Quote:
Originally Posted by Gabe84
I agree with you. It's boring, but effective. People complain constantly about our lack of talent, but you can't complain about bad players and bad coach in the same breath when the team has finished 8th and 6th the past two seasons... It's not extraordinary, but it's still better than what you would expect when looking at the team on paper.
I guess we have this to look forward to: losing, but games being a bit more exciting...? I'm trying to be positive.
|
You're looking at this wrong.
a) Jacques essentially destroyed the lockeroom. It's not to his discredit, it's usually the reason coaches get fired mid-season. The team was inconsistent and not confident - obviously they're going to look like the shells of how good they really are. Which leads me to my second point...
b) This team is VERY talented. We'll see it bleed through a bit more when Cunneyworth can stamp his image on the team (for the record: Cunneyworth has nothing in common with Jacques, he wasn't even Jacques choice as an assistant).
i) Price is a top5 goalie, his stats since Pearn got fired have been great.
ii) A d-corps boasting Subban, Gorges, Kaberle, Gill, Campoli and Markov is in no way untalented. Diaz and Emelin have their uses as well, Emelin looks to be a very useful defender too. Weber is a lost cause as far as I'm concerned but he's a fringe d-man at best.
iii) So your, and most anti-GM, arguments are just based on the effectiveness of the forwards. At their sustainable best, which is to say that Cammy probably won't score at the clip he did in the playoffs but probably won't be this bad again, the players are as talented as most top6s in the league. CHI, WSH, TBL and PHI come to mind as teams with definitive more talent in their top6 but tons of other teams look way worse.
My point is simply that it has EVERYTHING to do with coaching. Jacques did a terrible job at motivating/communicating, did not show faith in his players and it led to his deserved firing. If Blysma can do it with his depleted roster, Jacques did a TERRIBLE job with his.
c) This team has Jacques identity all over it; no tough guys, 3.5 lines, dump-and-change... it'll take some time for their play-style to evolve and for the players get get their confidence back.
d) There is no excuse for Jacques Martin's terrible, trashy hockey style. It was boring, and ultimately ineffective as we can see. This is the most vital aspect in my opinion, the Bell Centre was a ******** mortuary recently. No excuse for that.