Kevin Francis: The mismanagement of Filip Gustavsson, will it continue?!

Is it any surprise to any die hard Sens fan that DJ has messed up being coach of this team? He should be coaching down in the AHL with his lowest paid NHL salary.

He continuously has sent 2 different messages to this team all year and it has caused a lot of animosity with the coaching staff. DJ thinks it's ok to throw certain players under the bus in his press conferences but the ones causing the most damage to on ice results get a free pass. This doesn't happen with any other NHL team or any team in professional sports.

Many of my buddies have wondered why he has jerked around Gus's confidence, now with the stats you posted, it's even worse than most of us thought. So next year they say Forsberg will start at least 50 games, then if you think Gus is going to start 30 + games, you might want to think about mixing in a few more starts for him now or DJ, your job will be given to someone else. No more slow starts, but you are setting yourself up for failure next season the way you are handling the goaltending situation.

Lets not forget, Murray said he felt like a scapegoat when sent down and after what both DJ and Pierre Dorion said about him can you blame him? Listening to Ian Mendes a few days ago on TSN1200, Mendes said it was pretty bad when he went down to Belleville to interview Murray. DJ and Dorion have created so many messes this year, that no management group does this in a 3 year span, but Ottawa has outdone itself by doing that in less than a season. Alienating MDZ, Brannstrom, Murray, Mete, White, the list goes on and on. Very unprofessional group in that front office and on the coaching staff.

DJ thinks it's ok to throw certain players under the bus in his press conferences but the ones causing the most damage to on ice results get a free pass. This doesn't happen with any other NHL team or any team in professional sports.


LawyerSens4Life

Actually this happens a lot in the NHL. Blashill has been doing this for years in Detroit. Most coaches have their favorites and will play them more than they should and give them free passes for mistakes while slamming/punishing players they don't like or care for when they do the same things. This isn't something new or unique to the Sens and it will continue to happen unless we start having robot coaches who have no personal feelings or relationships with the players.

Actually this happens a lot in the NHL. Blashill has been doing this for years in Detroit. Most coaches have their favorites and will play them more than they should and give them free passes for mistakes while slamming/punishing players they don't like or care for when they do the same things. This isn't something new or unique to the Sens and it will continue to happen unless we start having robot coaches who have no personal feelings or relationships with the players.
- dcz28

I will take this in a different direction. Ottawa and Detroit, along with the other bottom dwellers do this sort of crap. The playoff teams in the NHL, don't do this sort of thing and that's why they are successful and not spinning their wheels, like Philly, NJ, Buffalo, etc.

Many thanks for the kind words on the last blog. I'm feeling good and resting. Hockeybuzz community is great!

I agree with the mishandling of Gus the Bus. I'd do a rotation system with him and Forsberg to finish the year with the games pretty much meaningless. Get Gus some consistency and Forsberg some rest. Seems like a win-win to me, even if the results end up being loses.

I will take this in a different direction. Ottawa and Detroit, along with the other bottom dwellers do this sort of crap. The playoff teams in the NHL, don't do this sort of thing and that's why they are successful and not spinning their wheels, like Philly, NJ, Buffalo, etc.
- PuckPix

There is still some of that going on with good teams...you just don't hear as much complaining about it because the team wins. Back when Detroit was still a contender for the cup, Babcock was playing Abdelkader with Datsyuk as a top line player when anyone could see he didn't belong there at all. Ericsson was being played way too much and he sucked, costing the Wings goals left and right but yet he got a free pass while other players got healthy scratched for mistakes. Very few coaches nowadays can distance themselves from the players to not have favorites and some they don't really like.

Scotty Bowman was probably the last one in Detroit that did that...he just treated all the players the same and would screw with any of them. As Holmstrom was telling reporters about his new number (96), and why he chose it to symbolize his first year in the NHL, Bowman walked by and said something along the lines of: “You should take 98 because that’s when you’re going back to Sweden.”

