GDT: 2022-23 season game 71 LA Kings vs Calgary Flames @7:30pm 3/20/23

[Fishhead]

He's taken a total of 59 faceoffs this year.....he's lost 3 of them in the defensive zone.....out of total of 5 taken in the defensive zone.....

Not sure why this is even a point of contention.....other than see.....it's the coaches fault....nonsense...for something that has happened FIVE times all year

Coaches don't always micromanage faceoffs like that, either. You have designated guys for situations and that's it. How many times have we see Kopitar mix it up depending on the situation? I've seen him clear the zone off them, lose them on purpose and pin guys in the zone, and so on. Sometimes wingers come in to take faceoffs not trying to win, but trying to neutralize and have the center come in and retrieve the puck. That works particularly well when you are getting creamed on faceoffs.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Coaches don't always micromanage faceoffs like that, either. You have designated guys for situations and that's it. How many times have we see Kopitar mix it up depending on the situation? I've seen him clear the zone off them, lose them on purpose and pin guys in the zone, and so on. Sometimes wingers come in to take faceoffs not trying to win, but trying to neutralize and have the center come in and retrieve the puck. That works particularly well when you are getting creamed on faceoffs.

Not only that, I've seen centers come in, usually later in games after the lineseman has set the standard of how picky they are gonna be, send in a winger to get kicked etc....

 

[Nasti]

I don’t know how one can look at Todd and not see the fact that he’s in rare company to be one of the few coaches in history to get reverse swept. that says a lot about him. His system can be good but it’s been historically proven that he’s been a mentally fragile coach that has a very weak concept of deployment and roster use.

But yeah his system can be good despite all the other big flaws that have been proven to exist.


Todd will stop being a failure once he shows some competency in the playoffs. But he hasn’t. And he hasn’t shown any signs of using his brain with the roster either which is why I don’t trust him as a coach.

I don’t disagree with everything but to play devil’s advocate, Claude Julien has also been reverse swept but then won the cup the following season. It is possible to learn from the past, though Todd still needs to prove it.

For what it’s worth, he also almost got reverse swept in 2011 against Detroit while Alain Vigneault was one Patrick Sharp shot away from the same fate in the same year.

 

[Master Yoda]

He's taken a total of 59 faceoffs this year.....he's lost 3 of them in the defensive zone.....out of total of 5 taken in the defensive zone.....

Not sure why this is even a point of contention.....other than see.....it's the coaches fault....nonsense...for something that has happened FIVE times all year

Putting out a winger who takes 59 faceoffs all year to take a draw 3vs3 in any zone is plain dumb when gaining possession is vital. This should happen 0 times in a coach's career.
I think in general, he's done a good job at getting the guys to play his system well and getting this team to be one of the top teams in the west this year, but it's exactly this type of nonsensical decision that make you question his in game coaching.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Yeah but again, it's not about the reverse sweep alone. That WOULD be unfair. It's that the reverse sweep was the penultimate choke in a series of possible chokes that they tried to downplay repeatedly so it became symbolic for all his other failures. He lost MANY series while up a game or two, and at least one at each coaching stop so far. He's more likely to lose a long series than win a long series and he's more often than not the higher seed if not the highest seed. That speaks to exactly what we're seeing here!

Coaches don't always micromanage faceoffs like that, either. You have designated guys for situations and that's it. How many times have we see Kopitar mix it up depending on the situation? I've seen him clear the zone off them, lose them on purpose and pin guys in the zone, and so on. Sometimes wingers come in to take faceoffs not trying to win, but trying to neutralize and have the center come in and retrieve the puck. That works particularly well when you are getting creamed on faceoffs.

Sure but on a roster that's overflowing with Cs Todd somehow finds a way to designate a winger to take a draw and it's failed several times...

I'm sorry folks but the entire last page sounds like San Jose fans trying to justify away. I understand wanting to give him a chance; I do not understand trying to rationalize away reasonable complaints that are repetitive concerns at each stop in his career and are showing up even now.

And again I don't hate him but I feel like people are being super dismissive of some easy facts.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Putting out a winger who takes 59 faceoffs all year to take a draw 3vs3 in any zone is plain dumb when gaining possession is vital. This should happen 0 times in a coach's career.
I think in general, he's done a good job at getting the guys to play his system well and getting this team to be one of the top teams in the west this year, but it's exactly this type of nonsensical decision that make you question his in game coaching.

So then you are left double shifting Danault and Kopitar, or trusting Lizotte, and as much as I like Lizotte, I don't know if you trust him in OT

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Yeah but again, it's not about the reverse sweep alone. That WOULD be unfair. It's that the reverse sweep was the penultimate choke in a series of possible chokes that they tried to downplay repeatedly so it became symbolic for all his other failures. He lost MANY series while up a game or two, and at least one at each coaching stop so far. He's more likely to lose a long series than win a long series and he's more often than not the higher seed if not the highest seed. That speaks to exactly what we're seeing here!



