The habs have broken a lot of fantastic coaches into the league, going back to Pat Burns and including Therrien, Vignault, and Julien among current top level NHL bench bosses.
The downside was we were the place they did their learning and they've moved on and had more success elsewhere. I'm more than happy to have MT back as a veteran coach. Someday I'd love to have Vigneault back. (Julien I hope not. Hate the way he abuses the rulebook and the special status the NHL gives his team. Great coach, but also a no-class sob.)
Everything's fine because the team is winning. But some of Therrien's moves would have been more severly scrutinized if it wouldn't have turn out so well.
Personnaly, I always liked his moves, even the first time around. It's sometimes risky, but always pertinent.
I remember when Therrien got slamed because he used Lindsay instead of Perrault for an important faceoff against Carolina in the Playoffs. Everybody wanted to crucified him because Perrault was the best at faceoffs in the league. It turned out Lindsay lost the faceoffs, Caroline scored and later eliminate the Habs.
Well, I agreed with Therrien's move at the time, even if it turned out wrong. Sure Perrault was the best, but even the best lose many faceoffs. And Lindsay wasn't bad at all. The point is, when Perrault lose a faceoffs, he becomes useless as he was horrible defensively. While Lindsay rarely lost a faceoffs "frankly" and was the tipe of player willing to throw himself in front of the shoorter is he was to lose one.
It was a good decision that turned bad. People should remember that when things won't go so well later this season.
The habs have broken a lot of fantastic coaches into the league, going back to Pat Burns and including Therrien, Vignault, and Julien among current top level NHL bench bosses.
The downside was we were the place they did their learning and they've moved on and had more success elsewhere. I'm more than happy to have MT back as a veteran coach. Someday I'd love to have Vigneault back. (Julien I hope not. Hate the way he abuses the rulebook and the special status the NHL gives his team. Great coach, but also a no-class sob.)
He's the first back...has gain experience, coach one if not the best 2 players in the world.SCF, I don't know but I like what I see. Last night wasn't pretty but somehow I felt we where always in the game and ended up with the win.
Like I said, I believe the Cubban pairing is meant to have 3 balanced and effective pairings that can be given top minutes at alternate games. It's a matter of energy management.
I detested him his first time in Montreal, but I don't have any problems admitting he grew out of his old mistakes and bad habits. He's turned into one of the good coaches in the NHL, his progression is impressive and I was flat out wrong about him.
I give Therrien major props on his micromanagent of the lines.
- Never more than one smurf per line.
- Plekanec gets consistent wingers.
- Plekanec, not Desharnais, was put on the 1st PP unit, right from game 1.
- Galchenyuk and Gallagher are being given easy minutes, for example Galchenyuk starts 62.2% of his starts in the Ozone, and goes against a Corsi Rel QoC of +0.138.
- Travis Moen doesn't go into the top-6 the moment there's an injury, for example the Pacioretty appendectomy.
I wasn't expecting the Habs to be this good... My only real measure of success for MT's first year was to bring life back to the Bell Center and make the games exciting to watch again.
Just learned that Therrien is giving a lot of responsibilities to his coaching staff; much more than what's the norm in the NHL. Each assistant is given the responsibility to scout other teams and brief the entire locker room on what to look out for.
Just learned that Therrien is giving a lot of responsibilities to his coaching staff; much more than what's the norm in the NHL. Each assistant is given the responsibility to scout other teams and brief the entire locker room on what to look out for.
Do you think he might be farming a succession?
Nah, he is just making sure everybody is invested and feels like they have a major part in the success of the team. He has some pretty good assistants there, really smart to make full use of them.
Therrien above all is honest, when he went at noon the first day of free agency to recruit Prust at his parent's home, he told him he would be rewarded with ice time .. tonight he played 18 mins and while its not going to happen every game, Prust knows he is really appreciated by his coach.
He has some really nice things to say about Eller last night. Somebody in L'Antichambre said last night, don't remember who, that Therrien is turning Eller into a similar player like Staal when he was with the Penguis. The past 12 games, Eller has been exactly that .. 9 pts in 12 games .. PK time, PP time, taking crucial faceoffs , playing at the end of games, etc... no longer do we depend solely on Plekanec to do these things.
He sure pushed the right button with Eller! I like the internal and healthy (healthy because he is fair) competition he was able to create.
This organization has been lacking stability behind the bench (a key element for sustained team success) for a long time. I hope Therrien manages to stay with us for a long time.
I'm more than happy to be eating some crow right now. I wasn't happy with Therrien being brought in to coach the team, but he's done an excellent job with player management and getting the best out of the players.
I really liked MT`s line combos last night...Great job.......Now lets see some PP time for Galchenyuk !!
Galchenyuk FINALLY saw a power play shift against the sens in the 3rd period and IMO that was the best PP in quite some time. Hardly saw him in OT except with 1 min remaining in the game and no Gallagher in OT except for one quick faceoff.............Come on MT, the kids have some talent and can score some sweet goals if given the chance.
Best name ever.
