I think that's the concern....
You get the feel that Nolan will always be able to make a bad team look competitive, but do people really have the confidence that he can be successful coaching cerebral players like Reinhart or provide the right environment for our other prospects to flourish?
The compete level of a Nolan team is apparent.
My question is can he create a system that allows the players to flourish while have the integrity of a system that allows you go plug and play players? Does he have the ability to outcoach any of his counterparts? Does he know how to use matchups to his advantage?
I would have no problem with having him one more season. I think for us to take the next step the rest of the coaching staff needs to step up as well.
I think Murray gives him half a season, if there's no internal improvement in play, strategy, and development of players, then I think one of the assistants takes his place. I'm not holding the end of the season against him. I think he did his job. Ennis' game improved, Girgensens improved, Ristolanien improved immensely, Larssons game improved.
I think most of us at the beginning of the year said that the most important thing for this season was to see our kids develop. It wasn't until McEichel became reachable that we turned out focus away from that thought and strictly worried about losing only.
I commend Nolan for doing a good job with the young guys, and quite frankly I was happy with the change in play level that Benoit and Mes played at. At the beginning of the year they were a tire fire back there. By the end of the year they looked like competent NHL players again with sometimes being the reason why we won.
