Interim Jets coach Dave Lowry (December 2021, not now)

[Jetsfan79]

I know its early but Dave Lowry's pressers do not fill me with confidence. Very 2 dimensional. He reminds me of Claude Noel without the flashy, humorous personality. Feels his comments echo the run of the mill, cliché filled coach's pressers from the 1980s.

Last night he said (paraphrasing) : "If our guys are half a step behind, well then we just got to get quicker"

ummm yeea. Kinds obvious there. My follow-up question to him would be if he went back in time to before the game and told everyone that he saw the future and everyone will be half a step slow , would it make any difference?

The "we just gotta get better" comments will soon get very very tiring.

I almost prefer to hear Daryl Sutter post game pressers

 

[BoneDocUK]

I know its early but Dave Lowry's pressers do not fill me with confidence. He reminds me of Claude Noel without the flashy, humorous personality.

Last night he said (paraphrasing) : "If our guys are half a step behind, then we just got to get quicker"

ummm yeea. Kinds obvious there. My follow-up question to him would be if he went back in time to before the game and told everyone that he saw the future and everyone will be half a step slow , would it make any difference?

The "we just gotta get better" comments will soon get very very tiring.

Yep. I mean, I don't think I've ever actually heard a coach say "we just gotta get worse," but Ken Wiebe seemed to think that his observation about needing to be "hard to play against" was a nugget of wisdom for the ages, so maybe we need to read beyond the mere words into the Sphinx-like mind behind them.

"We" = Here Big Dave goes beyond the individual to the collective, the group of 22 athletes who must together find the way back to success. There is, he might also have opined, no I in We.

"Just" = There is real urgency in these words from our Philosopher-Coach. The We that is the Jets (also the Borg, but that's another convo) cannot wait to will itself onto greatness. 41 games from now, for example, is not the time to do this. No, if We are going to stop playing (as Dave night say, behind closed doors) like dogshit, then now is the time to do so. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not on March 31. Now!

"Gotta" = Again, urgency. A redoubling of effort. Big Dave will brook no argument. Not "We should really think about getting better," or "It would be awfully nice if we could get better." No -- We Gotta. That's right, Dave. Pull no punches. Make clear your demands. This is a Gotta situation if ever there was one.

"Get better." I elide these two pearls because they are As One Phrase. Note that our sage does not say "We just gotta become decent," or "We just gotta hit .500.' Oh no. Those would be feasible, reachable goals. Far better to state the goal as something infinite, because what the hell, really, does "better" mean? One iota better at not flinging pucks at the opposing goalie's crest? A 3% decrease in bumping into each other when hemmed in the D-zone?

That's right, Dave. Remain vague. Avoid specifying some plausible end that your media and fans can track, measure, and draw conclusions on. And, of course, Dave and the boys' "better" is not necessarily our better. It may not mean wins, or even goals, or good, committed plays. Perhaps it has to do with The Room. Yes, perhaps The Room can become a happier, friendlier, more fun and better place. Remember, this is not about winning -- it is about details, and playing the right way. Hockey is not really about scoring more goals than the other guys, while allowing fewer. No, it is a cipher wrapped in an enigma nestled within a perogie slathered in the melted butter of hockey nepotism and the great merry-go-round of old coaches and old ideas.

So by all means, We just gotta get better. That is all it takes.

And so endeth the lesson.

 

[antiqueslivers]

I think chevy and chipman gave up on this season when they didn't bother looking for a new coach and went with lowry. Going with lowry and the rest of the coaching staff to me is just continuing with maurice but with out his charisma. Nothing has changed, only gotten slightly worse. How huddy is still behind the bench is a bit of a head scratch'r for me.

 

[Guardian17]

I think chevy and chipman gave up on this season when they didn't bother looking for a new coach and went with lowry. Going with lowry and the rest of the coaching staff to me is just continuing with maurice but with out his charisma. Nothing has changed, only gotten slightly worse. How huddy is still behind the bench is a bit of a head scratch'r for me.

There will be more coaching candidates available in the offseason.

 

[gojetsgo]

I think it's becoming pretty evident now with more and more games that lowry is not the right person for the job, however it was still the right choice to not rush and hire someone else mid season

 

[CorgisPer60]

I think it's becoming pretty evident now with more and more games that lowry is not the right person for the job, however it was still the right choice to not rush and hire someone else mid season

I'm sure Chevy's milling the water, trying to figure out who's going to be the next head coach. You don't rush out and panic hire somebody. I think if they can last, it'll be an off-season thing.

 

[10Ducky10]

Does anyone think Chevy keeps him for next season?
We need someone that is a little more progressive thinking.
Maurice is a much better coach if you ask me and he couldn't get it done.
I know Chevy didn't have much choice when Maurice resigned but he had better make the right choice this summer.

