"I think you absolutely have to throw Boudreau in with the half dozen or so worthy candidates for the Jack Adams. He's convinced his team to change its colors, adopting a more defensive style that should, in theory, apply itself better come playoff time. That's a coach that learned a valuabe lesson from the playoffs last year and applied it this year. Impressive. Look at last night, once the Caps went up 3-2 on the Habs, they totally shut the game down, Montreal didn't get a sniff. That's just something the Caps didn't know how to do before this year."
about 1 year ago
J.P.
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Wow. I have to strongly disagree, and I’m one of the bigger BB supporters on here. Yes, he’s gotten them to be a better defensive team, but he’s had a lot of problems this season. He shouldn’t even be mentioned in the Adams discussion.
Matt Bradley: He has sensitive skin, no?
And yet his team has completely changed the way it plays the game and has the third-most points in hockey. Can’t imagine where they’d be if he knew how to coach…
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by J.P. on Mar 16, 2011 11:30 AM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
Snarky…
Its an interesting argument, but it is way too nuanced to be take very seriously. This is a team that was supposed to be the top 5 of the league no matter what style they played… and here they are.
Beards are the zenith of manliness. First, they are scratchy and unpleasant to womenfolk. Second, they look awesome. Third, if you have something tasty for lunch, you can enjoy the smell all the way until dinnertime. - RMNB
The way they underperformed for half the season has to count against BB. I love what he’s done, and I think it will be a better system come playoff time, but they are 13 points behind last season when it comes to the standings. I’m not saying BB can’t coach, because I think the facts show otherwise, but the team is right about where it should be right now. For the Adams, I’d have to go with someone who has gotten their team to significantly improve in the standings.
Matt Bradley: He has sensitive skin, no?
last season was such a freak occurrence. if everyone was held to the 120+ point standard, everyone would be fired after one season.
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It was a freak occurrence, but the last two seasons have shown that the Caps are a top team. I do think BB has improved them, but I think the Adams should go to a coach who has gotten their team to go to a higher level – as BDD said below, “cellar to stellar.”
Matt Bradley: He has sensitive skin, no?
Tampa Bay is the one who comes to mind – 12th place to 5th. Although that could change by season’s end. St. Louis is also improved, although I don’t think Adams improved. Dallas has improved, but it’s too early to say how much.
Matt Bradley: He has sensitive skin, no?
Tampa had a significant personnel changes too.
Because now I can justify browsing and commenting during the work day with the argument that I am promoting my business.
by Sombrero Guy on Mar 16, 2011 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions
So basically there is only one ‘rags to riches’, and it’s a mediocre one. So who are the other coaches that are up for the Adams trophy that take Bruce out of the discussion?
Bruce shouldn’t be in the discussion period. His team is where they should be, which is largely due to personnel. He’s done a great job instituting a system that should be better in the playoffs, but he hasn’t improved the team in the standings compared to the last two seasons. Look at the last 3 winners. Tippett took the Coyotes from 13th to 4th, when they had pretty much been written off. Julien took the Bruins from 8th to 1st. We all know what BB did. That is what the Adams is generally given for.
Matt Bradley: He has sensitive skin, no?
The way they underperformed for half the season has to count against BB.
And the way he fixed that has to count for him in an even bigger way, especially since a huge chunk of the underperforming was simply regression to a reasonable level of production.
The mark of a good coach in any sport isn’t necessarily his gameplan, but how he adjusts when his gameplan isn’t working. Bruce isn’t perfect, but he has done a tremendous job through a shitton of adversity this year.
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I totally agree with all of that. I just don’t see how getting a top team to stay as a top team is Adams-worthy.
Matt Bradley: He has sensitive skin, no?
No, I don’t think he will (or should) win it. Just that when it’s all said and done, he’s done a good job this (regular) season. That’s all.
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Although you could argue some, or a lot, of the adversity is created by him. For large portions of the season the players seemed to be going through the motions. Why couldn’t he change that? Now it looks like the team, especially the key players, are playing with a little more fire. Is that because BB lit the fire, or they finally decided it was time to play hard?
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Ultimately it’s on each and every man to do his part on the ice. The coach can only do so much. And now that you see the players’ collective give-a-shit level surging, you can see that the underlying plan – the “so much” a coach can do – might not be a bad one.
But your points are valid, of course, in that part of a coach’s job is to properly convey his message and motivate his players.
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I guess part of this comes down to “how much do you think a coach can do?” We aren’t really disagreeing, just focusing on different aspects. I tend to put motivation heavily in the coach’s camp.
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I guess maybe I’m more in the other camp. These are grown men highly compensated to do a job. The “Al Pacino pep talk” stuff isn’t reality. Guys either get it or they don’t.
