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nyqvististhefuture

I Hate Jeff Blashill because ...

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Was listening to Sirius NHL radio...Apparently Marc Crawford wants to make a return behind an NHL bench...Is there anyone else out there that would love him behind our bench?

I'd take him in a heartbeat!

I'm willing to give Blashill more time he didn't have a lot to work with. Yes, he handled Mantha very poorly and disrespectful and hopefully learns from that but I want to see what he can do with a good roster.

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Was listening to Sirius NHL radio...Apparently Marc Crawford wants to make a return behind an NHL bench...Is there anyone else out there that would love him behind our bench?

I'd take him in a heartbeat!

Well, he actually has NHL experience. However, his teams have disappointed in the playoffs since he left Colorado. Not sure if he has another run in him.

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I hate Jeff Blashill because he's a rookie coach who finished the regular season with just as many points and only 2 few playoff games than his predessessor did the year before. What a loser!

He should be more like Babcock, who took over a presidents trophy winner and coached them to a first round mauling by the 8th seeded Oilers in his first season with the Wings.

Or we could just give it a minute and not be so absurdly reactionary.

Edited by kipwinger

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Regardless of his familiarity, its harder to coach at the NHL level than the AHL level and a coach, just like a player needs time to adjust their game to the increased competition. Its the reason why almost no coaches (or none) have won a Cup as a rookie. Its really hard to do right away. Blashill inherited a borderline playoff team and did just as well as his predessessor. Anybody expecting an immediate transformation was being unrealistic. Coaching a borderline team into the playoffs as a rookie coach is quite an accomplishment. He wasn't perfect, no doubt, but he did a good job considering the team is in the middle of a transition. I'd be far more disappointed with the result if he took over an established team full of prime stars and underperformed in the playoffs. He had almost the exact same season, with a very similarly transitioning team, as Dave Haskoll in Philadelphia and nobody is saying that rookie coach should be fired.

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You're splitting hairs. He's won one more playoff game and had what 2 more regular season wins? If he's "better" the difference is negligible. Efforts to paint Blashill as some kind of failure are almost entirely attributable to a frustrated fan base which is unaccustomed to transitioning teams.

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Regardless of his familiarity, its harder to coach at the NHL level than the AHL level and a coach, just like a player needs time to adjust their game to the increased competition. Its the reason why almost no coaches (or none) have won a Cup as a rookie. Its really hard to do right away. Blashill inherited a borderline playoff team and did just as well as his predessessor. Anybody expecting an immediate transformation was being unrealistic. Coaching a borderline team into the playoffs as a rookie coach is quite an accomplishment. He wasn't perfect, no doubt, but he did a good job considering the team is in the middle of a transition. I'd be far more disappointed with the result if he took over an established team full of prime stars and underperformed in the playoffs. He had almost the exact same season, with a very similarly transitioning team, as Dave Haskoll in Philadelphia and nobody is saying that rookie coach should be fired.

I think the Wings making the playoffs had more to do with Larkin and Mrazek having league-leading individual performances for half the season while everyone else was busy s***ting the bed. Literally every other player on the team played quantitatively worse than last year. This was a team that was on paper supposed to be better. The league-leading power play from last year now also finally had a right-handed qb in Green and a veteran player and recent Stanley cup winner in Richards. They finally got rid of Weiss. Tatar, Nyquist, Sheahan were all a year older and closer to their prime ages. And then when we had an opportunity to avenge our 7 game series loss to Tampa from last year with what should be a stronger roster, and Tampa without their top goal scorer and a top paring defenseman, the Wings managed only a single playoff victory. By all accounts this year was a disappointment and almost every player on the roster did not perform up to expectations, even if you want to factor in some sort of rookie coach handicap. Hopefully Blash has learned some things throughout the season, and uses the offseason to learn a few more things, and comes back next year in better position to get the most of this team. And hopefully he gets some help from Holland.

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That has more to do with how tight the standing are. 4 points could be the difference between 5th and 8th. Hence the drop. Our win/loss rate wasn't noticeably different between January and April. So despite "spiralling" down the standings we werent losing any more than we had been. And we DEFINITELY didn't loss at a greater rate than a year ago, so its obviously not the coach.

Blash ain't perfect, but the effort some are making to paint him as some kind of unsuccessful hack rings false to me. He's a rookie coach who turned in a decent season with a mediocre, transitioning, team.

Edited by kipwinger

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Regardless of his familiarity, its harder to coach at the NHL level than the AHL level and a coach, just like a player needs time to adjust their game to the increased competition. Its the reason why almost no coaches (or none) have won a Cup as a rookie. Its really hard to do right away. Blashill inherited a borderline playoff team and did just as well as his predessessor. Anybody expecting an immediate transformation was being unrealistic. Coaching a borderline team into the playoffs as a rookie coach is quite an accomplishment. He wasn't perfect, no doubt, but he did a good job considering the team is in the middle of a transition. I'd be far more disappointed with the result if he took over an established team full of prime stars and underperformed in the playoffs. He had almost the exact same season, with a very similarly transitioning team, as Dave Haskoll in Philadelphia and nobody is saying that rookie coach should be fired.