There is still some of that going on with good teams...you just don't hear as much complaining about it because the team wins. Back when Detroit was still a contender for the cup, Babcock was playing Abdelkader with Datsyuk as a top line player when anyone could see he didn't belong there at all. Ericsson was being played way too much and he sucked, costing the Wings goals left and right but yet he got a free pass while other players got healthy scratched for mistakes. Very few coaches nowadays can distance themselves from the players to not have favorites and some they don't really like.

Scotty Bowman was probably the last one in Detroit that did that...he just treated all the players the same and would screw with any of them. As Holmstrom was telling reporters about his new number (96), and why he chose it to symbolize his first year in the NHL, Bowman walked by and said something along the lines of: “You should take 98 because that’s when you’re going back to Sweden.”
- dcz28

Good story on Bowman!

As for other top teams, I just don't see it. Boudreau holds all players accountable, treats them all the same way, look at Sutter last night, he scratched Monahan. Look at the new coach in Edmonton, Hrudey said the biggest difference with him vs. Tippett is that he treats each player the same way, regardless of name. You can say the same in Winnipeg and in Toronto. Montreal, same approach now with Marty as coach and look at the results. Truly, Ottawa is the only Canadian team that screws up their lineups on a nightly basis. I can take it a step further with Brindamour in CAR, Cooper in TB, Brunette in FL, Cassidy healthy scratched Debrusk a few times this year. All these coaches treat their players the same way. I PVR every game and watch pieces of each game every night and parts of them the next day. I just don't see the top teams coaches doing what they do in Detroit or Ottawa. Watching Trotz in NYI today, players coach, honest and holds each player accountable. The list goes on and on. But the crappy teams in the league are the ones that struggle year in and out with crappy low paid coaches.

Good story on Bowman!

As for other top teams, I just don't see it. Boudreau holds all players accountable, treats them all the same way, look at Sutter last night, he scratched Monahan. Look at the new coach in Edmonton, Hrudey said the biggest difference with him vs. Tippett is that he treats each player the same way, regardless of name. You can say the same in Winnipeg and in Toronto. Montreal, same approach now with Marty as coach and look at the results. Truly, Ottawa is the only Canadian team that screws up their lineups on a nightly basis. I can take it a step further with Brindamour in CAR, Cooper in TB, Brunette in FL, Cassidy healthy scratched Debrusk a few times this year. All these coaches treat their players the same way. I PVR every game and watch pieces of each game every night and parts of them the next day. I just don't see the top teams coaches doing what they do in Detroit or Ottawa. Watching Trotz in NYI today, players coach, honest and holds each player accountable. The list goes on and on. But the crappy teams in the league are the ones that struggle year in and out with crappy low paid coaches.
- PuckPix

Just go around the blogs of all teams here and you will see some fans complaining about some player that are crap and being over-used or not being held accountable. Could be fans just being nit picky but given the stats of some of those players they have some merit to it. Islanders fans with Aho. Calgary fans seem to have wanted Monahan gone all season and he is just now being healthy scratched when the season is almost over. Nobody it seems were willing to give much for Debrusk so it might be the GM that told the coach to put him in the top 6 hoping they could finally move him.

I think it shows less on good teams because they actually have very few players that crap and better options (better depth) so the coaches have less chances to overuse or let go of mistakes. Some of it is some coaches just aren't that good. Ottawa and Detroit seem to fall in that category. I mean Blashill played DeKeyser most of the season getting top minutes with Seider even though he was the worst defenseman on the team. In Cholowski's rookie season he was doing real well early on and when he started to struggle a bit, Blashill healthy scratched him (for the first time) in Vancouver when his family and friends were coming to the game to see him play. He also healthy scratched him on his bobblehead night in Detroit.

Both the Wings and Sens have holes in their lineups but they seems to have similar problems with coaching and i think both coaches make the teams look worst than they should be with their systems and the way they use certain players. When teams have holes in their lineups, bad systems and poor accountability on top of it you get seasons like what the Wings and Sens have had the last few seasons.

