Coaching

[Surreylily]

There have been a few grumbles of late regarding Reirdon.
There are a couple of people who blame the coach for everything, including the weather, but I think it's fair to say that the coaching needs to be assessed/examined. in light of our recent play, or lack thereof.

There has been a definite downturn in our team and for a while now.
We had a whole series of games where we played like crap, then put in an effort in the last twently minutes.... then ten minutes and then only five minutes.  lots of come from behinds ,that we really didn't deserve to win.
Now we've (RIGHTLY) stopped winning.
Is it the system?   That's down to the coaches.
Is iit the executiion?   That's down to the players.
Is it motivation?   Who's to blame for that?   50/50 imho.

What really concerns me right now is the lack of correcting the constant and repeat mistakes that are being made, over and over again.  The passing and giveaways are appalling.  The telegraphed stretch passes that a blind person can see.
Our face=offs are appalling.  WHAT is wrong wiith Nicky?
As for our D ..........     I say send them to Dale Hunter for a week......

WHY can't Reirdon address these glaringly obvious issues.   Has he lost the room?

[Ozzies09tc]

Honestly, I'd prefer them to slump NOW as opposed to mid-April/May/June

[Surreylily]

Honestly, I'd prefer them to slump NOW as opposed to mid-April/May/June

Do you thiink the awfull play is just due to a slump?  I hope you're right luv
t's one hellof a slump and it's been going on for a while now. I'd say around the last 20 games or so give or take...
That's not a slump.  That's a collapse.
Imho.

[KollieOlizig]

Honestly, I'd prefer them to slump NOW as opposed to mid-April/May/June

     I can't see this team playing in May or June. Hope I'm wrong.
 It was only a matter of time before this team started losing games. The Caps weren't really playing that well early in the season but we're pulling out alot of wins that we didn't deserve. We have played without structure from day 1 winning games on skill alone.
   

[KollieOlizig]

Do you thiink the awfull play is just due to a slump?  I hope you're right luv
t's one hellof a slump and it's been going on for a while now. I'd say around the last 20 games or so give or take...
That's not a slump.  That's a collapse.
Imho.

     I'm with Surreylily

[Surreylily]

     I'm with Surreylily

Lol!   
But what do you thiink is the problem?  IS it coaching?

Who would you want as a replcement?

[Surreylily]

I'm going to be my usual self and suggest Alan May as our next Head coach.
In the same beath.... almost... 'm going to be very uncharacteritic and say,,, maybe not so much.
I think he could be a GREAT coach.  In time.  Just not now and not for us, just yet anyway....
He's great at analyzing our play, for sure.  Analyzing and putting into play are two different things.
I adore  Alan May, as I'm sure you all kno by now. but HC. I don't think so.  I shall tell you why.

There has been a trend here with our team of employing FIRST TIME head coaches.
This has NOT gone well.
The one and only time we got an EXPERIeNCED coach  we won THE Cup.
NUFF SAID
This experiment with fiirst time coaches should be over by now, imho.  It doesn't work.  It hasn't worked for YEARS.

[Surreylily]

To clarify.... I owuld not have a problem if Alan May came in as an interim coach, if supported by Dale Hunter especially.  GOD knows our D needs some workk.  But he is not a lond term solution, i dont think.

[KollieOlizig]

Lol!   
But what do you thiink is the problem?  IS it coaching?

Who would you want as a replcement?

     I would say the problem is more related to coaching. There is no structure with this team.  We have serious problems with gap control. Both horizontal and vertical.  Too much space between our defencemen and too much space between our defencemen and forwards.
   Alot of the problems we are having getting out of our zone is because there is too much cheating in our game. Our forwards quite often leave the zone early. So way too often our defencemen have limited options, forcing our defence to attempt low percentage passes. Like all the stretch passes they attempt.
       We are struggling defensively but that starts with puck management. Way too many turnovers all over the ice. Most of the odd man rushes we are giving up start in the offensive zone caused from a turnover entering the zone. Players trying to get too cute.
     If it was one happening to a couple players I wouldn't say the problem was coaching but it's happening to alot of players on a regular basis.
     Alan May commented on how the Arizona Coyotes are over coached. Everything is by the book. The Caps are under coached. Too much improvising in our game.

[KollieOlizig]

To clarify.... I owuld not have a problem if Alan May came in as an interim coach, if supported by Dale Hunter especially.  GOD knows our D needs some workk.  But he is not a lond term solution, i dont think.

     I've wondered about Alan May coaching. He knows the game very well.

[Surreylily]

     I've wondered about Alan May coaching. He knows the game very well.

