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NorthWestCowboy

OT: The NHL head coach firing spree continues.........

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3 hours ago, Amaru523 said:

If this backfires, I suspect McCrimmon will get canned next.  The NHL media and most fans are panning this move pretty heavily.

I think this move was all on Foley. I don’t think McPhee or McCrimmon wanted to can Gallant, they were just discussing extension a few months ago.

If I’m a Knight fan, I’d be concerned about Foley meddling in hockey ops. 

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Looking at the analytics, the Knights are already in the top 3 in every offensive category, this is why this move makes no sense, they really can't get THAT much better. They're only 3 points out of first in the Pacific. They just simply don't have the talent on defense that could put them over the top.  Banking on winning the Cup by changing coaches because the Blues did it, is a very risky strategy, especially when most think Gallant is a better coach than DeBoer.

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46 minutes ago, Amaru523 said:

Looking at the analytics, the Knights are already in the top 3 in every offensive category, this is why this move makes no sense, they really can't get THAT much better. They're only 3 points out of first in the Pacific. They just simply don't have the talent on defense that could put them over the top.  Banking on winning the Cup by changing coaches because the Blues did it, is a very risky strategy, especially when most think Gallant is a better coach than DeBoer.

Vegas does not need to improve offensively they need to improve defensivey.  And that's not just on the defensive corp.  The Golden Knights center's Eakin, Stastny and Glass and wingers Tuch, Marchessault and Eakin are all -8 or greater in +/- rating.  This coupled with less than stellar goalie play from Fluery and Subban has resulted in Vegas allowing virtually the same number of goals against as they have goals for.  Not a good sign for a team wanting to make a deep playoff run.  Vegas is also bottom 1/3 of the league in PK% and face offs won.  You can't just look at offensive output and say there was no reason for Gallant's firing.  Not that I agree with his firing but offense is just half the game.

DeBoer and Gallant have very similar winning percentages but DeBoer has coached about 300 more NHL games.  I don't think anyone who really knows hockey thinks either coach is clearly better than the other.

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29 minutes ago, NorthWestCowboy said:

Vegas does not need to improve offensively they need to improve defensivey.  And that's not just on the defensive corp.  The Golden Knights center's Eakin, Stastny and Glass and wingers Tuch, Marchessault and Eakin are all -8 or greater in +/- rating.  This coupled with less than stellar goalie play from Fluery and Subban has resulted in Vegas allowing virtually the same number of goals against as they have goals for.  Not a good sign for a team wanting to make a deep playoff run.  Vegas is also bottom 1/3 of the league in PK% and face offs won.  You can't just look at offensive output and say there was no reason for Gallant's firing.  Not that I agree with his firing but offense is just half the game.

DeBoer and Gallant have very similar winning percentages but DeBoer has coached about 300 more NHL games.  I don't think anyone who really knows hockey thinks either coach is clearly better than the other.

I agree they need to improve defensively, I think I even said that. My point is that they don't have the talent on defense to improve that much. DeBoer isn't going to come in and magically turn Nate Schmidt into Nick Lidstrom. I'm not saying they need to improve on offense, I'm saying they really can't improve anymore, they're already at the top, but the defense stinks. That's why I said they should've kept Gallant and traded for some better defensemen, maybe try that first before axing a really good coach.

I've already seen many people who know hockey say that firing Gallant for DeBoer was an asinine move. I've played and lived hockey most of my life, so I know the sport as well.  DeBoer had great success with Jersey (at least 1 year) and the Sharks, but he also inherited stacked teams.  What Gallant did with the Knights in that first year with that team trumps anything DeBoer has done in his career and should've bought him at least 5 years.  All I'm saying is that to expect DeBoer to come in and do better than Gallant is asking a lot and most likely wont go as planned.

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1 hour ago, Amaru523 said:

I agree they need to improve defensively, I think I even said that. My point is that they don't have the talent on defense to improve that much. DeBoer isn't going to come in and magically turn Nate Schmidt into Nick Lidstrom. I'm not saying they need to improve on offense, I'm saying they really can't improve anymore, they're already at the top, but the defense stinks. That's why I said they should've kept Gallant and traded for some better defensemen, maybe try that first before axing a really good coach.

I've already seen many people who know hockey say that firing Gallant for DeBoer was an asinine move. I've played and lived hockey most of my life, so I know the sport as well.  DeBoer had great success with Jersey (at least 1 year) and the Sharks, but he also inherited stacked teams.  What Gallant did with the Knights in that first year with that team trumps anything DeBoer has done in his career and should've bought him at least 5 years.  All I'm saying is that to expect DeBoer to come in and do better than Gallant is asking a lot and most likely wont go as planned.

But defensemen aren't the only ones on the ice that play defense.  Vegas has several forwards that give up too many scoring chances and goals.  The Golden Knights have 8 forwards on the negative side of the +/-.  Simply adding another defenseman or two would be helpful and is needed but unless the forwards play better defense Vegas will continue to give up too many goals.

Also, I don't expect coaching to improve under DeBoer but you can bet the players feel much of the responsibility for Gallant being fired and are going to take stock.  Maybe this works to kick start their defensive play and maybe it doesn't.

It's hard to trade for a defenseman, or any player for that matter until much closer to the trade deadline which is Feb 24th.  Most struggling teams will wait until at least February before trading players for prospects/draft picks.  Perhaps the Vegas management didn't think they could wait that long to make some sort of change?

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On 1/15/2020 at 5:50 PM, retrofade said:

What I was reading earlier indicated that he would still be coaching the Pacific. Now I'm hearing that he may be replaced by Tocchet.

and Tocchet is indeed the new coach, so my Coyotes actually get some representation. 

Quote

Thursday, January 16, 2020

GLENDALE, ARIZONA --- The National Hockey League announced today that Coyotes Head Coach Rick Tocchet will coach the Pacific Division team at the 2020 Honda NHL® All-Star Weekend, which will be held Jan. 24-25 in St. Louis.

https://www.nhl.com/coyotes/news/rick-tocchet-named-pacific-division-coach-at-2020-nhl-all-star-game/c-314001862

 

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