Many thanks for the kind words on the last blog. I'm feeling good and resting. Hockeybuzz community is great!

I agree with the mishandling of Gus the Bus. I'd do a rotation system with him and Forsberg to finish the year with the games pretty much meaningless. Get Gus some consistency and Forsberg some rest. Seems like a win-win to me, even if the results end up being loses.
- Gord_Wilson_2.0

Glad to see you back and doing well. It's the best group of fans in this blog from the banter I've had with other fanbases on this site. Some of the fanbases are childish and immature, quite frankly nuts. Everyone in here on the Sens blog is respectful. Hope you recover well.

It doesn't matter if we lose at this stage, I'd hazard to say it is preferable if we put up compete but don't win. He'll never find a groove if he isn't allowed to settle in a bit. Get the kid some starts.

Just go around the blogs of all teams here and you will see some fans complaining about some player that are crap and being over-used or not being held accountable. Could be fans just being nit picky but given the stats of some of those players they have some merit to it. Islanders fans with Aho. Calgary fans seem to have wanted Monahan gone all season and he is just now being healthy scratched when the season is almost over. Nobody it seems were willing to give much for Debrusk so it might be the GM that told the coach to put him in the top 6 hoping they could finally move him.

I think it shows less on good teams because they actually have very few players that crap and better options (better depth) so the coaches have less chances to overuse or let go of mistakes. Some of it is some coaches just aren't that good. Ottawa and Detroit seem to fall in that category. I mean Blashill played DeKeyser most of the season getting top minutes with Seider even though he was the worst defenseman on the team. In Cholowski's rookie season he was doing real well early on and when he started to struggle a bit, Blashill healthy scratched him (for the first time) in Vancouver when his family and friends were coming to the game to see him play. He also healthy scratched him on his bobblehead night in Detroit.

Both the Wings and Sens have holes in their lineups but they seems to have similar problems with coaching and i think both coaches make the teams look worst than they should be with their systems and the way they use certain players. When teams have holes in their lineups, bad systems and poor accountability on top of it you get seasons like what the Wings and Sens have had the last few seasons.
- dcz28

Like you said, just because fans want it, doesn't mean it should happen. But again, when you have poor coaching, no systems, bottom feeder with talent, that's when the moranic coaches think they are smarter than everyone when they arent. Chicago scratched Kubalik in LA, he hadn't scored in 21 games. I'm telling you for the most part, its the perenial bottom feeders that have these issues with personnel, not the top half of the league. Teams using the waiver wire to plug holes create more personnel issues with stalling young prospects from betting icetime, because these coaches think they need to play those picks ups over the youth. It's so backwards.

It doesn't matter if we lose at this stage, I'd hazard to say it is preferable if we put up compete but don't win. He'll never find a groove if he isn't allowed to settle in a bit. Get the kid some starts.
- Bartacus

As an outsider, why not play the youngsters, I don't quite understand this coaching staff or the GM for that matter. Like you said, compete but don't win.

As an outsider, why not play the youngsters, I don't quite understand this coaching staff or the GM for that matter. Like you said, compete but don't win.
- PuckPix

Well all things considered, we won't run 3 goalies in the NHL next year. We could, but we won't, for both money and roster purposes. Murray passes waivers in the hopes he finds his game, so you run Forsberg and Gus. You need a solid backup, but we aren't priming Gus for that. If he falters, he's young enough and had enough promise that there's a good chance we lose him on waivers. The you have Forsberg-Murray for the rest of year, or bust. I'm just saying that if the primary concern of playing Gus is that we might lose, that's not enough of a reason to not let him try and find his game. I believe he can still surprise us.

Dumb decision not to resign Duclair


With Stutzle …. Oh the wheeling

guess whos back, back again, guess whos , Drake is back.

man canadas sports media is all leafs or habs.....