He does.  No question about that.  But I wouldn't want him as a rookie Head Coach.
I donT want ANY rookie head coach.   As an assistant HC, I think he would be amazing.   Truly.
 He's an incredible stats guy and hugely knowledgable about the game in general.  He has the experience and is a Caps legend.



BUT.
Being a HC isn't just about facts and figures, is it.  Its about PEOPLE.  It's about the players.  Every single one of them.  And every single one of them is differrent, unque and has to be treated as such.  A stick might work for one, a carrot for nother and every single permeantation in between....
And then you've got to figure out the other team....
Being a head coach isn't aout facts and figures and routines.  The reason Trotz was so good was because he understood people and chemistry.
I believe Alan May is a very personble... um ... well. person.  ...but I think he's too clinical and factual to LEAD a team.

[Surreylily]

To add
What we need is an EXPERIENCED coach.   Think "herding cats"...Wrangling egos.
We need a coach that the players believe in and that belives in THEM.  Individualy and collectively  AS A TEAM.
You show me a coach out there that is availble, that can do that?

I would give one year of my life to get Trotz back here.   

[Mickstix]

Laviolette has experience.. I'd take Alan May as a filler as well.

[Surreylily]

Laviolette has experience.. I'd take Alan May as a filler as well.

Is the Violet avaiilable....?

[Surreylily]

Willing.....??   

[Surreylily]

weYou've been gobbing off about the coaching alo season.ll come on Apace! 

money mouth luv.....

[Surreylily]

I believe if we're gonna win the Cup agan, we need to get lTrotz back.

[richkrt99]

I love Alan May.  I used to think he would make a great coach...
But not so sure now.


I think Alan May certainly has the hockey knowledge and personality, but not sure he could cope with the mindset of today's players and effectively manage them.  He is a smart but hard-nosed type of guy.  What would he do with Kuzy when he takes a couple...three...four games off at half effort?  What would he do with Ovi if he does the same?  Maybe he would get better response from players due to respect for him, but I'm not so sure.    Maybe I'm not giving him enough credit though....he has managed NOT to strangle the life out of his moronic on-air partner; eyeliner boy.  Maybe the players would respond to a former player, but Reirdon is a former player too.

Trotz was great at "managing" these things.  That's what head coach is more than anything....a manager of all things on his team.  A coach has to manage all the players and their personalities and ups and downs, strengths and weaknesses, and manage to find a way to get them all on the same page and stay there long enough to half long term success.  Trotz is a smart guy.  He "managed" Ovi...went to Russia in the off-season and laid out a plan to make Ovi more responsible, a better leader, a better Captain and got Ovi to buy in and actually captain this team and they won a cup.  Sorry to say that ship has sailed with Trotz.  No way would I want Trotz back  I do not believe he could accomplish the same success with this team.  Too much bad blood between team/management and Trotz.  I don't see that working again.  I think he nearly "lost the locker room earlier in the cup season before the playoffs.  Once we got in the playoffs and started rolling, it was a different story, but I recall nearly everyone on these boards trashing Trotz and calling for his job about halfway into that season.

Sorry about the font/size change - I still can't hit the backspace key without it totally messing up my posts (good thing I rarely make a mistake and have to backspace)
Which is one of the things wrong with this team.  They are SO talented and they know it.  They know they can play 1/3 of a game and still maybe win.  Hell, they did that the whole 1st half of the season.  They were winning games they may not have deserved due to over scoring with the top talent as well as scoring from bottom guys.  Now the top guys have leveled off and the bottom guys haven't scored in .....forever.
NOW they need to actually WORK to win games and it isn't happening.  Part of the problem is they "know" they can still turn it on and win.  That works sometimes, sometimes it doesn't.
I'm hoping they all know and realize this and they are just sort of waiting for the right time to peak.  Yes, it is frustrating to watch when you KNOW they have more in them, but maybe they are "saving it" for the playoff run?  I know that is a dangerous concept, but also partly realistic.  At the relative age and experience of our leadership core, maybe they know they can't go full afterburner for 100+ games in a season so they are coasting while they can.  Or maybe they are a bunch of lazy, complacent overpaid athletes who are satisfied with one cup.  I don't think that is the case.  I think most of these guys are much more competitive than we are - they have to be to even get close to this level.  The are professional athlete's which we can't even imagine the rigor and effort it requires to play at this level.


Anyway....got to cut this off...turning into a Rant.


I don't think TR is the guy, but also don't think he is as bad as we all like to pretend.


Alan May would be an interesting experiment, but like Lil said....do you want to "experiment" with him as our head coach?


