Who should replace Hakstol?

[brelic]

34 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

No it's worse it's much deeper and the reality is this is not a good team.

 

We already knew that, though. Right? 

 

Yup, they've gone 0-4-5 over the last 9 (I think?), and they'll get out of their funk and likely have some 10 game stretches of 5-5-0, 6-3-1, 4-5-1, and may get within striking distance of a wildcard spot. They'd be 2pts out of 3rd in the Atlantic, but dead last in the Metro.

 

I'm definitely on the side of this-is-a-poorly-coached-team, but they're also a very inexperienced team and this is exactly what happens with so much youth. 

 

I don't know, I think there's a lot of panic going on, and the truth is they're just not a very good team yet. Our talent is fine, our depth in the minors is fine, our coaching is mediocre - not a fan of Hak and he needs to go, but whatever, he'll probably finish the season.

 

The idea of blowing it up for even MORE youth will just give you a MUCH worse product, and I honestly believe that is counter productive.

 

 

[OccamsRazor]

9 minutes ago, elmatus said:

it's very hard to argue with his production. 

 

Sure i guess if you only look at stats.

 

But it is more to it.

 

It's the eye test. How many coutless time i watch fumble and turn the puck over just killing a cycle. Or the countless brain dead stupid plays and penalties.

 

I'm done.

 

The only stat i care about are wins.

 

And he just doesn't contribute enough for his price tag to overlook.

 

Trade him if you can.

 

That is my opinion. 

[elmatus]

1 minute ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

Sure i guess if you only look at stats.

 

But it is more to it.

 

It's the eye test. How many coutless time i watch fumble and turn the puck over just killing a cycle. Or the countless brain dead stupid plays and penalties.

 

I'm done.

 

The only stat i care about are wins.

 

And he just doesn't contribute enough for his price tag to overlook.

 

Trade him if you can.

 

That is my opinion. 

 

I do share the same opinion and for very similar reasons. What I'm saying is I don't think his contract is such a big obstacle as others seem to believe. If Hex wants to trade him, I expect he could do so without having to retain much if any salary. I also don't think he will trade him, because that isn't the type of thing Hextall seems to be into.

 

All that is despite me being firmly in the trade Voracek camp.

[icehole]

9 hours ago, murraycraven said:

Sorry, but Hextall came across as a total douche after the game...    

I didn't hear what he said when I first read this.  I heard it about 10 minutes ago.  What a tool.  I don't know if he felt like he had to say that or if he actually believes it.

 

You don't think they're playing bad hexy???  I just know he looked at those 4 posts the flyers hit against the pens, and he counted them as goals in his head.  To him, the flyers won that game.

 

What about the scoring from the bottom 9 hexy?  Is that the scoring of a team that's playing well? 

 

This team Is on its way to being the worst team in the league.  One side of me wants it to all come crashing down for them to have a shot at the #1 pick, but can we trust Hextall to choose the right player?  He'd probably opt for a slow skating defenseman that needs to spend 3 years in development leagues, and everyone around here would say how great that kid will be in 5 years, and everyone will praise Hextall for being patient and not taking a stud forward that will dazzle the league immediately.

 

This concludes my Hextall rant.

[mojo1917]

to answer the thread title, not Sutter. he's a closer not a builder.

 

last night the team looked bad for the second game in this stretch of futility. The first was Vancouver,  I don't think Hextall is wrong.

For everyone losing their **** because a young team is inconsistent, welcome to rebuilding,  This is what people were clamoring for, well feels awesome- right?

These guys will get it or they won't Hakstol will figure out how he wants to coach in the NHL or he won't.  

My hope is the guys in the room can look at their effort and realize they need more concentration at key times, they need more attention to detail.

If a person never faces adversity they have nothing to overcome, how will they know about their own character if all they do is win win win no matter what what what? 

My hope is this group is learning from this adversity and will make the necessary changes to learn and rise.

It's a long season, so far this group hasn't shown much "quit" so maybe they figure some things out.

 

[aziz]

3 hours ago, brelic said:

The idea of blowing it up for even MORE youth will just give you a MUCH worse product, and I honestly believe that is counter productive.

