Therrien

[Habs30/31]

Pittsburg fired him after he called his own players "the worst defensive team in hockey" then those same players went on to win the cup with a new coach shortly there after.

Now that was funny.

[DON]

Many coaches have slagged their own team...in a motivational technique I suppose to light a fire under their asses, owners weren't happen with results and BOOM.

What was main or likely reason he was fired for, by the Habs the first time?

[Habs30/31]

Many coaches have slagged their own team...in a motivational technique I suppose to light a fire under their asses, owners weren't happen with results and BOOM.

What was main or likely reason he was fired for, by the Habs the first time?

Yes many have I suppose. Just never seen one call them the worst d team in the league at a press conference, get canned, and the team wins the Stanley Cup .

[DON]

Yah sure humerous...why did Habs fire him?

(and you could give Therrien part credit for leaving a winning team to next coach)

[Machine of Loving Grace]

Many coaches have slagged their own team...in a motivational technique I suppose to light a fire under their asses, owners weren't happen with results and BOOM.

What was main or likely reason he was fired for, by the Habs the first time?

Him and Vigneault were both taking over crappy Habs teams. Therrien took a lot of blame for a bad temper in the playoffs.

He was fired in Pittsburgh because the team took a slump when Gonchar went down. Also some players like Hal Gill and Evgeni Malkin did not like him though Crosby and Gonchar did. Disco Dan was hired, Gonchar came back and the team went on fire.

[Toronthab]

Not sure i'm on board with all this "he isn't in the way" talk, Therrien might not be the greatest coach ever, but he is hardly a bad coach either. This team is certainly built well, which helps a lot, but to constantly give the guy no credit and assume has no hand in any of the team's success is a little crazy to me.

He is a guy who preaches structure and discipline to play within the confines of hockey that he deems acceptable, and that is what this team is doing from top to bottom, he has that whole room skipping when he says and that alone says a lot about his coaching. Secondly, when a world class coach like Hitchcock says a team is well coached, it may be time to take the anti-Therrien goggles off for a minute and listen to what was just said, and who it is coming from, he knows a lot more than any of us on the matter. Therrien at this point is in the upper echelon of coaches in my book, and what sounds like those of his peers, He may not be a Quenville, but he is certainly better than most teams have in this league, and I simply don't think he gets a fair shake no matter what happens.

He is either blamed for every issue the team has or is given no credit when it has none, the guy is cold as ice in the face of all the critics, even though he doesn't deserve half the flak he gets, or given half the credit he deserves.

my thoughts on the matter anyway

I'm with you 100%. I have no idea what a good coach does. I assume his primary responsibility is to get the best out of the team he's given. This should show in the results to a considerable degree everything else being equal. What I hear from players like Patches is that Therrien helped him to get better and give more and that he gets the best out of everyone on the team. And then we constantly hear that Montreal has the best room , or one of the best in the league. Petry signs for less early because this is the hockey room where he wants to play hockey. I don't know how many decisions a coach makes in a game day and will likely never know for sure what underlies many decisions taken, but that is inevitable if one isn't the coach. But I believe Patches and Petry have told us all we have to know about Therrien. I suspect that he's probably , in his maturity a simply excellent coach and that we are most fortunate to have him leading from the bench.

[habs rule]

I'm with you 100%. I have no idea what a good coach does. I assume his primary responsibility is to get the best out of the team he's given. This should show in the results to a considerable degree everything else being equal. What I hear from players like Patches is that Therrien helped him to get better and give more and that he gets the best out of everyone on the team. And then we constantly hear that Montreal has the best room , or one of the best in the league. Petry signs for less early because this is the hockey room where he wants to play hockey. I don't know how many decisions a coach makes in a game day and will likely never know for sure what underlies many decisions taken, but that is inevitable if one isn't the coach. But I believe Patches and Petry have told us all we have to know about Therrien. I suspect that he's probably , in his maturity a simply excellent coach and that we are most fortunate to have him leading from the bench.

Ya know TH you are such an optimistic and light hearted guy. Everybody loves you.

[Habs30/31]

Him and Vigneault were both taking over crappy Habs teams. Therrien took a lot of blame for a bad temper in the playoffs.

He was fired in Pittsburgh because the team took a slump when Gonchar went down. Also some players like Hal Gill and Evgeni Malkin did not like him though Crosby and Gonchar did. Disco Dan was hired, Gonchar came back and the team went on fire.

All teams have slumps. How a coach handles them is what counts.

Your take is MT was fired because of Gonchar went down, and the new coach won the cup because Gonchar got back up. I see. I sure hope Subban does not get hurt.

Therriens rant is what finished him. He lost the players.

