The Jarmo Thread

[Marioesque]

People keep wondering why there is no interaction on social media lately within the CBJ communities. Even here the game threads are not even getting past 2-3 pages while the game is going on. Its pretty much the raw negativity has ran large portions of the people off as when someone wants to post a positive they get swarmed with "WE ARE NOT WINNING WHY YOU EXCITED YOU CASUAL LOSER" to the point people learn not to post anymore unless its negative and thus you created an echo chamber. There are plenty of positives to take away lately, look at Fantilli's game compared to how he was playing in October as he gets used to the league...but no people rather complain about what is a sell out and even for the social media team to quit being so positive and "tell us like how it is".

They can complain and moan, I'm excited about the teams future because I can see past today. As long as the team keeps improving on things it's not yet good at, and the natural growth of the young players gets further, the successes will come too.

Right now they can hang in there with most teams but the top teams are further in their journey and they already have a working PP and 3rd period winning experience and tactics. CBJ has an incredible talent pool that needs to grow and learn. They are catching up to the rest every day. You change that PP from 15% to 25% (no reason not to have it at that with the pieces there are available when healthy) and they'll be winning a lot more games. Coaching needs to improve and recognize these weaknesses and show some ability to address them. Wasn't seeing any of that when Zach was available so it might be our achilles heel. Coaching.

 

[Monstershockey]

They can complain and moan, I'm excited about the teams future because I can see past today. As long as the team keeps improving on things it's not yet good at, and the natural growth of the young players gets further, the successes will come too.

Right now they can hang in there with most teams but the top teams are further in their journey and they already have a working PP and 3rd period winning experience and tactics. CBJ has an incredible talent pool that needs to grow and learn. They are catching up to the rest every day. You change that PP from 15% to 25% (no reason not to have it at that with the pieces there are available when healthy) and they'll be winning a lot more games. Coaching needs to improve and recognize these weaknesses and show some ability to address them. Wasn't seeing any of that when Zach was available so it might be our achilles heel. Coaching.

In November, the Jackets PP was 7 percent and the won 4 out of 15 games. In December, the PP was 25 percent and they won 5 out of 14 games. They have other things to fix than the PP.

Also, from December 1st until Zach got hurt, the PP was 28 percent. (7/25). Zach had 4 assists on the 7 PP goals. Since he has been hurt, the PP has been 1/11. They were starting to put it together with Zach in there.

 

[Marioesque]

In November, the Jackets PP was 7 percent and the won 4 out of 15 games. In December, the PP was 25 percent and they won 5 out of 14 games. They have other things to fix than the PP.

Also, from December 1st until Zach got hurt, the PP was 28 percent. (7/25). Zach had 4 assists on the 7 PP goals. Since he has been hurt, the PP has been 1/11. They were starting to put it together with Zach in there.

Yeah it was looking better, team needs time to gel.

When/if everyone healthy I'd like to see two PP lines, one running a right hand setup and one running a left hand setup. To me it's been looking like they are confused because Johnny likes to be on the left and Patty is better on the left. Left handed D can't feed RH shooters as well as RHD can, and in Zachs case he also wants to be the main shot option in his PP line. Having Gaudreau with him opens more shots for him and he can feed the LH fwds on his right better.

PP1

Boone/Voronkov

Laine - Marchenko - Fantilli/Chinakhov/Johnson

Boqvist
----------------------
PP2 Boone/Voronkov

Gaudreau - Johnson/Fantilli- Johnson/Fantilli/Chinakhov

Werenski

 

[squashmaple]

People keep wondering why there is no interaction on social media lately within the CBJ communities. Even here the game threads are not even getting past 2-3 pages while the game is going on. Its pretty much the raw negativity has ran large portions of the people off as when someone wants to post a positive they get swarmed with "WE ARE NOT WINNING WHY YOU EXCITED YOU CASUAL LOSER" to the point people learn not to post anymore unless its negative and thus you created an echo chamber. There are plenty of positives to take away lately, look at Fantilli's game compared to how he was playing in October as he gets used to the league...but no people rather complain about what is a sell out and even for the social media team to quit being so positive and "tell us like how it is".

I, for one, am tired of the negativity being treated as the One Correct Way to approach the team. I don't want to add everyone to my ignore list because most of the worst offenders do bring good things to the discussion (not everyone! some of you 100% deserve to be ignored!), but it's relentless. There are plenty of things about this team to be positive about--including Jarmo in some ways. If you can't find even simple little joys, what are you even doing?