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True, but why are there some coaches that routinely have their guys battling every shift? Maybe it’s not a pep talk that we’re talking about. Maybe it’s Torts healthy scratching Marian Gaborik for poor effort, despite having much less scoring depth than we do. Perhaps it’s Q benching Keith in-game on a few occasions early in the year when he wasn’t happy with his game. I think a stiffer hand with on-ice accountability might have lit a fire under some of these guys. Others, not so much. I just wish we could have seen an example of it so we had something to compare.
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Yeah, I don’t disagree.
I also think it’s a delicate balance when the organization essentially from the top down says the regular season doesn’t matter… and then you start punishing players for playing that way.
Needless to say, we won’t really know anything for another month. Or two. Or three.
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I do think there is something to the organizational message about the regular season being internalized. Hopefully we don’t have to deal with that every year, but if this year they somehow saved energy for the playoffs and it pays off I’ll be ok.
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Right.
Coach: “What’s up? You’re playing like you don’t even want to be out there.”
Player: “That’s because I kinda don’t want to be out there.”
Coach: “Well start playing like you want to be out there or you won’t be out there.”
Real powerful motivator, that.
Which circles back to the fact that when there’s been a low give-a-shit level, who has it been? Not the rookies – guys like Carlson, MoJo, Perreault, the goalies… pretty consistently strong efforts. Not the guys who are on the line between playing and not – guys like Hendricks, Erskine, Bradley… pretty consistently strong efforts. There are a couple of exceptions where guys who have no business dogging it have done so, but by and large, the motivational issues have begun and ended with the skill players. How, in November, do you reach guys with ten-year contracts? Seems to me those issues are a lot more internal to the man than external.
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Spot on. Although I don’t think it would have been out of bounds to bench AO or Nick for a period or two early in the year. Instead of giving AO 28 minutes in a 4-1 loss.
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As a punishment, or to “save” them?
by Berube Doobie Doo on Mar 16, 2011 2:51 PM EDT up reply actions
“Coach, why is ____ scratched today?”
“He’s looking a little slow, a little tentative, and I don’t know if he’s banged up or not, but it just seemed to me that he needed a game off so he can play his best when we need him.”
Washington still suffers from legitimately below-average goaltending, which hurts them more than the defensive improvements help.
by Gould Old Days on Mar 16, 2011 6:05 PM EDT up reply actions
I largely agree that Boudreau has acquitted himself over the last couple weeks, but in terms of keeping stars motivated he hasn’t tried tinkering with their ice time. Semin or Ovie can play patty-cake on the power play and elect not to shoot for 2 minutes, and they’ll never see their minutes cut.
I think it’s fair to question whether BB is among the best coaches at motivating star talent.
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Agreed.
But I’d also add that I think it’s fair to question whether the Caps’ star talent is among the best at self-motivating.
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For sure, I think that’s the root cause of it.
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Can’t you possibly attribute a lot of the first-half underperformance TO the change in system? It was a massive shift, and further I think for a lot of the superstars, it was a shift from a system where they could pretty much do what they instinctively do anyway to one requiring a lot more thought/decisionmaking from them. Those aren’t easy changes and the early season looked to me like growing/adjustment pains more than anything else. (Of course around about January January I decided I was dead wrong about this. But now it looks like a solid theory.)
Not arguing BB for Adams BTW just throwing this out on the bad first half.
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by ThePeerless on Mar 16, 2011 11:51 AM EDT up reply actions
The only way that BB’s coaching performance is award-worthy is if his defense-first pays off… in the playoffs. And the Adams voting ends before the playoffs start, so no way he’s a contender.
by Berube Doobie Doo on Mar 16, 2011 11:33 AM EDT reply actions
If the Caps go from winning the East by sheer force of goals scored, to potentially winning the east with 2nd or 3rd fewest goals allowed in the conference, some credit needs to be given to the coach, no?
Because now I can justify browsing and commenting during the work day with the argument that I am promoting my business.
by Sombrero Guy on Mar 16, 2011 11:36 AM EDT up reply actions
It’s an interesting transformation, and definitely praise-worthy, but not the sort of thing that wins Coach of the Year. That award is reserved for teams that go from cellar to stellar, not stellar-A to stellar-B.
by Berube Doobie Doo on Mar 16, 2011 11:40 AM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
moral: rec'titude.
A lot of my criticism about BB’s range, adaptability, and leadership has shiny black feathers and could use a little salt.
....when the truth is if they knew anything about the game, they'd be in it.
--GMGM
I do think that the reality is he’s not a contender.
Sidenote: if there’s one award that should be based on the regular season and playoffs, it’s that one. But would it almost automatically go to the Cup winner? Likely.
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Yep. Coaching is so crucial in the postseason(just like goaltending, defense, scoring, and special teams). And Jack Adams Trophies already have a playoff berth as a pre-req.