 

that's the addiction, though.  half the roster is already under 25, which goes a fair way toward explaining the current product, but whatever.  some people lose their life savings in las vegas hoping for that one lucky roll.  flyers fans demand their roster be culled annually hoping for that one lucky ping pong ball.

 

could be worse, though.  edmonton has been doing their rebuild "the right way" for over a decade, and the flyers are still in front of them in the standings.

 

 

[King Knut]

On 11/27/2017 at 6:48 PM, FD19372 said:

I hope it's neither. I really want Sutter here.

 

I'm not sure he'd work here.  I like everything about the way he got those kings teams to perform, but the thing those teams had that this Flyers team does not is a size advantage going into most games.  They killed their opponents with relentless attack and aggression and skated harder up and down the ice than most teams I can think of... but when they would do that, they had a size advantage that these Flyers just do not and will not have.  

 

That concerns me about Sutter.  These guys are going to need more of a system that finds seams and shuts down lanes than physically forechecks and constantly attacks the puck and the puck carriers.  

[King Knut]

1 hour ago, mojo1917 said:

to answer the thread title, not Sutter. he's a closer not a builder.

 

last night the team looked bad for the second game in this stretch of futility. The first was Vancouver,  I don't think Hextall is wrong.

For everyone losing their **** because a young team is inconsistent, welcome to rebuilding,  This is what people were clamoring for, well feels awesome- right?

These guys will get it or they won't Hakstol will figure out how he wants to coach in the NHL or he won't.  

My hope is the guys in the room can look at their effort and realize they need more concentration at key times, they need more attention to detail.

If a person never faces adversity they have nothing to overcome, how will they know about their own character if all they do is win win win no matter what what what? 

My hope is this group is learning from this adversity and will make the necessary changes to learn and rise.

It's a long season, so far this group hasn't shown much "quit" so maybe they figure some things out.

 

 

I don't disagree with any of that.  

I don't mind that they have points in 7 of 10.  That's not what bothers me.  What bothers me is that the games  (aside from the Sharks and Canucks as you say) tend to be controlled by the Flyers and then they lose control when a team makes adjustments for which Hakstol has no answer. 

 

Teams are making tactical tweaks to crack Hak's system... which is fine, but he has no tactical answers for those adjustments.

At the same time, he doesn't seem to grasp that his team is simultaneously deflating emotionally.  That doesn't seem to matter to him.  He has no character or spirit himself.  He has never called a timeout that I can recall and he has certainly not called one in this stretch to rally his troops and get their hearts back into the game with a serious gut check and some encouragement.  

 

Sometimes, it's all a team needs.  A slight adjustment to try to rebuild their confidence and get them going.  Remember Mike Keenan drawing a play on the boards with a sharpie?  That had a lot more to do with refocusing his players and getting their heads together than with the actual play he was drawing.  

 

Laviolette was simply the best I've ever seen at this.  His timeouts were AMAZINGLY effective.  He could rally those idiots through anything...  well exept Homer firing him three games into the season.  

 

Hak isn't bad at this... he doesn't even know it's something he should be doing... or COULD be doing.  That is why I think he's not an NHL coach.  Honestly, if they want to keep him on in some strategic capacity or player development capacity, I'm fine with that.  Make up a new position for him.  I like his systems.

 

But this team needs someone else behind the bench.  

[murraycraven]

1 hour ago, mojo1917 said:

to answer the thread title, not Sutter. he's a closer not a builder.

 

last night the team looked bad for the second game in this stretch of futility. The first was Vancouver,  I don't think Hextall is wrong.

For everyone losing their **** because a young team is inconsistent, welcome to rebuilding,  This is what people were clamoring for, well feels awesome- right?

These guys will get it or they won't Hakstol will figure out how he wants to coach in the NHL or he won't.  

My hope is the guys in the room can look at their effort and realize they need more concentration at key times, they need more attention to detail.

If a person never faces adversity they have nothing to overcome, how will they know about their own character if all they do is win win win no matter what what what? 

My hope is this group is learning from this adversity and will make the necessary changes to learn and rise.

It's a long season, so far this group hasn't shown much "quit" so maybe they figure some things out.

 

 

 

I think we can all say with ease that the ups and downs are to be expected.  