 

[koteka]

This is what this team needs to fix, and they have needed to fix it for years.

We need to stop allowing so many goals.

You can talk about the power play or player development or our great forward prospects or any of a number of things, but until we aren’t one of the worst teams in the league in giving up goals, we won’t be a good team.

If that is being too negative, I am sorry. But I don’t see us effectively addressing this fundamental issue.

 

[Marioesque]

This is what this team needs to fix, and they have needed to fix it for years.

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We need to stop allowing so many goals.

You can talk about the power play or player development or our great forward prospects or any of a number of things, but until we aren’t one of the worst teams in the league in giving up goals, we won’t be a good team.

If that is being too negative, I am sorry. But I don’t see us effectively addressing this fundamental issue.

No that's a fine point, it's not a playoff defense yet. Although, if their GF beats GA then they're a positive to winning, I don't care if GA is high if GF is higher.

It has dropped from last season though. The defense system this year is more effective than last season, and goalies have been better, somewhat. It's far from ideal, but it's improving. Getting the quality D in the off season was expected to help too. And it has, a bit.

For example in the last game, Jiricek made a bad mistake and it cost a goal. We have some very young players in the roster playing against NHL's best, there should be an expectation of a learning curve. The #1 D is out again, there was Jake Christiansen playing minutes last game. Peeke is getting shifts.

These guys will be internally replaced by Mateychuk, Svozil but not right now. If they were in there right now they'd get beat just as bad as Peeke does. Not so much necessarily in 2 years from now.

Unless we're making a run for playoffs I don't see any bigger name defensemen coming in this season so they'll just have to improve while playing. The defense future looks pretty good (for a really offensive team) but the goalie future I am the most concerned about.

Fwd group is REALLY geared for high powered offense and the make up of the D seems to be supporting that kind of hockey as the goal of the org. Which I can't argue with, high offense puck control teams are just more fun to watch than hyper defensive teams. And when you have this much scoring talent under one roof and coming up, would be crazy not to use and support it to that potential.

 

[Monstershockey]

This is what this team needs to fix, and they have needed to fix it for years.

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We need to stop allowing so many goals.

You can talk about the power play or player development or our great forward prospects or any of a number of things, but until we aren’t one of the worst teams in the league in giving up goals, we won’t be a good team.

If that is being too negative, I am sorry. But I don’t see us effectively addressing this fundamental issue.

I agree. 5 on 5 is where we are losing. 2nd most goals against in the league. Comparing to Winnipeg because they are kind of close to us in 5 on 5 goals, 89 for the Jackets and 83 for the Jets. We have given up 95 to their 49 5 on 5 goals. PP's are pretty similar percentage wise and Winnipeg's PK is worse than ours.

Because of the GA, Winnipeg has 11 more wins and 10 less losses. If the Jackets can cut down on the goals against 5 on 5, I feel they will start to win more, even if the PP doesn't improve. I'm not too worried about the PP right now, they can work on that after they figure out the 5 on 5 issues.

 

[koteka]

It has dropped from last season though. The defense system this year is more effective than last season, and goalies have been better, somewhat. It's far from ideal, but it's improving. Getting the quality D in the off season was expected to help too. And it has, a bit.

Here are the last 10 games. We have given up 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 6. Which is a median of 4 and a mean of 4.3. Scoring 9 on Buffalo was fun, and I loved beating Toronto twice 6-5 and reading their HF board after both games. But I am a little concerned that the GAA has been trending up recently. Also, 6 of those game were at home.

Interestingly, the last 10 games were against only Eastern conference teams. Have they scored more than what we are averaging giving up for the whole season (4.30 vs 3.67) because the Eastern Conference is better than the Western Conference in general or because the Eastern Conference teams have more familiarity playing us? Or is it something else?

 

[Monk]

I, for one, am tired of the negativity being treated as the One Correct Way to approach the team. I don't want to add everyone to my ignore list because most of the worst offenders do bring good things to the discussion (not everyone! some of you 100% deserve to be ignored!), but it's relentless. There are plenty of things about this team to be positive about--including Jarmo in some ways. If you can't find even simple little joys, what are you even doing?

For me it's less the 'One Correct Way' and instead the repetitive 'Not This Way' without alternative solutions or a grounding in reality, or even, much of the time, saying anything real at all.

On the defense topic at hand... maybe people more in the know will correct me here, but didn't they just take a pretty big swing at trying to fix this issue in the offseason? I'm sure folks can point to players they should have signed or traded for instead, and then I can do my full-circle-jerk "but this is the real world" thing.

