Boneheaded Decisions

[DownUndaCanuck]

In all honesty, people only recognize the bad moves AV does - he rarely gets credit for the good work he puts in, and where it rubs off.

The main job of a head coach (not the defensive coach or special teams coach) is to get the most out of his players. Right now he's somehow getting 2 starting goalies playing perfect games every time they start by managing their games to perfection - one of the hardest jobs in the game.

Secondly, he's had his stars consistently producing points over the last 3-5 years. That's the Sedins, Kesler, Burrows, Edler and Bieksa. These guys rarely have an off-year in production, and that's a testament not only to the amazing work by the Sedins, but by the guy who manages their ice time and situations, and that's AV.

Thirdly, lets not forget that AV had the majority of this season to work with 2 NHL centermen in Henrik and Lapierre. At one point, he had 5 AHL forwards (Ebbett, Pinizotto, Sestito, Schroeder, Sweatt) and his team was still winning games. That's a testament to his defensive system - the team changed its style of play during injuries and grinded out 6 dirty wins in a row behind good team defence and goaltending. Not many other coaches would have been able to manage injuries the way AV did, but he got the AHL guys to buy into his system and they've all played well during their stints here.

At the end of the day, it not only could be worse if we had a different coach, it would be a lot worse.

[ice orca]

Crappy thread.

And im just as stupid and crappy for even reading thru it (same old non arguments, i mean exactly the same mythologies).

And now i am just absolutely convinced that the anti-AV crybabies want this team to lose.

Because they certainly do not enjoy winning, and dont you worry, its not lost on me they are still Cupless.

[RUPERTKBD]

Are you telling me that any fan is so clueless, so out of touch and so distant from the team that we cant form an opinion about any of the players or coaching staff? Do you have a favorite player?? If you do, you must be so full of yourself to think you know that player enough to deem him as your favorite (according to yourself). You watch the games, listen to interviews and pay attention to what's going on, yet are to daft to put any of it together? Do I know getting rid of the coach will make us better? No, of course not I cant predict the future, but I'm willing to take the chance based on what I see, here and now.

[timberz21]

You can't sit your #1 goalie too long either, specially when he's in the zone like he has been lately.

What if Luongo blanks the AVs, then who plays in Nashville? If he puts Luongos against the AVs, Schneider has to play back-to-back against Nashville/St-Louis.

I predict Luongo will get 2 more start before playoffs. Probably against St-Louis ou Dallas this week and the last regular season game in Edmonton. Which is fine.

[Ride the red Pony]

What happens when the inevitable injuries occur? You don't see any advantage to having players already familar with guys on other lines? Line juggling isn't something new, nor is it exclussive to AV. Making the parts interchangeable really isn't such a bad thing.

[CanucksJay]

While I agree with what you say, this team is too talented for a first round loss especially with a healthy Kesler and Daniel.

However, I do agree with pretty much all your points. We will eventually see AV throw Kass with the Sedins together in the playoffs once he sees them get manhandled with no calls made by the ref. It would be smart to build chemistry right now..

Roy has shown the ability to score/set up teamates with a great vision. It would be ideal to use Kes as a checking centre. He would still get TONS of icetime as he would be matched up against the opposition's top line. We should use him like we did against Toews.

If we had Raymond and Hansen play with him, it would be a VERY solid checking line and might actually outscore the opposition's top line. Hansen is great on the forecheck and goes hard to the net. kes shoots a lot so there's going to be some rebound opportunities for Hansen in front.

Raymond on the other hand has improved greatly on his passing this year and has made some nice plays. His speed will back up the d-men at the blue line and when he does his usual button hook at the side wall, he can either pass to the D or find Kesler in the slot with Hansen going hard to the net.

Keep Roy with Higgins (great chemistry) and have either Burr or Kassian with them. That's also a defensively responsible scoring line.

4th line, Weise, Lapierre, Sestito- Keep building chemistry.

[Aladeen]

Perhaps you can calm down a little? Or maybe a lot?

[higgyfan]

This core has been playing together for years and (due to injuries) the lines have been interchangeable all year. For the most part, the guys are very familiar with each others' games. This gives AV flexibility and options during the playoffs.