 

What I don't expect is a Coach to basically sit a portion of his bench (dynamic players) b/c he wanted a "heavy lineup."  I also don't expect a team to have one shot on goal for nearly 15 minutes of the 3rd period and simply look like they quit.   I really don't want to hear Hextall talk about how the team has played well and are just getting bad breaks...   Hextall was delusional last night and if that is his belief this rebuild is going nowhere.  He sounded like a total a$$hole IMO.    The fans aren't stupid - we know when a **** effort was given.  

[FD19372]

Don't worry, it will all be better soon. It's National Meth Awareness Day tomorrow.

[King Knut]

54 minutes ago, aziz said:

 

that's the addiction, though.  half the roster is already under 25, which goes a fair way toward explaining the current product, but whatever.  some people lose their life savings in las vegas hoping for that one lucky roll.  flyers fans demand their roster be culled annually hoping for that one lucky ping pong ball.

 

could be worse, though.  edmonton has been doing their rebuild "the right way" for over a decade, and the flyers are still in front of them in the standings.

 

Okay, but what about Toronto?  They have just as many guys 25 or under on their roster.  They're not god awful.  Vegas has about the same.

 

The other problem is that the Flyers have shown themselves to be very effective at times.  If we assume that the inconsistency (especially at the end of games) comes from inexperience, then pray tell, why don't we see their coach... COACHING THEM.  

 

If the same thing keeps happening over and over again, who else but the coach should be the guy try to correct things?

 

Do you ever see him yapping at his younger players, giving them things to work on?  No.  He benches them in favor of crappier older players who go on to make worse mistakes.   Do you ever see him calling timeouts and talking to his guys calming things down and giving them a plan for wtf to do after a faceoff (WIN, do A.  Lose, do B).

 

That's coaching.  I don't see that happening.  Maybe I'm missing it, but what I do see is the team making the same mistakes OVER AND OVER AND OVER again.  

 

I like his systems.  He's utterly atrocious behind the bench.  

 

[King Knut]

13 minutes ago, murraycraven said:

Hextall was delusional last night and if that is his belief this rebuild is going nowhere.  He sounded like a total a$$hole IMO.    The fans aren't stupid - we know when a **** effort was given.  

 

Hextall doesn't think we're stupid.  He just doesn't care what we think.  And he knows he doesn't have to.  

I don't think he realizes how G.D. fed up most of us are though.  

 

I honestly think there's something going on here that we are al simply not privy to. 

I don't know what.

 

Hakstol's lack of emotion.  Hextall's lack of emotion.  The players' lack of emotion.

You don't close the door with the coach, GM and team inside, then open it and pretend like you didn't talk about anything inside.

 

It's almost as if this is expected and part of the plan...  but that makes no sense.  So I really don't know what to make of it.  

 

 

[King Knut]

4 hours ago, icehole said:

 

You don't think they're playing bad hexy???  I just know he looked at those 4 posts the flyers hit against the pens, and he counted them as goals in his head.  To him, the flyers won that game.

 

What about the scoring from the bottom 9 hexy?  Is that the scoring of a team that's playing well? 

 

This team Is on its way to being the worst team in the league.  One side of me wants it to all come crashing down for them to have a shot at the #1 pick, but can we trust Hextall to choose the right player?  He'd probably opt for a slow skating defenseman that needs to spend 3 years in development leagues, and everyone around here would say how great that kid will be in 5 years, and everyone will praise Hextall for being patient and not taking a stud forward that will dazzle the league immediately.

 

This concludes my Hextall rant.

 

Look, i'm as ticked or more so than you are, but Hextall's not exactly wrong. 

The same EXACT thing happened last year when they won ten in a row.  Hextall said the SAME THING about that streak when it was going on.  They weren't dominating, most of them were a bounce from going the other way, so he wasn't so enthused by it.  Last year the bounces went the flyers way during that streak.  This year they're not.  

 

Think about it like a GM whose job is to assemble 23 guys who can win hockey games.  

 

Put aside the record for a moment and look at the games and the way the team has played.  This team has looked like a good team for MOST of the past 10 games.  That's what he's looking at.  There have been 2 or 3 n which they've just looked tired, sick or just bad, but the rest of them have been tight contests in which the Flyers looked decent to good. 