Maybe the voters would be capable of recognizing that a Nashville team that wins in the 1st round but loses in the 2nd got a better coaching performance than a Detroit that steamrolled to the Stanley Cup. But I’m not confident.
by Berube Doobie Doo on Mar 16, 2011 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions
I’m not confident in Nashville ever winning a playoff round.
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It would be pretty sweet if Nashville could get the 8 seed and Knock the Knucks off in the first round.
I’d dance a jig, so long as the Caps are still alive.
by Berube Doobie Doo on Mar 16, 2011 5:07 PM EDT up reply actions
Well if the Caps play either of those teams in the playoffs, it will be a good year.
Aim for the head baby Jesus
True. But it would also please me to see Vancouver fall flat on their presidential trophied faces. It’d make last year sting a little less, kind of the way PIT losing to MTL did.
by Berube Doobie Doo on Mar 16, 2011 5:24 PM EDT up reply actions
Neither is the whole of their fanbase (both of us!).
Just press Swedish.
by Chris Burton on Mar 16, 2011 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions
I’m renaming you Chris Bait-on.
Apropos of absolutely nothing, there was once a kid in my elementary school to took a pickle salad sandwich to school for lunch, so we called him Pickle Sandwich. Drove him crazy. So we kept calling him that, through even high school. He never stopped turning red and sputtering every time he heard it. Not sure why I told that story.
Anyway, do you think there is more pressure on Shea Weber this year, since it’ll be his last playoffs with Nashville?
Washington still suffers from legitimately below-average goaltending, which hurts them more than the defensive improvements help.
by Gould Old Days on Mar 16, 2011 6:10 PM EDT up reply actions 4 recs
Its the one award that makes no sense, BB wasn’t a contender last year despite the teams historic numbers, because his team was too good the year before. I don’t think he should win this year, but considering the injuries and the total change in philosophy, he should be in the discussion.
Aim for the head baby Jesus
TSN was heaping praise on Bruce as well. Click on “Bruce Allmighty” link to the right on this page http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=358178
Because now I can justify browsing and commenting during the work day with the argument that I am promoting my business.
Big changes don’t just take effect right away…it took some time for the Caps to really understand and apply what Bruce was teaching, but they’re getting there. For a team that is so used to a much more offensive-minded style of play, slowing it down and being more patient is a difficult adjustment. I have to give Bruce a lot of credit for not allowing the team to regress to old habits in order to win.
I’ll admit to being down on Bruce a bit back in December. I’ll also admit that I’m pretty impressed with the way the Caps have been playing lately.
Because now I can justify browsing and commenting during the work day with the argument that I am promoting my business.
The question then is who gets credit for that? Is this a team that plays hard when it wants, and doesn’t when they don’t want to, or is this a team that BB finally figured out how to motivate?
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Can’t it be both? Can’t it be the players getting credit for deciding to execute what might just be a good bit of strategy from the coach?
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It could be, but I’m not talking as much about the system adjustment here. This team has been plagued with a lack of killer instinct. Plagued with a lack of internal motivation. We’ve talked about how they’ve played down to inferior opponents, didn’t go for the throat in a game 5 at home when up 3-1, and then for large parts of this season didn’t seem to care about regular season hockey. The motivation stuff is on the coach, notwithstanding any positive systems changes. I’m still not convinced that BB has figured out how to motivate these guys to show up every night. That’s really what I want to see from him.
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I’m not sure Gunnery Sgt. Hartman would know how to motivate these guys to show up every night.
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And that’s a huge problem. I don’t even like to think of the upshot to that statement. Unless Arnott really is the answer we needed…
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At some point, it clicks… or it doesn’t. It’s the difference between liking to win and hating to lose, to be trite. And it’s why you (if I’m not mistaken) think that Boudreau could be a very good coach on a self-motivating, veteran team – those guys get it. It’s clicked.
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Or they looked tentative and like they were holding back because their system was in transition and they were trying hard on every shift just not to fuck up and get out of position.
Then when the system clicked, they appeared to be giving more effort, when in reality things were much easier on them because everything was coming naturally.
Washington still suffers from legitimately below-average goaltending, which hurts them more than the defensive improvements help.
by Gould Old Days on Mar 16, 2011 6:11 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
z
Wow, Burnside:
I don’t see anyone at the bottom end of the bracket capable of beating Washington in the first round in April.
Ballsy.
by Berube Doobie Doo on Mar 16, 2011 11:38 AM EDT reply actions
kiss of death.