Ok Sens don’t pick on Giroux much we need him to love us 😂😂😂😝

Dumb decision not to resign Duclair


With Stutzle …. Oh the wheeling
- AlfieisKing

Duclair was acting as his own agent, was willing to take 3 years and 10 million yet PD gives Dadonov 3 years 15 million, then lets the asset walk, ugh.....

guess whos back, back again, guess whos , Drake is back.

man canadas sports media is all leafs or habs.....
- Mithos

Oh it's awful to listen to them on Sportsnet.....just wait until the Leafs season goes an extra 10 days longer than Ottawa or Montreal.....bahaha!

Well all things considered, we won't run 3 goalies in the NHL next year. We could, but we won't, for both money and roster purposes. Murray passes waivers in the hopes he finds his game, so you run Forsberg and Gus. You need a solid backup, but we aren't priming Gus for that. If he falters, he's young enough and had enough promise that there's a good chance we lose him on waivers. The you have Forsberg-Murray for the rest of year, or bust. I'm just saying that if the primary concern of playing Gus is that we might lose, that's not enough of a reason to not let him try and find his game. I believe he can still surprise us.
- Bartacus

The fact that everyone forgets how awful Forsberg was in Oct and Nov, pulled twice too. Gus was the one who was playing solid hockey and consistent the first two months. Then all of a sudden the start have been few and far in between. I spoke with 2 former NHL goaltenders and they both said, give a guy that little playing time you better expect the results you are getting when he's only 23. There are no expectations for the last 18 games, let Gus and Forsberg split the starts, end of story!

As an outsider, why not play the youngsters, I don't quite understand this coaching staff or the GM for that matter. Like you said, compete but don't win.
- PuckPix

Not many of us on here understand this coach or GM!

Is it any surprise to any die hard Sens fan that DJ has messed up being coach of this team? He should be coaching down in the AHL with his lowest paid NHL salary.

He continuously has sent 2 different messages to this team all year and it has caused a lot of animosity with the coaching staff. DJ thinks it's ok to throw certain players under the bus in his press conferences but the ones causing the most damage to on ice results get a free pass. This doesn't happen with any other NHL team or any team in professional sports.

Many of my buddies have wondered why he has jerked around Gus's confidence, now with the stats you posted, it's even worse than most of us thought. So next year they say Forsberg will start at least 50 games, then if you think Gus is going to start 30 + games, you might want to think about mixing in a few more starts for him now or DJ, your job will be given to someone else. No more slow starts, but you are setting yourself up for failure next season the way you are handling the goaltending situation.

Lets not forget, Murray said he felt like a scapegoat when sent down and after what both DJ and Pierre Dorion said about him can you blame him? Listening to Ian Mendes a few days ago on TSN1200, Mendes said it was pretty bad when he went down to Belleville to interview Murray. DJ and Dorion have created so many messes this year, that no management group does this in a 3 year span, but Ottawa has outdone itself by doing that in less than a season. Alienating MDZ, Brannstrom, Murray, Mete, White, the list goes on and on. Very unprofessional group in that front office and on the coaching staff.
- LawyerSens4Life

Great post and most on here would concur with you! Nice to see a new Sens fan posting on here too. Welcome.

Many thanks for the kind words on the last blog. I'm feeling good and resting. Hockeybuzz community is great!

I agree with the mishandling of Gus the Bus. I'd do a rotation system with him and Forsberg to finish the year with the games pretty much meaningless. Get Gus some consistency and Forsberg some rest. Seems like a win-win to me, even if the results end up being loses.
- Gord_Wilson_2.0

Absolutely great to here you are home and resting. Glad you are back on here. Wishing you a speedy recovery!

Beauty goal by Formenton and oh....look who set him up, MDZ!

Zuuuuubbbbb! Nice goal picked the far side of the net, nicely!

Trade Gus to the sabres