 

My issue is that they have lost so many of these the exact same way and most of those losses have been unnecessary.  This year they aren't bounces going the other way... it's not random.  They are breakdowns.   Breakdowns that a decent coach should have been on top of 7 games ago.  Really... there should never have been another late game loss after the Nashville debacle in the 4th game of the season.  That was atrocious and that should have sounded the alarm.

 

From a player assessment standpoint, Hextall's not wrong.  The team has actually played well for a majority of the minutes of these past ten games.  

 

But Hextall is also in charge of the staff behind the bench.  The fact that the same breakdowns are happening is seriously problematic.  We can talk about 10 players 25 and under until we're blue in the face, but the fact of the matter is this team is simply not being coached well right now.

 

Hakstol's systems are getting them leads.  His inability to coach the team and manage them and their mistakes, emotional let downs, etc is costing them 9 games in a row.  

 

This is the problem that needs to be addressed.  

 

 

[murraycraven]

7 minutes ago, King Knut said:

 

Hextall doesn't think we're stupid.  He just doesn't care what we think.  And he knows he doesn't have to.  

I don't think he realizes how G.D. fed up most of us are though.  

 

I honestly think there's something going on here that we are al simply not privy to. 

I don't know what.

 

Hakstol's lack of emotion.  Hextall's lack of emotion.  The players' lack of emotion.

You don't close the door with the coach, GM and team inside, then open it and pretend like you didn't talk about anything inside.

 

It's almost as if this is expected and part of the plan...  but that makes no sense.  So I really don't know what to make of it.  

 

 

 

 

Agreed....

 

I can deal with the losses of a young team.  I just don't want the GM shoving sunshine up our collective asses when the Team is currently in shambles.   

[King Knut]

5 hours ago, OccamsRazor said:

Who knew then looking back almost a year ago the worst thing that could have happened to this club would have been the 10 game winning streak they went on.

 

I view the win streak last year and the loss streak this year very similarly and I think Hextall does too. The Flyers were a heartbeat away from losing more than half of those ten games last year. Hextall even tried to temper expectations during the streak.  

 

They were a heartbeat away from winning more than half of the 9 games this year.  

 

The problem I have is that last year, they got lucky a lot to win.  There was little more to it and Hextall admitted that at the time.  It's why he wasn't so excited by the streak.  THIS year however, they're losing them all the same way. It's not bad bounces.  It's not bad calls (though there have been a few).  It's exactly the same break downs.  The same emotional drains.  The same brain farts.  The same exhaustion.  Every Night.  

 

A team that has good luck a lot is not a good team.  A team that has bad lock a lot is not a bad team.  A team that makes the same mistakes every night?  That's a poorly coached team.  There really aren't two ways about it.  

 

5 hours ago, OccamsRazor said:

No it's worse it's much deeper and the reality is this is not a good team.

 

This is the fallacy.  This is the mistake we and the team should not be making.  You yourself said that we got our hopes up and believed that this was a good team simply because of the streak last year.

 

By the same token, I am asserting that THIS IS NOT A BAD TEAM simply because of this streak this year.

Hextall's not wrong.  This team has played positive hockey for the majority of the 540+ minutes of this streak.  They are NOT a bad team.  They are not an untalented team.  They are not an unskilled team.  I'm sick and tired of hearing people say that. 

 

They are a young team and their coach is failing them.  

 

Making us thinking afterwards was that the only thing wrong with this club was Hak's mishandling of his goalies.

 

Not playing Stolie more than he should of have. Especially when we knew Mason wasn't right after injuring his hand.

 

What upsets me is that the team was making a lot of the same mistakes under Hakstol last year. He has had a complete inability to regain control or momentum when his team loses it.  It's like it doesn't even occur to him that they need to regain the momentum.  Like he can't even see that they're on their heels or that if he can he thinks it's merely a matter of position and execution.

 

When a team decides that IT WANTS TO WIN and that IT DOESN'T WANT TO LOSE, it tries harder.  It gets more intense aggressive and assertive.  This is what the Islanders did, it's what the Penguins did and what countless others did.   Their coaches give them adjustments to make.  How to enter the zone diferently.  How to shut down the Flyers attack differently.  How to block shots more aggressively.  It works.   Their coaches give them things to try and the team feeds off  that.