 

[Marioesque]

If the Jackets can cut down on the goals against 5 on 5, I feel they will start to win more, even if the PP doesn't improve. I'm not too worried about the PP right now, they can work on that after they figure out the 5 on 5 issues.

Naturally. They should both be fixed, I just see it being quicker and easier to fix PP than the overall D. I don't know how much of the overall D weakness is due to youth and how much of the issue is in the system. But the youth part will require time to fix itself. Fixing PP lines takes a lot less time and affects score positively. Of course both are issues that need addressing, they just have different fixes.

Maybe it is all coaching, but when I'm watching the team put Leafs and Bruins in the ropes many times and just being unable to finish games well, it does seem more like either a psychological issue, lack of experience, or not being in shape for full 60. Leaning towards youth being part of the consistency issues. They need to learn how to win consistenly. Just watched Avs last night and they weren't playing great but found a way to win. Jackets keep finding ways to lose against opponents they have matched or dominated for 40 minutes.

 

[Aaaarrgghh]

There are plenty of reasons to criticise the team in its current state. However, there are also more than enough reason to be optimistic for the future. Both can be true at once. This team has a bright future, no need to despair, panic or tear it down. Yes, that has all been heard before, but looking at it objectively, it's true. Being defeatist is useless. The Blue Jackets have shown glimpses of how good they can be already this year. With just a little bit more patience and a few smart roster moves (they do badly need veteran leadership), hopefully the results will come.

The coming trade deadline and off-season are full of possibilities for Columbus. I personally don't think Kekäläinen will be around for that and that's probably warranted, but I do think that he and his front office deserve some credit for making the future of Columbus brighter. After all, it was, for instance, one of their trades that ensured that the Blue Jackets got Jiricek.

 

[Monstershockey]

Naturally. They should both be fixed, I just see it being quicker and easier to fix PP than the overall D. I don't know how much of the overall D weakness is due to youth and how much of the issue is in the system. But the youth part will require time to fix itself. Fixing PP lines takes a lot less time and affects score positively. Of course both are issues that need addressing, they just have different fixes.

Maybe it is all coaching, but when I'm watching the team put Leafs and Bruins in the ropes many times and just being unable to finish games well, it does seem more like either a psychological issue, lack of experience, or not being in shape for full 60. Leaning towards youth being part of the consistency issues. They need to learn how to win consistenly. Just watched Avs last night and they weren't playing great but found a way to win. Jackets keep finding ways to lose against opponents they have matched or dominated for 40 minutes.

The PP may or may not be easier to fix, but, in my opinion, I would work on the 5 on 5 first. Most of the game is 5 on 5, and this team just doesn't draw penalties enough. The youth plays a part, and it will work itself out eventually, but I just feel they need to work on the 5 on 5 stuff first.

 

[koteka]

On the defense topic at hand... maybe people more in the know will correct me here, but didn't they just take a pretty big swing at trying to fix this issue in the offseason?

To me the mistake they made was they seemed to focus on the idea that the key to the defense would be to get the puck out of the defensive end and up the ice quickly and they keyed in on that. Which is a fine strategy for most of the game, but if everyone is a puck mover / offensive guy, it doesn’t work so well in a situation like the end of the 3rd period when you are trying to hold a lead. I even created a poll to see who posters thought would play in a 3rd period situation, because it seemed like such a glaring oversight. I think you can have a strategy like they wanted, but it makes more sense to pair puck movers with guys will hang back and cover the defense while the more offensive partners use their offensive skills. Then you also have a couple of guys to help hold leads at the end of games.

So, to answer your question, yes they took a swing. They traded draft capital and gave out a big contract, and they brought in Severson and Provorov. They also held on to guys like Andrew Peeke. Instead of trading Peeke in the off season when they might have gotten an ok return, he mostly sat on the bench at the beginning of the season and it lessened his trade value. Meanwhile Peeke is still Peeke.

Anyway, the defense has been bad. Some may argue that the failure was building a defense for Babcock and then firing Babcock. Others will argue the construction of the defense was doomed to fail once we lost Jones because Peeke never developed into what we had hoped and it was always going to take Jiricek or Ceulemans years to develop into a defensively responsible guy. To me, it was very telling when we signed Blankenburg (an undersized college free agent) and he immediately looked like one of our best players. (Unfortunately Blanks is undersized and plays a physical game, so he doesn’t stay healthy.) I think Blanks’ success said as much about the guys on the roster as it did about Blanks.