Also, I think a new coach is a pipe dream at this point - it will take a monumental collapse falling far short of making the playoffs for the Caps to even consider a coaching change.  That or a total loss of confidence by the players that is SO obvious the team cannot avoid it.


Go Caps

[PUCKNRUSH]

Well, now that I’ve been fired, by Lil, (even before being hired😁), as a future motivational speaker for the Caps, 😂🤣,  I have officially been cut loose to speak freely on this coaching thread!👍
(Everyone knows I never speak freely, or LENGTHY, here) BWAHAHA!


All kidding aside....IF it’s true, AND IT IS, that what this team needs, above all, and in a perfect world, would be to find the energy/motivation/drive, that we HABITUALLY WITNESS our boys, LOSING, at different random times, AND in random different degrees, causing the frustrating SLUMPS, in the 2nd half of the season!  It is one of the biggest subjects we talk about here on the board, PERIOD!


Manifesting itself, in what we refer to here, on the board, as “They’re not playing like themselves“, “they are lazy“, “they play like they don’t care”, “Where is the energy“, “who the hell is this freaking team?“, and ALL the various ways we find, to basically state THE SAME FRICKIN DISEASE, this HUGE, and constantly FRUSTRATING issue.....(hold on now)


IF....we are looking for a COACH, that is able to come in and rectify, this many years old, low effort issue, that reliably, pops its ugly head up, EVERY SEASON, for at least, half a decade, here in Washington......well honestly, sincerely, and SADLY....


THERE ISNT A COACH, ON THE FACE OF THIS EARTH, OR ANY HUMAN BEING, CAPABLE of pulling off such a feat!!!
This shit, (I’m being REAL now, IS, and HAS BEEN, so deeply entrenched in the core of this Capitals organization, that it’s truly UNSOLVABLE!!


On top of that, this phenomenon has been actually REWARDED, and deeply REINFORCED, season after season, by finishing at, or near the top of the division, with two recent Presidents Trophy’s, AND a Stanley Cup, and has MORPHED now, practically into a LEARNED.BEHAVIOR!!


In other words, they’ve slacked off, at some point, just after mid season, ROUTINELY, then unfortunately, have LEARNED THROUGH REPETITION, that they WILL still make the playoffs, have even won a Cup, and STILL continue to sellout tickets, continue to NOT get displined by Mgmnt, OR  coaching staff, AND ALL CONTINUES ON OK!!


 The real truthful, suck-ass, BAD NEWS,  is that it is NOT going to stop, no matter what coach comes in here, any time soon, until we start to become losers in the division, NOT make the playoffs, and revenue starts to tank!!


 And you, and I, and all the other fans, will continue to watch, and go through the crazy highs and lows of the emotional roller coaster ride, we’ve voluntarily chosen to hop on, as the price of admission to being a Washington Capitals fan!!  Some of us definitely take it better than others!!


NOW, having barked ALL this negativity, I am still a very happy Caps fan, ON BALANCE, that is!  After weighing it all out, and everything.  Hell, there aren’t many cities,That have NHL franchises that can “recover”, after our multiple fiascoes, and still be winners, by the end of the regular season!!
 In an odd twist of reality, we are actually FORTUNATE, as a city, within an  NHL franchise!!  So somebody, PLEASE, go figure!!


 More importantly, I do believe there are a few coaches who could “TRIM“, the problem, so that it may not be as prevalent during the last half of our season. TROTZ was one of them, and there are probably a few others!


 And I can definitely say that Coach Rierden is ABSOLUTELY NOT, one of those coaches!!  This team marches to the beat of its own drummer, AND, the DRUMMER, is not our CURRENT coach, FOR SURE!!


 Coach Rierden, IS however, the INNOCUOUS BABYSITTER, and the lucky INHERITOR, of an extremely talented team,  that as I’ve said 1000 times, DIALS IN, when they “feel“ like playing, generally speaking!!


 I think Coach Rierden is a good guy, and probably a damn good assistant coach!  But he lacks the entire package necessary to be a head coach, mainly I don’t think he puts much emphasis on discipline, in any form except to passively “scratch“ somebody once in a while! No balls!


 Sometimes folks, when your looking at a bull from behind,  you just have to admit that its ASSHOLE  IS AN UGLY THING!!!😂🤣😂
 So is the story of hope, for a coach that could “change”, the locker room culture here!!!
(I’m sure there will be plenty of disagreement here)!


Well Lil, you asked for my comment, and I put it forward, the best I can!


Rush

[richkrt99]

I admit freely that I have never looked at a Bull's asshole