Coaching is a serious problem.

[HabsAddict]

My patience isn't running thin but it isn't a large expectation on my part to see a team playing NHL caliber defense. That is not anything new to these players. A portion of this group went to a cup final and it should be easier than it looks to tighten things up on the defensive side of the puck.

It's not the case in Montreal because you dont have 15 players brining along 5 rookies on what to do.

Only 2 players are vets and the rest are hatchlings. It has to be the coaches who teach and reteach and enforce structure. For EVERYBODY.

They are not playing like a structured 5 man team. Yes, they all come back, but no, they don't play as a structured unit to know how to cover each other.

 

[Kimota]

Why are people so triggered that some of us dare question the idea that MSL may be out of his element. He's a young inexperienced guy, mistakes are made. And everything needs to be questioned all the time. If freaking McDavid has a bad shift that cost a goal, it's OK to think "umm he made a mistake there, this is something he should work more at it". Everything is fair game. And if Marty has to be fired to make the team better, so be it. I think it's still too early but we cannot ignore the possibility.

 

[BLONG7]

Gally/Evans/Anderson are doing their job, they put in efforts and play as an unit most of the time. They have the most success getting out of the dzone as a result.

I don't think anyone had "Evans/Gally/Anderson best Vets" on their season start bingo card.

They have been ok but bottom line is some of our vets are possibly the worst value contracts out there. Give th egg n some time and they will prove it
Again it’s 5 games and too early to get carried away with any kind of information provided at this point

 

[Tabarouette]

Why are people so triggered that some of us dare question the idea that MSL may be out of his element. He's a young inexperienced guy, mistakes are made. And everything needs to be questioned all the time. If freaking McDavid has a bad shift that cost a goal, it's OK to think "umm he made a mistake there, this is something he should work more at it". Everything is fair game. And if Marty has to be fired to make the team better, so be it. I think it's still too early but we cannot ignore the possibility.

I can only speak for myself but, i'm not losing my mind over it and I think MSL makes mistakes but coaches are always the first go-to scapegoats on really bad teams, and we are a really bad team!

We got too hyped up over the summer and now he's getting shit on for it and it makes me roll my eyes

There's tangible criticism that I agree with, I don't like the team showing up unprepared to an easy game like the one against the kings, I don't like the lines staying the same despite everyone sucking, etc.

But this "we have no defensive system" thing or "stop doing the drop pass" thing tho ugggh... we're playing the same hybrid system as every other team and everyone does the damn drop pass and we do the same PP strategy as every other team, we just can't do any of this shit well because our players STINK, we're bad!

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Why are people so triggered that some of us dare question the idea that MSL may be out of his element. He's a young inexperienced guy, mistakes are made. And everything needs to be questioned all the time. If freaking McDavid has a bad shift that cost a goal, it's OK to think "umm he made a mistake there, this is something he should work more at it". Everything is fair game. And if Marty has to be fired to make the team better, so be it. I think it's still too early but we cannot ignore the possibility.

There's a huge difference between saying x made a mistake and x should be fired.

Making a big judgement on Marty or any player after 5 games is complete idiocy.

 

[Apoplectic Habs Fan]

Worst defensive team in the league

Its not just the players.

they all play a hand in this but its clear that there needs to be some veteran presence behind the bench. MSL doesnt even seem to be the rah rah type guy anymore either. He looks lost, mute behind the bench. And when you dont bring the structure or system aspect and you dont seem to be talking to your players like you use to, what do you bring?

 

[Kimota]

Don't forget that we have the worst vets in an nhl team by a mile.
Vigneault, Martin or Therrien would just install a trap defensive system that would help us a little but nothing big would happen. Let's not return to middle of the road mediocraty. I don't know who could be the best coach, Vigneault or Hartley? This new coach will work under better conditions when the 5 bad vets will be gone. Too bad he have to speak french, it's a limited choice but that's Montréal.

Paul Maurice is a Vigneault/Therrien type but they won the cup cause Florida had the horses to pull if off.

I would love to see what Hartley would do. Just so he could be a new voice. I think he has more of an open mind than Vigneault/Therrien.

There's a huge difference between saying x made a mistake and x should be fired.

Making a big judgement on Marty or any player after 5 games is complete idiocy.

Well he's been with us more than 5 games.

 

[Positive Vibes]

Worst defensive team in the league

Its not just the players.

they all play a hand in this but its clear that there needs to be some veteran presence behind the bench. MSL doesnt even seem to be the rah rah type guy anymore either. He looks lost, mute behind the bench. And when you dont bring the structure or system aspect and you dont seem to be talking to your players like you use to, what do you bring?

they are playing the defensive system they are being told to play by their coaches, it just isnt affective which means the coaching staff should probably think about implementing a different D zone strategy.
I know this stuff takes time to learn and do correctly but i think it might be for the betterment of the team in the long run to try something else.

 

[The Real Timo]

There's a huge difference between saying x made a mistake and x should be fired.

Making a big judgement on Marty or any player after 5 games is complete idiocy.

3 years. not 5 games.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Well he's been with us more than 5 games.

So you're gonna want Marty to be fired because his team wasn't playoff caliber the last few seasons when the goal was to tank and develop the kids?

