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2011-12 NHL Season Thread


dlbalr

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What's now ? Mike Keenan with the Blue Jackets ?

Well, they could certainly use someone to kick their collective butt, however I suspect they'll look more to a 'teacher' type or a 'rah rah' guy. Quite possible we'll hear from a certain Captain Kirk again.

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I'd say there's an excellent chance Arniel is fired soon, especially now that the Jackets are no longer paying for Hitchcock. With him still around, I think it was gonna take a lot more sucking to convince them to pay three head coaches.

As for who should take over, I want someone who will really shake the team up. Someone to take the letter's off the players' chests and make them earn them. Sadly, I don't think anyone has the balls to do that.

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Numerous times during the Tampa-Philly game, the Lightning set up their 1-3-1 system and Philly just waited... and waited... and waited...

Neither team made the first move. The ref blew the whistle twice to set up a faceoff, but other times, Philly just waited till a Lightning player moved and created an opening.

It was a staring contest, and Boucher blinked.

I hope more teams do this whenever someone implements the 1-3-1 system.

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Niklas Hagman on waivers from the Flames. I know there was some enthusiasm about only BTH who wanted to pick him up before although the present cap situation would make that a little challenging.

fixed.

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Niklas Hagman on waivers from the Flames. I know there was some enthusiasm about picking him up before although the present cap situation would make that a little challenging.

I wanted him last season! But everybody else said he sucked. And now it seems as if he sucks. I posted it on that HW Twitter feature that used to be on the main forum page and sakiqc or Joe wasn't sure if I was joking or not.

Lots of people seem to be blaming one or both of them teams but I don't think either team did anything wrong here. TB has the right to play any system they like and Philly should have the right to wait for TB to make their move.

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I wanted him last season! But everybody else said he sucked. And now it seems as if he sucks. I posted it on that HW Twitter feature that used to be on the main forum page and sakiqc or Joe wasn't sure if I was joking or not.

I've been trying to figure out where that went as people were just starting to get the hang of it. When we went to the updated version of the boards, they disappeared.

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I've been trying to figure out where that went as people were just starting to get the hang of it. When we went to the updated version of the boards, they disappeared.

I dunno but if you go to my profile, you can see the comment that I posted about Hagman, still there.

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And to think, we could have had that 1-3-1 had we kept Boucher. Flying Frenchmen indeed!

Best tweet in a long time:

"Tampa Bay Lightning are chipping away at our escrow 1-3-1 at a time." tweeted Phoenix Coyotes forward Paul Bissonnette.

That's gold.

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Sorry - and I'm not saying JM is God - but I can't help wondering where are all those expert Habs fans who are SOOOO critical of JM's 'obsolete' conservative style and wish, wish, wish we had just held onto that wonderful Boucher with his electrifying, innovative hockey mind. If he goes 1-3-1 because Hedman is out, what would he do with Markov/Campoli/Cammalleri/Kostitysn/Gomez? Stack five men in the net behind Price?

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Sorry - and I'm not saying JM is God - but I can't help wondering where are all those expert Habs fans who are SOOOO critical of JM's 'obsolete' conservative style and wish, wish, wish we had just held onto that wonderful Boucher with his electrifying, innovative hockey mind. If he goes 1-3-1 because Hedman is out, what would he do with Markov/Campoli/Cammalleri/Kostitysn/Gomez? Stack five men in the net behind Price?

We spend a way too much time worrying what somebody else is doing and not enough time focussing on what we are doing or in our case not doing.

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Sorry - and I'm not saying JM is God - but I can't help wondering where are all those expert Habs fans who are SOOOO critical of JM's 'obsolete' conservative style and wish, wish, wish we had just held onto that wonderful Boucher with his electrifying, innovative hockey mind. If he goes 1-3-1 because Hedman is out, what would he do with Markov/Campoli/Cammalleri/Kostitysn/Gomez? Stack five men in the net behind Price?

I think most of the distaste towards JM comes from his stern demeanor. He just stands behind the bench and enacts vengeance on young players. I would have liked Boucher, switching to a 1-3-1 just makes sense in that instance. He still is willing to adapt and change his style of game to suit his players and to win. JM hasn't shown that.

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I think most of the distaste towards JM comes from his stern demeanor. He just stands behind the bench and enacts vengeance on young players. I would have liked Boucher, switching to a 1-3-1 just makes sense in that instance. He still is willing to adapt and change his style of game to suit his players and to win. JM hasn't shown that.

My point is that Boucher has a star-studded lineup and still chose to go with a hyper-conservative system due to a couple of injuries. Considering the much more catastrophic parade of injuries JM has had to deal with, it's reasonable to infer that Boucher would coach the Habs in a very similar fashion.

As for his treatment of young players, I feel it's another canard. The guy has a track record of developing players and of getting the most out of players - Bouwmeester, Jokinen, Redden - whose careers went south under different coaches. Now I'm not saying every decision he makes is correct (like everyone else, I think Pleks on the point is stupid) and I agree that he tends to be too stubborn in clinging to decisions that aren't working out. The difference between me and the Martin haters is that I'm aware that a new coach would bring his own, different bundle of strengths and weaknesses. Too often people contrast Martin to perfection, or some idealized dream of what a perfect coach would do, and condemn him for falling short. Trouble is, there's no perfect coach. (Okay, there's Scotty Bowman).

Much of the vitriol is thus based on fantasy thinking that makes guys like Emelin out to be great talents held down by a bad man, when in fact they just might not be that great at this stage in their development. If Emelin plays 15:00 per night and makes 4 gaffes per game, then fan loathing will transfer onto Emelin (hardly good for his devleopment - remember O'Byrne's own goal?) and probably blame Martin for sitting out Great Young Stud X in favour of useless dog Emelin. And if Martin sits Weber to give Emelin more ice, then the fans will accuse him of crushing Weber's development, He can't win.

The ferocity with which fans hate Martin is based on axiomatic reasoning: he is evil/incompetent/obsolete, therefore everything that goes wrong is proof of his evil/incompetence/obsolescence. The Tampa incident is revealing because it offers strong evidence that, at least in terms of team systems, JM is not doing anything any other coach, including the hot coach of the month (Boucher), wouldn't do with this team.

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Even in Montreal Martin's moves with young players have for the most part worked.

With Price.... sure he struggled his first year under Martin, but he's become a better player.

He was criticized for benching Subban and Eller last year, but both players have come back from the benchings better hockey players. PK was in a bit of an early season slump, but i think we all know he is still young and looks to be a future number 1 for us. Eller has developped a defensive game and the offence is coming around.

People were upset with the handling of Patches, and with him being in Hamilton, and with his comments about Martin. Well, it turns out that Hamilton was the best place for Patches, and it helped him to develop into a real goal scoring threat. He's been one of the best players on our team this year.

Weber is also coming along nicely. As has Ryan White, and David Desharnais. Three more players who Martin is getting a lot out of.

I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he will get the most possible out of Diaz, Emelin, and Palushaj, along with other youngsters put under his watch, because he's always done so, whether it be in Ottawa, Florida, or his two years here. We can question the decisions... and I have.. but looking at the results, it seems to be working.

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