 

[gojetsgo]

Does anyone think Chevy keeps him for next season?
We need someone that is a little more progressive thinking.
Maurice is a much better coach if you ask me and he couldn't get it done.
I know Chevy didn't have much choice when Maurice resigned but he had better make the right choice this summer.

I highly doubt it especially after that presser a couple days ago

 

[Imcanadianeh]

Two predictions for next season. 1) Lowry will not be the coach and 2) Fans will love the new coach when the Jets win and hate him when they lose no matter who it is.

 

[GNP]

Absolutely.

Get rid of them both, while Scheif has a ton of trade value. Wheeler has negative trade value, so demote him to a bottom 6 role, or retain some of his salary. I wish we can keep Copp, but I'm not optimistic. Dubois, Connor, Ehlers, and (later on) Perfetti are going to be the driving force on this team.

Last I checked Wheeler was dragging ass BEFORE his injury. Wheeler has a bad attitude in the room and it’s quite well know.
What kind of caption fired a puck at the head of a player (Chiarot incident). His shit attitude and card blanche to rule the roost has contributed to Buff retiring early, Laine wanting out, etc… He is continually cut slack and plays when and where he doesn’t deserve to be. Same can be said about Sheifele. It’s beyond disgusting and until we get a coach that changes that then we will go nowhere.

I agree with the 2 above posters that would like to see Wheeler gone, as I believe he's the cancer in the dressing room. Just listen to his post game interviews, and how snarly and defensive he is. He's very rude to reporters, and can't take any criticism. He's not the right guy to have as a Captain on your team, as he divides the team, rather than bringing them together, as one of the above posters said.

As @Jets4Life says, getting rid of Wheeler and Scheifele both is not a bad idea. It be very hard to get rid of Wheeler considering he's only worth about $ 3.5 mil per year, and getting $ 8.5 M which was a very bad signing by Cheveldayoff, who has a romance with "older players", and doesn't know when to let them walk. We got very lucky somebody offered a washed up Ladd more money, or we'd be stuck with him too. Chevy is good at draft and develop, put poor on contract resignings, especially with over the hill veterans.

Getting rid of Wheeler would require retaining a lot of salary, or by throwing Scheifele into the deal, who's on a very decent contract. Scheifele would be the "bait" to pull off this trade. If your going to included Scheifele, then you have to get someone really good in return, as Scheifele is a very good center, at the peak of his career, at just 28 years old, and really underpaid, for what he's done in the past. I don't consider Wheeler to have much value right now, other than a plug and play 3rd liner.

Because of the problems mentioned in the above posts, in order to dump Wheeler, you may have to include Scheifele, and if the deal was right, I'd unload "both", but only if the return was "equal" or better, and Cheveldayoff is a good trade negotiator.

In a nutshell, getting rid of Wheeler would be my # 1 priority as a GM.

 

[ps241]

I think it's becoming pretty evident now with more and more games that lowry is not the right person for the job, however it was still the right choice to not rush and hire someone else mid season

Yes promoting him accomplished three things.

It gave Dave and his assistants a shot at turning things around.

It gave the players, especially the leaders a chance to step up to the challenge. How they react might determine their fate.

Lastly, it broadened the options for the new coaching pool for next season.

Before we jump to conclusions and say it was a bad idea or we gave up on the season guys like Evason for the Wild and Berube for the Blues were both similar promotions that worked.

 

[GeorgeJETson]

Two predictions for next season. 1) Lowry will not be the coach and 2) Fans will love the new coach when the Jets win and hate him when they lose no matter who it is.

 

[rubikscube]

I actually way prefer how the Jets play under Lowry compared to Maurice personally.

I think Lowry was given an raw deal without having his own training camp. This was Mo's team and it still mostly had Mo's identity a few weeks ago when he left.

I don't expect him back, but I actually prefer how much more physical and aggressive the team is under him. And there's less defensive fire drills and blue line turnovers under him.

 

[tbcwpg]

Two predictions for next season. 1) Lowry will not be the coach and 2) Fans will love the new coach when the Jets win and hate him when they lose no matter who it is.

I don't think they'll hate him for awhile, I think Maurice will still somehow get the blame. Then Wheeler and Scheifele.

 

[JetsNut]

I agree with the 2 above posters that would like to see Wheeler gone, as I believe he's the cancer in the dressing room. Just listen to his post game interviews, and how snarly and defensive he is. He's very rude to reporters, and can't take any criticism. He's not the right guy to have as a Captain on your team, as he divides the team, rather than bringing them together, as one of the above posters said.