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The biggest difference to me over last year is that now the Caps are totally comfortable playing either up 1 or down 1. Last year they would go down 1 and start to press and, well we all know how that turned out. They are more composed now and appear to really have faith in the system and I think it shows.
by Beakers Lab on Mar 16, 2011 11:40 AM EDT up reply actions
And he probably said the same thing last year…
Just trying to capture the spirit of the thing...
by dcsportsfan1 on Mar 16, 2011 12:26 PM EDT up reply actions
I can see the Rangers, Buffalo, Montreal and New Jersey beating them.
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As Caps fans, it’s oh so hard to stay reasonable.
(not dissing you, I 100% agree)
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by Steck It Out on Mar 16, 2011 2:50 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Near the midpoint of the season there was a very large contingent of media members and Caps fans analyzing Bruce’s job security and ability to coach this team.
Now we are third in points, fighting for the #1 seed, and have become a defensive/penalty killing force.
I highly doubt he’d get a large number of votes, but to think he’s not “in the discussion” seems ridiculous.
Considering how far behind last season we are in standings points, it’s not ridiculous at all. Being this high in the standings is where the Caps should be, give their talent. They spent half the season underperforming, which should count heavily against BB when it comes to the Adams.
Matt Bradley: He has sensitive skin, no?
If you take out the 8 game losing streak (2 were OT losses) and the current 9 game win streak, the Caps would be 32-14-8, that is about a 110 point pace. I don’t think they have underperformed half the season.
Taking those out is pointless. They happened, and have to be included. After the first half of the season, the Caps were in danger of dropping out of the top 8 in the East – that is underperforming.
Matt Bradley: He has sensitive skin, no?
That is the whole point. At the halfway point Bruce’s job was in jeopardy, the team looks completely unmotivated,and they were in danger of losing a playoff spot.
Now? Fighting for the #1 seed, and arguably the hottest team in the league.
I understand that you can say it’s Bruce’s fault that they were in the situation in the first place, but there has been a very dramatic turnaround.
Total logic fail. I’m not ignoring games – I’m looking at everything. The Caps are back to where they should have been the whole time – that doesn’t deserve an award.
Matt Bradley: He has sensitive skin, no?
That should be a major factor, yes. For a coach to take a top team and keep them at the top isn’t much of an accomplishment. To take a bottom team and get them near the top is.
Matt Bradley: He has sensitive skin, no?
So, if I put a pickup bed on your Ferrari, fill it with porcupines, and set a lap record at Summit Point, you’re unimpressed ‘cause, y’know, it’s a Ferrari?
BB won the Adams by throwing out Hanlon’s leash. I wonder if turning last year’s offensive juggernaut (aka this year’s bedeviled, battered, underage roster) into a formidable defensive force isn’t a greater coaching accomplishment than saying “Sic ’em!” to Alex a couple years ago.
....when the truth is if they knew anything about the game, they'd be in it.
--GMGM
It definitely isn’t. His first season, he took a team, literally, from the bottom to the top. This season, except for the start of the season and the last month, he’s been fighting to keep the team on top. I’m not saying he hasn’t done a great job, because I think he has, but it’s not as big an accomplishment as his first season. The test of what he’s done will be the postseason.
Matt Bradley: He has sensitive skin, no?
You’re saying that getting those guys to play swarming offense for half a season is, definitely, harder than getting them to play studly D for half a season. I’m saying, especially with that roster, that “definitely” is not the word you’re after.
If the award is to be given for standings improvement over expectation, that’s one thing. But when your top-shelf firepower goes missing, and you conjure a top-shelf D to replace it and stay on near top, that aint hay.
/dont think he should win either.
....when the truth is if they knew anything about the game, they'd be in it.
--GMGM
No, definitely IS the word I was after. It wasn’t so much getting them to buy into that system that was hard – it was pulling it off so well. Also, they had a number of defensive-minded players then – think about the problems Nylander had trying to change over. Now, the Caps have a number of forwards who have been good on defense previous to this season – Backstrom, Semin (when he tries), Laich, Knuble, and all the 4th liners. BB’s done quite well in both seasons, and I think this season will have a bigger impact on the Caps’ future.
Matt Bradley: He has sensitive skin, no?
He also got a huge upgrade in talent on the D end ,and arguably G. I wonder how much that helps the D numbers.
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Hannan was washed up (per the media) when they got him. Wideman was a defensive liability (per the media) when they got him. Mike Green is having a far worse year than last year and hasn’t been healthy. Jeff Schultz has regressed. Tom Poti has been out all year.
Wonder how much the system helps these guys look like a huge upgrade in talent.
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Carlson and Alzner have been here all year and playing the top opposition. I’m not sure I want to go this far, but I’m prepared to at least broach the argument that losing Poti is addition by subtraction on the PK. Green, when healthy, was playing more conservatively defensively, for sure, and BB gets some credit for that.
