I'd love to have a carbon copy of Florida's defense: huge, mobile, puck-moving competent players who maul and smother you.
Proposal: Who would be YOUR hire as the new Head coach?
- Thread starter Amazing Kreiderman
- Start date
- Status
Dunno, it's hard to conceptualize to some extent I think. If you're older you've been ingrained to view defense as blocking shots, keeping guys to the outside, clearing the front of the net, gaps, locking things down...but there wasn't much emphasis on being able to move the puck or do with it for those "shutdown" guys.
With the way the league has gone, even if you're good at all those things but not at moving the puck out you'll get murdered because no matter how good you are at defending you can't do it the entire time you're on the ice and not eventually get scored on.
These days defense and being a shutdown defenseman is more about getting the puck back and moving it up the ice quickly. however you make that happen, the important part is that you get it back and then your team goes on offense and you spend as little time in the defensive zone as possible. So all the old school defensive stuff needs to be geared towards recovering that puck for your team, not just preventing the other team from scoring.
iirc most of their D isn't that good outside of Forsling but like, when the team is working together and spends most of their time attacking you don't have to be an ace at all parts. Key emphasis on it needing to be a team thing though, not just a D thing
he had a lot of good jets teams that flamed out in the playoffs years and years and since he was there for so long with so little playoff success he was viewed as part of the problem
it's not that hard.
Paul Maurice quit on the Winnipeg Jets. A great position in Florida fell into his lap. I for one don't care for his speeches, seems very arrogant and cocky. He has bounced around the league a lot and finally won it all last season.
He's done exactly what he said he'd do on day 1 in Florida. Everyone was talking about dynasty with Tampa and his teams have manhandled Jon Cooper and the Lightning the last two postseasons. The only reason we took them to 6 in the ECF last year was Igor.
NickyFotiu
NYR 2026 Cup Champs!
- Sep 29, 2011
- 15,259
- 10,685
I understand your view but we emphasized puck retrieval and making a quality first pass a long time ago. The other things were important (clearing the net, limiting shots, playing the body, etc) but making a good first pass was also stressed.
Bob Richards
Mr. Mojo Risin'
He was straight up the retread of retreads in the Laviolette tier lol. I remember the reaction to Florida hiring him being very mixed.
He did the genius move of getting hired by a team with a lot of good players already in place in a sport whose results are like 65% predicated on luck.
He’s a fine coach don’t get me wrong but he’s an example of why I think of hockey coaches as closer to baseball managers than football coaches.
He transformed a Presidents' Trophy winner into a team that dictates and dominates play in the playoffs, going on three straight postseasons now, much like Cooper did with Tampa. Is Sullivan that guy for NYR? I'd argue DeBoer is better suited to.
Tawnos
A guy with a bass
The important thing about Maurice, in the context of this conversation, isn't even any of that. It's that not all "retreads" are the same.
I don't want to hire Sullivan, I'm just not sure he should be (yet) classified with the other retread types out there. I just think about the fact that he's had 2 coaching jobs... one of them was when he was 35. Then another where he was in one place for 10 years.
Before coming to the Rangers, Laviolette had coached 5 different teams. Tortorella has coached in 5 places. DeBoer has coached in 5 places. Plenty of short stints in there. Coaches who have had a lot of stops come with a well-established track record when coming into a new team. I know Laviolette has been the same everywhere he's gone. Tortorella too. DeBoer I'm less sure of.
Maurice? Every time he's changed jobs, he's brought a fresh outlook to his coaching... except the time he got hired back by the Hurricanes specifically because they wanted his former approach again. He did it as a 39 year old in Toronto (not that it was a success). He did it as a 46 year old in Winnipeg. He did it as a 55 year old in Florida.
So how does Sullivan handle changing teams? We really have no idea. There's plenty of reason for skepticism that he's more like Laviolette, Tortorella, etc because of how things went at the end of his tenure in Pittsburgh. We just don't know, though. It depends on the individual.
NYR94
Registered User
McRanger92
Registered User
- Jun 7, 2017
- 10,835
- 29,908
Panthers were pretty similar to the Rangers when Maurice got hired. expensive goalie, some nice pieces up front but largely thought of as a bunch of losers. Matt Tkachuk & Sam Bennett did a lot to change the mindset of that team. Not sure those guys are out there for the Rangers. Hopefully Drury has something up his sleeve. Certainly seems like some core changes are coming.
McRanger92
Registered User
- Jun 7, 2017
- 10,835
- 29,908
Hes going to Philadelphia. The Tocchet to NYR stuff died with the Sullivan news and was probably a negotiating tactic by Rick's agents from the start. Many such cases.
NickyFotiu
NYR 2026 Cup Champs!
- Sep 29, 2011
- 15,259
- 10,685
I wonder how Scotty Bowman would be looked at in todays "retread" terms after he failed to win in St. Louis and Buffalo.
Machinehead
The Olli react should add points!
Coaching Florida is the George Jetson job. He shows up, pushes a button, and watches the machine go.
He has a bunch of super talented players that don't need to be told how to play the right way.
We're not in that spot. We're very much in need of a coach who sets that foundation.
I'll give Sullivan credit -- he did change the way Pittsburgh played and he upset the pecking order. He wasn't useless in their run by any means.
He still had talent we could only dream of.
He has a bunch of super talented players that don't need to be told how to play the right way.
We're not in that spot. We're very much in need of a coach who sets that foundation.
I'll give Sullivan credit -- he did change the way Pittsburgh played and he upset the pecking order. He wasn't useless in their run by any means.
He still had talent we could only dream of.
NYR94
Registered User
McRanger92
Registered User
- Jun 7, 2017
- 10,835
- 29,908
Rangers need to turn the 15M in cap space we use on dopes like Mika and Kreider who are 0's 5v5 into guys who actually forecheck and backcheck at the top of the lineup. Its gotta be priority 1. Coaching is secondary.
Machinehead
The Olli react should add points!
When Bowman started doing the left wing lock, it was a revolution. Some of the great coaches of the past truly introduced new tactics.
Hockey hasn't changed in many years and none of the coaches in the carousel are introducing anything. That's why today's fans look at them from the lens of being a "retread."
There might be some marginal changes to player usage, and there might be some tweaks here and there to varying impact, but nobody is coming in here and rejuvenating the same roster with a fresh vision on how to play the sport. This isn't soccer.
Machinehead
The Olli react should add points!
McRanger92
Registered User
- Jun 7, 2017
- 10,835
- 29,908
Hey you never know, maybe Sullivan can bring Crosby with him!
Machinehead
The Olli react should add points!
Executing it is hard. The roadmap is simple.
Maurice was a retread and a loser when he had teams led by also-rans like Mark Schiefele and Nikolaj Ehlers.
As soon as he got a team with a couple of Hall of Famers up front, now he's a winner.
You're really going against the grain trying to win the Cup without 2-3 HOF forwards. The recipe is really not that much of a secret.
- Status
