Coaching is a serious problem.

[RealityBytes]

We have a ton of quality coming up through the ranks, this year is about growth and transition. Hasn't been pretty, but there's plenty of time to right the ship. Help is on the way in the next couple of years, also I fully expect this management team to address some other needs in the offseason.

Roster as it is now will inevitably struggle at times.

People will say we played better last season with same roster, but the truth is we've only gotten younger, and lost some helpful pieces in Monahan, Harris and Kovacevic.

Hopefully Laine will give this team a boost.

The roster is what the roster is now and what is there won't improve that much. There is a lot of average there. Yes players like Laine, Reinbacher, and Demidov are coming but they have only played a total of two hours on Habs ice. What is the reality of them and not just their hype, a lot of players with a lot of hype don't generally live up to their expectations. We shall see soon but if they don't come across as expected, the Habs would most likely end up just being an average mediocre team as like Detroit, Ottawa, and Buffalo.

 

[JianYang]

OK, you are right. I should maybe say they are not extremely bad, and winning a few games but still bad and fourth from the bottom. Not bad enough to lock in a great pick. If they end up there, and with draft lottery odds playing against them, they could end up only drafting seventh.

The league has definitely changed and there not as much difference between all the teams as there used to be. There is a lot of mid league, and if the Habs are off even a bit, they will end up in bottom third. Some are claiming what is coming with new players will raise them but they are depending a lot on new players hype. I don't think it is enough to propel them into the top third and they will end up being one of those perpetual mediocre teams. It seems that with a new (non existent) perfect coach and the play of new players like Laine, Reinbacher, and Demidov will push the team to great heights, but that is a lot to expect from three players who have played only a total of two hours on the Hab's ice. "Grass is greener", "don't count your chickens before they hatch", and so on. Look at Bedard for example, superstar and stalled this year. It will be a hard, hard battle for the Habs to get out of the bottom third.

I think there are several other players than the ones mentioned above that the Habs are hoping to see some development from and become fundamental peices, but I'll limit this discussion to the guys you mentioned.

Reinbacher is a question mark, and it's never a good sign to have a major injury at a key development point, but demidov seems like a decent bet to become a core peice.

I'm not sure if Laine was acquired to be a long term player though. I suppose he's young enough to take a wait and see approach but he has 2 years left on his deal, and I think it's probable that management sees him as their next revitalizarion project like monhahan where they build him back up for a return before his contract expires.

I'm a little more pessimistic than you are on what they can achieve this year. I predicted a bottom 10 finish before the start of the season, but a bottom 5 finish would not surprise me at this point.

 

[sampollock]

I wish people could give some more specifics in their criticisms and solutions to the supposed poor coaching.

People criticize the system, but the details between hybrid, man on man and zone coverage aren't as simple as people on here indicate, and we don't know what the exact ask is from MSL vs what the players are doing.

When I look at this roster, I see a team full of players likely to make mistakes and fail to execute on any gameplan.

I also see a team whose goaltending has fallen back to earth from last year and isn't able to cover as many mistakes.

None of these are things MSL can control. What can he control? We'll ice time for one, and I've been impressed with the ice time and responsibilities he's given young players that deserved it throughout his short time in Montreal.

Overall, it just seems he's being made the sacrificial lamb. He may need to be canned eventually, but I'm under no impression that some dinosaur coach with 15 years of experience would have this roster whipped into shape.

Timeouts to start with

 

[OnTheRun]

Timeouts to start with

It's not really a thing anymore, I can't remember the last time I've seen a coach taking a random timeout to "settle thing down" like they used in the 90s. The forced TV timeouts (2mins instead of 30s) at the 6, 10, 14 minute marks probably have a lots to do with that.

 

[Rapala]

I wish people could give some more specifics in their criticisms and solutions to the supposed poor coaching.

People criticize the system, but the details between hybrid, man on man and zone coverage aren't as simple as people on here indicate, and we don't know what the exact ask is from MSL vs what the players are doing.

When I look at this roster, I see a team full of players likely to make mistakes and fail to execute on any gameplan.

I also see a team whose goaltending has fallen back to earth from last year and isn't able to cover as many mistakes.

None of these are things MSL can control. What can he control? We'll ice time for one, and I've been impressed with the ice time and responsibilities he's given young players that deserved it throughout his short time in Montreal.

Overall, it just seems he's being made the sacrificial lamb. He may need to be canned eventually, but I'm under no impression that some dinosaur coach with 15 years of experience would have this roster whipped into shape.

Examples have been given not only on this board but in the media about how our Man on Man coverages were leading to catastrophic break downs.
I gave an example of how Struble followed a forward from the right side of the crease out to the blue line and then back to net front. (left side)
Struble being in a chase position the entire way was easily beaten back to the net as the puck got there. If there was a rebound it's a goal or a penalty.
The same type of coverage has caused our defenders to be picked at the tops of the circles .
Numerous goals against have been disected and were the direct result of a defender losing his man.
The system is unforgiving and it has been brought up since we started using it that we don't have the talent to play that type of game.
Not one person here can claim otherwise it's been very well documented. The argument has always been we'll keep playing it until we master it.
The team has started playing a hybrid system which seems to be helping but I'm of the opinion that it's our play between the blue lines has improved.

 

[Monsieur Miz]

Heineman, Gallagher and Anderson played less than Dach last game.

 

[ReHabs]

Heineman, Gallagher and Anderson played less than Dach last game.

MSL's refusal or inability to implement any sort of accountability or seriousness to the game is liable to have consequences going forward.