I didn’t really think Hannan was washed up, just overpaid. The two do get conflated nowadays though. Either way, since he got here he’s proven he’s not washed up and it’s hard to argue that he’s not an upgrade. Wideman isn’t perfect, but he’s come at the perfect time and given us very solid minutes. Tyler Sloan isn’t going to get within a country mile of our playoff roster, and John Erskine has been playing above his normal level for most of the season.
Fair point about the system upgrading the way the talent looks, but I think it’s hard to put the two D corps on paper next to each other and somehow conclude that you want last year’s D corps. Or maybe I’m just blanking out the Fahey days.
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No, you’re right – it’s a much better defense. Young guys have gotten experience, Hannan and Wideman are great additions, etc. And I don’t think you could simply swap in ShaMo and Corvo (vomit) for those last two and be as good as you are at this moment.
But young guys coming along and older guys fitting in and all of them playing a system that works owes at least something to coaching.
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That’s fair, and while I’ve been pretty negative on BB this year, I’ll throw him a bone as far as how he’s handled Carlznerson. Brought them along slowly, didn’t play them together at first, then when he played them together he realized how good they are together, slowly let them start to take tough minutes, until they were the shutdown pair. Then they hit a slump and he pulled them off the top minutes and put Hannan on the top minutes. They seem to have broken out of the slump and now they are playing top competition again. Good to see he didn’t a) bury them at the first sign of a slump or b) just keep letting them get slaughtered by good players.
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But the record at mid-season is essentially meaningless. It’s where you finish that matters (as far as playoffs/seeding).
That’s true, but the Caps were already expected to finish near the top – which is where they are. They’d be at the top, if they hadn’t underperformed for so long. What BB has done that I like is install a system that should work better in the playoffs – which is really more important. But the Adams is given for the regular season.
Matt Bradley: He has sensitive skin, no?
Just for giggles, our Roundtable on BB’s job security from back in December. I’m one level-headed mothertrucker…
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Expectations were high at the begining of the season but it became clear very quickly that their style of play was not going to work for the long haul. So I beleive you need to look at the entirety of the 82 games and note the journey the Caps have taken (assuming the ship is fully righted at this point). Not saying that BB has to win the Adams but that he should be considered very strongly.
Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfucker.
And you can’t view the Caps in a vacuum. Last season, they rolled through the Southeast. This year, you could make the argument that the division is one of the toughest in hockey. That alone would account for most of the difference in points. Throw in the off seasons for Ovechkin, Backstrom and Green and all the injuries and Bruce has done a pretty good job of keeping the Caps in contention.
once the Caps went up 3-2 on the Habs, they totally shut the game down, Montreal didn’t get a sniff
Not, in point of actual fact, 100% accurate. The Habs had at least two very good chances that I can think of, and a couple of very strong forechecking shifts where they had extended zone time.
Going from memory here, but I think on one chance a stick broke and on the other, Holtby managed to get a pokecheck in before the Hab could walk to the slot and score. Both dicey moments.
So the Caps didn’t put a complete stranglehold on the game.
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They Caps also handed the Habs a chance to tie it up with 5 mins left. Thanks, Sturm.
by Berube Doobie Doo on Mar 16, 2011 12:21 PM EDT up reply actions
I think “shut down” might be a misleading term, since the Habs had some zone time and entered the zone largely unimpeded at times. But the Caps D did a fantastic job of blocking shots and getting sticks in passing lanes. A lot of those MTL rushes would likely have turned into quality chances last season.
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The more interesting quote from the article:
“Nicky’s day to day,” said Boudreau. “Arnott will be re-evaluated. He should be ready by the beginning of April at the absolute latest.”
But probably OT for this thread.
To go more on-topic, I think BB should get an Adams nomination. He had to rebuild a very proud and mysteriously faltering team on national teevee. Kudos to him.
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I will give Bruce the Adams if somehow he can get D.J King to score a goal tonight.
by SA-Town on Mar 16, 2011 12:17 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Wasn’t the argument back in December that Bruce should be fired because he had lost the room? So how does a guy who the players supposedly were no longer listening to get them to completely reverse their style of play and put aside their individual goals for the betterment of the team? The answers are obvious. 1, what we thought we knew about Bruce’s relationship with his players was probably off and 2, the guy knows how to coach. Does he deserve the Adams? I have no idea, but like LeBrun said, he deserves to be in the conversation.
The conjecture that Bruce had lost the room never made any sense to me, given that no one with anything more than a passing familiarity with the room itself was espousing that theory.
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by J.P. on Mar 16, 2011 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
As I wrote at the time:
This is nothing like when Hanlon got fired. Hanlon had lost the team (per George McPhee, who, unlike the myriad of folks who now claim that Boudreau is in the same situation, would know). Hanlon’s players were sick of losing and sick of being held back. These players aren’t sick of losing – they’re sick of December. And that’s nothing over which to fire a guy who has won nearly two-thirds of his games behind an NHL bench.