Of all the coaches backers, TH has the best take on Therriens tenure so far. I read the Max piece too, was pleasantly surprised made took the time to compliment MT. Mainly because he's the only Hab I remember ever do so. Past and present. (but he was directly asked , what is an assistant captain and potential captain expected to say)

But we are 7-0....and today that's all that matters. If we win a cup I dont care if Mario Trembly is the guy behind the bench.

[Commandant]

Pittsburg fired him after he called his own players "the worst defensive team in hockey" then those same players went on to win the cup with a new coach shortly there after.

Now that was funny.

\

He called his team "the worst defensive team in hockey" THREE FULL YEARS before he was fired. In the interim between being saying that and being fired, he took them to the cup final. In his final season, his best defenceman was out for 1/2 the year and returned only after he was replaced...

Lets not let the facts get in the way of the narrative though.

Article... Press Conference is in February 2006

http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/eye-on-hockey/21798502/flashback-michel-therriens-unforgettable-rant-in-pittsburgh

fired February 2009

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/penguins-axe-coach-michel-therrien-1.848301

[Commandant]

All teams have slumps. How a coach handles them is what counts.

Your take is MT was fired because of Gonchar went down, and the new coach won the cup because Gonchar got back up. I see. I sure hope Subban does not get hurt.

Therriens rant is what finished him. He lost the players.

Of all the coaches backers, TH has the best take on Therriens tenure so far. I read the Max piece too, was pleasantly surprised made took the time to compliment MT. Mainly because he's the only Hab I remember ever do so. Past and present. (but he was directly asked , what is an assistant captain and potential captain expected to say)

But we are 7-0....and today that's all that matters. If we win a cup I dont care if Mario Trembly is the guy behind the bench.

Therrien's rant is what finished him, and he lost the players? Funny cause it was THREE FULL YEARS before he got fired.

[Commandant]

• Here is reality

  Therrien takes over a team that finished last overall in 2003-04, lost the lottery to washington, and drafted Evgeni Malki.... Malkin stays in Russia until Sept 2006

  Crosby is drafted in 05, is a rookie in 05-06 but the Penguins still have a horrible team around him.

  In 2005-06 season despite Crosby being on the way to a 100 point campaign, pittsburgh still sucks. Following a loss to Edmonton, the Penguins have just one win in their last 18 games. Therrien goes off after this loss and calls them the worst defensive team in hockey in February 2006

  They finish with the second worst record in the NHL, draft Jordan Staal.

  They improve, making the playoffs in 2007

  Continue to improve Making the cup finals in 2008

  2008 off season Gonchar gets hurt, needs surgery on his ACL, misses the first half of the year (at this point gonchar is an elite NHL defenceman and Pittsburgh's best, easily)

  Therrien gets fired three years after the rant in February 2009, and while missing his best defenceman. Bylsma takes a team with Therrien's structure, tweaks it a little, gets gonchar back.

  Penguins make further deadline deals getting Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin to give them wingers for Crosby and Malkin.

  Penguins win 2009 cup.

  Bylsma does nothing after winning cup, and penguins spend next six years getting a little bit worse every year

But hey.... the fun narrative where he lost the room for calling out his team, that'd be really funny... if it was true.

[Machine of Loving Grace]

The issue in Pittsburgh that year lies in their start. They were 14-6-3 in October and November despite missing Gonchar. The Penguins then went 13-19-2 and Therrien was fired. Gonchar came back the day before Therrien was fired and the team acquires Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin soon after. The Penguins outscored their opponents 44-28 in March going 10-1-2. A big part of that was the return of Gonchar and the acquistions of Kunitz and Guerin. Kunitz was near PPG in the season. Guerin was third in scoring for the Penguins in the playoffs. Gonchar returned and had 19 points in 25 games.

Just a little more detail to what Commandant is saying, which is all correct. If you goto a Penguins board these days, you'll see them begging for Therrien to return.

[Colin]

I find it interesting that a lot of the discussion is about what Therrien is. And by that, it seems that he is what he is from beginning to end. What saddens me is that there's no talk about what seems to have changed. Not unlike, say, Galchenyuk adapting and improving his game, I see Therrien doing things somewhat differently, adapting and learning and modifying to stay current with the game. For instance, when was the last time he left lines together for 60 minutes - whether he was winning or losing - let alone 420 minutes and change.

I think there has to be some credit given to the man for adapting his game to the new reality of his bench. The team are *not* relying on Price as much as they did. Sure, Price has probably stolen a game or two, but Montreal has been legitimately better than the opposition most of the time so far. That in itself is a large improvement on last year and a drastic one on two years back, particularly since the Olympics when Price became Super Price.

Sure, you can argue all you want about Price, about the growing maturity of the players in front of him, about the decisions management has made and the players provided. But the players are showing a different game than they have at any point under Therrien. I would argue they're showing a different game than Pittsburgh did during their halcyon years under Therrien. The Habs are playing a more complete game.