As @Jets4Life says, getting rid of Wheeler and Scheifele both is not a bad idea. It be very hard to get rid of Wheeler considering he's only worth about $ 3.5 mil per year, and getting $ 8.5 M which was a very bad signing by Cheveldayoff, who has a romance with "older players", and doesn't know when to let them walk. We got very lucky somebody offered a washed up Ladd more money, or we'd be stuck with him too. Chevy is good at draft and develop, put poor on contract resignings, especially with over the hill veterans.

Getting rid of Wheeler would require retaining a lot of salary, or by throwing Scheifele into the deal, who's on a very decent contract. Scheifele would be the "bait" to pull off this trade. If your going to included Scheifele, then you have to get someone really good in return, as Scheifele is a very good center, at the peak of his career, at just 28 years old, and really underpaid, for what he's done in the past. I don't consider Wheeler to have much value right now, other than a plug and play 3rd liner.

Because of the problems mentioned in the above posts, in order to dump Wheeler, you may have to include Scheifele, and if the deal was right, I'd unload "both", but only if the return was "equal" or better, and Cheveldayoff is a good trade negotiator.

In a nutshell, getting rid of Wheeler would be my # 1 priority as a GM.

You’re bang on in saying that Chevy’s Wheeler deal was a poor signing. What scares me is that when Sheifele is up for renewal he does the same as he did with Wheeler and gives him a deal that rewards what he did in the past.

 

[Imcanadianeh]

I actually way prefer how the Jets play under Lowry compared to Maurice personally.

I think Lowry was given an raw deal without having his own training camp. This was Mo's team and it still mostly had Mo's identity a few weeks ago when he left.

I don't expect him back, but I actually prefer how much more physical and aggressive the team is under him. And there's less defensive fire drills and blue line turnovers under him.

Any coach that is hired in season is given a raw deal but Maurice has been gone for 8 weeks now and with all the postponed games the jets were pretty much given a training camp in season to work on whatever Lowry wanted.

 

[FonRiesen]

Yep. I mean, I don't think I've ever actually heard a coach say "we just gotta get worse," but Ken Wiebe seemed to think that his observation about needing to be "hard to play against" was a nugget of wisdom for the ages, so maybe we need to read beyond the mere words into the Sphinx-like mind behind them.

"We" = Here Big Dave goes beyond the individual to the collective, the group of 22 athletes who must together find the way back to success. There is, he might also have opined, no I in We.

"Just" = There is real urgency in these words from our Philosopher-Coach. The We that is the Jets (also the Borg, but that's another convo) cannot wait to will itself onto greatness. 41 games from now, for example, is not the time to do this. No, if We are going to stop playing (as Dave night say, behind closed doors) like dogshit, then now is the time to do so. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not on March 31. Now!

"Gotta" = Again, urgency. A redoubling of effort. Big Dave will brook no argument. Not "We should really think about getting better," or "It would be awfully nice if we could get better." No -- We Gotta. That's right, Dave. Pull no punches. Make clear your demands. This is a Gotta situation if ever there was one.

"Get better." I elide these two pearls because they are As One Phrase. Note that our sage does not say "We just gotta become decent," or "We just gotta hit .500.' Oh no. Those would be feasible, reachable goals. Far better to state the goal as something infinite, because what the hell, really, does "better" mean? One iota better at not flinging pucks at the opposing goalie's crest? A 3% decrease in bumping into each other when hemmed in the D-zone?

That's right, Dave. Remain vague. Avoid specifying some plausible end that your media and fans can track, measure, and draw conclusions on. And, of course, Dave and the boys' "better" is not necessarily our better. It may not mean wins, or even goals, or good, committed plays. Perhaps it has to do with The Room. Yes, perhaps The Room can become a happier, friendlier, more fun and better place. Remember, this is not about winning -- it is about details, and playing the right way. Hockey is not really about scoring more goals than the other guys, while allowing fewer. No, it is a cipher wrapped in an enigma nestled within a perogie slathered in the melted butter of hockey nepotism and the great merry-go-round of old coaches and old ideas.

So by all means, We just gotta get better. That is all it takes.

And so endeth the lesson.

Bravo!



Once platitudes like that start flying you know the coach doesn't have a handle on what's actually going wrong. It's not as terrible right after a game, since sometimes it's important to review tape, but the worst is before a game - Mau's 'we gotta skate hard tonight'. Duh... That's not addressing a root cause, that's a symptom...

 

[Ducky10]

Any coach that is hired in season is given a raw deal but Maurice has been gone for 8 weeks now and with all the postponed games the jets were pretty much given a training camp in season to work on whatever Lowry wanted.

I think people suggesting the team looks much different under Lowry are just convincing themselves they are seeing something different. He’s made a couple of tweaks to how they set up in the D zone and they’re trying to get to the puck between the dots and to the net more in the O zone. At the end of the day though, the team has been worse relative to their opposition overall.