 

The Flyers coach gives his guys the same old crap, the founder and they lose then he and his GM bench the players who have a chance to do better the next night out in favor of the guys who we know will simply do the same crap they've been doing for their "veteran" careers.  

 

[brelic]

11 minutes ago, King Knut said:

 

Hextall doesn't think we're stupid.  He just doesn't care what we think.  And he knows he doesn't have to.  

I don't think he realizes how G.D. fed up most of us are though.  

 

Really? You don't think he heard the boos and the "Fire Hakstol" chants???

 

Of course he knows fans are not happy. But that's not a good enough reason to take action. Fans react emotionally. That's no way to run a business.

 

Frankly, I'd rather have someone in charge who *doesn't* make knee jerk reactions based on fan sentiment and is confident enough to stand by his convictions and see his plan through. It may or may not work out in the end, but at least he'll have done it on his own terms. I can respect that. 

Quote

 

Hakstol's lack of emotion.  Hextall's lack of emotion.  The players' lack of emotion.

You don't close the door with the coach, GM and team inside, then open it and pretend like you didn't talk about anything inside.

 

 

I don't think he lied, did he? He said he didn't know about the meeting (meaning he wasn't in it) and even if he did, he wouldn't tell the media. That's why it's called a closed door meeting. 

 

Quote

It's almost as if this is expected and part of the plan...  but that makes no sense.  So I really don't know what to make of it.  

 

I'm not sure exactly what you're referring to, but I don't think the 9 game losing streak is part of the plan... however, long stretches of being unable to figure out is definitely part of it. It takes these guys longer to figure it out than, say, Pittsburgh, or Washington, or or St. Louis, or Tampa Bay. Kinda normal at this stage. 

 

I mean, Provorov has not looked good lately. Sophomore slump? Inexperience? Feeling the weight of the blueline on his 20 year old shoulders? Probably all of the above. As good as he is, he's still 4-5 years away of reaching his potential, maybe more. The same goes for the other young guys and rookies. 

 

It took Giroux 3 years to figure it out - when he was 22/23 - and he had the benefit of being sheltered behind Richards and Carter. Provorov is a defenseman and was expected to be the #1 guy at 20 years old with NO VETERANS around him. And he did awesome in the first part, but definitely started to fade over the past 8-9 games. Uncharacteristic turnovers, getting beat defensively, poor shot selection, etc. He will be fine in the long run, but he's still figuring it out just like everyone else with the added weight of being counted on as a #1.

 

In Giroux's 2nd season, there were three rookies. Him, JVR, and Bartulis (a bottom pairing guy). And a very experienced roster. Pronger was #1, Richards, Carter, Hartnell, Timonen, Briere. 

 

The following season, there were zero rookies on the team. 

 

This team will get there eventually, but they are breaking in an awful lot of players at the same time, and the supporting cast is just as green, especially on the blueline.

 

[King Knut]

18 minutes ago, murraycraven said:

 

 

Agreed....

 

I can deal with the losses of a young team.  I just don't want the GM shoving sunshine up our collective asses when the Team is currently in shambles.   

 

I agree about the Sunshine.  But I do not agree that the team is in shambles.  Their record is and sometimes there's a difference.

 

At Christmas last year, this team's record was stellar, but wasn't the team itself more in shambles then?  

 

The have a coach who is out of his league.  Literally.  

Give these same players a moderately decent, experienced NHL coach and I almost guarantee that they'll make the playoffs.

 

This is a GOOD TEAM being coached by a smart strategist who doesn't seem to understand human emotions... or that humans have emotions... or that they can play a part in a competitive sporting event.  

 

[murraycraven]

1 minute ago, King Knut said:

Give these same players a moderately decent, experienced NHL coach and I almost guarantee that they'll make the playoffs.

 

I never thought they were a playoff team this year.  But, I also did not think it would be this ugly.... LOL

[RJ8812]

2 hours ago, mojo1917 said:

to answer the thread title, not Sutter. he's a closer not a builder.

 

last night the team looked bad for the second game in this stretch of futility. The first was Vancouver,  I don't think Hextall is wrong.

For everyone losing their **** because a young team is inconsistent, welcome to rebuilding,  This is what people were clamoring for, well feels awesome- right?

