You're the Coach

[MBH]

So you're Jeff Blashill.
Here's the scenario.

Dylan Larkin is your best player. He's a hard worker. He makes things happen. He's the captain and he should be.
Other than maybe Glendening, you trust him more than any other player.

But he's been making HUGE, glaring mistakes this season. I count at least 3 breakaways/minibreakaways caused by bizarre giveaways by Larkin. He had another giveaway that led to the first goal against of the season

How do you react to it?
It's not one isolated mistake. It's been uncommonly common.


Note: Two games ago you benched Zadina in third period after missing his assignment on the Columbus goal

Click to read more...

 

[Barry Amsterdam]

have him watch video. But i play him as much as you can.

 

[Ezekial]

I continue to play our captain and current best player on the team.

 

[RedMenace]

I resign, effective immediately, and suggest hiring Gerard Gallant.

 

[LeftWingLocked]

New coach or the coach who has been there for 6 seasons?

 

[Hen Kolland]

I strip the captaincy and cut his minutes and surround him with Filppula and Nielsen. Trade Mantha for Athanasiou and volunteer to play short handed with one forward, Athanasiou, on the first line.

Am I pretending to be outraged enough?

 

[ArmChairGM89]

11 month layoff, no preseason, 21+ minutes per night, 5 games - 3 bad giveaways. “Larkin, work on not doing the thing you’ve done 3 times. Thanks”

 

[MBH]

I strip the captaincy and cut his minutes and surround him with Filppula and Nielsen. Trade Mantha for Athanasiou and volunteer to play short handed with one forward, Athanasiou, on the first line.

Am I pretending to be outraged enough?

Who's talking outrage, Mr. Drama?

 

[MBH]

I continue to play our captain and current best player on the team.

Yes. And how would you address his mistakes?
Or would you just ignore them, because he's your captain and current best player?

I wondered the same thing about watching Connor McDavid's terrible defense on the Oilers last year.
Definitely a superstar. But you'd have to be a blind man not to see how bad his defense is.
So I wondered how Tippet was working with him on that.

 

[Hen Kolland]

Who's talking outrage, Mr. Drama?

I guess the overall gist of what I’m saying is...what is a coach supposed to do? Bench Larkin? Slash his minutes and promote someone wholly under qualified to the role who will make just as many, if not more mistakes, and probably more dangerous mistakes? Likely while producing nowhere close to the amount of positive plays that Larkin does.

He’s never going to be perfect. And to hold him to a near perfect standard, you will never be completely satisfied with the player you create. I think in the early stages of the year, you ride it out for a bit. It’s not like he needs to be told that his mistakes are bad for the team. They aren’t a result of lack of effort. These are just the things that come with the game. Not really something you can coach out of a player’s game, in my opinion.

 

[Ezekial]

Yes. And how would you address his mistakes?
Or would you just ignore them, because he's your captain and current best player?

I'm sure they're reviewing video and addressing things. I'm not sure about covid protocols and interacting with coaches, though.
All I know is Dylan Larkin is the only center on the team with definite #1 and #2 center capabilities. Ras actually had a solid game against Chicago, but what are we to do? Promote Ras to 1C while you bench Dylan Larkin?

 

[Ghost of Ethan Hunt]

I apologize for giving Dylan the Blash Rash that made him do uncharacteristic things on the ice.

 

[Stony Curtis]

Have a chat, but make it a quiet one-on-one for now. Handle it like Andy Dufresne handled Hadley on the rooftop lol: "Actually I feel stupid telling you this...I'm sure you would've investigated the matter on your own."

 

[DatsDeking]

I think those suggesting video review are right. I guarantee Larkin knows he’s making mistakes. He isn’t a head in the clouds player. He’s the first to know he’s made them, and it upsets him when he does. I’d go over video with him, but also stress that he doesn’t have to make a panic play. He can take a second and look. I’d much rather him lose the puck in a battle than cough it up prematurely out of haste.

If I’m Blash I’d also run the power play all next practice. If you’re not on the power play, um hit the bikes or something haha. We need to fix that PP.