I love defensive hockey. I think you win with defense. If you ask me what the solution is, I think we need new ideas in the front office. I am a “If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” kind of guy. And I think we are in a hole.

For reference, here is the poll. And, sadly, holding third period leads has been a problem with this team.

Oct 14 against the Rangers. 40 seconds to go. Jackets up 3-2. Face off in the defensive zone. Which two defensemen are you putting in? (Pick 2)

Curious to see who people would pick.

forums.hfboards.com

 

[NotWendell]

To me the mistake they made was they seemed to focus on the idea that the key to the defense would be to get the puck out of the defensive end and up the ice quickly and they keyed in on that. Which is a fine strategy for most of the game, but if everyone is a puck mover / offensive guy, it doesn’t work so well in a situation like the end of the 3rd period when you are trying to hold a lead. I even created a poll to see who posters thought would play in a 3rd period situation, because it seemed like such a glaring oversight. I think you can have a strategy like they wanted, but it makes more sense to pair puck movers with guys will hang back and cover the defense while the more offensive partners use their offensive skills. Then you also have a couple of guys to help hold leads at the end of games.

So, to answer your question, yes they took a swing. They traded draft capital and gave out a big contract, and they brought in Severson and Provorov. They also held on to guys like Andrew Peeke. Instead of trading Peeke in the off season when they might have gotten an ok return, he mostly sat on the bench at the beginning of the season and it lessened his trade value. Meanwhile Peeke is still Peeke.

Anyway, the defense has been bad. Some may argue that the failure was building a defense for Babcock and then firing Babcock. Others will argue the construction of the defense was doomed to fail once we lost Jones because Peeke never developed into what we had hoped and it was always going to take Jiricek or Ceulemans years to develop into a defensively responsible guy. To me, it was very telling when we signed Blankenburg (an undersized college free agent) and he immediately looked like one of our best players. (Unfortunately Blanks is undersized and plays a physical game, so he doesn’t stay healthy.) I think Blanks’ success said as much about the guys on the roster as it did about Blanks.

I love defensive hockey. I think you win with defense. If you ask me what the solution is, I think we need new ideas in the front office. I am a “If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” kind of guy. And I think we are in a hole.

For reference, here is the poll. And, sadly, holding third period leads has been a problem with this team.

Oct 14 against the Rangers. 40 seconds to go. Jackets up 3-2. Face off in the defensive zone. Which two defensemen are you putting in? (Pick 2)

Curious to see who people would pick.

forums.hfboards.com

I'm with you on this. Fix the defense first. That's something Jarmo needs to do. We still don't know what our PP would look like in the hands of a competent coach.

 

[majormajor]

For example in the last game, Jiricek made a bad mistake and it cost a goal. We have some very young players in the roster playing against NHL's best, there should be an expectation of a learning curve. The #1 D is out again, there was Jake Christiansen playing minutes last game. Peeke is getting shifts.

These guys will be internally replaced by Mateychuk, Svozil but not right now. If they were in there right now they'd get beat just as bad as Peeke does. Not so much necessarily in 2 years from now.

I'm very hopeful for Mateychuk and Svozil but if you're relying on guys that young to get you out of trouble, it's going to be a many years long process. I hope they're further along than Jiricek is now (I don't think he's ready), but the mistake prone defense will likely continue for years.

To me the mistake they made was they seemed to focus on the idea that the key to the defense would be to get the puck out of the defensive end and up the ice quickly and they keyed in on that. Which is a fine strategy for most of the game, but if everyone is a puck mover / offensive guy, it doesn’t work so well in a situation like the end of the 3rd period when you are trying to hold a lead. I even created a poll to see who posters thought would play in a 3rd period situation, because it seemed like such a glaring oversight. I think you can have a strategy like they wanted, but it makes more sense to pair puck movers with guys will hang back and cover the defense while the more offensive partners use their offensive skills. Then you also have a couple of guys to help hold leads at the end of games.

Their lack of capable defenders is an issue but I think it's an even bigger problem that we still haven't actually solved the puck moving. Despite all the supposed puck moving D on our team we still fail on breakouts most of the time, it's the number one reason why we spend so much time in our zone and I think it's a bigger contributor to our goals against than pure shutdown ability is.

Maybe these D suck, but again I know a big factor is that the players have little familiarity with each other (or often little familiarity with the NHL), and are out of position on breakouts.

