Toe Blake couldn't do anything with those Arizona teams.Seems to me that's what happened to his teams in Arizona, and it's happening again in Vancouver. Then again, the coach can't do much about the personnel he's been given.
I can see us snapping up Laviolette or Sullivan if they become available. Will we give a rookie head coach (David Carle? Marc Savard?) a shot?I have mixed feelings about Tocchet at this point.
I think his systems construction is lacking, but that could be solved with adding some experience to the Canucks' very thin coaching roster.
His player management has been generally good, and it's not his fault that divisions from previous regimes are coming back into focus. However, if he was the one who told Miller to "toughen" Pettersson up, that is unfathomable stupid. At this point though, I suspect it might have come from higher up..
Unless the Canucks have a clear upgrade available, I think you have to bring him back next season. If things are back on track at the midseason mark, you extend him, but if not, it's in everyone's best interest to find a different path.
Tocchet talking about needing a 4 man set to be a rush team. That the defense has to jump up in the play and overload the opposition.
Looks at defense:
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That is very subtle shade at management if I've ever heard it. "You want me to coach them this way? Give me guys who can actually play that way."
It's the opposite: Tocchet wants his trees that can't pass or skate, and that's what they end up doing when they play. Why is he shocked they can't do what he's expecting them to do?
Tocchet is very involved in who they acquire and keep on this roster.
It's the opposite: Tocchet wants his trees that can't pass or skate, and that's what they end up doing when they play. Why is he shocked they can't do what he's expecting them to do?
Tocchet is very involved in who they acquire and keep on this roster.
If that is the case, and he pushed for this horrendous defense, then he shouldn't be back next season regardless of what happens.
I think when the team still doesn't have a middle pairing (even if they're trees), or a full top6, then it's difficult to judge Tocchet's impact in full.
Usually though, when nearly everyone but 1 player (Hughes) plays well, that is a signal of coaching incompetence. But I want to see the roster improvement first and then decide.
Well most coaches don't get the benefit of a full top 6 and a competent top 4 with a 1st pairing the quality of Hughes and Hronek. If the argument is that we can't fully judge a coach's full impact until you give him a great team then... I have to agree? Like I think Willie D could have coached one of the Lightning teams to a Cup victory one of those years.
DumpTo me, I still don't have any idea what system he wants to put here. I keep reading he wants an "off the rush" offensive system but doesn't have the defenseman to make a first pass. And yet it was Tock that wanted those useless trees in Desharnais and Forbort.
So by default they've gone to the dump and chase which stifles the hell out of the creative players on the team. It's a Catch -23 situation, as per Ricky.