When does Therrien get fired?

[KoRP]

I think all NHL coaches are obviously "good coaches", but the job isn't easy to remain on the same team for too long, they are all hired to be fired.

In terms of systems, and adaptations to opposing coaches, well, style makes fights...

Today's coach is dealing with a lot of "entitled millionaire young man" syndrome, so staying a "fit" for a team may be harder for a coach than a player, coaches are more easily replaced than a superstar, that's for sure.

To add to your list CC, although some may not agree, I think Boudreau is an excellent coach, an older gent as well...

[KoRP]

What about the years those teams went all in and won or went to the Cup?

That's the price of doing business... may be a long way back for the Kings, Rags and Hawks, depleted prospect pool, and huge cap space tied up in a handful of players, it has to end somewhere, and retooling these teams once they crash, like these 3 teams did, may take years.

In this era, it seems to me you need a good prospect pool coming along yearly, because the core of any team near the top of the standings is going to be highly paid, leaving the roster fill out after the stars, to rookies, or younger prospects because they are cheap.

Really, as it stands today, the Hawks, Rags and Kings aren't that much closer to a cup than the Habs are, arguably farther away...Habs still have flexibility for next year, and it should be a quick turnaround when you think about it, Price included of course.

[JGC21]

What about Marc Crawford, he coached some pretty good teams in Colorado and Vancouver? He's destined to come back to the NHL some day.

[habs rule]

What are you babbling about; Habs won a ton for years and Therrien got zero credit and having a bad season nothing has changed.

Geez Don you make it sound like he's been here for 20 years. You already know what my answer is, no need to rehash it again.

[habs rule]

That's the price of doing business... may be a long way back for the Kings, Rags and Hawks, depleted prospect pool, and huge cap space tied up in a handful of players, it has to end somewhere, and retooling these teams once they crash, like these 3 teams did, may take years.

In this era, it seems to me you need a good prospect pool coming along yearly, because the core of any team near the top of the standings is going to be highly paid, leaving the roster fill out after the stars, to rookies, or younger prospects because they are cheap.

Really, as it stands today, the Hawks, Rags and Kings aren't that much closer to a cup than the Habs are, arguably farther away...Habs still have flexibility for next year, and it should be a quick turnaround when you think about it, Price included of course.

What if Price gets hurt again? Back to the bottom. We need to be more prepared for that. Oh well we can always get Scrivens back. That worked like a charm.

[Dalhabs]

I swear that some people believe that a coach, a COACH, is the be-all and end-all of a team. We are sitting here talking about a coach, not a player, not the guys that spill blood on the ice and sacrifice for their team, but a coach. We talking about a coach? We aren't talking about the players, we're talking about a coach, a coach? I mean, I know that a coach is important and all, but how silly is that? We're talking about a coach. Not the players that are playing the game, we're talking about a coach. A coach. We're not even talking about the players that play the game, we are talking about the coach. The coach that doesn't play the game, the guy behind the bench not playing. Talking about the coach, not the players, not the players, not the players, but the coach. It's strange to me that we are talking about the coach so much, not the players. C'mon man

My swedish team Leksand was dead last after the first 24 games (almost half reg. Season) in the 2nd division. They made a coach change. After that they almost won all the time and in the end managed to win a best of seven against modo (SHLteam) and take modos place in the SHL. Changing coach can make a BIG difference.

[DON]

My swedish team Leksand was dead last after the first 24 games (almost half reg. Season) in the 2nd division. They made a coach change. After that they almost won all the time and in the end managed to win a best of seven against modo (SHLteam) and take modos place in the SHL. Changing coach can make a BIG difference.

There also is this team, in a place called Toronto, that switches coaches often with no great improvement for couple years half century now.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

What if Price gets hurt again? Back to the bottom. We need to be more prepared for that. Oh well we can always get Scrivens back. That worked like a charm.

No offence, but you're arguing that we need to go out and get a #1A goalie, when our goalie plays 60+ games per year. That's a crazy use of cap space on a team that has legitimate holes in the roster up front; and besides, what legitimate #1A goalie would want to sign here anyway, knowing that he's trapped in purgatory behind the top goalie in the game?

Now, you can reply that Price didn't play 60+ games this season. Granted. But injury to franchise players is not something for which you can build a fail-safe, especially not when that franchise player is a goalie (for the reasons I give above). Think of this generation of the Habs as analogous to New Jersey with Martin Brodeur - only in a salary cap era. NJ goes nowhere and does nothing all those years if it weren't for Brodeur, not because NJ was a bad team, but because it was build from the net out. It is simply not a legitimate criticism of this organization that it does not have a Cup-worthy fall-back plan in the event that Carey Price is lost for an entire season.