And again I do wonder if the system really sucks for this too, if you're deep in turtle position it's really hard to push back in transition starting so deep, who are our puck movers supposed to pass to?

 

[KJ Dangler]

This is what this team needs to fix, and they have needed to fix it for years.

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We need to stop allowing so many goals.

You can talk about the power play or player development or our great forward prospects or any of a number of things, but until we aren’t one of the worst teams in the league in giving up goals, we won’t be a good team.

If that is being too negative, I am sorry. But I don’t see us effectively addressing this fundamental issue.

You mean maybe not hiring a rookie head NHL coach , and on top of that Jarmo appointing McCarthy ( a first time NHL assistant) coaching your defense . From Memory , McCarthy was a last minute replacement after Lefabve refused the vax ? This is the leadership you get out of Jarmo . Our fans deserve better , and after hiring Babs , and then not remotely willing to support him at the first blowback , that should have been the last straw . The team is poorly constructed . The team is poorly coached , and honestly any Change needs to start at the top . Enough of the hard to play against , which is what teams say when they suck and trying to get better . Bring in someone that has a proven vision, that meshes with the core players here .

 

[Monstershockey]

Not seeing what hiring a rookie head coach has to do with it. Now hiring a rookie head coach and not giving him time to prove himself, that could be an issue.

Colorado hired Bednar and his first year was a mess. A few years later they had a cup. Cooper was a rookie hire and it took like 8 seasons before they won a cup.

If you hire a rookie just to dump him, without giving a competent team to coach, then yeah, that's a waste.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

Not seeing what hiring a rookie head coach has to do with it. Now hiring a rookie head coach and not giving him time to prove himself, that could be an issue.

Colorado hired Bednar and his first year was a mess. A few years later they had a cup. Cooper was a rookie hire and it took like 8 seasons before they won a cup.

sure, but those guys were the first choice for their teams, not a "we hired our first choice, then fired him in a PR shitstorm, but camp opens tomorrow and we literally do not have a head coach" hire like vincent was.

that's not me saying vincent is a complete dud, but it speaks volumes that they chose brad larsen (worse track record, less experience) and mike babcock (persona non grata with his baggage, significantly higher price tag) over him.

if vincent was definitely the guy, he would've been their first choice in either of the hiring cycles. but he wasn't, so the prognosis isn't great.

 

[Monstershockey]

sure, but those guys were the first choice for their teams, not a "we hired our first choice, then fired him in a PR shitstorm, but camp opens tomorrow and we literally do not have a head coach" hire like vincent was.

that's not me saying vincent is a complete dud, but it speaks volumes that they chose brad larsen (worse track record, less experience) and mike babcock (persona non grata with his baggage, significantly higher price tag) over him.

if vincent was definitely the guy, he would've been their first choice in either of the hiring cycles. but he wasn't, so the prognosis isn't great.

I don't think Larsen got a fair shot with Columbus. His first year wasn't awful, and if you think his second year was all on him, well, I don't know what to say.

The Babcock mess was all Jarmo trying for a Torts 2.0 reclamation project. I get Vincent wasn't the first choice, but who knows.

A lot of this is because Jarmo decided to change the team to one that the current head coach at the time, wasn't a fit for. Now, here we are, 3 seasons later with a coach that most likely won't get a chance to prove anything, and we'll be looking at another new coach and possibly a front office change. Hopefully this isn't the beginning of another mess where they just end up changing people out at the first sign of things not going well.

 

[cbjthrowaway]

I don't think Larsen got a fair shot with Columbus. His first year wasn't awful, and if you think his second year was all on him, well, I don't know what to say.

i don't think last year was all on larsen. but the FO wanted to compete and it was clear from their compete/preparation levels last year that he was not going to make that happen.

moving on was the right move, hiring babcock wasn't. but if the plan was for vincent to be the guy, they would have fired larsen earlier and given him the bench.

A lot of this is because Jarmo decided to change the team to one that the current head coach at the time, wasn't a fit for.

again, the plan wasn't to make torts' roster suddenly stop fitting with his style. the plan was to build around PLD-jones-werenski, with atkinson, foligno, savard, gavrikov, bjorkstrand and anderson as the supporting cast. that's a team built for tortorella.

then anderson gave his "1 year or 8 years" ultimatum and PLD demanded a trade out of nowhere. jarmo presumably took the best offer they got for each guy, and suddenly the roster stopped fitting the coach.

