Winnipeg Ice coach says Jets dressing room has been divided for "years"

[DRW204]

I'm sure all of stastny, ehlers, Connor, pld, Morrissey's comments this past year came from a place of the lockeroom and team being all unicorns and rainbows. Maurice quitting out of the blue, with no previous word of getting canned, must've been because the team/culture was so positive.

improving team play on offense and defense, along with whatever is happening in the lockerroom/culture-wise. Along with whatever the resolution is with scheifele.... Trotz (if hired) and Chevy have their work cut out for them.

 

[Guerzy]

I don't need some WHL coach to repeat rumors he might have heard from some grapevine....

I don't care who you are as a player, nor does it matter the team you play for.... if you are considered the #1 center on your team and you are playing like dog shit and the coach let's you play like dog shit while still giving you the most ice time, it's going to cause issues in the room. Everyone knows this.

Scheifele is just lucky he isn't playing on a team that had someone like Mark Messier in the dressing room, because Mess would have straighten things out by beating the crap out of Scheifele, never mind throwing his clothes in the shower.

Yep. And Maurice completely enabled this, which makes it all the more frustrating he was kept around so damn long. And then there is Chipman/Chevy who enabled Maurice. This entire debacle is just a complete and utter joke. Honestly, this falls on everybody from Chipman to Chevy to Maurice to Scheifeme, Wheeler the "captain", etc.

The kids literally ran the house and got away with it, so here we are.

The thought of Maurice's voice uttering the words "that's a tight room of great, fine men in there". Ya, ok Paul. f*** off.

 

[surixon]

Yep. And Maurice completely enabled this, which makes it all the more frustrating he was kept around so damn long. And then there is Chipman/Chevy who enabled Maurice. This entire debacle is just a complete and utter joke. Honestly, this falls on everybody from Chipman to Chevy to Maurice to Scheifeme, Wheeler the "captain", etc.

The kids literally ran the house and got away with it, so here we are.

The thought of Maurice's voice uttering the words "that's a tight room of great, fine men in there". Ya, ok Paul. f*** off.

By "group" he meant him Mark and Blake!

 

[Guerzy]

By "group" he meant him Mark and Blake!

Lmao

 

[gojetsgo]

I'm sure all of stastny, ehlers, Connor, pld, Morrissey's comments this past year came from a place of the lockeroom and team being all unicorns and rainbows. Maurice quitting out of the blue, with no previous word of getting canned, must've been because the team/culture was so positive.

improving team play on offense and defense, along with whatever is happening in the lockerroom/culture-wise. Along with whatever the resolution is with scheifele.... Trotz (if hired) and Chevy have their work cut out for them.

where did ehlers, connor, pld call out the locker room issues, iirc they only talked about on ice coaching issues and stastny was the only one to call out the lack off accountability players were holding each other too after going off on coaching, and come on with that Maurice line, guy was quit cause he was close to getting fired

 

[Al Camino]

No, you see the Atlanta Thrashers had it right! They drafted a guy and put him straight into the top 4 or top 6. That’s why they had such unprecedented success!

Even the most progressive organization in the league, the Toronto Maple Leafs have exactly zero players younger than 24 playing in the playoffs right now.

That might have more to do with who Atlanta drafted. Lots of misses after Heatley and Kovalchuk. Lethtonen over Bowmeester, Bogo over Peiterangelo, Alex Bouret and Boris Valabik. Trading Braydon Coburn. Burmistrov over a lot of better players.

The thing is those useless plugs that aren’t good were still better than the young players that were deemed not good enough.

If a coach has the option to play a useless plug or a useless young player, they’re going to use the experienced player.

People here hate that Maurice and pretty much every coach in the NHL, plays a crappy player over a crappy young player that the fans just hope will be better, but the coach knows isn’t.

The organization and coaches knows a lot more than the fans do when it comes to young players skills and how they’ll do.

Even with hindsight knowing that the young player(s) wasn’t what people hoped would be and still not being happy that they didn’t get to play when they weren’t good enough is just a weird thing to be angry about.