 

[Hannibal]

Marty, you can go off at the refs sometimes when the situation is right. Yesterday it was the time. Stop chewing that f***ing gum of yours and go defend your players.

f***ing no emotion coach

 

[LyricalLyricist]

Think Hughes will be able to put pride and friendship aside and fire MSL?

We were told previous managements were old boys club. This is the most egregious form I’ve ever seen. I think they ride it and say team wasn’t ready.

 

[WeThreeKings]

We were told previous managements were old boys club. This is the most egregious form I’ve ever seen. I think they ride it and say team wasn’t ready.

How is this the most egregious form you've ever seen? They were competing in the past and let Therrien destroy all of our young players while losing games.

This is a calculated rebuild where you are going to lose more often than you win and some nights it's going to look really, really bad.

They were never going to fire Marty this early into his tenure. Pretty much no team in this situation would.

 

[Rapala]

Marty, you can go off at the refs sometimes when the situation is right. Yesterday it was the time. Stop chewing that f***ing gum of yours and go defend your players.

f***ing no emotion coach

More moment of anger and less of frustration when it comes to his body language would be okay.
He often come across as frustrated with his player when the officiating is the issue.

 

[Heffyhoof]

It's at the Ducharme level where the games I enjoy the most are when Montreal loses but the young players do well. Best of both worlds, development seems to be ok, top 5 is guaranteed, and I don't stress out when MSL puts Newhook out ahead of Slafkovsky because it's another nail in the coffin.

 

[LyricalLyricist]

How is this the most egregious form you've ever seen? They were competing in the past and let Therrien destroy all of our young players while losing games.

This is a calculated rebuild where you are going to lose more often than you win and some nights it's going to look really, really bad.

They were never going to fire Marty this early into his tenure. Pretty much no team in this situation would.

Its a silly question. Its the most egregious because he had zero coaching experience and was basically hired because he's a friend. The reason he is or isn't fired now doesn't justify why he was hired in the first place.

I don't particularly like Therrien but in his second run he was fired after a 194-121-37 record coming off a retool and a poor finish under Gauthier. MSL is 69-93-25 so far. I'm not saying hire MT, you brought him up but IF you are going to say 194-121-37 is a losing record, what is MSL's record?

Anyway, MSL should not be the coach when we're ready to compete. Hughes will have to do something about it eventually.

 

[nhlfan9191]

How is this the most egregious form you've ever seen? They were competing in the past and let Therrien destroy all of our young players while losing games.

This is a calculated rebuild where you are going to lose more often than you win and some nights it's going to look really, really bad.

They were never going to fire Marty this early into his tenure. Pretty much no team in this situation would.

This early? MSL has been around for almost three years.

 

[1909]

This early? MSL has been around for almost three years.

delete

 

[le_sean]

Matheson with two mistakes and promptly rewarded with getting his spot back on PP1 only to give it to McAvoy for the breakaway.

Enough is enough with this coach that just ignores everything veterans ever do.

 

[morhilane]

Matheson with two mistakes and promptly rewarded with getting his spot back on PP1 only to give it to McAvoy for the breakaway.

Enough is enough with this coach that just ignores everything veterans ever do.

It seems that accountability is only for 23 years old or under for an NHL coach.

The few coaches who sat or called out their 25+ vets in the last two years lost their job not long after.

 

[le_sean]

It seems that accountability is only for 23 years old or under for an NHL coach.

The few coaches who sat or called out their 25+ vets in the last two years promtly lost their job.

I don’t think our vets in question have as much caché

 

[morhilane]

I don’t think our vets in question have as much caché

I suspect Matheson is "Kent's favorite", only way to explain what we are seeing.

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

To be fair - Bruins fans main critique of Montgomery was that he didn't have any defensive system, so I'm not sure how much better we would have looked with him instead of Marty

 

[Rapala]

Did I hear right we are up to 4 shorties.
I hoped to cut last years total by half.

 

[WeThreeKings]

You can't preach accountability and have Matheson see the ice after the SHG. He was already awful for 2 other goals against.

He was out there for his next PP shift.

What are we even doing here, it's December.

 

[1909]

I suspect Matheson is "Kent's favorite", only way to explain what we are seeing.

The guy had 60 points last season…. That’s the reason. He is the only D with some NHL experience (Savard is on the downhill side of the mountain).

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Marty, you can go off at the refs sometimes when the situation is right. Yesterday it was the time. Stop chewing that f***ing gum of yours and go defend your players.

f***ing no emotion coach

He ripped them in the press conference.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

We were told previous managements were old boys club. This is the most egregious form I’ve ever seen. I think they ride it and say team wasn’t ready.

I’m not sure what you’re talking about here.

MSL had really good success developing players coming into this season. There was a really positive vibe and most people thought we’d be better than last year.

Yes, this year’s been a disaster for the most part but the team is slowly improving. I hardly think he should’ve been fired a quarter way into the season.

I mean look at Therrien he was here for years and destroyed the fabric of our club. THAT was nepotism. MSL has earned some slack.

Its a silly question. Its the most egregious because he had zero coaching experience and was basically hired because he's a friend. The reason he is or isn't fired now doesn't justify why he was hired in the first place.

I don't particularly like Therrien but in his second run he was fired after a 194-121-37 record coming off a retool and a poor finish under Gauthier. MSL is 69-93-25 so far. I'm not saying hire MT, you brought him up but IF you are going to say 194-121-37 is a losing record, what is MSL's record?

Anyway, MSL should not be the coach when we're ready to compete. Hughes will have to do something about it eventually.

One guy had Carey Price the other didn’t. Therrien inherited a team that was on the cusp of contending and promptly ran it into the ground. Completely different situations.

MSL has already shown he can help develop players - Therrien was great at destroying prospects. It’s not even in the same ballpark.