2014 / 2015 Official NHL Thread
- Thread starter Special K
- Start date
Indeed, former hab coach Alain Vigneault has the blueshirts playing great hockey over the past few weeks. Rick Nash is having a very good year so far. Everything seems to click. But will it last?
King Henrik is indeed a great goalie, but my feeling is that Sergei Bobrovski of the Jackets has surpassed him as the league's best goalie. I may also give a slight edge to Carey Price, who's been fantastic all season long & the habs wouldn't even be in a playoff spot if it weren't for his heroics.
The McDonagh trade was one of the biggest steals in decades! They also received Christopher Higgins & Pavel Valatenko in that heist. I believe the habs got Tom Pyatt, along with Scotty Gomez. What a steal!!!!
But a lot of credit for the Rangers' success goes to Alain Vigneault. This was a team going nowhere until Vigneault joined the ranks. What a welcome relief it must have been compared to John Tortella's antics. The Martin St-Louis trade also helped as far as leadership goes. A team never has enough leaders. That's one thing lacking with the Leafs. A true, bonafide leader to calm things down and lead the way.
I agree almost completely. "The "almost" is because there is a lot more than "one thing lacking with the Leafs".
And now with the season more than half over, the chemistry, the fit and the "gelling" are probably just about complete. You were quite correct: All it took was a little time.
New year, same story. Year after year after year after year after year. Burke becomes Shanahan becomes Flotsam becomes Jetsam.
Quote of myself above from Dec 15
Since:
- Leafs beat Ana 6-2 on Dec 16
- Carlyle has since been fired
- Still rumours about Nonis
- now rumours about other players, including Phaneuf
And the kicker, Leafs have gone 3-12 on this "road trip". To finish the 22 game trip, they still 5 more road games to go.
It was obvious to anyone who knew anything about hockey that Randy's days were numbered. Of course, the powers that be in Leafland don't know anything about hockey, so they "brilliantly" extended his contract (!!!!!!!!!) several months before cutting him loose. Just one more example of gross mismanagement by a team that is a WORLD LEADER in boneheaded decisions.
It has also been patently obvious for quite some time that Nonis will (belatedly!) be the next to go. Then again, it took this gang four long years of complete and utter failure before they finally cut Burke loose!
all too easy
Really? You must talking about the Leafs because at 105 goals against, they are tied for third lowest in the league.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?season=20142015&sort=standingsGoalsAgainst&type=LEA
Leafs down at the bottom with 146 goals against ... :nod:
Really? You must talking about the Leafs because at 105 goals against, they are tied for third lowest in the league.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?season=20142015&sort=standingsGoalsAgainst&type=LEA
Leafs down at the bottom with 146 goals against ... :nod:
I love it!!!
On another note, what a performance by Carey Price last night against the Predators! He basically stole that game for them (again!!!), with quite a bit of help from the referees. But a win's a win, right??
No wonder someone connected with habs management recently told a media member that were it not for Carey Price this season, the habs would likely be fighting it out for the final two playoff spots right now. I believe him!
On another note, what a performance by Carey Price last night against the Predators! He basically stole that game for them (again!!!), with quite a bit of help from the referees. But a win's a win, right??
No wonder someone connected with habs management recently told a media member that were it not for Carey Price this season, the habs would likely be fighting it out for the final two playoff spots right now. I believe him!
I read an article on ESPN titled ' Roster spots are earned in Detroit '
It said that Stephen Weiss retrieved the puck after Teemu Pulkkinen scored his first goal in the NHL,
to give the lead 1-0 for Detroit against Minnesota Wild.
The next day, he was in the minors.
Thomas Tatar knows too well how hard it is to make the line-up. He has 21 goals.
This is what Mike Babcock had to say about 2nd year Tomas Tatar. " What I like about him is the tenacity to get the puck back, his ability
to play hard. He loves to score. Tats is in a journey, doing a real good job. We'd like him to turn into a top-six forward that can play all night
every night against the best people."