We hate him because he didn’t win playing old slugs.

 

[Zippity]

By "group" he meant him Mark and Blake!

Wheeler is the first problem the Jets need to deal with.

 

[Tommigun]

With all of the rumours about a toxic locker room being pretty much confirmed by now and Maurice quitting mid-season, does that point to Chevy (and possibly the ownership) being part of the problem? I mean Maurice seemed too smart to play favourites and him quitting strongly suggest that he wanted to fix the situation. I wouldn't be surprised if Chevy didn't want to "rock the boat" in any way and tied Maurice's hands. Why would a head coach quit mid season if there wasn't a huge problem he was unable to solve? I initially thought him quitting was a polite way of firing him but now I'm not at all sure about that.

Chevy has to start making some moves. He can no longer sit on his hands as he's content on doing and at some point some accountability has to reach him as well.

Is this a bad take?

 

[Weezeric]

With all of the rumours about a toxic locker room being pretty much confirmed by now and Maurice quitting mid-season, does that point to Chevy (and possibly the ownership) being part of the problem? I mean Maurice seemed too smart to play favourites and him quitting strongly suggest that he wanted to fix the situation. I wouldn't be surprised if Chevy didn't want to "rock the boat" in any way and tied Maurice's hands. Why would a head coach quit mid season if there wasn't a huge problem he was unable to solve? I initially thought him quitting was a polite way of firing him but now I'm not at all sure about that.

Chevy has to start making some moves. He can no longer sit on his hands as he's content on doing and at some point some accountability has to reach him as well.

Is this a bad take?

Yes, this is a bad take

 

[Imcanadianeh]

I feel like things are just starting to cool down around here and this thread is certainly going to fire things back up.

 

[Tommigun]

Yes, this is a bad take

Please elaborate. Why would Maurice quit unless faced with a problem he could not solve? Maurice was extended back in the day exactly for his willingness to play the young players, so why would he stubbornly make certain decisions if they didn't benefit the team? It is not at all uncommon for coaches to be given specific instructions from management. Not saying it's the case here, but I'm wondering why it feels like Chevy doesn't get much criticism even after the head coach (who was the scapegoat) quit in the middle of the season.

 

[Daximus]

Please elaborate. Why would Maurice quit unless faced with a problem he could not solve? Maurice was extended back in the day exactly for his willingness to play the young players, so why would he stubbornly make certain decisions if they didn't benefit the team? It is not at all uncommon for coaches to be given specific instructions from management. Not saying it's the case here, but I'm wondering why it feels like Chevy doesn't get much criticism even after the head coach (who was the scapegoat) quit in the middle of the season.

From most of the rumours I have heard Chevy wanted to get rid of Mo sooner but Chipman wouldn't allow it. We have been speculating for the better part of 2 seasons that there was a rift between Mo and Chevy due to the way Mo ran the dressing room and how he handled young players coming in. Maurice likely quit because he caused the problem in the first place and was probably going to get the boot anyways.

 

[cbcwpg]

If there is a problem in the room then the blame lies with everyone in management and ownership for letting it start, letting it grow, and letting it get to where it is now…

as for Maurice…. He wouldn’t be the first person to walk away from a problem he helped to create by basically saying “ I don’t need this headache “

 

[Tommigun]

From most of the rumours I have heard Chevy wanted to get rid of Mo sooner but Chipman wouldn't allow it. We have been speculating for the better part of 2 seasons that there was a rift between Mo and Chevy due to the way Mo ran the dressing room and how he handled young players coming in. Maurice likely quit because he caused the problem in the first place and was probably going to get the boot anyways.

But Maurice got the extension back in the day as a reward of sorts for playing the young kids. He was lauded for not being one of the coaches who only play veterans, so it doesn't sit quite right with me that he somehow changed his mind. It is very much possible he'd gotten the boot anyway but I am no longer so certain about that as I once was.

