You guys need a legit and steady goalie as well. It’s really amazing how coaches can lose their spark. There was a time where Sullivan was thought very highly of. Sometimes teams just need a change. I would have never fired Cassidy last yea but look at what Montgomery has done with the bruins. At least you know your team needs it. My team didn’t need it and still made the change.
It's hard to sit for 3 weeks at a time then get 9 minutes of ice time and go out and stir something up.
Add in Rust, Guentzel.
Zucker also blatantly tripped Mayfield in last few minutes.
So basically he looks like Vasilevskiy does when he puts on his Garth Snow chest protector.
The Isles also didn’t get a power play until Pittsburgh scored on the man advantage. Not the first time the stripes have done that either.
The problem with Sullivan is he's become complacent and he refuses to adjust to his roster. A "system" only works if you have the players to properly play it. Sullivan wants the Pens to play like the 2016 Pens, which was a fast paced, in-your-face team that forechecked well and just was faster than anyone else. This year's team isn't that, yet he wants them to do the same stuff.
This has been a huge conversation and point from myself and @PK Cronin on the isles and Lambert making adjustments to cater to the isles roster. Completely agree that if you’re going to run a specific system that you stil need the right horses to do so.
I just want to punch Sid and Geno in the face.
I would love to see someone do to him what Tie Domi did to Ulf Samuelsson.
Like Lambert realizing he doesn’t have finishers on his roster no matter how much he sacrifices from team defense?
That Mayfield thing was ridiculous. Same old same old with that team. I love watching them lose.
Honestly though, how many elite coaches are there then? Because I really can't think of one that changes their system to match the players. Sure, maybe when they first join a team that tweak it, but eventually the GM just spends the time getting players to match the system and the coach keeps coaching that way. If he changes it after several years, that looks more like he's floundering than adjusting and will probably get canned. If he keeps his system, at least he can rationalize, "Hey, I won a cup with this, you've just failed to surround me with players that can excel in my proven system." I'm not saying this is all black and white, just that I don't see a lot of coaches willing to do what you think an elite coach does. If you've got an example though I certainly listen. I admit I don't follow coaches league wide with any true intensive analysis.