A young teammate had this to say about playing for the Red Wings. " I think to be a part of a Red Wings team is something special,
something we pride ourselves on. You've got to be ready to win to be a Red Wing. "
Let's hope that coach Babcock can bring his magic to Toronto next season as the Leafs' new coach.
Let's hope that coach Babcock can bring his magic to Toronto next season as the Leafs' new coach.
Babcock is a great coach but he has also had a raft of good to excellent players in Hockeytown. If he made the tragic error of going to Toronto, he would have very little talent and absolutely NO character/pride/guts/determination to work with.
As our very wise fellow poster Ballsamic correctly pointed out above, "to be part of a Red Wings team is something special". The same could be said of the Habs. Those two teams have the NHL's greatest traditions of class, ethics, virtue, hard work, and success. Some newer teams (e.g.: Tampa Bay under the great Steve Yzerman) are starting to establish similar traditions.
And then you have the Leafs: perennial losers on the ice (48 years of constant failure), but more importantly a team that reeks of shame: Maple Leaf Gardens sex scandals, Jerseygate, rudeness to fans and media, coachkillers, pouting, spoiled immature players failing to perform even to the admittedly limited abilities they possess.
So the worst part of the Leafs is not even their abysmal lack of talent. Rather, it's their total lack of CHARACTER. Doctor Babcock would be crazy to go there...but if he ever made that mistake he would soon be well aware of the fact that he had voluntarily left Heaven to descend into Hell.
Let's hope that coach Babcock can bring his magic to Toronto next season as the Leafs' new coach.
Keep dreaming, Doc!
Haters will hate, but the Wings are a superior organization, top to bottom, vis-a-vis the Leafs.
And if Babs somehow leaves the Wings, then he's really not that smart after all. I like Bylsma, he would fit right in, and he'd probably jump at the opportunity to be part of a great team like the Detroit Red Wings.
Keep dreaming, Doc!
Haters will hate, but the Wings are a superior organization, top to bottom, vis-a-vis the Leafs.
And if Babs somehow leaves the Wings, then he's really not that smart after all. I like Bylsma, he would fit right in, and he'd probably jump at the opportunity to be part of a great team like the Detroit Red Wings.
So Babcock is currently smart, but if he leaves the Wings he's no longer smart? Really Wolfie? :lol:
p.s. Babcock WILL be the next Leafs coach. And i can't see Bylsma in Detroit. He would be a nobody had he not coached the likes of Crosby, Malkin and Letang in his first NHL coaching stint.
I like Babs. But I do think it's overblown what an incredible coach is. He's been in good situations. Relative to football (especially) and basketball, I believe, and my opinion only, that hockey coaches have much less impact on results. They're managers, more than coaches. (I actually don't know what the hell a baseball manager does, but I also have zero interest in baseball, so...)
A football coach can make a genuine point difference that comes across in close games, and not-so-close games. Basketball coaches, like Thibodeau and Popovich, can install great systems and draw up good plays at the end of games. Hockey is too unpredictable, which is what makes the game so exciting. You get a hot goalie, or some lucky bounces, and you're on your way. You can't coach that. As long as you have a steady personality, you can relate to other personalities, and you can manage expectations up and down the organization, you're fine. And you need good players that fit your system, that a good GM supplies. There's little genius to a hockey coach. Scotty Bowman - was he a genius? Left wing lock? Come on. And what's so unique about Babcock? He's good, very good, but let's not get carried away that he's a genius.
My point was not the guy suddenly becomes dumber if he went to the Leafs. Dude, seriously?? My point was, it would be an error in judgment if Babcock believes he is that special on his own that he alone can turn around a mess the magnitude of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He has a lot of things going for him in Detroit.
We should do a side bet on Babcock leaving for the Leafs. I'm serious. It'd be fun. If Babs goes to the Leafs, I'll pay for an hour of Goodgirls. And if he doesn't (he can leave for somewhere else, too), you pay for me. I trust James to be escrow, when it comes time to settle. Put your money where your mouth is.
N
november
A coach can make a huge difference. I will give you two examples, the Canadians and the Jets. Look at Nashville this year, same team different results. Babcock is a well respected coach.
Similar threads
- Locked
- Sticky
- Poll