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from that same post, I got this awesome Post article on Hanlon’s firing.
everyone should read it for old-time’s sake. There are some real interesting observations and quotes in there, particularly now that we’ve had 3+ years of the Bruce Show.
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So it was Hanlon who was the players coach and Bruce was brought in to be a hard ass. Interesting.
Hi. I have a message for April LaPine from America`s heartland. Um, socks go on your feet not you`re arm. If God wanted `em on your arms, he would`ve put little finger things on `em or whatever. Alright, that`s all.
Definitely interesting. It’s kind of hard for me to remember what those days were like now, I’ve been so spoiled by the winning. Reading Cassidy’s name produced a negative physiological response for me.
Boudreau may not be the best coach in the NHL, but he is the best coach the Caps have had in a long time, at minimum since Wilson.
There’s a lesson to be learned here. Someimes shit happens and it’s not always the coach’s fault. How guys handle adversity tells me a lot more about them and their abilities than how they do when everything is sweetness and light. I’m about as far from being a pro player as humanly possible, but if I were and I had a coach who cared so much about his team as Bruce seems to, I know I’d go through a wall for him.
Honestly, I credit the addition of 3 veteran players at the deadline as much as I do Bruce’s motivational skills. Sturm, Wideman, and Arnott have something like 2400 NHL games between them. I bet our entire blueline still has less than that many, even including Wideman.
by Berube Doobie Doo on Mar 16, 2011 12:24 PM EDT up reply actions
The real veteran leader I credit is Scott Hannan, who is IN CHARGE of the D. I love him and hope he sticks around.
I only didn’t mention him because he’s been around since November.
If he doesn’t stick around, blame Poti. Actually, blame GMGM for Poti’s extension.
by Berube Doobie Doo on Mar 16, 2011 1:59 PM EDT up reply actions
I think people constantly, constantly forget how damned young this team is, or was before Hannan, Arnott, Wideman, and Sturm were brought in. We all got used to seeing the same players game in and game out for 3 years that we forgot that 3 years isn’t very long in hockey terms.
Washington still suffers from legitimately below-average goaltending, which hurts them more than the defensive improvements help.
by Gould Old Days on Mar 16, 2011 6:34 PM EDT up reply actions
So this is an award for regular season only, right? Then fine, give it to him if you want, but I won’t watch the meaningless ceremony because the regular season DOES NOT MATTER. I want to see who gets awards for postseason coaching. I guarantee BB won’t be in that discussion given his record to date. But as a fan, here’s hoping he can change that this year.
Why put off 'til tomorrow what you can put off 'til the day after tomorrow?
Claude Julien, losing your top center and still being where he is…or Guy Boucher for TB would be my two choices.
I went to a fight, and a hockey game broke out!
Meh. Pens are still a very good puck possession and defensive team without Sid and Geno. That will win you your share of reg. season games.
Not sure what DB has to do with that.
Could go with Shero as GM of the year, though.
Patron saint of quality footwear.
Meh, if the Bolts make the playoffs I’d give GMotY to Stevie Y.
Aut bibat aut abeat.
by Bald Pollack on Mar 16, 2011 1:20 PM EDT up reply actions
Particularly if they have home ice advantage in the 1st round. Impressive.
by Berube Doobie Doo on Mar 16, 2011 1:25 PM EDT up reply actions
Being good at possession without Crosby, Kunitz, Geno, and others is pretty impressive (and not as if that talent got Bylsma there, frankly—under Therrien the Pens were 50%, and Bylsma made them 55% overnight).
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by red army line on Mar 16, 2011 1:28 PM EDT up reply actions
Without or without Crosby and Malkin (who has not been very good for two seasons now), the Pens finish exactly in the same place. Behind Philly in the Atlantic and fourth in the Conference. So not feeling the DB love at all.
Without or without Crosby and Malkin, the Pens finish exactly in the same place
It just proves what we knew all along: Crosby sucks.
by Berube Doobie Doo on Mar 16, 2011 2:00 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
The Pens were missing vast tracts of their forward corps aside from Sid and Geno for big chunks of the year. Jordan Staal, while not the offensive player that Toews is, is every bit Toews’s equal in his own end. He didn’t have that until the WC and he was still coaching a strong possession team.
When Bylsma took over from Therrien, the Pens went from an even-shooting team to a vastly out-shooting team and the best goal-prevention team in the league, while maintaining their offensive capability. That wasn’t this year, but everything I’ve seen (including a metric ton of adversity and a horrific start from MAF) says that he’s a legit Adam’s candidate.
I hate him because he’s a Penguin, but I respect the hell out of his abilities. A lot like another guy of the same description.