I wasn’t a Maurice fan, but this isn’t any different.

 

[sipowicz]

I think people suggesting the team looks much different under Lowry are just convincing themselves they are seeing something different. He’s made a couple of tweaks to how they set up in the D zone and they’re trying to get to the puck between the dots and to the net more in the O zone. At the end of the day though, the team has been worse relative to their opposition overall.

I wasn’t a Maurice fan, but this isn’t any different.

The real coach, Mark Wheeler still running the show as the room division continues.

One line team, second line Schief shows up occasionally but playing with 3rd liners and the aged can't be easy, bottom 6 awful, pretty solid D corps, much above average netminder. Team should still be higher in the standings regardless of who is coaching!

 

[ps241]

You’re bang on in saying that Chevy’s Wheeler deal was a poor signing. What scares me is that when Sheifele is up for renewal he does the same as he did with Wheeler and gives him a deal that rewards what he did in the past.

Wheeler got that deal when the Jets had just reached the the final four in the playoffs, the hockey world in Winnipeg was rainbows and puppies, Wheeler was playing at a very high level and fully engaged. There was debate on that deal here on our site at the time but I guess the Jets wanted to reward their captain as we headed into the second season of that window and playing amazing hockey as a late bloomer.

Scheifele is checking none of those boxes currently.

Lastly Chevy will just be getting out from under Blake’s deal so i’m not sure he will be in a hurry to commit long term again with a 30 something. Of course this is all from the perspective of February 2022 with a floundering team and Scheifele having his first truly flat season.

Shit changes in hockey and the team has some time on this.

 

[surixon]

Wheeler got that deal when the Jets had just reached the the final four in the playoffs, the hockey world in Winnipeg was rainbows and puppies, Wheeler was playing at a very high level and fully engaged. There was debate on that deal here on our site at the time but I guess the Jets wanted to reward their captain as we headed into the second season of that window and playing amazing hockey as a late bloomer.

Scheifele is checking none of those boxes currently.

Lastly Chevy will just be getting out from under Blake’s deal so i’m not sure he will be in a hurry to commit long term again with a 30 something. Of course this is all from the perspective of February 2022 with a floundering team and Scheifele having his first truly flat season.

Shit changes in hockey and the team has some time on this.

Yup, the way Mark us.playing he doesn't get that deal. If he keeps it up he makes Chevy's job pretty easy.

As for Lowry. I like the emphasis on going to the net and I like the PK. I also like how we attack off the rush.

What I don't like is that he seems panicky behind the bench and doesn't appear to have a good feel for the game yet. He also does a poor job rewarding the traits he's looking for on the ice, instead opting to take a Maurice type approach of riding is perimeter playing vets hard. There is still no accountability for our vets and instead good playing rookies get pushed down instead of underperformung vets.

 

[nobody imp0rtant]

Wheeler got that deal when the Jets had just reached the the final four in the playoffs, the hockey world in Winnipeg was rainbows and puppies, Wheeler was playing at a very high level and fully engaged. There was debate on that deal here on our site at the time but I guess the Jets wanted to reward their captain as we headed into the second season of that window and playing amazing hockey as a late bloomer.

Scheifele is checking none of those boxes currently.

Lastly Chevy will just be getting out from under Blake’s deal so i’m not sure he will be in a hurry to commit long term again with a 30 something. Of course this is all from the perspective of February 2022 with a floundering team and Scheifele having his first truly flat season.

Shit changes in hockey and the team has some time on this.

Pfft, if ScheifeMe checks the box that says "Chipman likes me", he'll get signed.

 

[cbcwpg]

Having Vezina Helly a few years back and not having Vezina Helly now, shows just how much his goaltending was covering up for this team... players and coaches.

 

[ps241]

Pfft, if ScheifeMe checks the box that says "Chipman likes me", he'll get signed.

Not sure that would be enough even if it existed right now. The summer of love in 2017-18 is in the rear view mirror.

 

[ps241]

Yup, the way Mark us.playing he doesn't get that deal. If he keeps it up he makes Chevy's job pretty easy.

As for Lowry. I like the emphasis on going to the net and I like the PK. I also like how we attack off the rush.

What I don't like is that he seems panicky behind the bench and doesn't appear to have a good feel for the game yet. He also does a poor job rewarding the traits he's looking for on the ice, instead opting to take a Maurice type approach of riding is perimeter playing vets hard. There is still no accountability for our vets and instead good playing rookies get pushed down instead of underperformung vets.

Yea I am taking it all in and gathering information. I like the aggressiveness on the PK and the directness to the net. I have missed about half of the games under Dave’s tenure though so I am winging it a bit. He has half a season to make the playoffs or I believe they clean house with the coaches.