Sure but on a roster that's overflowing with Cs Todd somehow finds a way to designate a winger to take a draw and it's failed several times...

I'm sorry folks but the entire last page sounds like San Jose fans trying to justify away. I understand wanting to give him a chance; I do not understand trying to rationalize away reasonable complaints that are repetitive concerns at each stop in his career and are showing up even now.

And again I don't hate him but I feel like people are being super dismissive of some easy facts.

I know you won't see this, but this is just stupid as shit.....no one is trying to explain anything about faceoffs, other than that if THAT is your bone of contention, what the f*** are you even arguing. Yea, he DESIGNATES Arvidsson to take the faceoffs...predominantly AFTER Danault gets tossed, f*** you are the one in the GDTs most of hte time going, OMG Linesman we aren't here to see you.....so yea, 59 faceoffs, .014 TOTAL....and that's the thing you guys are hanging your hat on....holy f***.

 

[lumbergh]

He has. But he's also won more than a lot of coaches in the playoffs. HIs playoff win% is .488 which is right around the middle. Rod the Bod has coached some damn good teams and he's right at .500 in the playoffs. The differences are slight.

He does need to redeem himself and prove that he can take a team to the next level. Right now he's right in the average to above-average category, but he'll never elevate that unless he overcomes that next step. He's certainly not as terrible as is made out by a few around here and he's a good fit for this roster composition. He's got this team playing well and calm, but we will see if that continues. He's got guys who have won obviously, and guys like Danault who have been close. Something about the leadership on those Sharks teams were off. I will say if TM gets clearly outclassed with this group, the problem is definitely mostly him.

McLellan's record of 6 series wins and 8 series losses does rank as one of the worst amongst active head coaches. It's not Sheldon Keefe or John Hynes bad, but it's bad. I hope he does redeem himself soon. Good regular season coach, not good playoff coach is going to hang around his neck until he breaks through with a good run.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

McLellan's record of 6 series wins and 8 series losses does rank as one of the worst amongst active head coaches. It's not Sheldon Keefe or John Hynes bad, but it's bad. I hope he does redeem himself soon. Good regular season coach, not good playoff coach is going to hang around his neck until he breaks through with a good run.

Curious as where do you even look that up?

 

[Seattle King]

Todd has made the playoffs in two of his last 8 seasons as head coach.
He is living off the past as much as Doughty is.
Complete utter failure in Edmonton with fkn McDrai to build around.
Plethora of apologists around here, fine whatever. Apologies dont win Cups. Neither does Todd.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Todd has made the playoffs in two of his last 8 seasons as head coach.
He is living off the past as much as Doughty is.
Complete utter failure in Edmonton with fkn McDrai to build around.
Plethora of apologists around here, fine whatever. Apologies dont win Cups. Neither does Todd.

Darryl Sutter had a shit playoff record in 12 NHL seasons before he joined the Kings. Had 3 great seasons and hasn’t done shit in next 8 seasons after….yet he’s heralded as one of the greatest playoff coaches ever. It’s silly…

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Todd has made the playoffs in two of his last 8 seasons as head coach.
He is living off the past as much as Doughty is.
Complete utter failure in Edmonton with fkn McDrai to build around.
Plethora of apologists around here, fine whatever. Apologies dont win Cups. Neither does Todd.

What exactly has EDM done since he left.....with McDrai???

 

[Seattle King]

What exactly has EDM done since he left.....with McDrai???

Western Conference Finals last year

 

[Master Yoda]

So then you are left double shifting Danault and Kopitar, or trusting Lizotte, and as much as I like Lizotte, I don't know if you trust him in OT

Kupari, Vilardi, Byfield would all be much better options to take a draw.
And even if I don't trust Lizotte in OT, I'd much rather have him or any of the other guys from taking the draw and making a change.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Western Conference Finals last year

And? What is that, 4th loser instead of 2nd? I mean is the goal to make it to the WCF or win the Stanley Cup?

Kupari, Vilardi, Byfield would all be much better options to take a draw.
And even if I don't trust Lizotte in OT, I'd much rather have him or any of the other guys from taking the draw and making a change.

Its all about possession, but you want a guys that are sub 50% taking the draw? Ok.

 

[Master Yoda]

And? What is that, 4th loser instead of 2nd? I mean is the goal to make it to the WCF or win the Stanley Cup?



Its all about possession, but you want a guys that are sub 50% taking the draw? Ok.

Still a much better option than a winger.

 

[lumbergh]

Curious as where do you even look that up?

records.nhl.com

NHL Records

records.nhl.com

 

[Pucknut50]

Darryl Sutter had a shit playoff record in 12 NHL seasons before he joined the Kings. Had 3 great seasons and hasn’t done shit in next 8 seasons after….yet he’s heralded as one of the greatest playoff coaches ever. It’s silly…

Coaches make little difference in professional sports. Players make the difference. In Hockey I think the 3 most import things in the Playoffs are #1 How hot the team is coming in. #2 Goalie. #3 Talent. Head Coach falls way down the line. Hey Barry Melrose got to the finals.