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by Knee high to a duck on Mar 16, 2011 2:16 PM EDT up reply actions
Holding serve with the injuries and “uneven” performances early by Flower was pretty damn good coaching job. Add In it’s a year where no one is running away with it and he deserves a look for sure.
I think Vigneault deserves a big look too. Just because everyone knows you’re loaded doesn’t mean that the team will exert it’s will night in and night out.. But with the individual awards bonanza that’s going to happen in Vancouver I can see he’s not going to get a lot of love. He’s even got his own critics in his town and has won before, hmmmmmm sounds familiar….
Some good suggestions in the thread but also some of the dreaded east coast bias. The West is the better conference, so I’m surprised at the lack of love for Western Conf coaches.
My top 3 Adams votes:
Vigneault – top choice. awesome results, plays hard everytime I see them.
Quenneville – impressive performance given roster turnover
Boucher – pretty impressive given the stiffs they’ve had in goal
Bylsma
I kind of expected these opinions to crop up from the media. He won the President’s Trophy last season and started this season well, painfully average for a team many still expected to be cup contenders. He suffered one of the worst losing streaks in recent memory, while on national TV. Then got the team up over the hill and has integrated his new players extremely well despite injuries to key players Mike Green and Nicklas Backstrom as well has having Semin and both goalies on the shelves over the year. Every team has injuries though. But lets go back to HBO for a second, does that have any weight on the Jack Adams? Real coaches know that cursing is part of the game and in the situation they were being shown in….He wasn’t afraid to go out and rip his players apart for their shitty play knowing he could take a lot of heat for the way he did it being on 24/7.
Did it work? Who knows but the caps have a great win streak currently, have climbed from middle of the pack to nearly on top, and are almost playing up to full capacity right before the playoffs. This road trip, imo, would play a big part on any argument made for BB. Its a tough road trip against a lot of top competitor/playoff teams.
The job he’s done I think is admirable considering the circumstances, but you also have to look at the talent he has and ask “why not sooner?” and then say “of course things will turn around”
Bruce Boudreau when asked about Brooks Laich's return to the lineup, he said: "He just adds another dimension to our team. If it was puzzle, he just fits that thing. He completes us."
Brooks Laich completing everything from teams to tires and everything in between.
While I think BB makes an interesting Adams candidate, I do buy the point that nobody is surprised by where the Caps are standings-wise. They are supposed to be a top-5 team in the regular season. Sure, nobody expected it would be because of their defensive prowess, but they are where they are, and nobody’s surprised.
the test of BB’s coaching is going to come in the post-season, making the Jack Adams award irrelevant. If he passes that test, then his award will hopefully be a Stanley Cup ring.
by j762 on Mar 16, 2011 1:13 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Also in Bruce’s favor is coaching rookies/youngsters in key roles and having them excel, adjusting to/coaching through injuries, no true 2C for 80% of the season. I think righting the ship while in the midst of managing the daily grind of preparing the team for the next game is as admirable as moving a team from 12th to 5th (TB).
by Ray of Sunshine on Mar 16, 2011 1:47 PM EDT reply actions
By my count, the Caps have gotten 251 man games from rookies, including 54 in goal. By contrast, the Flyers have gotten 49 (44 of which have come from Bob in goal… amazing they’ve only had 5 games played by rookies skaters). The Lightning have had 117 (2 in goal). Etc.
And where the Caps have gotten those games is all the more impressive – 2nd/3rd-line center, top-pair D, #1A (or is it 1B?) and 1C goalie…
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by J.P. on Mar 16, 2011 1:59 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
that’s insane. that’s almost as insane as the number of injuries in 2008-2009. When your call-ups go down with injuries and you’re forced to play Sean Collins and Bryan Helmer….
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No, he’s not a rookie, hence not included in my count of rookies.
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Only the Calder-eligible count, I’m assuming.
by Berube Doobie Doo on Mar 16, 2011 3:32 PM EDT up reply actions
I’d assume that’s how NHL.com (my source here) filters them, yeah.
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That number is mind-boggling. To be able to contend for the #1 seed and have as many rookies playing big minutes says a ton about how well this organization is situated for the next five years.
Had I an intern, I’d make her add up all the minutes played by all the rookies in the League and see which teams have had the most minutes played by rookies (and I’d make sure she separated out goalies from skaters, too).
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No way – I’d have only hired her because women are under-represented in the field!
Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world
Sounds like a job for one of our beat reporters. Shwyno! You’re the new guy, get on it!
by Berube Doobie Doo on Mar 16, 2011 3:58 PM EDT up reply actions
in regards to the rookies, I think that their performance is not as much from BB’s coaching, but the fact that they already possessed very strong hockey skill and hockey sense.
were Karlzer as capable as shutdown d-men in hershey as they have been for the Caps?
Yeah, some observers called them the best D pair in the AHL last year.