Now, here we are, 3 seasons later with a coach that most likely won't get a chance to prove anything,

it's wild to claim that vincent isn't getting enough of an opportunity given that he was gifted the job by default after the babcock firing + inherited a roster full of guys he's coached for 2+ years that doesn't lack depth or talent.

no NHL-caliber coach would be 100% out of a playoff spot by mid-november with this roster. vincent's proven plenty already.

that said, i don't think he's a one-and-done unless they fire jarmo and replace him with a big-name outside hire. but that's just not their MO.

 

[Monstershockey]

i don't think last year was all on larsen. but the FO wanted to compete and it was clear from their compete/preparation levels last year that he was not going to make that happen.

That season went off the rails early and I am not sure what he was expected to do with what he had to work with.

again, the plan wasn't to make torts' roster suddenly stop fitting with his style. the plan was to build around PLD-jones-werenski, with atkinson, foligno, savard, gavrikov, bjorkstrand and anderson as the supporting cast. that's a team built for tortorella.

In hindsight, not sure those guys were sticking around anyway. Torts saw the writing on the wall after the Tampa playoff loss and wanted out then.

it's wild to claim that vincent isn't getting enough of an opportunity given that he was gifted the job by default after the babcock firing + inherited a roster full of guys he's coached for 2+ years that doesn't lack depth or talent.

no NHL-caliber coach would be 100% out of a playoff spot by mid-november with this roster. vincent's proven plenty already.

Just because he got the job like he did shouldn't hamper his evaluation. If you can tell after 40 games, that's good. I would give more of a chance though.

 

[KJ Dangler]

Not seeing what hiring a rookie head coach has to do with it. Now hiring a rookie head coach and not giving him time to prove himself, that could be an issue.

Colorado hired Bednar and his first year was a mess. A few years later they had a cup. Cooper was a rookie hire and it took like 8 seasons before they won a cup.

If you hire a rookie just to dump him, without giving a competent team to coach, then yeah, that's a waste.

Go back and read what I wrote .. pairing a last minute rookie coach , with a first time nhl assistant , that just so happens to be a last minute fill in because the guy you wanted for the job refused the Vax …. Back to back rookie coaches with a green assistant running your defense …. ‘Where do the CbJ RANK AGAIN in goals allowed the past few years ? At this point it’s just a joke Jarmo is still employed .. Pretty soon the most loyal of loyal will call it a day with this franchise

 

[Monstershockey]

Go back and read what I wrote .. pairing a last minute rookie coach , with a first time nhl assistant , that just so happens to be a last minute fill in because the guy you wanted for the job refused the Vax …. Back to back rookie coaches with a green assistant running your defense …. ‘Where do the CbJ RANK AGAIN in goals allowed the past few years ? At this point it’s just a joke Jarmo is still employed .. Pretty soon the most loyal of loyal will call it a day with this franchise

I get what you and cbjthrowaway are saying. I was a fan of Jarmo, and also thought he should get a chance at a rebuild, but if the Jackets move on from him, that's fine. I thought his problems started when he wouldn't let Torts go when he said he wanted out. Some of his decisions since don't seem well thought out, but I am thinking he may have already sealed his fate.

As far as Vincent (and McCarthy, Larsen also) goes, while they may be new to coaching at this level, it isn't like they just started learning the game. These guys have years experience either playing and coaching. Chances are they won't last, but they still deserve a chance, doesn't matter how they got the job. McCarthy has a few seasons now, so maybe he has some pressure to start producing better results. Larsen also could have been afforded more, but he knew going in that he would most likely bear the blame, as most coaches do. I do remember you being one of the most vocal in support of him, until he stopped coaching the way you wanted him to.

As far as Babcock goes, that was just a bad idea. I do disagree with you on how they folded and fired him too fast. They already had Boone and Gaudreau trying to put out the fire, but I think when it came out it was one of the younger guys that spilled the beans, they probably had no choice as it was probably someone they put a lot of value on and didn't want to risk alienating him/them.

It doesn't matter what any of us think, the Jackets are going to do whatever it is they are doing, no matter the coaches or GM/President are.

 

[Cheddarcheese]

i am friends with Labrie and played with him. hes married to Patrick Roy daughter. Roy was runner up for the head coaching job. would have been awesome to have him coaching again

 

[squashmaple]

i am friends with Labrie and played with him. hes married to Patrick Roy daughter. Roy was runner up for the head coaching job. would have been awesome to have him coaching again

Roy was very much my first choice last summer.