It's crazy to me that these teams are still holding practices. MLB/NBA teams start cutting practices late in the season to get some rest and these guys are still out there
Of all the major sports I feel like hockey players are the most robotic, so it makes sense they still go out there.
these are individual sports, hockey is not. and the practices are so light it’s almost like a warmup or walk through
probably liken it to a walk through in football. They are doing line rushes and skill work not corner battles and small area competition games
talking about practice like that reminds me of that old carey price story. the first year he tried to make the canadian junior squad for the tournament he got cut at the end of camp. The reason he got cut, brian sutter was coaching and he used to call an optional practice towards the end of camp and whenever a player would not show up he was automatically cut. Now that is a dinosaur mentality and very stupid.
I don’t know why the team continues to hand them out after game 7 last year against the Islanders. The bright idea after the Isles fans pelted their players with beer bottles was to throw those on the ice. It’s embarrassing, it’s not the first time these playoffs it’s happened. It depends on the team and it seems like the team’s leadership group will dictate if there’s practice or not. The Lightning’s today was mostly just the black aces, they usually don’t practice if there’s only a day off between games.
Awards went pretty much as expected. Only surprise for me was Matthews winning the Lindsay. I figured McDavid would get that again and Matthews the Hart.
Those charts look entirely made up as a useful metric when you're calling zones Fun/Dull/Bad/Good. Like someone just dragging random things into an excel cross tab
He’s basically saying Brunette was providing good Panthers hockey that was entertaining while Maurice is going to provide bad Panthers hockey that is boring.
I mean I see where its going it just seems very arbitrary in that kind of chart form and calling it coach impact.
Maurice isn’t an awful coach but he’s the poster boy of mediocrity. He’s won two division titles in his career but he continuously gets opportunities. I am sure he will be fine for the Panthers, but settling for fine during your championship window makes no sense to me.
He teaches dull boring hockey. The exact opposite of what the Panthers should be playing. How are you watching Colorado tap dance all over tampa playing a similar style to the Panthers and telling yourself, yeah, let's stop doing that.
Panthers defense was one of the best in the NHL at assisting in generating chances right up until Ekblad got hurt. Colorado has the most talented defense in the NHL for sure, but the Panthers have more than enough to play the style they wanted to play last season.
it’s not what I saw in the playoffs but I will defer to you on that one. Maybe some guys were banged up.
The whole team shit the bed in the playoffs and Ekblad was coming back from a really bad high ankle sprain. I'll take the sample size of a full season of dominance over a 10 game sample where they clearly played their worst hockey of the season.
you can't make these judgements until you see what he does with the players he has. comparing past performance and putting it side by side with Bruno is also irrelevant given the drastically different rosters and abilities. You really have no idea what he's going to teach once he takes hold of Florida's roster but it appears through interviews he likely didn't say "yeah same old boring ass shit I did with the Hurricanes" I'm not guaranteeing success but you also dont know at all what his plan is or what he promised in order to land the job.
I was fine moving on from Bruno. He managed to not crash the ferrari in the regular season, but he was over his head in the playoffs. I personally don't put much stock into what coaches say to get jobs. I put stock into their actual on ice results and actions. Maurice has been a guy who stifles offense his entire coaching career. No reason to think he is going to change that now.
I don't know why you wouldn't go the Tom Brady route and get plugs if you have that kind of money at that age.
Random but I just saw that Denver's head coach David Carle- that won the NCAA title this year (And has made 2 frozen 4's over a 4 year span) is a 32 yo that was a projected 2nd round pick who had to retire before he got to college due to a medical condition. I assume he'll be an NHL head coach sooner rather than later.
The Lightning drafted him his draft year in the 7th just so he’d get drafted. I think his brother was still on the team at the time but I could be wrong.
That's fine but on ice results with entirely differently retooled rosters tells you what exactly? And no reason to change now? When has he had a roster like this? That's a great reason to change now. Also 2021 the Habs made the final so I think we can kind of discount anything that took place in sports during the 2020-2021. If someone declined in that time, I don't exactly blame them. I have said the same of college football or any other sport that pushed through with bubbles and enhanced testing protocols.
Reminds me of a story Amin El Hassan told on the Lebatard show when the Suns switched from Mike Dantoni to Terry Porter. In his interview, Porter said that he wouldn't change a thing about the Suns 7 seconds or less offense and only make changes to the defensive scheme. First practice, Terry Porter changed the core concept of their offensive structure. Can't teach an old dog new tricks.
And that could happen but theres also examples of coaches who adapt to their talent when they are put into a good situation, across sports. Heck I'd even say the Gus Bus is on track for more of an evolving coach at UCF right now. I know hockey is stubborn recycling but theres also a chance theres coaches who have ideas that didn't have the horses to execute. Or in football terms, see Frost, Scott. I'm just not making the judgement today. We saw the playoffs, where they looked good for like...one game. Approach needs to improve.