BRB...i really gotta ask (while respecting your opinion on this board) what was the highest level you ever played a sport at? You make it sound so nice and rosie that its never the coaches fault and because the player would possibly perform better if put in certain situations that means that player needs to be coddled? He is still a kid but with a lot of raw talent and ability. He is not perfect. He needs to work in his overall game. But he certainly looked like a player who was thinking too much and not just playing. That I blame Tortorella for, I don't care how much you love him. Athletes understand they only play as much as the coach lets them. Athletes who are trying to earn their coaches trust work that much harder, HOWEVER, those same athletes grip the stick that much tighter and think that much more when there are precedents to show they have an extremely short leash. BRB your opinion is your opinion, but I think you are just too biased against kreider/for tortorella to see the player side of it.
Derick Brassard next season
- Thread starter Hutzler
- Start date
-
Xenforo Cloud will be upgrading us to version 2.3.5 on March 3rd at 12 AM GMT. This version has increased stability and fixes several bugs. We expect downtime for the duration of the update. The admin team will continue to work on existing issues, templates and upgrade all necessary available addons to minimize impact of this new version. Click Here for Updates
BRB...i really gotta ask (while respecting your opinion on this board) what was the highest level you ever played a sport at? You make it sound so nice and rosie that its never the coaches fault and because the player would possibly perform better if put in certain situations that means that player needs to be coddled? He is still a kid but with a lot of raw talent and ability. He is not perfect. He needs to work in his overall game. But he certainly looked like a player who was thinking too much and not just playing. That I blame Tortorella for, I don't care how much you love him. Athletes understand they only play as much as the coach lets them. Athletes who are trying to earn their coaches trust work that much harder, HOWEVER, those same athletes grip the stick that much tighter and think that much more when there are precedents to show they have an extremely short leash. BRB your opinion is your opinion, but I think you are just too biased against kreider/for tortorella to see the player side of it.
Not sure what my highest level of play has to do with anything, but I was one of 2 players to make my high school varsity team as a 10th grader. Captained the team as a senior. I was an offensive player, but I saw limited minutes on the bottom lines that first year. I never had a disparaging thought about it - I just went out there and busted my ass with every shift I got.
Now, I am under no illusions that my high school hockey career parallels the NHL in any way. But Kreider's lack of aggression and tenacity throughout most of last season is simply inexcusable to me. And heres the kicker - the same people advocating the thinking that Kreider was overthinking or afraid to make a mistake are the ones blasting Tortorella's system of "caveman hockey." Whats there to overthink if the system is for simpletons? Whatever the case is, Kreider seemed overwhelmed, badly. So the answer is to coddle him? Give him bigger minutes against tougher assignments?? Brilliant!
I applaud you for your accomplishments BRB. Making varsity as a 10th grader is certainly an accomplishment as is being a captain during a senior year. However, it still has every bit to do with the argument here. High School and College are two different games. There is a ton more pressure on both the players and the coaches. The coaches, especially in higher divisions, are being paid a handsome salary to bring success to their universities. You think you had the same coaches from ages 13-18 that Rutgers did with Mike Rice? Obviously, not every single coach goes to the limits that Rice did, but this naive and so heavily censored society would have their minds blown if they exploited every single college coach when put under the microscope. The pressure on athletes to perform is at an all time high. I, for one (while not approving much of the verbal slurs Rice used), am okay with the tough coaching that is given in college. It makes you a stronger athlete imo. I had extremely tough coaches in college. It made me work harder. But there were absolutely times here and there where if I thought I blinked wrong, I'd be replaced in the lineup the next day. It made me think a little more when I was out there sometimes. These sports are so mental.