I'm not convinced that the #1 line improves with Kass. Although he plays better, I'm concerned that the Sedins play will be negatively effected. Put Kass out there for a few shifts if/when the Sedins are getting mugged, otherwise, Burr is the best option. He's the smartest player on the team and reads the Sedins like an open book.

We have two 2nd line Cs that have very different games. I agree that Kes is very useful at shutting down the top lines on other teams. He is also one of our best scorers. I think they switch the two lines according to whatever they need to win.

Sedins Burr

Mace Kes Hansen

Higs RB Kass

Ses Laps Weise

2nd/3rd change up if shutdown 3rd is required.

Lots of options for AV -this is good.

The only real concern I have is that we really don't have anyone (other than Schroeder) that we can bring up from the farm team. Not the greatest depth for a long run. Of course, it was much the same during the '11 run besides Tanev.

[Down by the River]

Everyone? No, only those that deal in fiction.

Career playoff points:

Henrik - 77 with only 9 from the PP

Daniel - 64 with only 10 from the PP

So much for "invisible" 5 on 5 and "only scoring on the PP".

Last 3 playoffs combined:

Henrik - 42 games, 41 points, 4 points from pp

Daniel - 39 games, 36 points, 6 from the pp

Ineffective in the playoffs? Just what is your standard for effective? If it's Crosby type production you may want to lower your bar a bit. Over the past three playoffs around a point per game production through to the finals is among the top 5 playoff performers. There's been players well over the point per game (Giroux, Datsyuk, Crosby) the last three playoffs, but their teams failed to make the finals. Which goes to show scoring depth combined with goaltending is more important than one big producer.

[Baggins]

I agree, this is a good argument for the line juggling, what if that "inevitable" injury doesn't occur? Then you have put in a lot of time preparing for the worst possible scenario rather than trying to build line chemistry with the lineup you have at your disposal.

Good argument though Baggins, one that definitely has value.

[Psycho_Path]

The team concepts/systems had nothing to do with the AVS loss.

That was players misreading and turning over the puck.

Complete failure to execute. Its like they sleepwalked for 40 minutes, abandoned all their trademarks when playing in their own end. Just ghastly puck management.

[hockeyking]

Then why has this been happening in the 2 games against Calgary? I believe even in Edmonton they gave up some very quality chances. If proper systems were in place (ie, where the forwards need to be for the breakout/where the defence should be looking to pass to) then why is this consistently happening?

[Gman]

Of course you can form an opinion. You only have to be on this board for about five seconds to see "opinions" being formed all over the place.

The question is: Can you form an informed opinion? This is the reason I ask what your qualifications are. Anyone can decide they like or dislike someone "based on what they see". The point I am making is that none of us actually see everything that is going on. None of us is at practice, in the film room, or at any of the coach/GM meetings, so we're all forming opinions off of incomplete information.

This is why I don't consider my hockey knowledge to be superior to AV's. I just consider it to be superior to yours.

[Psycho_Path]

My theory is they get complacent with the system when they are versing crappy teams and they don't also back-check especially when there team is relatively healthy team.

[RUPERTKBD]

You don't know the guy and have no idea how what hockey knowledge he has but your knowledge is superior just because he disagrees with you?  Get some ice for that head to take some of the swelling down.

[Ride the red Pony]

No. I consider it to be superior because I've been at it a lot longer than virtually everyone on this board, and I've gone further than most as well.

Over 45 years as a player, coach, referee and for a stretch, a part-time sportswriter. Very few in this forum can claim to have more practical experience. "The guy" might possibly be one of them, but based on the contents of his posts, I'm comfortable in making the educated guess that he isn't.

[hockeyking]

I thought the whole system was to play each game one at a time. Shouldn't the coach be keeping these players accountable to put forth a proper effort each game?

[Baggins]

Then why has this been happening in the 2 games against Calgary? I believe even in Edmonton they gave up some very quality chances. If proper systems were in place (ie, where the forwards need to be for the breakout/where the defence should be looking to pass to) then why is this consistently happening?

[cc_devil]

Av's newest ones were to annouce Kesler on wing and Burrow of the first line. Then had to change it up cause he never thought and had to worry about Kes and Burrows using it against him and exposing him as a uselss coach.

[Baggins]

Av's newest ones were to annouce Kesler on wing and Burrow of the first line. Then had to change it up cause he never thought and had to worry about Kes and Burrows using it against him and exposing him as a uselss coach.