The entire team underperformed, the PP and PK were bad, and he over relied on the old guys instead of letting the kids he was filiar with AMD won at GR with play.

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Agreed (with some caveats). And he STILL made the playoffs, so what's the problem? Unless you're suggesting that he will never improve upon his mistakes this year? I believe he probably will as he gains more understanding and confidence at the NHL level. I don't expect a rookie coach with a mediocre team to have all the answers right away. I DO expect him to learn and improve as he gains experience. He made the playoffs as a rookie, as his power play and player usage improve (which they should after a full off season to analyze the team, and some new assistants), so will the teams success.

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Agreed.

The players for the most part were a big letdown, but coaching this season wasn't on the same level as in years past.

I'd say accomplishment wise it was the exact same.

Rookie coach Blashill gets the team to playoffs and gets eliminated 1st round

The best coach in all of hockey Mike Babcock gets the team to playoffs and gets eliminated in 1st round in 2012, 2014, 2015

^ I'm wondering if it's the coaching that's the issue or if it's that our players are no longer good enough?

The coaching this year was definitely weaker than Babcock's coaching but not that much weaker. There's some inconsistencies and issues that need to be figured out (PP, usage of players, etc). We need better players plain and simple.

I'm really hoping Holland goes big this year. And I'm sure he will try. The issue might be that players no longer see us as an attractive destination.

Edited by kickazz

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You're splitting hairs. He's won one more playoff game and had what 2 more regular season wins? If he's "better" the difference is negligible. Efforts to paint Blashill as some kind of failure are almost entirely attributable to a frustrated fan base which is unaccustomed to transitioning teams.

Well, there's also no doubt that Babcock had a worse team and yet performed better. So there's that. I agree, though, that a lot of the anti-Blashill stuff is just frustration, which is why I don't want him gone. But he did, beyond a doubt, screw up and botch things especially late in the season. But coaches have growing pains just like players. If he has another terrible year next year with a similar roster, then we should start talking replacements.

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Well, there's also no doubt that Babcock had a worse team and yet performed better. So there's that. I agree, though, that a lot of the anti-Blashill stuff is just frustration, which is why I don't want him gone. But he did, beyond a doubt, screw up and botch things especially late in the season. But coaches have growing pains just like players. If he has another terrible year next year with a similar roster, then we should start talking replacements.

I would wait and see what he can do with better players. Babcock had a mediocre roster so did Blashill. Every coach in this league would have been a downgrade you can't replace the best coach in all of hockey and expect a seemless transition it just doesn't happen.

I hate the way he handled Mantha situation but like every new coach he will learn and adapt. Blashill should be far down the list when it comes to replacing some front office stuff. Gotta look at way higher than that

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Pretty much the only thing I didn't like with Blashill was his player usage. It's been beaten to death, but he relied way to heavily on the vets and underutilized the kids. Blashill should not be fired, Firschweiler on the other hand, that guy has to go. I'm okay with Granato leaving as well. Two new assistants with a new perspective, fresh ideas and hopefully better speciality teams will help this team immensely...

Blashill took over a very similar team (with the addition of Richards and Green), previously coached by Mike "hockey god" Babcock, and had a very similar result - playoff bubble team, bounced in the first round. Firschweiler took over a top ranked power-play, previously coached by Jim Hiller, and made it into one of the worst in the entire league. Special teams, in my opinion, was the teams biggest downfall. Both the power-play and penalty kill were way too conservative. The power-play had very little movement, way too much passing, not enough shooting and way too much one and done. The penalty kill was way too passive, we did a good job taking away shooting lanes but never took away passing lanes. A successful penalty kill needs much more pressure on the puck and not allowing so many cross ice passes opening up the easy one-timer.

I still believe this team has a bright future, and Blashill is still the best coach for us right now. As long as he can clear his head this offseason, and come to the realization that this team can't rely on Datsyuk (if he's back), Zetterberg and Kronwall anymore, I think we'll be fine. We need to hand the reins over to the kids, Larkin, Mantha, Athanasiou and company need to take on much bigger roles to start next season.

Edited by krsmith17

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Crawford is a circus act. I'd rather see someone like Ron Wilson if we're going names.

Ewww.

Anyway, we're not getting a new head coach.

I don't hate Blash. New Head Coach trying to do the same as the Old Head Coach... same result. Not surprising.

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Not that I am happy about the result or the player management, but looking back at Babcock's first season as coach we finished with 124 points, our 2nd most points EVER and we still lost in the 1st round to Edmonton.

I belive that was far more upsetting than this year where we all knew we weren't winning...I believe next year will be different. At least more exciting getting to the playoffs and maybe even a 1st round win.

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