KoRP: Boudreau is certainly a respectable coach. But he also has a very, very patchy playoff record, despite having been lucky to coach absolutely stacked teams for his entire NHL career. Some big questions marks there, which the Anaheim/Nashville series has not exactly assuaged.

JGC21, I like Crawford and wanted us to fire Therrien and hire him. But let's face it, he has a checkered past, and if we hired him may people would be lamenting him as a 'retread' and bringing up the Bourque shootout, etc., etc..

[Machine of Loving Grace]

I want a 1B goalie that is willing to sit behind Price.

[KoRP]

There is no cap space to sign another goalie at 4 or 5+ mil...and that is what one would want, at least the 1b type. There isn't a team in the league with 2 #1 goalies, and there is no way Bergevin is going to do that.

Why?

Because he's not an idiot. You can't have a replacement ready for Price, there is none... Price goes down, then you try, Price goes down after the deadline, it's up to the back up, whoever that is, and it will probably be Condon. He will be better next season, another year under Waite's guidance, and probably has learned a lot.

CC, agreed on the Boudreau thing...

[Machine of Loving Grace]

Sure, not with Emelin, DD and Eller on contract there isn't.

[Commandant]

Sure, not with Emelin, DD and Eller on contract there isn't.

Even if we move them, spending 3-4 million on a 1b goalie makes no sense.

That money can be better spent to add to the pool on a top 6 forward, or a top 4 D.

[DON]

I want a 1B goalie that is willing to sit behind Price.

I want the winning lottery numbers...but

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

Even if we move them, spending 3-4 million on a 1b goalie makes no sense.

That money can be better spent to add to the pool on a top 6 forward, or a top 4 D.

100%. Every penny needs to go to actual holes in the roster - not imaginary holes. In nets, it's Price or bust.

[Machine of Loving Grace]

In nets, it's Price or bust.

With Price's injury history it's likely bust then.

The Stars spend $10.5 million on their goaltending. We spend $3.9 million on Emelin who scored just as many goals as our goaltending did last season. What, we can't grab a guy like Cam Ward to back up Price? Are we too proud?

I'm not going to be happy with sub .910 goaltending if I want this team to win a Cup.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

With Price's injury history it's likely bust then.

It's possible. Doesn't change the equation. If you build your franchise around a player who turns out to be injury-prone, you're basically hooped in a cap system. It's a larger-scale example of what happened when we lost three years of Markov to freak injury.

[Commandant]

Yes, Emelin is a problem.

but this team needs two top 6 forwards, and a markov replacement at LD.

Even with Emelin, Eller, and DD all gone, how do you do that and spend on a cam ward?

[Machine of Loving Grace]

Pretty easily. It's called a one year contract and you can worry about Markov next summer. And we have how much cap space already? And we would have now much cap space once those three are gone?

Something funny about constantly wasting $11 million on crap but at one mention of spending a little more on a backup so our season doesn't end the moment Price gets hurt and suddenly it's not affordable. Mediocrity and busted seasons? That's okay though.

[DON]

Complaining about back-up goalie? Why is that Therrien's fault, we all know it is, but I am not sure quite how?

[Machine of Loving Grace]

Complaining about back-up goalie? Why is that Therrien's fault, we all know it is, but I am not sure quite how?

It's not. The backup issue and the #2RW issue are things I don't blame Therrien for at all. That lies on Bergevin and nobody else.

[DON]

Still off-topic

But, Lehtonen (.905%) and Niemi (.906), so obviously Dallas's GM like Bergevin just isnt too bright, he hasn't dealt with that big issue and has no back up with .910%+.

[kickass528]

Don with Josee Theodores back fix and 100% we can get him cheap I think he is looking to get back into the NHL and would make a good backup even Don Cherry was tell him to get back into the NHL

[habs rule]

Don with Josee Theodores back fix and 100% we can get him cheap I think he is looking to get back into the NHL and would make a good backup even Don Cherry was tell him to get back into the NHL

Been retired for 3 years working for TVA. I don't really see that happening. However if mark down mark thinks he can get him cheap, who knows?

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

I still don't get it. Without Price, the Habs are not winning the Cup, period. So why go out and spend millions on a backup in case he gets hurt? What's the point? The only scenario where this makes sense is if Price suffers an injury that will put him out for many weeks, but also positioning him to return in time for the playoffs. Then I can see the argument for a 1A backup, as a guy with whom we can at least scrape into the playoffs before Price takes over. That seems like a pretty specific set of circumstances to me.

[Toronthab]

GO Habs GO!! .... oh.... sorry...

I forgot....