These guys will get it or they won't Hakstol will figure out how he wants to coach in the NHL or he won't.  

My hope is the guys in the room can look at their effort and realize they need more concentration at key times, they need more attention to detail.

If a person never faces adversity they have nothing to overcome, how will they know about their own character if all they do is win win win no matter what what what? 

My hope is this group is learning from this adversity and will make the necessary changes to learn and rise.

It's a long season, so far this group hasn't shown much "quit" so maybe they figure some things out.

 

Pretty much. People have been whining for a proper re-build for years. Our GM is finally giving us that and now everyone is bitching about how bad the team has been playing. Unfortunately that comes with the territory. Have some patience and let our GM do his job.

[King Knut]

3 minutes ago, brelic said:

 

Really? You don't think he heard the boos and the "Fire Hakstol" chants???

 

Of course he knows fans are not happy. But that's not a good enough reason to take action. Fans react emotionally. That's no way to run a business.

 

 

This is partially what I meant.  However what I further mean is I don't think he realizes what it could cost the team in terms of season ticket holders next season and general sales the remainder of THIS season.  I think he believes exactly as you said... worrying about fans emotional states is a poor way to run a club... however, IGNORING how fed up they truly are could bite you in the tush over time.  It's been 5 years since anyone believed in this team.  If fans start to believe that the rebuild is a failure, they will stop believing and they will stop spending money.  

 

No ones talking about knee jerk decisions.  I'm talking about exactly the opposite.  

 

I don't think he lied either.  The team actually has played pretty decent hockey for the majority of the 540 minutes of this streak of crap outcomes.  That's what he's looking at.  What I also hope he's looking at is why the same mistakes keep happening late in games that LEAD to the crap outcomes.  Over and Over again.  Three years isn't knee jerk.  If these were new mistakes, I would call firing the coach knee jerk.   They're old mistakes and the fact of the matter is in three years, Hakstol hasn't even sorted out that he should be addressing these mistakes at all.

 

3 minutes ago, brelic said:

 

This team will get there eventually, but they are breaking in an awful lot of players at the same time, and the supporting cast is just as green, especially on the blueline.

 

 

I agree.  The problem I have is that I look at them and I see a team that could be having a lot more success already.  Even without the secondary scoring.  Even with 3-4 rookies on defense.  Even with the injuries and suspensions.  

 

This team has 9 losses in a row for unacceptable reasons.  

 

All the things you're pointing out are legitimately true and should be the reasons this team gets ousted in the first or second round (if they have an energetic and amazing first round somehow). 

 

I actually do like Hakstol's system. I defended his system all last year because I asserted that for most of the year, we weren't seeing it because the defense and goalies were so terrible.

 

However, we have more than ample evidence that he's a terrible bench coach and his inability to assess his team and help stabilize them  when the going gets rough or things get shaky.

 

3 minutes ago, brelic said:

 

This team will get there eventually, but they are breaking in an awful lot of players at the same time, and the supporting cast is just as green, especially on the blueline.

 

[murraycraven]

9 minutes ago, RJ8812 said:

People have been whining for a proper re-build for years.

 

I think you are overstating a proper rebuild.   This is "retooling" while trying to remain competitive and that is exactly what Hextalls claims.  They were never a playoff team this year so I can except the young kids struggling.  As a fan I expect this team to be up and down but I dont see any progress in terms of actual play.  In fact, it has gone backwards as of late.   To build a house you need a sturdy foundation and right now the foundation looks like it is about to collapse for this team.

 

Prospects are great but we could be the Oilers in comparison.

[icehole]

22 minutes ago, King Knut said:

 

Look, i'm as ticked or more so than you are, but Hextall's not exactly wrong. 

The same EXACT thing happened last year when they won ten in a row.  Hextall said the SAME THING about that streak when it was going on.  They weren't dominating, most of them were a bounce from going the other way, so he wasn't so enthused by it.  Last year the bounces went the flyers way during that streak.  This year they're not.  

 

Think about it like a GM whose job is to assemble 23 guys who can win hockey games.  