I would argue they're well-coached, and are not just a semi-talented team that's riding Price. The structure of their game is more defined at both ends of the rink. They take the game to the opposition in the third rather than praying that Price will win a point when they have a slim lead.

For me, it seems Therrien has evolved to be a better coach. As much as Chucky has improved his game, so too has the bench boss. And I think the Habs are reflecting their coach's improvements.

[DON]

thanks for history lesson, don't remember any of that stuff.

[habs rule]

I find it interesting that a lot of the discussion is about what Therrien is. And by that, it seems that he is what he is from beginning to end. What saddens me is that there's no talk about what seems to have changed. Not unlike, say, Galchenyuk adapting and improving his game, I see Therrien doing things somewhat differently, adapting and learning and modifying to stay current with the game. For instance, when was the last time he left lines together for 60 minutes - whether he was winning or losing - let alone 420 minutes and change.

I think there has to be some credit given to the man for adapting his game to the new reality of his bench. The team are *not* relying on Price as much as they did. Sure, Price has probably stolen a game or two, but Montreal has been legitimately better than the opposition most of the time so far. That in itself is a large improvement on last year and a drastic one on two years back, particularly since the Olympics when Price became Super Price.

Sure, you can argue all you want about Price, about the growing maturity of the players in front of him, about the decisions management has made and the players provided. But the players are showing a different game than they have at any point under Therrien. I would argue they're showing a different game than Pittsburgh did during their halcyon years under Therrien. The Habs are playing a more complete game.

I would argue they're well-coached, and are not just a semi-talented team that's riding Price. The structure of their game is more defined at both ends of the rink. They take the game to the opposition in the third rather than praying that Price will win a point when they have a slim lead.

For me, it seems Therrien has evolved to be a better coach. As much as Chucky has improved his game, so too has the bench boss. And I think the Habs are reflecting their coach's improvements.

I can pretty much agree with this.

[Jeff Price (no relation)]

I've never really had any specific issues with Therrien. I do suspect he and the rest of the team are not being honest with us when they tell the media that they haven't really changed anything. This team is playing a very different (and more effective) style of hockey than they played last year, and since they haven't changed the roster much...

[KoRP]

Lol, he's a fair to middling head coach?

I like that he has shown a lot more class and wisdom than his first tenure.

I like the fact that he is in control, and calm when facing the media, and is very wise in that regard, as well as dealing with on ice officials.

I like how he has handled our star players, as well as our young guys, and helped develop them as well.

I like how this team is looking strong both on the ice, and mentally, and there is no stronger feeling of team game in the NHL, as there is in Mtl.

I like Michel Therrien just fine, after all, considering where we have came from since he has been hired.

There are teams with better rosters, and supposedly better coaches, that are not as good as the Habs as a team.

Canadiens are doing just fine, and Therrien has been a big part of the turn around, and the development of this team as it is today, you haters don't have to admit it, it's not a crime to be stubborn or wrong for that matter .

You arm chair coaches, that pick apart one singular thing, such as line juggling or the PP, yet ignore the bottom line and the fact that we are indeed now, and have been for 2-3 seasons, an elite team, so it's either you are just plain malcontents, or you have limited knowledge of what actually happens in an NHL team's life and times, and slow daily build into a contender.

It must be so easy that you guys must surely be employed by NHL teams and head coaches the lot of you, and we Hab fans would really appreciate it if you stopped trolling us here, and take your worry about your team's road to the finals and cup to your own discussion forums... ;}

Yeah, this means you Claude Julien(aka Habs 30/31), and Randy Carlyle(aka Don)

and before you sh1t your pants I am indeed joking....

[Machine of Loving Grace]

I've always maintained that Therrien is a Top 10 coach but not elite, and that if the team has an organizational weakness it's our team coaching. That involves more than just Therrien.

That said, guys like Bylsma, Torts, Carlyle, Crawford and Laviolette have rings while great coaches like Tippett, Vigneault and Trotz do not. Don't get me started on the Jack Adams, which has yet to be awarded to Babcock, hasn't been given to Quenneville in his entire time with Chicago and keeps going to guys who turn their teams around instead of the legitimately best coach that year. That's why Babcock is Team Canada's coach despite no trophy.

[Habs30/31]

Lol, he's a fair to middling head coach?

I like that he has shown a lot more class and wisdom than his first tenure.

I like the fact that he is in control, and calm when facing the media, and is very wise in that regard, as well as dealing with on ice officials.

I like how he has handled our star players, as well as our young guys, and helped develop them as well.

I like how this team is looking strong both on the ice, and mentally, and there is no stronger feeling of team game in the NHL, as there is in Mtl.

