News Article: Friedman: Shanahan's Coach Not (Currently) Available

[Salgari]

It's also very clear that the players are playing the system perfectly. The results would be the same regardless of personnel when the system is designed to give the puck to the other team.

This needs to be quoted.

 

[Mess]

I think Randy needs to drop the "swarm" style defense and go for a more traditional, proven style. New assistants will help in this regard.

I don't think "swarm defense" is the plan but rather the end result of players that don't have any clue how to play defense and who their defensive responsibility is away from the puck.

They run around like chickens with their heads cut off and that isn't being coached.. I think where Carlyle is to blame or at least accountable is in educating them as to where they should be playing and who they should be covering.

 

[rdawg1234]

I don't think "swarm defense" is the plan but rather the end result of players that don't have any clue how to play defense and who their defensive responsibility is away from the puck.

They run around like chickens with their heads cut off and that isn't being coached.. I think where Carlyle is to blame or at least accountable is in educating them as to where they should be playing and who they should be covering.

Nope, Carlyle has always had that kind of system, Bobby Ryan's quote has been posted here a few times where he said Carlyle has told the players to play back more and let them shoot from bad angles instead of forechecking or playing higher.

I don't like the system at all, it accepts a high amount of shots, which are going to go in eventually if the goaltender isnt playing up to par that day.

Carlyle is going to be gone soon, unless he changes his system, we aren't going to get anywhere unless we have an all-star team like he had the year of his cup. (and many lesser teams with good coaches can make it deep, just look at MTL this year or NJD two seasons ago)

 

[The Winter Soldier]

I think both Shanny and Nonis made it very clear that the system currently in place is garbage.

I have said this a few times, and some of it has stuck, but it is mostly dismissed here.

This team is not in the top 20% NHL in shape of teams in the NHL, infact they might be in the bottom 20% of fit teams.

You cannot play a back pressure, up tempo reduce time and space game when you are a team that struggles with fitness.

If Hitchcock was coaching this team, they would be doing windsprints between periods or worst yet, some of our players would faint on the ice.

This is why we are outshot, out corsi'd, out goaled in 3rd periods.

To play an effective system, it all stems from having players in shape to do this.

This team is not in NHL shape and it is apparent watching them play or more accurately collaspe.

It doesn't matter if Carlyle is coaching or Scotty Bowman, all good coach's need fit players to implement a system.

 

[Stats01]

I think both Shanny and Nonis made it very clear that the system currently in place is garbage.

that isn't news, We have two idiots running the show..Carlyle should've known his system wasn't working well before game 77. Nonis is a tool too. Shanahan is here for a week and tells it at is it is. I guarantee if Shanahan didn't come on board, Nonis would've defended Carlyle to the end and blamed it on the players. Nonis needs to give his head a shake and get on board with wtf is going on. Him and Carlyle were totally out to lunch this season. Yes it's on the players but the coach you hired Nonis had a system that was playing right into the other teams hands. Embiciles.

WTF is the swarm defence? As Jack Armstrong would say "Get that garbage outta here"

 

[napoleon in rags]

Or maybe the commander needs to get rid of more Grabo's or Macarthur's, 2 very replacable soldiers, and build it with new soldiers that want to play the system for a coach that has won a cup before only 8 short years ago.

And since that glorious cup victory eight long years ago, the coach in question has won one playoff series. Seems to me that the system's heyday is long past, much like the catapult and battering ram.

 

[Salgari]

I don't think "swarm defense" is the plan but rather the end result of players that don't have any clue how to play defense and who their defensive responsibility is away from the puck.

They run around like chickens with their heads cut off and that isn't being coached.. I think where Carlyle is to blame or at least accountable is in educating them as to where they should be playing and who they should be covering.

It absolutely is the plan.

http://mapleleafshotstove.com/2014/03/26/joffrey-lupul-also-confounded-by-leafs-defensive-system/

 

[HellasLEAF]

Carlyle is Shanny's interim coach during roster upheaval and then disposable once the dust settles.

He isn't going to bring in his new coach and then pull the rug out from underneath him by sending vets packing, that would be setting him up for failure.

I agree this is the idea behind the extension.

And although I still would have liked to see Carlyle axed, I understand the thinking at this current juncture.

