Speculation: 2024-25 Coaching/Management/Ownership

[robbieboy3686]

It's not like he's being asked to re-invent the wheel either. "How can

 

[HanSolo]

Honestly, it starts with the admission that he spent 20 games last year not coaching and just observing to see what the players would do if they essentially were left to their own devices so he could "learn what these players need"

Tack on all the "I don't knows", tack on Vaakanainen's insight into what was going on in the locker room last year, tack on Killorn and Terry publicly admitting that this team has no cohesion because they don't know where their linemates are going to be, tack on Cronin's admission last night that there's no adjustments needed to the offensive system they just need to win more puck battles and shoot the puck more (I mean the balls to say that when we've spent the entire season dead last or within one game's worth of goals to dead last in goal scoring), tack on that more of our kids are stagnating or really struggling than not in a development year, tack on that our highest draft pick since Bobby Ryan continues to be stapled to a guy he has had no chemistry with the entire time he's been here, and I just don't know how people can still defend this guy and blame the players.

Yes of course the players need to be better but winning puck battles comes from proper conditioning in the weight room and drilling in practice. Effective offensive systems comes from chemistry, x's and o's strategies, and effective drilling in practice. And motivation to work hard comes from the culture in the locker room. Maybe this group of guys have a loser's mentality. Maybe our leadership is lacking. But the coaching staff are motivators too and they're not motivating enough.

Yes that run where we beat some good teams established that this team can perform at a higher level. It's the coach's job to get the team to execute that consistently.

After the loss to St. Louis (because you can argue that at least against Calgary the team still had some fight if not finish), which was an embarrassingly bad performance between effort, systems, and execution, it became our coaching staff's job to get this team to get back to at least having that fight and the execution of basic plays to be competitive even in a loss. Instead they followed a bad performance with a worse one and they got blown out again. And the coach comes out and says "no adjustments needed we just gottah play like we did when we weh winning, we gottah skate hadah and win puck battles".

It's indefensible. Blaming the the entirety of these losses on the players is bullshit. If it's all the players' faults then Verbeek should be fired for constructing a roster of players that are so mentally weak that they cannot be coached to play competitive hockey consistently. Something has to give. The results of these past two games, especially last night failing to put one puck past one of the worst goalies in the league, is inexcusable.

And we've gone through this argument with each of the three shitty coaches we've gone through lately. The last two don't have jobs in the NHL currently. At best Cronin should be an assistant working on defensive systems and I'd argue he's not really qualified for that job either. Not in this league anyway.

 

[robbieboy3686]

Honestly, it starts with the admission that he spent 20 games last year not coaching and just observing to see what the players would do if they essentially were left to their own devices so he could "learn what these players need"

Tack on all the "I don't knows", tack on Vaakanainen's insight into what was going on in the locker room last year, tack on Killorn and Terry publicly admitting that this team has no cohesion because they don't know where their linemates are going to be, tack on Cronin's admission last night that there's no adjustments needed to the offensive system they just need to win more puck battles and shoot the puck more (I mean the balls to say that when we've spent the entire season dead last or within one game's worth of goals to dead last in goal scoring), tack on that more of our kids are stagnating or really struggling than not in a development year, tack on that our highest draft pick since Bobby Ryan continues to be stapled to a guy he has had no chemistry with the entire time he's been here, and I just don't know how people can still defend this guy and blame the players.

Yes of course the players need to be better but winning puck battles comes from proper conditioning in the weight room and drilling in practice. Effective offensive systems comes from chemistry, x's and o's strategies, and effective drilling in practice. And motivation to work hard comes from the culture in the locker room. Maybe this group of guys have a loser's mentality. Maybe our leadership is lacking. But the coaching staff are motivators too and they're not motivating enough.

Yes that run where we beat some good teams established that this team can perform at a higher level. It's the coach's job to get the team to execute that consistently.

