The coaches.

I prefer Fenwick close, and I probably will for a few more years. More often than not, they coincide pretty well though.

They have the best talent 1-5 on the blueline and one of the best goalies. They gave their new coach the right type of roster too. I thought they would be pretty good this year and I thought they would have a real good chance to be better than Dallas, WPG, and Colorado, but I'm just as shocked by them this year as I was by Colorado last year.

Getting to the point, stats and the eyes told me Colorado was fluky last year, I can't find or see much in the way of flukiness with Nashville this year. To me, my eyes tell me they're a little better than the numbers suggest but I don't see a collapse coming like I was expecting and hoping for from Colorado (that failed to materialize until this season).

The only thing that might slow them down is overall depth and the grind of the season on the younger players. You won't be catching me calling them a fluke. I think they still have plenty of players that are underachieving too.

I'm still shocked Poile was able to fire Trotz and shift his roster to match a coach so successfully. They looked so good in the preseason, I expected a good year, but not like this. They are loaded with good skaters and a bunch of players Trotz was forcing to play in a system they weren't well suited for imo.

 

well, the good thing is, off the top of my head, i can't think of any reason to dislike them, aside from the Smashville thing. so i can think of plenty of teams whose success would bother me more

do the preds have any scumbag players, like dallas, that i'm forgetting about?

 

Laviolette doesn't get the credit that he should. he's the maestro of the quick turnaround.

 

lolol, good point, matty - i had forgotten about that one.

 

Volchenkov was suspended for 4 games this year.
Neal is a complete asswipe
Gaustad is a truculent "team first" guy
This guy is a danger to big macs, the preferred fuel choice of great americans like Phil:

Stalberg was a whiny bitch before, possible Jarnkrok was too. Might be worth noting.
Jay-Z is Seth Jones' agent, but I don't know if that's bad or not but we can make it bad.

 

ohhhh, ffs, forgot all about neal being there now.

 

matty, you're right about Peter L. He seems to be able to come in and turn a team completely around but in about 3 years he loses them. Examples. the Islanders, Hurricanes and Flyers, Each team exceed their expectations his first year, with him winning a cup in Carolina, but 3 years later he had lost the team and was fired mid-year 4. Same thing in Philadelphia. Hopefully, one of these days he will learn how to keep the teams focus and find a long term place. I like the guy, but for some reason he has no sticking power.

 

That sounds a lot like Ted Nolan with one notable exception. Teddy dispenses with the winning his first year before wearing out his welcome.

He's not Tim Murray's guy and he made some flippant jab about "politics" being the reason Pysyk was not called up from Rochester sooner. Even if that's true it's not good for one's career to throw your boss under the bus. Especially if your team has historically bad Corsi/Fenwick stats.

I expect the Sabres to look even worse than they do now in April. I'm laying heavy odds that Nolan will get the boot. I wonder how long it'll take him this time to get his next NHL job.

 

I have to wonder if Dave Tippet gets fired how long it will take for him to get another job. I would thank Edmonton, Toronto, Minnesota or any other team making a coaching change would look at him in a hurry if he became available.

 

Tippett has to be near the end. They imploded on him last year and this year is a mess, but I think most of this year falls on the gm. Smith and the forward group are terrible. I wonder how much his stock has or has not dropped from 2 years ago.

 

tippett lost his best forward (vrbata) and the gm re-signs (doan's pills) an aging center to pass to no talent. until domi gets there, they have don't have much stick handling going on.

yeo with the "torts" practice, nice.

i've watched a number of b's games lately and have seen sluggish play with spurts of effort.

pred's could hit a wall with forsberg later in the season...so far he has been money (that trade to the caps forsberg for erat and ahl center latta was amuzing)

still hoping for a calgary meltdown after hartley's extension.

nolan is slow roasting.

blysma is sending out resumes.

maclean is sending out resumes.

torts is sending out resumes.

 

I like Tippett. Most of these guys wear out their welcome sooner or later. I think Tippett has a really strong hockey mind.


speaking of unlikeable in Nashville, lets not forget about this guy.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNw8ZZT8tOU[/video]

 

thank u, matty. this is why i ask

 

a good community effort. i liked Nashville much more before you asked that question lulz.

 

lol, fuck smashville

 

indeed

 

The clock is starting to tick very loudly for Ted Nolan. He got a bit of a pass given the talent he's been given. On the other hand, the team brought in some veteran "leadership" in the summer, and still BUF has stupendously bad stats in virtually every category. It really is a matter of time for him to be canned anyway given his authoritarian style which always wears thin. Tim Murray is not responsible for him being behind the bench, and that puts him on a short leash.

The team has managed to lose 10 straight, which is epic even for this team. If they don't pull out a couple of wins soon, Nolan probably won't last the season. Regardless, I think it's almost certain that he'll be gone before next season.

 

They're doing the same thing I was griping about early in the year, wasting shifts. Nolan should go.

I wonder if Murray is talking to any of the exiled coaches or recently fired ones.

 

if the goal is McEichel than it seems as if Nolan is doing an outstanding job. wait out the season and bring in McEichel and "a new attitude".