First Round Exit! (Clap Clap ClapClapClap) First Round Exit!
Was Jamie Benn one of those? He had a great view…
Washington still suffers from legitimately below-average goaltending, which hurts them more than the defensive improvements help.
by Gould Old Days on Mar 16, 2011 6:37 PM EDT up reply actions
I can see why the narrative is that BB learned a valuable lesson against MON, but if the system change didn’t really happen until the losing streak, is it an accurate narrative? The way I see it, the system change either had to start earlier, like in training camp, or the system change wasn’t brought on by the MON collapse. It seems to me that he didn’t change the system until it had become clear that the scoring just wasn’t going to come like last year. Not that it necessarily detracts from the credit he gets for adjusting, but it does make me wonder whether or not the MON series was the true spark; whether he even really wanted to change how the team played after last year’s collapse.
And, of course, I’m very interested/worried to see how he is able to adjust in-series once we reach the playoffs. His track record on that front is not very good.
First Round Exit! (Clap Clap ClapClapClap) First Round Exit!
Maybe it wasn’t the MON series or the 8 game losing streak. maybe Leonsis was trying to kill fan attendance so he could move the team down to miami. And then Bruce got wind of this idea and made a cardboard cutout of Leonsis and every time the team won a game, they removed a “piece” of Teds jacket to reveal a butt nekkid Ted.
hey, I’m trying to eat here! did not need that mental image.
Pledge Drive 2010-2011: SO KIDS CAN!! Help build a playground
Yea… I don’t really know what to make of this quote. There are a few narratives you can draw, and some will end with BB being a dynamic coach who realized his team needed a paradigm shift and successfully molded them as such, and another might paint BB as a blathering clown who in the end really doesn’t contribute to this team’s success much more than any average coach might.
I think it’s really hard to know the whole truth without being behind the scenes since the Habs bounced us last spring. I’m curious as to what really went down.
by Bushwood Bushwhacker on Mar 16, 2011 2:24 PM EDT up reply actions
I think he wanted to pick up where he left off at the beginning of the season (and I think there’s a very strong argument that there’s nothing wrong with that – it was a legitimately great regular season team, not necessarily a system, that got beat). But it didn’t work, and he changed things up.
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the PK started out the year killing 20-something consecutive penalties. As I recall, the GAA has been down consistently all year.
Things were different from the start, but things have really clicked (d-wise, at least) since the 7-0 loss to NYR
Things were different from the start, but things have really clicked (d-wise, at least) since the 7-0 loss to NYR
One could even say they came the fuck on for fuckssake!?!?
by d_fens on Mar 16, 2011 5:34 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I think you can throw his name in there but it will be swept out just as fast as it was put in.
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by Chaz-Capapalooza on Mar 16, 2011 3:16 PM EDT reply actions
This is just Pierre’s way of saying, “Psst Bruce, call me,” after he takes over the Sens and decides he needs a coach who may be looking for work in July.
/shows self out
"We know the answers have to come from this room," Hendricks said. "They're in here."
yep, no more drinking and commenting in the afternoon.
"We know the answers have to come from this room," Hendricks said. "They're in here."
… unless you bring enough for everyone and share.
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Just to show that it’s not just Cap fans who will question their coach’s intelligence, here’s a selection of comments on Mike Babcock’s decision to play Kris Draper tonight in place of Drew Miller.
I cant understand Miller out and Draper in? Why when Miller has been great and hard working? Babs keeps moving lines and making DUMB calls! Time to get a line up and stay with it for more than 10 mins BABS!
Gee Babcock, maybe scratch 2 of these guys instead of Miller, who is doing exactly what you ask him to do. Seriously. Isn’t this Coaching 101. Or maybe Common Sense 101. I have Miller and Draper doing their jobs well. I have 4 or 5 guys not doing their jobs. Hmm, what to do, what to do. I will tell you one thing…Scotty Bowman would have no problem scratching Mule or Homer or Bert
There was also some debate yesterday about how many games Ozzie plays down the stretch. I hoped it would be 6 or 7 of our last 13…but I predicted it would be 2 because Babcock is so obsessed about the standings.
I like how the argument is that Scotty Bowman would have done ____. Shows the kind of standards the guy is held to.
"Now wait a minute. This is just purely a social call. You know, just two adults getting a stew on, man."
by The Ghost of Bebop on Mar 16, 2011 4:30 PM EDT up reply actions
Surprised that Jack Capuano isn’t getting any attention. The isles are looking great, saw some stat where since a certain point they had the most points of any eastern team aside from boston.
BTW we have a drinking game at home when his name gets said on the broadcast. Joe B peppered us with his name last game we played against them.
Refs allow play to continue....
Capuano should be DQ’d for that Pens game.
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by J.P. on Mar 16, 2011 4:56 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
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