The Martin St Louis Thread

[teamfirst]

Then do us a favor & stop saying anything about him

Did you when MT was the men in charge

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

Lol he should be the assistant coach

You started with lol. With the media exposure and all the blabla that would be an public humiliation for MSL. Another distration, another media saga. Let him stay officially the head coach and bring an experience coach behind him who does all the tactic and preparation job, all the job MSL doen't have enough experience.

 

[le_sean]

Ranting is fine and good... Don't let me interrupt your fun.

The chicken-little schtick just isn't for everyone.

So why respond. There’s an easy solution.

You come into a thread that’s created to vent about the coaching issue and are upset that someone is venting about it.

 

[Frankenheimer]

A roster move is quite necessary right now, I agree. Hughes needs to shake things up and remind the players they're not in a daycamp but are professional athletes with massive salaries.

Call up a goalie. That will shake things up.

 

[dauv]

I like Marty because he communicates well, seems intelligent in how he sees the game, seems to develop youngster well but if they are intent on having him lead this team why not try something completely out of the box because he obviously needs help behind the bench even if he can't admit it. It funny because he had to work for everything he ever got except for this and he doesn't seem to see this.

hire an Offensive coach co-ordinator and a defensive coach co-ordinator (who were old head coaches and pay them head coaches salaries) to support Marty. Basically like they have in the in the NFL. And each co-ordinators has his assistant coaches in practices but only the 3 HC's would be behind the bench during games. That way Marty still leads the team but has 2 old head coached to do the x's and o's bit and structure

Staff salaries don't count on the cap, why not take advantage of your financial might. Plus you wouldn't have to have them speak french as Marty would still speak french, you could hire the best of the best available without the language barrier

Is it because it wouldn't work because they would want to be all in charge and no worthy head coach would work under that organizational structure

Or is it because Marty would feel like he is a show pony only and his pride would not alloy this.

 

[Frankenheimer]

Marty will figure it out. Our special teams are way better. He'll make the adjustments, we're just a very young team. And also we need a solid, consistent goalie. That was absurd last night. I hope they go with a merit system like with Halak/Price, which was good for both goalies.

 

[Team_Spirit]

Do they blame the goalies behind closed doors like some here?

Or maybe they really have no idea how to to beat the forecheck/forecheck properly?

Either way some plug 10pts player and Jessica Campbell put MSL in their back pocket

 

[Habs Icing]

A piss poor critique is a piss poor critique... That it's directed at MSL is irrelevant.

MSL isn't beyond reproach, and, clueless rants about each loss are well deserving of deep reproach.

Pretty simple, no?

Are you going to reproach management, also? They said in pre-season they expect to be in the mix for the playoffs. Does this team look like they're in the mix?

So it's one of two things. Either management miscalculated or MSL's concepts don't work in the real world.

 

[Habs Icing]

But even if this team is young and filled with a bunch of has-beens, they’re still capable of playing structured hockey. I don’t care if they lose, it’s how they’re losing that’s concerning. Taking a step back several years into a rebuild shouldn’t be happening. That’s how you build a losing culture.

Re-posted for emphasis.

 

[le_sean]

Marty will figure it out. Our special teams are way better. He'll make the adjustments, we're just a very young team. And also we need a solid, consistent goalie. That was absurd last night. I hope they go with a merit system like with Halak/Price, which was good for both goalies.

Unfortunately the NHL isn’t a development league for head coaches. Every defender has regressed since he’s been hired. Luckily the young forwards typically look good but he clearly only understands one end of the ice. We need a coach for the other end.

 

[Habs Icing]

Suzuki is top 5-8 from his draft class, career best ppg through first 10 games.

CC, top 5 from his draft class, T-1st in league for goals

Newhook is a top 10 player from his draft class

Dach is coming off a missed season... But quite arguably better than Newhook.

Slaf remains best player from his draft class and is obviously a top 6 player

Guhle is top 1-2 dman from his draft year

So there is no excuse for this start to the season.

Did you when MT was the men in charge

Are you implying MT suffered from multi-personality disorder?

 

[Paddyjack]

Kings missed PO's 5 of 6 years before cup
Hawks missed 9 of 11 seasons before cup
Bolts missed 5 of 6 before Cooper's 1st season
Pens missed 4 of 5 seasons before Crosby's first finals

I'm pretty sure they never looked as disorganized defensively than us during those years. Honestly, I've never seen that in any teams except maybe the NJ Devils Mickey Mouse of the 80s. Heck, even the past seasons where half our team was AHL plugs due to injuries we were not that bad. Like many have said and that you ignore, it's not the losing that is the problem, it's the manner.

I guess Kovacevic was amazing....

 

[RationalExpectations]

Suzuki is top 5-8 from his draft class, career best ppg through first 10 games.

CC, top 5 from his draft class, T-1st in league for goals

Newhook is a top 10 player from his draft class

Dach is coming off a missed season... But quite arguably better than Newhook.

Slaf remains best player from his draft class and is obviously a top 6 player

Guhle is top 1-2 dman from his draft year

Barron still a top 5 dman from his draft class, despite his inconsistent play

Xhekaj was undrafted... Everything we get from him is gravy


Suzuki is 25
Slaf is 20

When is our core "entering their prime"?



