Colin Posted December 20, 2006 Share Posted December 20, 2006 Hitchcock? *laughs* Doing poorly with the Jackets. Ted Nolan? Potential coach of the year this year and in his last season of coaching hockey he was coach of the year. How on Earth can anyone call him overrated? He's taken a garbage Islander club and has turned them into playoff contenders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoZed Posted December 21, 2006 Author Share Posted December 21, 2006 (edited) Ted Nolan? Potential coach of the year this year and in his last season of coaching hockey he was coach of the year. How on Earth can anyone call him overrated? He's taken a garbage Islander club and has turned them into playoff contenders. The Isles are tied at 37 pts with Washington and Toronto, they've got 7th seed because they've got less games played. They're 13th overall in the league, which about average. The Isles only missed the playoffs last year after making them from 3 straight years. They've got Yashin, Satan, Hunter, Kozlov, Sillinger, Bates and Blake up front and Hill, Poti, Witt, Martinek and Campoli on D with DiPietro in nets. Not an all-star cast but all proven NHLers. Hardly "garbage" like Washington's cast of rejects and Pittsburgh's Baby Squad... yet all 3 teams have about the same records. Nobody's talking about Glen Hanlon or Michel Therrien though. Just more proof Nolan's overrated. The runaway Adams candidate so far would be Hartley. The Trashers have almost no offensive weapons after Kovalchuk and Hossa, they've got rejects at D and a goalie who missed almost half his rookie season last year; yet ATL is ahead of TB and Carolina and 3rd in the East. Edited December 21, 2006 by KoZed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 The Isles are tied at 37 pts with Washington and Toronto, they've got 7th seed because they've got less games played. They're 13th overall in the league, which about average. The Isles only missed the playoffs last year after making them from 3 straight years. They've got Yashin, Satan, Hunter, Kozlov, Sillinger, Bates and Blake up front and Hill, Poti, Witt, Martinek and Campoli on D with DiPietro in nets. Not an all-star cast but all proven NHLers. Hardly "garbage" like Washington's cast of rejects and Pittsburgh's Baby Squad... yet all 3 teams have about the same records. Nobody's talking about Glen Hanlon or Michel Therrien though. Just more proof Nolan's overrated. The runaway Adams candidate so far would be Hartley. The Trashers have almost no offensive weapons after Kovalchuk and Hossa, they've got rejects at D and a goalie who missed almost half his rookie season last year; yet ATL is ahead of TB and Carolina and 3rd in the East. I've heard a lot of talk on the NHL and Hartley rarely gets mentioned, if at all. Not that I disagree with you, because I think he's done a great job with a patchwork squad. Michel Therrien is a laugh - there are talks that he won't last the year there, so mentioning him in the same sentence with the phrase 'coach of the year' seems a little farfetched. Hanlon is doing fine enough, but I think the jury is still out there. Vis-a-vis Nolan, he's managed to do the unthinkable and get Yashin to play hockey. Trent Hunter was a flash in the pan - rather like one Jose Theodore... Kozlov is another player who suddenly wants to play hockey. Sillinger is nothing more than Sundstrom. Bates and Blake, as most Isles fans will tell you, suck beans. Blake skates his ass off and that's how he gets most of his points and Bates, while serviceable, isn't worth much. Poti is the defender that was run out of the Rangers squad for coughing up the puck every second play - much like Niinimaa (and look at the recent turnaround in his game, but that's off topic). Martinek is halfway decent but he'd not make the Habs. Finally, DiP has only managed to turn his game around recently. My best buddy is an Isles fan and he has no clue how the team is doing as well as it is. They have little talent and he feels reminded of the Habs when Lind and Witehall played. Maybe not quite as extreme, but you get the point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoZed Posted December 21, 2006 Author Share Posted December 21, 2006 (edited) My best buddy is an Isles fan and he has no clue how the team is doing as well as it is. They have little talent and he feels reminded of the Habs when Lind and Witehall played. Maybe not quite as extreme, but you get the point. I think you could have stopped writing there. That explains everything! Seriously. Looking at the Isles on paper and comparing them to other teams in the East, I hardly think they are overachieving. If anything, its teams like Ottawa, TB, Philly that are underachieving. As for Yashin, same could be said about Jagr but nobody's calling Renney a genius for getting his star player going. NYR has even less depth than NYI and they lead the division. Edited December 21, 2006 by KoZed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dark_faerie87 Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 I think you could have stopped writing there. That explains everything! Seriously. Looking at the Isles on paper and comparing them to other teams in the East, I hardly think they are overachieving. If anything, its teams like Ottawa, TB, Philly that are underachieving. As for Yashin, same could be said about Jagr but nobody's calling Renney a genius for getting his star player going. NYR has even less depth than NYI and they lead the division. Yeah, the Isles narrowly missed the playoffs last year and this year should be yet another nailbiter. They're an average team that will finish between 7th and 10th. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oleg Petrov Posted December 30, 2006 Share Posted December 30, 2006 I don't know much about Hartley, but I remember when he took over the Thrashers partway through the season in 02-03 and he took them from joke to smoke in the blink of an eye, almost getting them into the playoffs then. He still hasn't done that yet, but it was a stunning turnaround of a laugher team. Tough sell to call him overrated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanpuck33 Posted December 30, 2006 Share Posted December 30, 2006 I have some thoughts on players who become coaches. In general, I think superstar type players end up being poor coaches. This is because these guys succeeded in hockey because of natural talent. Of course, you can't teach natural talent, so it's difficult for them to teach what they know. On the other hand, guys who made it in the league because of effort and hockey knowledge tend to make good coaches. Look at Carbo. He was no superstar or a hugely talented player. However, he was a very smart player and had a great knowledge of how the game is played, so it is easy for him to teach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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