 

[Purity*]

I don't think "swarm defense" is the plan but rather the end result of players that don't have any clue how to play defense and who their defensive responsibility is away from the puck.

They run around like chickens with their heads cut off and that isn't being coached.. I think where Carlyle is to blame or at least accountable is in educating them as to where they should be playing and who they should be covering.

False. It is EXACTLY the plan. Go ahead and look at Anaheim's numbers and their decline with Carlyle as coach and his silly system in place. Boudreau takes over, and BAM, way better possession/offense/defense. Facts are facts and the examples are there whether you choose to acknowledge them or not. Nobody is saying that our team isn't bad defensively, because they are. Leading NHL history in shots against bad? NOT A CHANCE

You seem to really like ignoring me for some reason.

 

[TieClark]

I think it's great. They are waiting for either Deboer or Babcock and tanking for McDavid

The Leafs are not tanking next year... pretty obvious

 

[The Winter Soldier]

And since that glorious cup victory eight long years ago, the coach in question has won one playoff series. Seems to me that the system's heyday is long past, much like the catapult and battering ram.

Sounds like you almost described Hitchcock.

 

[Brown Dog]

Ironically, the Senators went through a lot of coaches in a short period of time because they didn't work out. They basically went through almost a coach a year for 5 to 6 years before MacLean.

They didn't deliver and they couldn't bring the most out of players. They didn't extend a poor coach because the one they wanted wasn't available. They weren't doing their job to the fullest extent and finally found one through extensive searches.

A great executive doesn't keep a coach that isn't doing good because the guy he wants isn't available. A great executive sets out to basically find the find the best of what's available. The next Babcock is just right there to be found.

Now I can accept keeping Carlyle because they say he's the a good coach and that's what they've said. Fine, whatever. I just find it pretty insane and kamikaze-like to keep a coach simply because the one you want isn't available. You don't think he's good enough? Fire him. Simple. Very simple actually.

I agree with this. Would be nice if the Leafs were forward-thinking and able to identify the best man for the job, even if it isn't someone who has been the given a head coaching opportunity before.

 

[tzinc]

the only problem with this is

how long do you wait for someone like babcock to come loose

it is like those people saying we should wait for stamkos to become a fa and sign with leafs

you cannot wait indefinitely for someone to come loose who might NEVER come loose

and if (likely) Leafs suck next year and are losing how does he hold off firing Carlyle just keep him on til his candidate comes loose

typical Leafs lunacy and excuses

 

[The Blue Devil]

I have said this a few times, and some of it has stuck, but it is mostly dismissed here.

This team is not in the top 20% NHL in shape of teams in the NHL, infact they might be in the bottom 20% of fit teams.

You cannot play a back pressure, up tempo reduce time and space game when you are a team that struggles with fitness.

If Hitchcock was coaching this team, they would be doing windsprints between periods or worst yet, some of our players would faint on the ice.

This is why we are outshot, out corsi'd, out goaled in 3rd periods.

To play an effective system, it all stems from having players in shape to do this.

This team is not in NHL shape and it is apparent watching them play or more accurately collaspe.

It doesn't matter if Carlyle is coaching or Scotty Bowman, all good coach's need fit players to implement a system.

While I do agree with you about the fitness, it doesn't change the fact that the system in place wasn't very good. Shanny, hell even Carlyle clearly said that the swarm type defense that they were playing wasn't working.

 

[Guy Boucher]

I have said this a few times, and some of it has stuck, but it is mostly dismissed here.

This team is not in the top 20% NHL in shape of teams in the NHL, infact they might be in the bottom 20% of fit teams.

You cannot play a back pressure, up tempo reduce time and space game when you are a team that struggles with fitness.

If Hitchcock was coaching this team, they would be doing windsprints between periods or worst yet, some of our players would faint on the ice.

This is why we are outshot, out corsi'd, out goaled in 3rd periods.

To play an effective system, it all stems from having players in shape to do this.

This team is not in NHL shape and it is apparent watching them play or more accurately collaspe.

It doesn't matter if Carlyle is coaching or Scotty Bowman, all good coach's need fit players to implement a system.

This team was capable of out-shooting their opponents until Carlyle took over. Since he's taken over that ability has steadily diminished.

