(I'm on my phone, so I'm not sure if the post quoting will work.)
You play your #1 D 25-30 minutes/game *if they can handle it*. At the beginning of the playoffs, Buff was fresh and could handle it. By the time of the Vegas series those heavy minutes were too much and his play suffered. A good coach would have recognized this, adjusted and cut his minutes down to a more manageable level.
Enström has not been good for a while and was clearly injured all playoffs. I don't think he should have been played at all. At most a good coach would have given him sheltered 3rd pairing minutes. Players should be given roles based on current ability and fitness - not past performance and reputation.
Coming out flat = poor preparation by players. Not responding to that = poor coaching.
You don't play Kulikov in that situation because he hasn't played in weeks and is not game ready.
You don't make changes simply for the sake of making changes. The Game 5 changes looked like panic moves with little thought behind them.
Jets needed to *play heavy* (like the Cup-winning Kings) agaist Vegas. Most of the players didn't get the message. Maurice needed to remind them.
Again, Maurice needed to get the players to execute. If they couldn't he had options like changing the lines or the players on the ice. Insanity = doing the same thing over and over again + expecting a different result.
A lot of the rushes died because after zone entry there was no one else moving to dish off to or to cycle with. Again this is Xs and Os level coaching that Maurice is responsinle for. Yes the players need to execute, but if they aren't executing the coach needs to adjust. Lowry, Copp and Armia were excellent on the forecheck and repeatedly wore down the Vegas D and support behind the net. More Jets could have continued this style. Again Maurice dictates this. Remember Jets Heavy Hockey™ from a few years ago? Would have won the series.
I'll take Niku over injured Enström.
I'll at least try Lemieux for a game and see if the results change rather than keep doing something that isn't working.
Good coaches can lose, but they at least go down swinging and try to not get outcoached. They try to use their assets to the best of their ability.
Lol, he did go out swinging, changed the lineup, inserted players that you complained about. All you are doing here is using the end result as some sorta evidence that Maurice failed us.
You selectively questions aspects that did not go well, ignore the plethora of things that worked great, all after the fact. These are all questions that can be hurled at each and every one of the 14 other coaches that failed to make it to the finals.
There is nothing earth shattering that you are questioning either. You complain that Maurice didn't go out swinging, while you complain about the actual swings he took, like scratching 3 healthy players for game 7.
You have zero insight in to the things Maurice attempted to instill into that series, you do not know what plans he tried to execute, that might have failed at ground level by the players. Its a simpleton attempt at diminishing a great year, a great playoff run all the way to a conference finals.
These are factual reasons as to WHY Maurice is a very good coach, all based on the big picture, 82 games, 2 successful playoff series against very strong opponents, one being the best team in the league:
Making it to a conference finals is not an example of coaching incompetency, quite the opposite actually.
Getting past the Wild, and the Preds are examples of solid coaching.
Finishing 2nd in the entire league, through an 82 game sample, examples of great coaching
Finishing 2nd in the league in goals for, solid coaching
Finishing 5th in the league in goals against, solid coaching
Finishing 5th in the league in power play, yup solid coaching
Finishing 9th in the league in penalty kills, solid coaching.
Seeing young players improve each and every season, good coaching.
Your fist post of WHY's can be applied to every coach that has ever coached in a series and lost. They are revisionist questions by someone that knows the end result, a result that was the biggest achievement in this franchises history.
Maurice was and is a major reason for this success, and a bunch of silly why questions proves nothing more that hyperbolic nonsense.