I like Michel Therrien just fine, after all, considering where we have came from since he has been hired.

There are teams with better rosters, and supposedly better coaches, that are not as good as the Habs as a team.

Canadiens are doing just fine, and Therrien has been a big part of the turn around, and the development of this team as it is today, you haters don't have to admit it, it's not a crime to be stubborn or wrong for that matter .

You arm chair coaches, that pick apart one singular thing, such as line juggling or the PP, yet ignore the bottom line and the fact that we are indeed now, and have been for 2-3 seasons, an elite team, so it's either you are just plain malcontents, or you have limited knowledge of what actually happens in an NHL team's life and times, and slow daily build into a contender.

It must be so easy that you guys must surely be employed by NHL teams and head coaches the lot of you, and we Hab fans would really appreciate it if you stopped trolling us here, and take your worry about your team's road to the finals and cup to your own discussion forums... ;}

Yeah, this means you Claude Julien(aka Habs 30/31), and Randy Carlyle(aka Don)

and before you sh1t your pants I am indeed joking....

lol Funny, but you lost me with "you haters" Have not heard fan on here that has showed the least bit of "hate" towards anyone, including MT.

But I agree with you that Therrien is changing. Doing things that HR and others like myself have been wishing he would for some time now.

1.DD third line center.

2.Leave Chucky at center.

3.Stop juggling the lines every game win or lose.

Those three requests have been all over this forum (and every other forum for quite some time). So yea I'm happy that MT finally clued it and gave all three a try. 7-0 works for me.

Your welcome.

[habs rule]

I've always maintained that Therrien is a Top 10 coach but not elite, and that if the team has an organizational weakness it's our team coaching. That involves more than just Therrien.

That said, guys like Bylsma, Torts, Carlyle, Crawford and Laviolette have rings while great coaches like Tippett, Vigneault and Trotz do not. Don't get me started on the Jack Adams, which has yet to be awarded to Babcock, hasn't been given to Quenneville in his entire time with Chicago and keeps going to guys who turn their teams around instead of the legitimately best coach that year. That's why Babcock is Team Canada's coach despite no trophy.

now that is a good point.

lol Funny, but you lost me with "you haters" Have not heard fan on here that has showed the least bit of "hate" towards anyone, including MT.

But I agree with you that Therrien is changing. Doing things that HR and others like myself have been wishing he would for some time now.

1.DD third line center.

2.Leave Chucky at center.

3.Stop juggling the lines every game win or lose.

Those three requests have been all over this forum (and every other forum for quite some time). So yea I'm happy that MT finally clued it and gave all three a try. 7-0 works for me.

Your welcome.

[Commandant]

The reality is that there are likely....

3 coaches in the NHL who are outstanding....

25 or 26 coaches in the NHL who are pretty good but more or less interchangeable and who need to be changed because their voice gets tuned out by the room after a period of time.

1 or 2 coaches who suck.

Therrien's in that middle group.

[habs rule]

The reality is that there are likely....

3 coaches in the NHL who are outstanding....

25 or 26 coaches in the NHL who are pretty good but more or less interchangeable and who need to be changed because their voice gets tuned out by the room after a period of time.

1 or 2 coaches who suck.

Therrien's in that middle group.

No argument there.

[Habs30/31]

Therrien's rant is what finished him, and he lost the players? Funny cause it was THREE FULL YEARS before he got fired.

I stand corrected. That rant did not contribute to him losing the players. I was wrong on the timing.

The reality is that there are likely....

3 coaches in the NHL who are outstanding....

25 or 26 coaches in the NHL who are pretty good but more or less interchangeable and who need to be changed because their voice gets tuned out by the room after a period of time.

1 or 2 coaches who suck.

Therrien's in that middle group.

Well said.

[The Chicoutimi Cucumber]

The reality is that there are likely....

3 coaches in the NHL who are outstanding....

25 or 26 coaches in the NHL who are pretty good but more or less interchangeable and who need to be changed because their voice gets tuned out by the room after a period of time.

1 or 2 coaches who suck.

Therrien's in that middle group.

Yep. I've been saying the same thing for a while. The criticisms of MT are fair at times, but vastly overblown - and undermined by the FACT that any replacement of MT would come in and do other things that the very same critics would then go kowabunga complaining about. He's a good coach, and Scotty Bowman isn't available. The end.

[Toronthab]

Ya know TH you are such an optimistic and light hearted guy. Everybody loves you.

Why thanks HR. Very kind of you and my mother would value your kind words particularly. You probably didn't even know , but she told me I was the smartest, handsomest and nicest kid in the whole big school. And she could tell all that by the second day!! Amazing woman, God rest her happy soul.