HV71 has had a nightmare start to the SHL season.
Now the club is required to make immediate changes and to act immediately.
“Now it’s serious. Perform or look for another job,” writes columnist Donald Sandström at Jönköpings-Posten.
Before the return to the SHL, expectations were really high for HV71. After dominating in the HockeyAllsvenskan, many believed that the Jönköping team would go straight in and be able to challenge the top teams in the SHL.
HV71’s fiasco start
But that has not been the case for HV71, who had a nightmare start to the SHL season. After 14 rounds, there have been only 14 recorded points and they have only managed to score a single three-pointer so far.
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Now the club and this year’s team building are heavily criticized and immediate changes are called for to reverse this tough situation. The Chronicler Donald Sandstrom goes hard at HV71 in a column in Jönköpings-Posten with the clear words: “What is happening in HV71?”.
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“Perform or…”
Sandström puts his finger on what has gone wrong so far.
“The truth is quite simple. Even if you have an extremely skilled head coach who has two knowledgeable people around him, Tommy Samuelsson cannot conjure. I claim that there are too many Allsvenskan players in HV71. Players who did not have the capacity to develop, have already reached their maximum or who are satisfied with playing in the highest league,” he writes in the local newspaper.
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The columnist mainly points out six players who have not performed yet and need to improve. It is Rasmus Bengtsson, Chad Billins, Nichlas Torp, Andy Miele, Joonas Nättinen and Sam Vigneault.
“But now it’s serious. Perform now or look for another job. It is still elite sport, or the fight for survival in the highest league if you will. I absolutely do not want to hang these guys and sending six players off is not going to happen. But it still highlights the seriousness of it all. That so many key figures do not deliver,” writes Sandström.
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According to him, it is time to realize the seriousness and that HV71 investigate themselves in order not to repeat what happened two years ago when they reached the bottom and left the SHL.
“Last Saturday I saw HV71 lose against Luleå in a way I haven’t seen in a very long time. What made me even more worried is that I saw Tommy Samuelsson being worried. I haven’t seen that either. “The dude” says his phone is hot after all the calls. I hope it’s red hot right now because it will be needed. Even when Niklas Hjalmarsson steps out in the HV shirt soon. Oh, what pressure will be put on Hjalmarsson’s shoulders…”, he writes in his column on JP.
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The post Giant criticism against HV71 after the fiasco start in the SHL – now wants to see clear changes: “It makes me more worried” appeared first on Sportbibeln.