Nevertheless I think it was a mistake to re-sign Chevy. He's had such a long run at this point and it would be a good time to shake up the management. There isn't that many years left on the Hellebuyck and Scheifele contracts that some kind of team shakeup is inevitable quite soon, so a new GM that may be a bit more proactive would probably have served them better at this point. And some accountability for the apparently bad atmosphere has to reach the management too.

 

[Daximus]

But Maurice got the extension back in the day as a reward of sorts for playing the young kids. He was lauded for not being one of the coaches who only play veterans, so it doesn't sit quite right with me that he somehow changed his mind. It is very much possible he'd gotten the boot anyway but I am no longer so certain about that as I once was.

Nevertheless I think it was a mistake to re-sign Chevy. He's had such a long run at this point and it would be a good time to shake up the management. There isn't that many years left on the Hellebuyck and Scheifele contracts that some kind of team shakeup is inevitable quite soon, so a new GM that may be a bit more proactive would probably have served them better at this point. And some accountability for the apparently bad atmosphere has to reach the management too.

That was back when most of the veterans were barely passable bottom 6 players. A significant amount of kids jumping the gun came from injuries. Scheif got his shot cause Little went down. Connor got his shot because Perreault went down. Morrissey got his shot because Buff got injured. He bellyached nearly ever other presser about not giving Laine to much to soon. Ehlers had to fight his way up from the bottom for a few seasons. And even then he still spoon fed minutes to Wheeler and Scheif when they clearly did not deserve them.

 

[Tommigun]

That was back when most of the veterans were barely passable bottom 6 players. A significant amount of kids jumping the gun came from injuries. Scheif got his shot cause Little went down. Connor got his shot because Perreault went down. Morrissey got his shot because Buff got injured. He bellyached nearly ever other presser about not giving Laine to much to soon. Ehlers had to fight his way up from the bottom for a few seasons. And even then he still spoon fed minutes to Wheeler and Scheif when they clearly did not deserve them.

But he did play the younger players a bunch. Scheifele got his chance and ran with it. Connor got lots of opportunity after his brief stint in the AHL. It's not uncommon for young players having to wait for an injury to get a shot at it. Ehlers's handling was a bit of a mystery though. But still I don't think Maurice played it much differently than any other head coach would have done.

 

[Daximus]

But he did play the younger players a bunch. Scheifele got his chance and ran with it. Connor got lots of opportunity after his brief stint in the AHL. It's not uncommon for young players having to wait for an injury to get a shot at it. Ehlers's handling was a bit of a mystery though. But still I don't think Maurice played it much differently than any other head coach would have done.

In a sense yes but he also created the entitlement in Wheeler and Scheif that no matter how anyone else plays, they are the only ones that should be getting the top minutes and no matter how many times he split them up he always put them back together no matter how badly they played together. That falls 100% squarely on Maurice.

 

[Al Camino]

Please elaborate. Why would Maurice quit unless faced with a problem he could not solve? Maurice was extended back in the day exactly for his willingness to play the young players, so why would he stubbornly make certain decisions if they didn't benefit the team? It is not at all uncommon for coaches to be given specific instructions from management. Not saying it's the case here, but I'm wondering why it feels like Chevy doesn't get much criticism even after the head coach (who was the scapegoat) quit in the middle of the season.

While he did play young players it was usually only because someone got injured and he had to and discovered they actually could play.

Chevy also had a few Freudian slips during the Maurice press conference that made me think that maybe it was basically a situation where he could quit and get a nice send off or get fired.

Either way it was 3 years too late.

 

[Tommigun]

In a sense yes but he also created the entitlement in Wheeler and Scheif that no matter how anyone else plays, they are the only ones that should be getting the top minutes and no matter how many times he split them up he always put them back together no matter how badly they played together. That falls 100% squarely on Maurice.

Has it been confirmed that it was Maurice’s doing, or was he just following orders?

 

[tbcwpg]

Has it been confirmed that it was Maurice’s doing, or was he just following orders?

Nothing has been confirmed about anything, all of this stuff is speculation. Likely a large degree of truth in it, but speculation. I'd say the GM and owner telling the coach that those two get top minutes is less likely than the coach just giving them what they want.

