Dallas Eakins interview (about penalty kill)
 

one of the best interviews i've heard this year

pretty much reaffirms my desire to have this guy coach our team. he talks about how the penalty kill SYSTEM of the marlies is completely different, and how they preach aggression on the kill and how they use different tactics. eakins even says he'd challenge nhl powerplays (with increased skill) with the same system.

nick in particular keeps on asking if there are players from the marlies that would help the leafs on the pk and dallas continues saying it's a system thing.

also he talks about how he had a 'sit down' with kadri and how he requires an increased level of fitness from his players compared to an average coach.

with all the negative threads swirling i am so encouraged that we have this guy in our system (for now)

http://www.fan590.com/media.jsp?cont...19_124245_3204

Don't we have a system? 3 in the corners with Dupuis laying on the ice somewhere?

move him up as one of the leafs coaching staff(coaching team defense).
Make everybody happy

:laugh:

And Eakins is great, but if he ever makes it to the NHL, it won't be here unfortunately. It reaffirms what most of us have been saying, that the system just doesn't work. Yet, regardless people will still continue to argue that it's an issue of PK personnel with the players on it...the Dupuis thread had a couple of guys parroting that :shakehead

It's a lot easier to be successful in the AHL with an aggressive PK than in the NHL.

It's extremely disingenuous to even suggest that tactics Eakins uses is the AHL are applicable in the NHL (I know Eakins did not do that, but I'm sure someone in this thread will).

With Wilson yelling "Let's go!" from the bench.

We all know teams and especially the Leafs have the most difficulty on the PP when they are facing aggressive penalty killers. It definitely is applicable in the NHL.

there are aggressive kills in the nhl too

eakins even hinted he'd take his chances with his system in the nhl

there's also a whole mentality that accompanies a system like that since day 1 in training camp. i can only imagine how much he preaches good conditioning and hustle, like he talked about with kadri

we have the personnel to be successful

we have guys who have been considered good PKers in the past. this team has the horses to be top 10 in the pk EASY

Bylsma did pretty well for himself with his AHL Tactics.

I always pretend that every time Wilson yells "Let's go!", he's actually yelling "Hanta Yo!". It makes everything considerably more entertaining. :laugh:

I must say, Eakins came off a tad ambitious with that interview, purposely contrasting his philosophy with the big club. I bet the brass took notice. Just waiting for some press guy to ask Wilson why they don't employ the Marlies system?

think about it, if you're a bright, young hockey mind who has had success on the pk for multiple years, wouldn't you want to distance yourself as well from this joke of a system

there is no point asking wilson about it though lol totally different guy, totally different philosophy

perhaps burke should wait 3 more years finishing last in the pk before he is convinced wilson's system doesn't work

While I agree an aggressive PK is good, I disagree with the assumption that Eakins' style of aggressive PK will magically heal the Leafs PK. Any Tom, Dick or Joe can tell their PKers to go and be aggressive. It's quite another to do it tactically with NHLers. There isn't a PK in the AHL that can handle Nazem Kadri right now, most PPs in the NHL have at least one player at Kadri's skill level.

So therefore we should assume the same will happen with Eakins?

If it were that simple, you or I could be the GM. But it isn't that simple, and that's why we're here and Burke is there.

Funniest post I've seen in a while.:laugh:

It's nice to see Eakins is kicking but and taking names in the A. Hopefully he can translate that to the big club someday. As others have suggested though, it could be with another team, specially if Wilson gets re-signed.

does anyone know where the Marlies PK ranks? l looked on the AHL site but they don't seem to have stats for that.

#1 in the league last I heard.

1st or 2nd IIRC

Eakins is a bright guy. He knows that Wilson is on the hot seat and I'm sure he'd jump at the chance if Burke came calling. I'd take any penalty kill strategy over the one that's being employed now.

exactly, it's not as simple as saying 'let's be aggressive' in the middle of the season

it's a system/ tactics/ mentality that you build into your team since day one from training camp

it also may include things like better hustle/ fitness/ getting the most out of your players

eakins talked about how he sets traps during the pk , etc. obviously he won't divulge his entire philosophy. it's probably a lot more complicated than just 'aggression'. bottom line is, it is working and he seems to be getting a lot out of his players

the guys that come up seem to always do really good for the most part, better than we expect


wilson is bottom 3 with this team now for 4 years. it's hard to argue that works.

do you honestly not think eakins can't at least us in top 20 lol with the players we got

I think it's foolish to assume that he can.

Given how well the PP is doing, and how much I enjoy our 5 on 5 play, I think that we have to give the new assistants (specifically Cronin with PK) more time to implement their influence.

Wilson and Zettler have combined for some of the best PKs in the league before, it's not like they just forgot how to do it. Right now most of the problem is mental. We get a penalty, and players have zero confidence going out there. They just need to get on a roll and get confidence.

Just like goal scorers, penalty killers are no where near as effective when they lack confidence. The inability to clear the puck exemplifies how hard guys are gripping their sticks on the PK right now. A confident PK clears it every time the puck touches their stick. Coaching really has nothing to do with how well a player clears the puck, it's assumed that they can do it.

I wonder why Wilsons team in San Jose was #1 on the PK but last here.

My curiousity too.

It was 1st for one year.

In San Jose:

1st
14th
23rd
7th
30th

Average: 15th

Better then here though. I'd rather be in the middle of the league then dead last. I just wonder if its the system or players