Paul McCann: Positions in review - Coaching

is it good to only get 1 comment on ur blog ?

The preds have become stagnant and will be looking at a high draft pick in the 19/20 draft

Wow... A lot of this sounds familiar. No, the personal DOESN'T fit the system, a lot of us here have said it too, which is why the roster is going to have to be tweaked now that Poile has decided to bring the entire coaching staff back. Lavy's not going to completely overhaul his system to accommodate the player's on the ice. The Preds did need to get bigger and stronger up front, but those guys also need to have some speed and skill to keep up with how Lavy want's to play. The big guys are too slow, and a lot of your smaller forwards/role players are soft and, quite frankly, aren't all that fast or skilled either. Getting offense from your D is great, pivotal to be successful in today's NHL really, but you can't be this reliant upon them to produce offense.

I still like Lavy as a coach, those guys get too much blame when things go south, but in this case it is fair to criticize them. This offense got figured out early this season. Pretty much every team with a decent defense played us the same way. Get aggressive with the smaller soft forwards when they cross the line, even a few of the d-men, and they'll usually fold and cough up the puck. If the Preds do get in the zone and get set up, just clog up the shooting lanes and not let those D-men get those clear shots from the point that's been their bread and butter for the last couple of years. The results were a lot of blocked shots, and a lot of turnovers caused by sloppy lazy passing, and guys just getting powered off the puck. These were problems all year that the team never really seemed to adjust to. Combine this with the lazy turnovers and general lack of work ethic, and those are all problems you have to look directly at the coaching staff for. It's their jobs to get these guys to play and put them in the best possible position to win. Either the coaching staff wasn't doing their jobs (Doubt it), the players weren't listening, (maybe), or the guys on the ice just weren't good enough to follow through. (Likely)

Housley is available again...

Housley is available again...
- jochfr

A lot of us would love to have him back. He may have been in-over-his-head as a head coach, but he was a really good assistant here. The PP hasn't been the same since he left.

Wow... A lot of this sounds familiar. No, the personal DOESN'T fit the system, a lot of us here have said it too, which is why the roster is going to have to be tweaked now that Poile has decided to bring the entire coaching staff back. Lavy's not going to completely overhaul his system to accommodate the player's on the ice. The Preds did need to get bigger and stronger up front, but those guys also need to have some speed and skill to keep up with how Lavy want's to play. The big guys are too slow, and a lot of your smaller forwards/role players are soft and, quite frankly, aren't all that fast or skilled either. Getting offense from your D is great, pivotal to be successful in today's NHL really, but you can't be this reliant upon them to produce offense.

I still like Lavy as a coach, those guys get too much blame when things go south, but in this case it is fair to criticize them. This offense got figured out early this season. Pretty much every team with a decent defense played us the same way. Get aggressive with the smaller soft forwards when they cross the line, even a few of the d-men, and they'll usually fold and cough up the puck. If the Preds do get in the zone and get set up, just clog up the shooting lanes and not let those D-men get those clear shots from the point that's been their bread and butter for the last couple of years. The results were a lot of blocked shots, and a lot of turnovers caused by sloppy lazy passing, and guys just getting powered off the puck. These were problems all year that the team never really seemed to adjust to. Combine this with the lazy turnovers and general lack of work ethic, and those are all problems you have to look directly at the coaching staff for. It's their jobs to get these guys to play and put them in the best possible position to win. Either the coaching staff wasn't doing their jobs (Doubt it), the players weren't listening, (maybe), or the guys on the ice just weren't good enough to follow through. (Likely)
- Squatchy

They weren't doing their job. Listen carefully to Lavy's explanation that seemed to enrapture Paul so much...they ran out of ideas, so they looked elsewhere for some. Now, as a player, how much confidence are you going to have in a coach, or staff, that can't figure it out on their own? Would you listen?

I think they tuned them out because they didn't have any confidence in their plan, style, whatever you may want to call it. This creates indecision, attempting to do too much, not everyone on the same page...sound familiar?

A lot of us would love to have him back. He may have been in-over-his-head as a head coach, but he was a really good assistant here. The PP hasn't been the same since he left.
- Squatchy

Agreed.

They weren't doing their job. Listen carefully to Lavy's explanation that seemed to enrapture Paul so much...they ran out of ideas, so they looked elsewhere for some. Now, as a player, how much confidence are you going to have in a coach, or staff, that can't figure it out on their own? Would you listen?

I think they tuned them out because they didn't have any confidence in their plan, style, whatever you may want to call it. This creates indecision, attempting to do too much, not everyone on the same page...sound familiar?
- FoxMulder

Nothing ever seemed to change that's for sure. The lack of adjustments to how other teams defended them is my biggest criticism of the coaching staff. For as much as they claim to have worked on the PP, it certainly never looked any different. I guess they thought if they practiced the same crap over and over again it would eventually work itself out? Even getting Boyle and Simmonds didn't really help... Doesn't do much good to stand in front of the goalie when the puck never seems to make anywhere near the net...

So now that we have discussed pretty much the entire team, maybe we should discuss front office, G.M , scouts ?

I admit I don’t know much about the hockey operations group, however, I like the ownership group because I think they are giving free reign in hockey operations to spend and win a cup.
Remember when everyone thought it was time for Trotz to go ? And maybe it was for “this team”?
How did that work out for Trotz?
So What about David Poile? Great family hockey tree. Great guy ! No cups. Hmmmm.

So now that we have discussed pretty much the entire team, maybe we should discuss front office, G.M , scouts ?

I admit I don’t know much about the hockey operations group, however, I like the ownership group because I think they are giving free reign in hockey operations to spend and win a cup.
Remember when everyone thought it was time for Trotz to go ? And maybe it was for “this team”?
How did that work out for Trotz?
So What about David Poile? Great family hockey tree. Great guy ! No cups. Hmmmm.
- wrister

When the GM has a presser with a coach who admits that he had no idea how to fix the power play after six months of trying, and then expresses confidence in the coaching staff...there's a problem.

Business 101: if you have an employee that doesn't know how to do a job, you find one who can. I think just like the D, our GM is living on reputation. He's a nice guy and has a good rep through the league, but come on, we're watching the team burn and he supports Nero fiddling.

Poile has been living off goodwill from the Forsberg trade and the 2017 Cup final run for the past two seasons. His more recent moves have not been nearly as beneficial. This is his coaching staff & his roster. If they don't make significant improvements this year - he needs to call it a career.

The league has changed. The three longest tenured coaches (Cooper in TB, Maurice in WPG & Lavy in Nashville) all lost out in the first round this year. Was that a fluke? Or do coaches have a true shelf life in the modern NHL of maybe 3-4 seasons?

I know DeBoer has been around since 2015 for the Sharks, but the other two coaches still standing are sitting at 2 years on the job or less (Berube is an interim for Pete's sake!)

I can be a fan and appreciate all the Poile has done for this franchise. But I doubt seriously that the Preds win a Cup with him as GM, unless he makes some drastic changes.

I can be a fan and appreciate all the Poile has done for this franchise. But I doubt seriously that the Preds win a Cup with him as GM, unless he makes some drastic changes.
- holycow_75

He's going to have to do some wheeling and dealing to free up the cap space to make drastic changes. I don't see it.

But not doing that pretty much means that we risk being sellers at the deadline, because other teams are passing us, especially in the Central.

Well, we would be able to unload salary that way...