Has the roster worsened under Carlyle/Nonis?

Have they suddenly under Carlyle (who apparently runs 'harder' practices than Wilson) gotten fat?

Or, maybe, just maybe, his system lends itself to being massively outshot?

 

[Guy Boucher]

While I do agree with you about the fitness, it doesn't change the fact that the system in place wasn't very good. Shanny, hell even Carlyle clearly said that the swarm type defense that they were playing wasn't working.

Carlyle believes that players should surrender the half-boards since it's unlikely that the opposition will score from them.

Guess what happens when you surrender portions of the defensive zone to the other team? You get stuck in your zone.

Carlyle never lets the team forecheck after a lost faceoff in the offensive zone. Guess what happens when you don't forecheck 50% of the time? You rarely get into the opposing zone.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

I'd like us to play a back pressure, forecheck, cut down space and time style. I would also like us to have a unit of 5 that supports each other. When you watch the Bruins at their best, this is the way they play.

I want to keep stressing it, to expend the amount of energy to play this style, you need players to buy in, and you need players that are in shape to sustain this style of play.

Get in shape, be one of the fittest teams in the NHL, and maybe we have a chance. If we come to camp in the current shape we have the past 2 and probably more years now. You can forget it. It will be sprint and fade hockey all over again.

 

[Mess]

the only problem with this is

how long do you wait for someone like babcock to come loose

Apparently Babcock is in the last year of his current deal that expires at the end of next season, and has had no interest to sign an extension yet.

So maybe 1 more year.

 

[BooRadley]

I could've sworn I read somewhere that Babcock and Shany don't like one another. It was one of Shanys reasons to go to the Rags and play.

 

[leafs in five]

Or maybe the commander needs to get rid of more Grabo's or Macarthur's, 2 very replacable soldiers, and build it with new soldiers that want to play the system for a coach that has won a cup before only 8 short years ago.

can only hope the team improves as much after we get rid of the new Grabos and Macarthurs as it did after we got rid of the originals.

 

[leafs in five]

I think both Shanny and Nonis made it very clear that the system currently in place is garbage.

certainly Shanahan's comments have suggested that. i'm still unclear on Nonis's take. he said he knows this group can be successful under Carlyle, claimed he saw it happen in the lockout year when the players were apparently buying in or whatever. and they played the same Carlyle style hockey that season as they did this past one.

 

[hullsy47]

certainly Shanahan's comments have suggested that. i'm still unclear on Nonis's take. he said he knows this group can be successful under Carlyle, claimed he saw it happen in the lockout year when the players were apparently buying in or whatever. and they played the same Carlyle style hockey that season as they did this past one.

i think the whole upping carlyle and extension is all pending on what becomes of mike babcock ....word is circle june 1st .....things might be clearer by the 2nd
one rumor is ,the assistants have to be able to mesh with a certain coach ,not necessarliy carlyle ,one thing for certain ,if adam oates is hired soon ,hes the next coach within the next year or so,could get fun

 

[leafs in five]

It absolutely is the plan.

http://mapleleafshotstove.com/2014/03/26/joffrey-lupul-also-confounded-by-leafs-defensive-system/

really interesting post in the link.



the part at :50 or so, when Gardiner gains possession. where is he supposed to go with that? as the author notes, Raymond is basically covering the slot, making him unavailable as an outlet along the wall. even though it seems clear that the Leafs' attempt at turning puck recovery into a breakout instructs the defensemen to use the boards, the wingers are made to hang out around the faceoff dot. so they're required to move into proper position along the boards after a change in possession which frequently results in these awkward half passes that end up going to the opposing defenseman. or alternately a chip off the glass and out to center for a brief reprieve before the pressure resumes. it just doesn't seem to add up to anything that makes sense.

 

[ShaneFalco]

I could've sworn I read somewhere that Babcock and Shany don't like one another. It was one of Shanys reasons to go to the Rags and play.

I read that too. But if he's a professional, and if Babcok is one of the best out there, you put your dislike aside.

 

[Warden of the North]

I could've sworn I read somewhere that Babcock and Shany don't like one another. It was one of Shanys reasons to go to the Rags and play.

That was true at one point. Now? Who knows. People reconcile.