NHL - 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs II | Page 40 | HFBoards - NHL Message Board and Forum for National Hockey League
Toggle sidebar

NHL 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs II

Status
Not open for further replies.
Aussie Bruin said:
His teams have made playoffs every season he's coached. He had that Blues team motoring just about as well as you could ask for. He has his flaws for sure, especially defensively, but the base ability is clearly there IMO and it's now just a case of if he can build on that with more experience. As for playoffs we all know about 2023 as you said, but in the last two years I don't think he could reasonably have done any more than what he achieved given the rosters he had to work with.

As I said, not sure yet what his ceiling is, and only time will tell, but the Blues took him back at the first opportunity, just as Sweeney was obviously initially impressed by him too, so there's something there that draws people.
Click to expand...
I might be way off on this, but Monty reminds me a lot of Bruce Boudreau both in terms of having tons of regular season success with very little playoff success to go along with it and just overall approach to coaching. Both seem like easy-going, likeable guys who emphasize good vibes and fun at the ice rink which keeps players happy, motivated and successful during the long slog that is the regular season. When rough waters hit or when the intensity jumps up during the playoffs, however, it seems like they both struggle to maintain success because so much of their coaching approach is dependent on their team feeling good rather maintaining discipline or making strategic or systemic adjustments which results in them and their team getting flustered and unraveling.

Regarding Monty's past two playoff appearances, I agree that the results are about what you would expect given the rosters but would argue that the way he ended up with those results leaves a lot to be desired. Last year against the Leafs, up 3-1, that series should not have gone seven. Period. Who knows, if they had taken care of business in five or six and were feeling confident rather than letting those playoff doubts linger and fester, maybe they put up a better fight against Florida in the second round. This year with the Blues, blowing a multi-goal lead in the last minutes of the Game 7 to lose is starting to feel very on brand for him, regardless of the circumstances. While Monty definitely deserves credit for taking a mediocre Blues team and pushing the league-leading Jets to the brink, I'd argue that how much of that was him and his coaching is up for the debate as Winnipeg was battling through some pretty major playoff demons (and injuries) of their own.

As you said, it will be interesting to see whether he learns with experience. For my part, I certainly hope he doesn't (at least not anytime soon). I'm already sick enough of hearing about Cassidy all the time haha.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BMC, Aussie Bruin and KWbruin
KillerMillerTime said:
Aussie, in the last 3 playoff years his teams have lost 3-1 series leads twice and blown a two goal lead with under 2 minutes to play against a team down its best forward,
best defensemen and IMO the NHL's biggest choking goalie in years. Obviously his players shoulder blame (Schenn) but that track record is his across consecutive teams.

Peg was down to 5 D a!most entire game so IMO e should have had his D Corp
pinching down more entire game. Parayko was only Dman consistently doing that.

He also deployed Faulk on his offside D instead of Suter or Broberg.
Click to expand...

Your couple of tactic points may be right, but end of the day Monty had his team 2 goals up on the road with 3 mins to play. That's as much as you could ask for. Only then does it go sideways. And that's what I'm getting at - those last couple of mins. What did the Blues do wrong there? What should they have done but didn't? What plays and clears could they have made but flubbed? If someone can't point out to me what mistakes they actually made, as opposed to the Jets simply getting reward for perseverance and riding a good dose of puck luck, I'm not going to call it a choke.

Monty cleary has a problem coaching 6 on 5. But why? With the Bruins a lot of it came down to an inability to clear the puck, but they had that problem to a point even under Cassidy, so it wasn't new. With St Louis particularly, what's the issue? Conversely, how much is sheer luck?
 
The Un4casted Storm said:
I might be way off on this, but Monty reminds me a lot of Bruce Boudreau both in terms of having tons of regular season success with very little playoff success to go along with it and just overall approach to coaching. Both seem like easy-going, likeable guys who emphasize good vibes and fun at the ice rink which keeps players happy, motivated and successful during the long slog that is the regular season. When rough waters hit or when the intensity jumps up during the playoffs, however, it seems like they both struggle to maintain success because so much of their coaching approach is dependent on their team feeling good rather maintaining discipline or making strategic or systemic adjustments which results in them and their team getting flustered and unraveling.

Regarding Monty's past two playoff appearances, I agree that the results are about what you would expect given the rosters but would argue that the way he ended up with those results leaves a lot to be desired. Last year against the Leafs, up 3-1, that series should not have gone seven. Period. Who knows, if they had taken care of business in five or six and were feeling confident rather than letting those playoff doubts linger and fester, maybe they put up a better fight against Florida in the second round. This year with the Blues, blowing a multi-goal lead in the last minutes of the Game 7 to lose is starting to feel very on brand for him, regardless of the circumstances. While Monty definitely deserves credit for taking a mediocre Blues team and pushing the league-leading Jets to the brink, I'd argue that how much of that was him and his coaching is up for the debate as Winnipeg was battling through some pretty major playoff demons (and injuries) of their own.

As you said, it will be interesting to see whether he learns with experience. For my part, I certainly hope he doesn't (at least not anytime soon). I'm already sick enough of hearing about Cassidy all the time haha.
Click to expand...

I agree last year's Leaf series shouldn't have been allowed to drag on. Not sure how much of that is on the coach though. The Bruins blew series they should have won in 2019 and 2021, and their whole effort in the 2020 bubble was a debacle. So that playing group had plenty of pre-Monty form of screwing things up. Did Monty make them better in that sense? Seems not. But worse? Not seeing that either.

This year I really don't see what more he could have done with this Blues roster. Yes the Jets have issues of their own, but getting within 3 seconds of a series win against them was a very good effort even so. The 6 on 5 troubles are definitely becoming a thing for him, and I'm curious as to why, because I haven't seen that explained yet. Otherwise as far as playoffs go for Monty I think the jury is still out. If you exclude 2023 I think his playoff record is adequate. Whether he has that next level in him we don't yet know. Can he really forge and steel a strong, tough, resilient group for a deep run? Best I can say at present is 'maybe'.
 
  • Like
Reactions: The Un4casted Storm
Here are the 12 NHL Referees and 12 NHL Linespersons chosen to work the National Hockey League postseason:

Referees​

Francis Charron, Gord Dwyer, Eric Furlatt, Jean Hebert, TJ Luxmore, Wes McCauley, Dan O’Rourke, Garrett Rank, Chris Rooney, Graham Skilliter, Francois St. Laurent, and Kelly Sutherland.

First-Timers: TJ Luxmore is working Round 2 for the first time

Out from Round 1: Jake Brenk, Trevor Hanson, Frederick L’Ecuyer, Pierre Lambert, Peter MacDougall, Jon McIsaac, Kendrick Nicholson, Brian Pochmara, Kyle Rehman, Furman South

Standby Refs: Frederick L’Ecuyer, Kyle Rehman
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 4 (members: 0, guests: 4)

Latest posts

Ad

Ad

Top Bottom