After the loss to St. Louis (because you can argue that at least against Calgary the team still had some fight if not finish), which was an embarrassingly bad performance between effort, systems, and execution, it became our coaching staff's job to get this team to get back to at least having that fight and the execution of basic plays to be competitive even in a loss. Instead they followed a bad performance with a worse one and they got blown out again. And the coach comes out and says "no adjustments needed we just gottah play like we did when we weh winning, we gottah skate hadah and win puck battles".

It's indefensible. Blaming the the entirety of these losses on the players is bullshit. If it's all the players' faults then Verbeek should be fired for constructing a roster of players that are so mentally weak that they cannot be coached to play competitive hockey consistently. Something has to give. The results of these past two games, especially last night failing to put one puck past one of the worst goalies in the league, is inexcusable.

And we've gone through this argument with each of the three shitty coaches we've gone through lately. The last two don't have jobs in the NHL currently. At best Cronin should be an assistant working on defensive systems and I'd argue he's not really qualified for that job either. Not in this league anyway.

I 100% am not on board with calling Carlyle a bad coach. Apart from his Stanley cup, he took us to the western conference finals in 2017 and that lineup wasn’t great at all, can also argue if eaves had been healthy he could’ve pushed us over the top that series+ anyone other than bernier in net in game 6

 

[HanSolo]

I 100% am not on board with calling Carlyle a bad coach. Apart from his Stanley cup, he took us to the western conference finals in 2017 and that lineup wasn’t great at all, can also argue if eaves had been healthy he could’ve pushed us over the top that series+ anyone other than bernier in net in game 6

He wasn't a good coach when he got fired the second time. He was a good coach in the time he had success. 2017-2018 was when the NHL started changing to what it is today. He didn't change with it. Simple as.

 

[Doothpick]

So the one coach I would've been comfortable hiring immediately to replace Cronin was Todd McLellan. After his takeover in the Wings bench they lost his 1st game.. and they're now about to win their sixth straight. So that's neat.

Also in my academic paper called "tales of never-ending bitterness" I make a case Detroit hasn't suffered enough yet, nor will have they ever. At least until we get to playoffs as well, so stay out of the playoffs Mr Koala Bear.

 

[Daz28]

When a team is on the razors edge of being bad/not bad, a key player or two out can make ALL the difference. Dahlin was out, and immediately the Sabres were the worst team in the league again. That said, I'm back to completely deflated. There's still to many areas where we're bottom of the league. With Terry, Zegs and OZ back in, we'll likely do better, but at worst, all the asst coaches besides Thompson should be axed. Not sure about head coach yet. He's controlling the general structure, and it's miles above Eakins for now(at least by eye test).

 

[HanSolo]

When a team is on the razors edge of being bad/not bad, a key player or two out can make ALL the difference. Dahlin was out, and immediately the Sabres were the worst team in the league again. That said, I'm back to completely deflated. There's still to many areas where we're bottom of the league. With Terry, Zegs and OZ back in, we'll likely do better, but at worst, all the asst coaches besides Thompson should be axed. Not sure about head coach yet. He's controlling the general structure, and it's miles above Eakins for now(at least by eye test).

I mean if we're talking offensive structure, the I guess you can call the difference between mediocre dump and chase with little chasing miles better than "just go do your thing"

 

[70sSanO]

The problem I see, and have seen for a long time even before Cronin, is when the Ducks are pressured they don’t know what to do.

If nothing else, the coaching staff must change the inability to move the puck and get out of trouble.

If they have worked on this and the players can’t mentality understand it, then we are all wasting our time.

John

 

[Daz28]

I mean if we're talking offensive structure, the I guess you can call the difference between mediocre dump and chase with little chasing miles better than "just go do your thing"

Having any semblance of forecheck, and not a complete clusterf of a D zone comedy is what I'm talking about. At worst, we're heading in the right direction, and won't be needing to hand a complete mess over to the next guy(s), which also influences their decision to come here.