Kings missed PO's 5 of 6 years before cup
Hawks missed 9 of 11 seasons before cup
Bolts missed 5 of 6 before Cooper's 1st season
Pens missed 4 of 5 seasons before Crosby's first finals

Well if those players are as formidable as you say, then it is a coaching issue.

The core : Suzuki, CC, Dach, Newhook is 23-25, they are not rookies anymore, let s not treat them like it. Slaf gets a bit of a pass even though as a 1OA expectations increase ealy usually. Guhle, Barron, Xhekaj, Strubble are no rookies either.

Do you really want to be the Hawks before Kane and Toews ? Like the Oilers before McDavid tanking eery year waiting for the messiah ? That's even less likely to happen with 32 teams now...

 

[Habs Icing]

Unfortunately the NHL isn’t a development league for head coaches. Every defender has regressed since he’s been hired. Luckily the young forwards typically look good but he clearly only understands one end of the ice. We need a coach for the other end.

You may have accidentally hit on the answer.

They do have a coach for the other end: Robidas.

 

[Draft]

The “rebuild takes time” comment is such a cop out answer. I’m not saying this team should be a contender but they’ve regressed. Last year with half of an AHL team there was more compete and like 40 1 goal games. Games like last night are a prime example of how they’ve regressed and how coaching hasn’t gotten any better. Something needs to change

Was MSL not coaching last year’s team as well?

Two biggest challenges have been goaltending and defence. Factors I think are relevant:

1) Started implementing a hybrid structure which the team is struggling to learn.
2) Lost veteran contributors in Allen, Monahan, and Kovacevic in important defensive roles.
3) Attempting to integrate Dach at 2C, Montembeault at 1G, Primeau at 2G, Mailloux/Barron/Struble/Xhekaj in the top-4, Hutson as a top-3, and Kapanen/Heineman in the bottom-6 has been far from seamless.
4) Sustaining injuries to key contributors in Guhle, Slafkovsky, Matheson, Reinbacher, and Laine to start the year has put the wrong guys in the wrong roles.

I don’t think any coach would have us at better than 4-5-1 in this context with this roster.

 

[sampollock]

I can't say for sure. but... I feel MSL to easy on the players.
needs to show tougher actions when guys really crap the bed. press box

 

[V13]

Fact of the matter is the whole team....organization even is green.

Our young offensive core green
Our young defensive core is green
Our first time job coach is green
Our first time job GM is green
Our vets core is green...as in full of mold

This will be a process and everyone will need to learn , get experience and grow together. On that front MSL does fit the mold of the team but eventually may not and a change will be due once the team enters another phase.

 

[morhilane]

I can't say for sure. but... I feel MSL to easy on the players.
needs to show tougher actions when guys really crap the bed. press box

At this point, it looks more like he's affraid of his vets and Hughes too. Dvorak is in no way better than ABB and he's still there.

 

[StCaufield]

Was MSL not coaching last year’s team as well?

Two biggest challenges have been goaltending and defence. Factors I think are relevant:

1) Started implementing a hybrid structure which the team is struggling to learn.
2) Lost veteran contributors in Allen, Monahan, and Kovacevic in important defensive roles.
3) Attempting to integrate Dach at 2C, Montembeault at 1G, Primeau at 2G, Mailloux/Barron/Struble/Xhekaj in the top-4, Hutson as a top-3, and Kapanen/Heineman in the bottom-6 has been far from seamless.
4) Sustaining injuries to key contributors in Guhle, Slafkovsky, Matheson, Reinbacher, and Laine to start the year has put the wrong guys in the wrong roles.

I don’t think any coach would have us at better than 4-5-1 in this context with this roster.

They had zero business winning 3 of the 4

 

[StCaufield]

You started with lol. With the media exposure and all the blabla that would be a public humiliation for MSL. Another distration, another media saga. Let him stay officially the head coach and bring an experience coach behind him who does all the tactic and preparation job, all the job MSL doen't have enough experience.

Well no I never said demote him but he probably should’ve started there

 

[Draft]

They had zero business winning 3 of the 4

Same amount of business as with a different coach. It’s not a very good team and a lot has gone wrong.

 

[le_sean]

You may have accidentally hit on the answer.

They do have a coach for the other end: Robidas.

Yeah, another coach with zero coaching experience. He went from playing to player development and somehow is now in charge of coaching the defence with no experience, helping out another coach with literally no coaching experience. That is an issue.

 

[Trabdy2]

Lack of ability and experience among our D is the main culprit for our ugly hockey in my opinion, but I don't think the coaching is helping. It seems like the message isn't getting through.

 

[overlords]

Lack of ability and experience among our D is the main culprit for our ugly hockey in my opinion, but I don't think the coaching is helping. It seems like the message isn't getting through.

Habs need a coach that can run a mean pick-6

 

[Rapala]

The team was totally unprepared tonight.

Kraken came in on overdrive, we just showed up and looked like an AHL team.

I'd suggest we have a block of 5 home games on display in which preparation could be questioned.