 

Put aside the record for a moment and look at the games and the way the team has played.  This team has looked like a good team for MOST of the past 10 games.  That's what he's looking at.  There have been 2 or 3 n which they've just looked tired, sick or just bad, but the rest of them have been tight contests in which the Flyers looked decent to good. 

 

My issue is that they have lost so many of these the exact same way and most of those losses have been unnecessary.  This year they aren't bounces going the other way... it's not random.  They are breakdowns.   Breakdowns that a decent coach should have been on top of 7 games ago.  Really... there should never have been another late game loss after the Nashville debacle in the 4th game of the season.  That was atrocious and that should have sounded the alarm.

 

From a player assessment standpoint, Hextall's not wrong.  The team has actually played well for a majority of the minutes of these past ten games.  

 

But Hextall is also in charge of the staff behind the bench.  The fact that the same breakdowns are happening is seriously problematic.  We can talk about 10 players 25 and under until we're blue in the face, but the fact of the matter is this team is simply not being coached well right now.

 

Hakstol's systems are getting them leads.  His inability to coach the team and manage them and their mistakes, emotional let downs, etc is costing them 9 games in a row.  

 

This is the problem that needs to be addressed.  

 

 

So I believe what you are saying is that Hak is most of the problem...which I agree with.  What I don't agree with (and this is just my opinion) is that the players are playing well.

 

As some of you may know, I'm not really a higher level stats guy.  I look at goals, assists, and sometimes plus/minus but that's about it.  Obviously those stats aren't good outside of the first line.  If you're talking about time of posession or shots on goal or any other stats like that, that doesn't mean much to me.

 

The purpose of the sport is to get the puck in the net.  Usually those second level stats help get the puck in the back of the net.  But sometimes they don't, and just because they win some of these categories doesn't necessarily lead to winning.  It's so frustrating for them to have a team pinned in their own zone for a good period of time, only to see a bunch of skating around before they throw a prayer at net.  It's so frustrating to have raffl and Koneckny on a 2 on 1 and Koneckny takes the shot himself because the non puck carrier is NEVER open.  It's so frustrating to watch voracek, for some odd reason, swing as wide as the boards at the start of a 2 on 1.  Did anyone find that odd?  Does anyone remember a time when 2 on 1s were a really dangerous situation for the other team?

 

I don't believe the players are playing well.  They are decent at some things, but when it comes down to it, they can't put the puck in the net.  That's a problem.

[King Knut]

16 minutes ago, murraycraven said:

 

I never thought they were a playoff team this year.  But, I also did not think it would be this ugly.... LOL

 

Honestly and seriously... it's actually not that ugly.

 

It's exactly like the win streak was last year.  A team that was not as good as it's record.

This is a team that is simply not as bad as it's record.

 

They need help getting over the hump.  They need help finishing and holding together in the face of adversity (AKA a team that doesn't want to lose).  

 

They need a coach with some heart, soul and idea of how to instill those and some confidence into his at this point emotionally wobbly players.  

 

Honestly, even if I thought Hakstol had that capability ( I do not BTW, I don't think he even knows he should) I think a coaching change would be in order just to try to preserve the sanity of these guys.  

 

Seriously at the end of games, these guys almost expect to lose at this point.  They've got the yips almost.  Sometimes a coach has to step the hell in and bake a friggin' cake.  

[murraycraven]

1 minute ago, OccamsRazor said:

Fresh off the presses:

 

Eklund so you know that it's true.

 

Oilers and Flyers talking trade for RNH!!!

 

Hhhhhhmmmmmmmm......

 

 

E4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[brelic]

1 minute ago, icehole said:

It's so frustrating to watch voracek, for some odd reason, swing as wide as the boards at the start of a 2 on 1.  Did anyone find that odd?  Does anyone remember a time when 2 on 1s were a really dangerous situation for the other team?

 

 

I actually pointed that out to @elmatus the other night. If Voracek were any further on the perimeter on that 2 on 1, he'd be watching the game from the seats. 

 

But, that's Voracek's game. There's only ONE season where he wasn't a perimeter player - the season Jagr was here. He wasn't a net presence guy, but definitely more involved and confident in his own skills.

 

I think he lacks confidence in himself. He is a prototypical perimeter player who racks up points in spite of his nervous play, so there's less incentive to grow. He definitely has skill - it's just unrefined.