Speculation: Head Coach Hunt 2021

[rt]

I think it may have been a Craig article or podcast now that I think of it. I know Brian Daccord is very involved with the process.

Where’d Friedman say MVR was shortlist?

 

[Jakey53]

Where’d Friedman say MVR was shortlist?

I read that also.

 

[RABBIT]

Where’d Friedman say MVR was shortlist?

most recent 31 thoughts podcast.

 

[Mosby]

Monday's 31 Thoughts podcast in reference to Berube's future in STL: "They have MVR on their bench and I think he is going to be on Arizona's shortlist."

 

[Mosby]

Hopefully Rocky Thompson is the third interview. The other candidates are either uninteresting and uninspiring.

 

[Jakey53]

Monday's 31 Thoughts podcast in reference to Berube's future in STL: "They have MVR on their bench and I think he is going to be on Arizona's shortlist."

I think Berube's is safe as the Blues lost their #1 D, and had injury problems.

 

[rt]

Nelson, MVR and Thompson would be a great final three.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

RT is 0-2 as a head coach, I will be stunned if anyone actually hires him as a head coach, but RT will take any head coaching offer/last chance.

Tocchet will always have an excuse to spin what happened, and he's got enough goodwill among his old chums who are now NHL power brokers that he'll get opportunities.

 

[Mosby]

Nelson, MVR and Thompson would be a great final three.

Any Nelson podcasts worth a listen?

 

[Bonsai Tree]

I liked Nelson a lot last time around. I remember him doing some creative stuff in Grand Rapids like using 5 forwards on the powerplay.

A little apprehensive though on why no one else has hired him. Why is he always the runner up? Still, the resume is pretty good, though I'm not sure how much value I place on the UHL stuff. Good records in OKC and GR.

Perhaps no one else hired him because he put 5 forwards on the power play?

 

[rt]

Any Nelson podcasts worth a listen?

Have never found a long form, in depth interview. All just top level fluff.

 

[rt]

‘Certainly, he’s ready’ — Are Todd Nelson and the Ducks a coaching fit?
'Certainly, he’s ready' -- Are Todd Nelson and the Ducks a coaching fit?

 

[TheLegend]

Well, if you throw enough shit against the wall, some sticks.

It's one thing to use a shovel and another to use an excavator.

 

[rt]

Sunday Q and A: Todd Nelson and his "jam it down their throat" coaching philosophy
Sunday Q and A: Todd Nelson and his "jam it down their throat" coaching philosophy

 

[rt]

Breaking down Dallas Stars coaching candidates: Todd Nelson
Breaking down Dallas Stars coaching candidates: Todd Nelson

 

[rt]

Some Quotes:

“I think in this day and age if you wait for something bad to happen it’s going to happen. Why not try to dictate play? That goes along with my system work, that goes along with my philosophy. I hate the term, ‘Let’s weather the storm.’” Nelson said. “I hate that because you’re in a defensive mode versus ‘We fight fire with fire’ and we’re going to jam it down their throat. Over the course of a game or series, you have to adjust tactics; I get that. Those are the adjustments you have to make. I want to force them to beat us. If I get beat, I don’t want to do it in a defensive mode. I want to go after them. If they beat us, I tip my hat to them.”

Nelson’s jam-it-down the throat philosophy starts with the forecheck.
His teams generally play an aggressive 2-1-2 forecheck, only occasionally modified to account for an opponent’s style. The first two forwards get deep in the zone and hard on the puck, while the third forward can jump into the play, step back and fill the gap left by the first forechecker, or try and read the pass out.

Nelson is trying to force other teams to dump the puck out of their zone or attempt stretch passes. It’s at this point where the defenders are expected to hold the blue line, avoid conceding entry into the neutral zone, and potentially create a chance right off the turnover.

It’s a simple scenario for Nelson. More turnovers in the offensive zone or neutral zone create more offensive chances, and that leads to more goals.

While Nelson wants to force opponents into mistakes, he trusts his players with the puck and believes that extended zone time starts with a clean entry. For the Griffins, this often starts with defenders carrying the puck and reading the forecheck. More often than not it includes a quick pass to a forward in support, but there are instances where the defenseman is free to carry the length of the ice.


Defensemen play a role in the system, but they also aren’t necessary on the power play in Nelson’s system.

While trying to create the best power play unit Nelson wants his five best offensive options on the ice, no matter the position. Grand Rapids had the AHL’s best power play last season at 24.4 percent, with the first unit consisting entirely of forwards. This season the Griffins converted on 20.3 percent of their chances, fourth in the league.

And the power play isn’t a stationary one. It’s a 1-3-1 base format where each player has a handful of options. Sometimes it looks like an overload, while other times it appears to be a spread approach. The key for Nelson is creating different looks and making sure the penalty killers are caught off balance.

“You can’t be a one-trick pony. We morphed from a 1-3-1 to an overload to a spread, back to a 1-3-1,” Nelson told Custance. “The players got used to it. I had five forwards on one unit and four forwards and one defenseman on the second unit. I heard critics saying ‘That’s not smart to do.’ You know what? It makes sense to me.”

It all plays into Nelson’s key goal, making life difficult for opponents and forcing the issue. Can it be risky at times? Of course. But it’s also led to pretty good results.

 

[rt]

^ should be music to the ears of @XX and also to OEL if he’s still on the team. Would think Schmaltz is licking his chops too.

