Playoff post mortem

[Beaglefan2]

Last post till next year.


On one hand, if we had lost to Columbus in the first round the year before (we were very, very lucky to win), this team would go down as one of the biggest choking dog teams over a prolonged period in all of sports!  On the other hand, there is a lot of luck in the playoffs and we won a Cup!


On the coaching - I'm not sure about Rierdon, but don't know enough to really judge him.  I do know he needed to make changes in the special teams play - either by changing the assistant in charge or dictating a new system.  He also needed to get a faceoff coach (other teams do that).  However, overall he might be stuck with a team chemistry that just doesn't have the continuing burning desire to win - other than a few players.


On the players,  I fear we are going to get smoked in the next few years as some other teams are really looking strong, with some special young players.  I watched Colorado with Kale Makar joining their defense right out of college - that kid is fantastic.  Look out for Colorado next year and a handful of others.   I had hoped that Kuzy, Vrana and Orlov would be those guys for us and they were all non-factors in the playoffs.


On Carlson, like Rush, I have a reluctant acceptance/tolerance.


Overall, I keep trying to stay optimistic. If nothing else, hockey has proven to be a game where the best team doesn't always win the Cup and we should at least have some hope in the next couple years.

[Mickstix]

Gotta see if Rierden can adjust.. Took Trotz years to succeed, but then THIS team really shouldn't of been tasked with a rookie head coach. That kind of testing the waters should be done with a young (or lesser caliber) team, imo.. These guys needed a veteran coach, but too late now.. Is what it is..

[zerofox]

Gotta see if Rierden can adjust.. Took Trotz years to succeed, but then THIS team really shouldn't of been tasked with a rookie head coach. That kind of testing the waters should be done with a young (or lesser caliber) team, imo.. These guys needed a veteran coach, but too late now.. Is what it is..

In Trotz's defense, while he did take a few years before getting the Cup, he also did take a team that had missed the playoffs and got them back in the playoffs the next year, albeit thanks to GMBM shoring up the defense with Orpik and Niskanen that offseason.


Reirden took a championship team and didn't get much out of them. Sure, it's unfair to expect a new coach to earn his team the repeat title, but this season basically matched last season, which was Trotz's worst season (more points than his first season but his first season had some expected growing pains), yet with the same roster.


There were plenty of times last year when people felt like Trotz had "lost the team" and that he should be fired. After all, he had just come off two seasons at nearly 120 regular season standings points, so last year was a huge slump for Trotz. If Trotz was on the chopping block for last year, and Reirden took pretty much the same exact team and had the same exact performance (sans Cup), then why shouldn't Reirden have been on the chopping block too?

[alta]

... snip ...


There were plenty of times last year when people felt like Trotz had "lost the team" and that he should be fired. After all, he had just come off two seasons at nearly 120 regular season standings points, so last year was a huge slump for Trotz. If Trotz was on the chopping block for last year, and Reirden took pretty much the same exact team and had the same exact performance (sans Cup), then why shouldn't Reirden have been on the chopping block too?

The team would have had to be in total collapse and be out of the playoffs by February for Ted to admit they screwed up and fire Reirden. There is always next season...