 

[ReHabs]

Exactly. They came into the season unprepared and that blame goes to those in charge. We can't expect the younger players to lead the team and that is why we are struggling right now. The veteran group has to do more and it should be expected. We can't justify bad play because we are young or we run the risk of becoming Ottawa or Buffalo.

I think it's not an age thing but rather an expectations thing. Veterans coming off a bad season or disappointing playoff series hit the ice ready to go. We need to raise expectations across the board. Seems like MSL agrees, he was rather tough on the team after last game.

 

[OldCraig71]

It's not the case in Montreal because you dont have 15 players brining along 5 rookies on what to do.

Only 2 players are vets and the rest are hatchlings. It has to be the coaches who teach and reteach and enforce structure. For EVERYBODY.

They are not playing like a structured 5 man team. Yes, they all come back, but no, they don't play as a structured unit to know how to cover each other.

That isn't the rookies fault. We didn't go scorched earth like Chicago and San Jose so obviously the intention was to rebuild and compete, you would have to think that Molson had a hand in that.

No one is expecting Norris and Selke-like performances but the coaches and players should hold each other to the standard that they are working on improving and right now that is falling short. As I said, some of these guys went to a cup final and they know how to play the game but for some reason as a group they are not playing for each other.

 

[Nevins]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1847079694849790080

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

3 years. not 5 games.

Stop with this stupid nonsense. The team was night and day different and he only took over midway through.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

So has he added someone else that I can't remember or am I right?
failure.

Do we really have to list the moves he’s made and players he’s added? Come on.

 

[nhlfan9191]

Stop with this stupid nonsense. The team was night and day different and he only took over midway through.

I feel like we’re dealing with two different extremes. Therrien sucked the creativity out of the team whereas MSL gives too much. We need to find a balance and MSL is going to be on his 3 year anniversary before we know it. You can only hide behind the “inexperienced” coach or bad team label for so long. A good coach shows signs of progression even if it isn’t much with limited options. We aren’t seeing that.

 

[bsl]

NHL coaches are mostly a joke. I’ve said this for years. These coach problem threads are a bore. The players are on the ice and don’t have time for coaching bullshit.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I feel like we’re dealing with two different extremes. Therrien sucked the creativity out of the team whereas MSL gives too much. We need to find a balance and MSL is going to be on his 3 year anniversary before we know it. You can only hide behind the “inexperienced” coach or bad team label for so long. A good coach shows signs of progression even if it isn’t much with limited options. We aren’t seeing that.

I don’t know, I mean it’s totally expected that these years are going to be challenging. They always are.

I’m less worried about the forwards because we have more on the way. The D though is too green and we’ve got Guhle on the right side. To me, the best bang for the buck would be to get help there this year. Deal off Matheson and move Guhle back. Then next year or at the deadline deal Savard.

 

[Habby4Life]

Why are people so triggered that some of us dare question the idea that MSL may be out of his element. He's a young inexperienced guy, mistakes are made. And everything needs to be questioned all the time. If freaking McDavid has a bad shift that cost a goal, it's OK to think "umm he made a mistake there, this is something he should work more at it". Everything is fair game. And if Marty has to be fired to make the team better, so be it. I think it's still too early but we cannot ignore the possibility.

Well said, it’s been three years, it’s ok to criticize MSL.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Well said, it’s been three years, it’s ok to criticize MSL.

Criticize? Sure. Call for a firing after five games? Ridiculous.

 

[Xirik]

seems like there is no middle ground in this discussion much. To me it looks like MSL is basically a good mentor who's played the game and gives a long leash on all his players to play "their game". This leads to some of the players cheating a bit which leads to getting scored on. Eventually their will need to be a system placed on the team and they need to find an identity.

Suzuki, Caufield, Dach, And soon Slafkovsky are at the point where they aren't going to grow and develop anymore because the lack of any system.

Yes you have more prospects and players coming but some of your young players are getting close to being at the end of their "puppy" years where they can be easily taught.

I do think this season or maybe next season MSL needs to insert more structure into the team if he wants to be a long term coach.

 

[Habby4Life]

Criticize? Sure. Call for a firing after five games? Ridiculous.

Three years of pond hockey, seen enough.

If he can’t teach these guys how to play with structure in their own end, hire a veteran assistant who can or replace him. No one is irreplaceable on this squad.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Three years of pond hockey, seen enough.

Three years ago we had next to no roster. When he took over Caufield had 1 goal in half a season and then scored 48 in his next 82. Dach, Newhook, Guhle… all progressed nicely under him as well.

If he can’t teach these guys how to play with structure in their own end, hire a veteran assistant who can or replace him. No one is irreplaceable on this squad.

We’ve gotten significantly more points in each season. The progression is there. That’s just a fact,

 

[the valiant effort]

Last year a lot of folks were impressed with the 5-on-5 game but were of course disappointed with the historically bad special teams. This year special teams are improved, (3rd in PK, ~18% PP, up 5%), but the whole 60 min is generally a gong show. Let’s see where this is in November before we lose sleep.

I don’t yet have much of an opinion on MSL. The USA eye in the sky coach was a promising hire, but I’m still disappointed by the lack of assistant experience behind the bench at ice level.

 

[Mrb1p]

Do we really have to list the moves he’s made and players he’s added? Come on.

NHL players? As in not prospect/rookie ? I guess Newhook?