 

[Daximus]

Has it been confirmed that it was Maurice’s doing, or was he just following orders?

Maurice doesn't seem like the kind of coach that marches to anyones orders. Especially in Winnipeg. If that were true he likely would have been long gone sooner.

 

[Ober]

From most of the rumours I have heard Chevy wanted to get rid of Mo sooner but Chipman wouldn't allow it. We have been speculating for the better part of 2 seasons that there was a rift between Mo and Chevy due to the way Mo ran the dressing room and how he handled young players coming in. Maurice likely quit because he caused the problem in the first place and was probably going to get the boot anyways.

I have no insider info but absolutely believe this to be true.

Chipman said very little (as usual) during his end of season "interview" with Sara Orlesky during the intermission of the last Calgary game BUT his answer to the very first question was extremely revealing to me. Chipman chooses his words very carefully and always puts a lot of thought in what is said. Couple his answer with body language and what we got from that one answer spoke volumes.

SARA: "....what are your feelings going into this offseason?"
CHIPMAN: ".....disappointment and uh uhhh some re....(pause pause)....JUST SOME REGRET"

The use of the word regret jumped out at me the moment I heard it. Using the regret word is not generally something someone high up utters..,...ever!

There are three events that have set this organization back IMO and created the bad juju that was and is very apparent to all:

1. The blindside decision by Byfuglien to not play anymore (for still unexplained reasons)
2. Two years of Covid and everything related
3. A coach who got as much as he was going to get out the existing players but was given 2 1/2 extra seasons he should never have gotten

The first two events fell out of the sky.....but there is no question in my mind that Chipman's regret is #3. Chevy is not an idiot when it comes to obvious hockey decisions such as this. I have little doubt keeping Maurice was Chipman's call...and the organization is paying a price now with a lot of disgruntled customers unfortunately.

 

[tbcwpg]

I have no insider info but absolutely believe this to be true.

Chipman said very little (as usual) during his end of season "interview" with Sara Orlesky during the intermission of the last Calgary game BUT his answer to the very first question was extremely revealing to me. Chipman chooses his words very carefully and always puts a lot of thought in what is said. Couple his answer with body language and what we got from that one answer spoke volumes.

SARA: "....what are your feelings going into this offseason?"
CHIPMAN: ".....disappointment and uh uhhh some re....(pause pause)....JUST SOME REGRET"

The use of the word regret jumped out at me the moment I heard it. Using the regret word is not generally something someone high up utters..,...ever!

There are three events that have set this organization back IMO and created the bad juju that was and is very apparent to all:

1. The blindside decision by Byfuglien to not play anymore (for still unexplained reasons)
2. Two years of Covid and everything related
3. A coach who got as much as he was going to get out the existing players but was given 2 1/2 extra seasons he should never have gotten

The first two events fell out of the sky.....but there is no question in my mind that Chipman's regret is #3. Chevy is not an idiot when it comes to obvious hockey decisions such as this. I have little doubt keeping Maurice was Chipman's call...and the organization is paying a price now with a lot of disgruntled customers unfortunately.

Byfuglien's decision wasn't unexplained. He had a bad ankle injury and surgery would keep him out for quite awhile, and he didn't feel like doing all of that rehab at his age and point in his career so he retired.

Any extra is just fan speculation trying to read something more into it.

 

[Daximus]

Byfuglien's decision wasn't unexplained. He had a bad ankle injury and surgery would keep him out for quite awhile, and he didn't feel like doing all of that rehab at his age and point in his career so he retired.

Any extra is just fan speculation trying to read something more into it.

His wife did say something along the lines of he just didn't find hockey fun anymore as well. Couple that with having to go to rehab and it's no wonder why he walked away.

 

[Zippity]

Byfuglien's decision wasn't unexplained. He had a bad ankle injury and surgery would keep him out for quite awhile, and he didn't feel like doing all of that rehab at his age and point in his career so he retired.

Any extra is just fan speculation trying to read something more into it.

A lot more to that story