 

[rt]

Perhaps no one else hired him because he put 5 forwards on the power play?

Here you go smart guy!

CC: You ran five forwards on the power play?
TN: “Five forwards. We had the best power play in the league. We broke a franchise record and were on the cusp of breaking the league record. We ran 26 percent the whole year.”

^ come back and quote me when your PP scheme smashes records and wins a Calder Cup.

 

[rt]

Todd Nelson has been a professional head coach of the entirety of 10 different full seasons. His team has qualified for the post season in all 10. He’s won 3 championships in those 10 seasons.

 

[Grimes]

Loving those Nelson quotes. On paper his tactics sound very similar to what the Avalanche are doing. I definitely saw Dallas playing this way at times too, although I think they were a little more conservative than maybe Nelson would have liked.

I love that he seems to be absolutely anti-turtling. That may be enough for me to jump onto the Nelson ship.

There's a thought process in turn based games like chess called being on the beat, or tempo play. When you are on the beat you don't let your foot off the gas because if you do the diction of play may swap and the other player can take the role of the beatdown. If you constantly pressure the opponent so they do not have any other moves but to turtle you will win the game as they will never be able to gain advantages in their move. Obviously you have to be very careful while doing this because you are playing a higher risk strategy and if the role of the "beater" switches you can be in a very bad spot. Hockey has always felt similar to chess in that regard because it is such a game of mistakes. Sounds like Nelson likes to play the tempo/beat rather than waiting for the opponent to make the first mistake and then slowly allowing them to keep making mistakes and eventually overtaking the game.

I feel like RT always wanted to play an up-tempo game, but didn't have enough tactics under his belt to do it outside the constant North-South style of play. Felt very much that his style of play was overwhelm the opponent with a constant upstream attack where if they make a mistake it should lead to a golden opportunity. Sounds fine on paper, but you need to be able to adjust as well. That should be one of many tactics.

 

[rt]

If Nelson is hired, keep an eye on Ben Simon as an assistant hire. He left the Marlies as an assistant and came to work for Nelson as an assistant during Nelson’s full term in Grand Rapids. He’s a Nelson protege of sorts. He took over the Griffins when Nelson left for Dallas. After a few seasons as an AHL HC it’s likely Simon would be looking for NHL experience at this point. Seems like a fit.

 

[Fyreman]

Props to rt-

“I think in this day and age if you wait for something bad to happen it’s going to happen. Why not try to dictate play? That goes along with my system work, that goes along with my philosophy. I hate the term, ‘Let’s weather the storm.’” Nelson said. “I hate that because you’re in a defensive mode versus ‘We fight fire with fire’ and we’re going to jam it down their throat. Over the course of a game or series, you have to adjust tactics; I get that. Those are the adjustments you have to make. I want to force them to beat us. If I get beat, I don’t want to do it in a defensive mode. I want to go after them. If they beat us, I tip my hat to them.”

I am so fricking tired of "turtling" hockey. DT was a master at it- ugh. RT had to do it because his in-game decisions were crisis-management driven...

 

[cobra427]

Loving those Nelson quotes. On paper his tactics sound very similar to what the Avalanche are doing. I definitely saw Dallas playing this way at times too, although I think they were a little more conservative than maybe Nelson would have liked.

I love that he seems to be absolutely anti-turtling. That may be enough for me to jump onto the Nelson ship.

There's a thought process in turn based games like chess called being on the beat, or tempo play. When you are on the beat you don't let your foot off the gas because if you do the diction of play may swap and the other player can take the role of the beatdown. If you constantly pressure the opponent so they do not have any other moves but to turtle you will win the game as they will never be able to gain advantages in their move. Obviously you have to be very careful while doing this because you are playing a higher risk strategy and if the role of the "beater" switches you can be in a very bad spot. Hockey has always felt similar to chess in that regard because it is such a game of mistakes. Sounds like Nelson likes to play the tempo/beat rather than waiting for the opponent to make the first mistake and then slowly allowing them to keep making mistakes and eventually overtaking the game.

I feel like RT always wanted to play an up-tempo game, but didn't have enough tactics under his belt to do it outside the constant North-South style of play. Felt very much that his style of play was overwhelm the opponent with a constant upstream attack where if they make a mistake it should lead to a golden opportunity. Sounds fine on paper, but you need to be able to adjust as well. That should be one of many tactics.

RT played an up tempo attack games for the first 20 games of his tenure in AZ

 

[RemoAZ]

RT played an up tempo attack games for the first 20 games of his tenure in AZ

It look like it was going to be fun to watch. Then teams made adjustments and he didn't seem to know what to do after that. Didn't take long to go from excited to disappointed.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

Loving those Nelson quotes. On paper his tactics sound very similar to what the Avalanche are doing. I definitely saw Dallas playing this way at times too, although I think they were a little more conservative than maybe Nelson would have liked.

...

I feel like RT always wanted to play an up-tempo game, but didn't have enough tactics under his belt to do it outside the constant North-South style of play. Felt very much that his style of play was overwhelm the opponent with a constant upstream attack where if they make a mistake it should lead to a golden opportunity. Sounds fine on paper, but you need to be able to adjust as well. That should be one of many tactics.

He didn't have enough talent on his team to do it outside the North-South style of play.

While exceptions are fun, they are just that: exceptions. Talent Rules.