You act as if Kreider, being that he is so highly touted, should have been able to just go out there and play. He is a human being. He is young and raw. My problem with Torts is that, I did not expect him to give Kreider such a huge role. BUT demotions to the 4th line and instant benchings for large portions of the game was not the answer. I wanted Torts to let Kreider learn from his mistakes by playing through them. Torts didn't have the time for it though. He let Miller have a longer leash. He let other guys continually have longer leashes. And this with a team that was offensively inept last year. We absolutely could've afforded the brainfarts from Kreider here and there in exchange for that snapshot and speed of his that could instantly tie a game if he gets into a groove. I agree he should've been more aggressive and tenacious. He should have. I fault him 75% for him on that, 25% for Tortorella. It is hard to play the game when you start second guessing yourself. It IS very natural to be less aggressive when you are overthinking because you become a step behind.
And Tort's "caveman simpletons hockey" was still the problem for everyone on that team. They all fell into the trap of falling back on the mentality to just dump and chase. Safe was not death. No one on that roster wanted to take chances. Gaborik was a completely different player here than when he was in Minnesota. Gaborik started dumping and chasing almost every shift. His creativity was gone. Same goes for Richards. Same goes for Del Zotto; nice rush up the ice, dumps to the corner and tries to beat the opposing defender to the puck. Same goes for their PP strategy. Tort's system called for defense and no offensive creativity. The players rather have dumped and chase than to "try and be a hero" by taking the puck into the zone themselves, deking a defender and going to the net with a scoring opportunity, because god forbid it doesn't work, there's a turnover and the opposing team scores off of it. Said player would be benched for at least a period, maybe the game. To call out Kreider for not being ballsy or creative is a little ridiculous imo.
I understand your points, I just simply don't agree with them. I'd be much more inclined to agree with letting Kreider play through his mistakes had this not been a 48 game season where the Rangers were supposed to be one of the favorites. I can blame Tortorella for a lot of other things last season, but not having the patience for Kreider's pedestrian play is not on the list.
That is a fair point to make and was more likely than not the reason for why things where handled the way they were.
LaffyTaffyNYR
Registered User
- Feb 25, 2012
- 17,113
- 2,662
Its a point I keep coming back to when it comes to Tortorella's firing in general - not just the Kreider situation.
Anyway, back on topic, I dont know what to expect from Brassard. He seemed to get a shot in the arm coming to NY - but once the adrenaline wears off and he has to play 82 games, I'd expect the same offensively gifted, yet inconsistent player we saw in Columbus.
The Arniel hiring makes me a little nervous. Brassard, like a lot of French-Canadian players is pretty volatile mentally. If he gets in a rut, it's very hard to get him out of it. Bringing in a coach he butted heads with seems like a poor move.
NYR Viper
Registered User
Luckily, AV seems like a true players coach. Also of note, Vancouver had been high on Brassard for years and was always rumored to want to put together a package to bring him in. AV must know something about him.
If AV was a true player's coach, I find the Arniel hiring even more perplexing.
There were plenty of other solid candidates out there that didnt carry the baggage of Arniel.
NYR Viper
Registered User
Maybe. Given this team's history of jettisoning the bad cop, Im not so sure thats a great idea.
NYR Viper
Registered User
AV can be the nicest guy in the world, but all it takes is one misstep by Brassard or Arniel and things can go south. Just makes very little sense to me.
Me neither. After all the crap thats happened over the last couple months, I would think a perfectly clean slate would benefit everybody.
I don't see the logic in acquiring multiple players from Columbus, and then bringing in their old coach -- especially considering all that friction.
Plus it's not like he's a brilliant power-play mind either. The PP was terrible during his time in Columbus, and it's been middle of the road at best during his time with the Moose/Wolves in the AHL.
Fanned On It
Registered User
adam94
BU Terriers
I see him putting up right around 50. A bit more if he's on the second line and a bit less if he sees most of his action on the third line.
SingnBluesOnBroadway
Retired
40-50 pts is very realistic for Brassard considering his career PPG extrapolates to 45 pts per seasons. By no means is that disappointing considering his body of work over his career.
Clown Fiesta
Registered User
With room for improvement IMO. Will be happy with 50, hope he get's more and finds his consistency though, would be really nice if a player had an upswing after joining us for once.
Machinehead
HFNYR MVP
