The NHL’s coaching change weeks are really underway. Earlier, Edmonton fired their head coach by Jay Woodcroftalthough his winning streak over two and a half years was the fifth best in the league.
This week I got to go to Minnesota Dean Evason. In both cases, the team had drifted into a bad sideways skid, but many were left with the feeling of unfair kicks.
Was it really the coach’s fault?
For example, Minnesota has as much as 15 million bucks in frozen money under the salary cap. The team is significantly weaker, because due to the contracts that have been bought out, it is not possible to strengthen the team. Edmonton, which was built for total imbalance, has less than six million in cash.
The coach is responsible for the result, but so is the club management. Could Woodcroft and Evason, for example, through the player trade, try to bring changes before the dismissals? They couldn’t. Two good coaches got a shoe and there is no guarantee that changing will improve.
The club directors, on the other hand, will continue in their positions.
– Minnesota’s GM makes statements that we have a damn good team that constantly underperforms. What if their real level is actually closer to what we see now? If Evason had indeed gotten the team to play in the upper register and over the years had torn all the energy out of that group, ‘s ice hockey expert Ismo Lehkonen ponders.
– I really value Evason and I also think Woodcroft is a good coach.
Lehkonen also reminds of the responsibility of key players in difficult moments. According to Lehkonen, the coach is always put on a stick when the results plummet.
– The coach is always brought up first and at the same time the most expensive players are not fun to defend. Let’s think of something in Minnesota Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello. The lads have dragged autumn right past.
– In this new era, the coach should be able to focus only on coaching. He can’t be there all the time flaming and pumping up players or giving discipline every day between substitutions and games. It must also come from the leading players. We are talking about character players, Lehkonen downloads.
Evason himself speaks In an interview with The Athletic in a great way about his recent dismissals. Evason says GM by Bill Guerin burst into tears while kicking, which made the coach cry too.
– I’m still not going to bury myself in my home. When I woke up, I didn’t think I was a bad coach. I thought I’m a damn good coach and I want to coach. I understand the decision they made, although I disagree with it. I am proud and grateful for my time in the club, Evason states in the interview.
Who surprised?
The Los Angeles Kings belong to the absolute comets of the fall season. The club management has built the team calmly and purposefully, and now the 2012 and 2014 Stanley Cup winner is ready to seriously fight for the top spot in the Western Conference. Todd McLellan coached by Kings, the team is excellently balanced.
Only Boston and the New York Rangers – despite Thursday morning’s loss – have a better point percentage for the season than Los Angeles.
– The team is built in such a way that they have a clear idea of really going far this season. The middle lane is excellent, the defense has puck skills, but also the necessary roughness.
The most impressive entity in Los Angeles is the middle lane. Anze Kopitar, Pierre-Luc Dubois mixed Philip Danault even form the best trio of the series.
– That’s convincing. Dubois has two very tough mentors to teach him what it takes to win hockey in the NHL, Lehkonen sees.
Who flopped?
Should I say the Ottawa Senators, once again.
Expectations in the Canadian capital were really high. The young team is recognized as having potential and now they had to seriously knock on the playoff door in the tough east. What else. Ottawa is once again an undisciplined and, to put it bluntly, low-quality team, whose identity is built around forced bludgeoning and spineless play.
The difference to the playoff line is already nine points.
– Absolutely incomprehensible. Every year, this team finds a period during which they rumble with great care and then the train has already run away. We play with the puck as much as it hurts and defending is not exciting, Lehkonen whips.
Ottawa’s naturally talented core is quickly learning to be a good loser. The club has not reached the playoffs in six years and once again the group is operating on the losing team’s scoreboard. At the same time, the key players are already starting to reach the age of 25, even beyond.
– Let’s take that Jeff Skinner (Buffalo) and see how many playoff games he has (ed. note none). They say it’s a good dude when it scores. Do those guys want to be Jeff Skinners, Lehkonen asks.
Goal of the week
Eetu Luostarinen’s 5-0 hit in Ottawa on Tuesday describes the Senators’ situation well. Nothing works and the whole team – except for the goalkeepers – looks bad. Referring to the coach exchange discussion, it is clear that the head coach by DJ Smith the chair rocks more strongly than any colleague right now.
– The ball is seriously swinging, there is no getting anywhere. There is now so much bigotry in the media and otherwise.
What next?
In addition to Ottawa, Lehkonen plans to follow the performances of other Canadians with a close eye in the coming weeks. Toronto doesn’t seem to be balanced, and Edmonton and Calgary put themselves on the back foot for the playoffs due to weak starts. Now, Calgary has lost only three of the previous ten in regular time, and Edmonton is also on a three-game winning streak.
– Toronto doesn’t seem to be winning the way they would like. There is still a lot of training to do. There they are Austin Matthews and Mitch Marner scored one goal in the last six matches. You can’t really bark at those boys, but there is something wrong with that team, and it’s because, in my opinion, the group is so badly unbalanced, Lehkonen says.
For Edmonton, the concern is the perennial quality of the five-man game.
– Will they be able to do it, because their game is nowhere near in shape. Edmonton, for example, had nothing against Florida when Florida blacked out Connor McDavid’s and Leon Draisaitl. And in the case of Canada, it is not appropriate to forget the importance of the media. The pressure there is really damn hard. Can the cassette withstand the pressure of the media and fans, Lehkonen asks.
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