 

[HisNoodliness]

I think everyone's giving the logical response. Have a video session with him. Show him the turnovers, and tell him that it's something you think he can improve. What I'll add is that I'd try to work on some examples where he (or other players of you have to) navigated a similar situation well. Make suggestions on how he can work on it. Also stress that he doesn't need to panic over them either. He's going to turn the puck over because he has the puck a lot and is trying to create scoring situations. He has to maximize the offense while minimizing the turnovers, and these are the ideas that you have for helping him do that.

I'm sure he's having similar conversations with every player about some aspect of their game over the course of the season. Assistant coaches and other team staff are probably doing more of this in general than Blashill but that's the kind of strategy I think you need to have.

 

[kliq]

Larkin strikes me as the type of player that likely watches back his games and will try to address any shortcomings that he has. I mean, these guys are human and they are going to make mistakes, especially when they are that young. There isn't a player alive that is going to play the perfect game every game. When its an issue is when they dont seem to care or have any interest in improving. I just dont see that in Larkin.

If I'm Blashill, I sit down with Larkin and ask him how he feels about the past few games. A player like Larkin will likely bring it up himself and then you work on it. As long as the player doesn't have an issue with entitlement (ie. an AA type), I think this is pretty straight forward.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Zadina has played 41 NHL games. Larkin 394. There's not any equivalency in how you handle those two players.

So I don't do more than mention the turnovers to Larkin but I'm guessing he's already well aware. Maybe I'd have a conversation about trying to do too much himself.

 

[Claypool]

When Larkin makes a mistake he usually makes up for it, whether getting points or making plays defensively. The effort is there every night though, and that's all that matters right now.

 

[Dotter]

I overreact, make every knee-jerk reaction known to mankind... then make a thread on HFboards for more knee-jerk reaction ideas.

 

[The Real Pastafarian]

The only perfect human we've ever had in the captaincy was Nick Lidstrom.

Larkin isn't Lidstrom. He's more like Yzerman, and Yzerman was a great player, a HOF player whose number hangs in the rafters, but he was far from perfect.

Some poor play from a still young-ish player is to be expected, and that's one aspect of coaching that I thought Blashcock would actually be able to do -- addressing fundamental mistakes of young players -- since he spent so much time at, and was so successful at, the AHL.

But maybe Babshill even sucks at that, I don't know.

What would I do? I'd have a private meeting with Larkin, show him some tape, discuss it with him, get him to agree that he needs to work on not making drop-passes to his opponents in his own goalie's crease, and if I have to, I'd schedule some special drills to try to clean that shit up. But I've never coached hockey -- I've coached soccer. We're talking big-time soccer: All the way up to 9-10 year olds. We had offsides and everything.

I'm better at criticizing hockey coaches, than I am actually doing it myself. But I think we all do that, and I don't see it as hypocrisy -- we don't need to be able to play the organ to appreciate Bach, or to know when someone has butchered it.

 

[Ezekial]

Was he even on the ice for a goal against last night?

 

[lilidk]

1
Only people who don't do anything don't make any mistakes.
2 . Blashill probably very nice guy and it seems that players like him, but somehow nice guy always finished last.
Keep him as assistant , bring real coach
3 . I don't like our kids in Sweden been coached by Blashill

 

[Ezekial]

Pettersson is allowing breakaway after breakaway against his team in basically every game. He just lost the puck again at the blue line and fell down, Holtby bailed him out.

 

[slimnipsu]

I'll find my way out!

 

[Bench]

1
2 . Blashill probably very nice guy and it seems that players like him, but somehow nice guy always finished last.
Keep him as assistant , bring real coach

People said the same thing about Jon Cooper, Yzerman's last hire, and how he needed to be replaced. Too low-key. His team got punched out early by the fiery Torts team with less talent. Cooper can't handle the playoff intensity.

I'm not attached to Blashill for the long haul, but the nice guy thing is pointless. I trust Yzerman is evaluating his roster management and the performance he's getting on the ice.