maybe this was the right wake-up call the team needed.
There is no issue with a coach benching a player to send a message… and there is definitely some power to holding your stars to a high standard, setting the tone for the rest of the team.
The problem with the Subban benching, vs the Markov example, is that the context was entirely different.
Markov, at the time of his benching, had been struggling (likely tied to the grind of a condensed schedule in his first year back from 2 consecutive major injuries), was playing poorly, and took a selfish penalty.
Subban was one of the best players on the ice during the flyers game, and one of a very select few on our team that was playing with the kind of compete level that MT usually preaches.
In that same game, other players made lazy, selfish mistakes, with no repercussion, including DD making a lazy play early in the game leading directly to a goal.
To on the one hand preach that your team play a "grinding" gritty style with high compete level, and then immediately punish one of the only players actually playing the way you want the team to play, because he crosses the emotional line and makes a mistake….
while on the other hand, do nothing (and even reward, with pp time) to players who are too lazy/disengaged to compete at the level you claim to demand….
that's the kind of crap that, fairly so, draws the attention of everyone.
The decision reaked of "putting him in his place" or "keeping his ego in check", especially since it came immediately after the team canada announcement.
Did not pass the sniff test, hence why MT has been so universally criticized… minus the few apologist who would rather stick to their guns then consider the situation unfolding in front of them.
in the end, the writing is on the wall. MT's been fired before for the very same crap he's pulling now, he'll end up losing the room (or at least some of the key figures in it), and then it's just a question of how long until MB is forced to act.
We can only hope it doesn't cost us a talented, driven, superstar athlete in the process.