Archive for May, 2009
Despite Additions, Rangers Fall Due to Old Problems
Filed under: Capitals, Rangers
Before the Rangers made a whole host of changes to their team in March — the additions of Sean Avery, Derek Morris, Nik Antropov and a coaching switch — they had a few problems; their high paid stars weren’t producing, they played with no emotion many nights and they couldn’t score at all, depending on Henrik Lundqvist to win games.
During last night’s loss to the Capitals and in their other three losses during the series, the Rangers fell prey to these same faults. Blame coach John Tortorella‘s distractions and GM Glen Sather‘s letter all you want, but this was still the same that struggled mightily before the bandaids were applied.
Despite Additions, Rangers Fall Due to Old Problems originally appeared on NHL FanHouse on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:14:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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March 5 2009Catching up On Some Recent NHL News
I was recently out of town attending to some personal matters so this is my first opportunity to address some recent notable NHL news.
Before I begin, some of you have asked when Iâ??ll be making my opening round playoff predictions. Those have already been done in my recent Foxsports.com articles earlier in the week.
The most notable news was the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild firing their general managers and the Edmonton Oilers firing their head coach.
-After enduring the worst season since their move to Denver from Quebec City in 1995 the Avalanche decided their team needed a change in the front office and fired Francois Giguere as their general manager.
His replacement on an interim basis is former GM and current team president Pierre Lacroix, who it must be remembered groomed Giguere to be his successor.
Plenty has been written about the bad moves Giguere made, particularly in paying out big salaries to veterans like Ryan Smyth and Scott Hannan and in landing the spent force that was Darcy Tucker, handcuffing himself cap-wise so that he was unable to land a quality goaltending this season.
Giguere certainly deserves the blame but he also likely discussed these moves with his higher-ups prior to making them, so Lacroix mightâ??ve given his blessing to such moves.
Whoever they bring in as new general manager will determine just which direction the Avalanche will go in for the future. Theyâ??ll either commit to a serious rebuilding programme, which of course will likely mean at least another couple of seasons of missing the playoffs, or theyâ??ll look for someone who can patch up this lineup quickly in hopes of getting back to the post-season.
If youâ??re an Avalanche fan, pray that theyâ??re serious about a significant overhaul with the eye on becoming a Cup contender again or get used to your club being a marginal playoff contender.
Iâ??ve heard speculation that Lacroix could hire his son, former NHL player Eric Lacroix, as the new general manager, but I think this wouldnâ??t be a good idea as thatâ??ll give rise to charges of nepotism on the elder Lacroixâ??s part.
Former Tampa Bay Lightning GM Jay Feaster has expressed interest in the job. He didnâ??t have the best draft record with the Bolts but his trade and free agent record was pretty, and he does have a Stanley Cup championship on his resume.
-As for the Wild, not only did head coach Jacques Lemaire recently step down which was expected but they lowered the boom on long-time GM Doug Risebrough.
This signals what could well be a significant shift in direction for a Wild team that has been renowned for their tight-checking defensive hockey.
The Wild had appeared to be making progress over the previous two seasons but suffered a setback due in part to a lack of offensive depth, which came to the fore when star forward Marian Gaborik missed most of the season to injury.
There was some speculation Wild owner Craig Leipold, former owner of the Nashville Predators, might try to woo Predators GM David Poile to Minnesota but Poile claims he has no plans of moving.
As Poile built his Predators largely around defense he probably wouldnâ??t be the right guy to follow up Risebrough if the Wild are looking at going in a different direction.
The Wild reportedly sought permission from Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke to speak to Dave Nonis, former Vancouver Canucks general manager, but Burke rejected it.
Too bad for the Wild as Nonis had a decent record in his short tenure as Canucks general manager and in my opinion was unfairly made the scapegoat for the Canucks missing the playoffs last season.
-The Oilers dropped the axe on head coach Craig MacTavish soon after this season ended, the third straight time theyâ??ve missed the post-season since advancing to the 2006 Stanley Cup final.
It remains to be seen who theyâ??ll hire to replace MacTavish (Pat Quinn and Marc Crawford have been suggested) but management is expected to take their time in finding the right bench boss.
Many in the Edmonton media have cited that the Oilers players deserve most of the blame for this seasonâ??s failure and to a degree theyâ??re right, but ultimately itâ??s up to the coach to get a playing as a cohesive unit, and in that regard â??MacTâ?? failed to achieve this.
Yes, the Oilers are a smallish team. Yes, most of the promising youngsters didnâ??t play well this season. Yes, some of the veterans failed to step up and lead.
If the problem is as MacTavish claimed with the â??cultureâ?? then the blame lies with him. Itâ??s the coach who sets the culture and has to get the players to buy into it. If the players donâ??t, itâ??s the coach who is to blame.
But when you put a natural playmaker like Ales Hemsky into a checking line role, Iâ??m sorry, but thatâ??s just not smart coaching.
MacTavish is a respected hockey man, and yes, he coached the Oilers to the 2006 Cup Final, but somethingâ??s askew when the guy who coached the team that beat those Oilers in that Final lost his job long before MacTavish did.
It was apparent before the new year that “MacT” had lost the room. It wasn’t too late then, or even in January or February to replace him but the front office stayed faithful to him up to the bitter end.
That loyalty is admirable but it may have ultimately cost the Oilers a playoff berth.
Trying to Convince the President to Come to a Hockey Game
Filed under: Capitals, Russian Hockey
For a number of months now, Washington Caps owner Ted Leonsis has been undertaking a low key public effort to make the new president know that he’s welcome at Verizon Center for a Capitals game. This past weekend, the issue came up again, this time raised by veteran play-by-play voice, Mike Emrick.
That led Johana Neuman, a political reporter for the Los Angeles Times who doesn’t think much of the local owner’s efforts to get Obama out to a game, to throw a whole lot of cold water on the entire enterprise:
“A local sports team known as the Washington Capitals has managed to force the first-round National Hockey League playoff series to a seventh and final game.”
She continued: “To most Washingtonians, this is something of a yawn. This is a Redskins town of football nuts, a metropolitan area of Wizard basketball fanatics. Even the Nationals, worst team in baseball, have a loyal fan base. Also it’s 90 degrees here. Hockey is a winter sport, played on ice.”
Trying to Convince the President to Come to a Hockey Game originally appeared on NHL FanHouse on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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