pi2000

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

If he's still around along with guys like Girgensons and Sobotka, it's gonna be yet another wasted season of "let's see what the new coach can get out of them...." It's mind-blowing these guys still have jobs in the NHL.

At least he's a realist... and not sugar coating anything. Want to hear his thoughts on goaltending tho.

This is everything wrong with analytics. Risto's "on-ice shooting percentage against".... think about that. The shooting % against went up when he was on the ice because he's terrible defensively and gives up grade A chances. That's how I interpret it.

If you wait to trade him, you run the risk that he doesn't improve and he is what he is (most likely scenario IMO)... which would lessen his trade value.... also he could get injured and then you're stuck with him for the season, with nothing to show for it. Contrary to popular opinion, his shortcomings as a player aren't related to how he's used, or how many minutes he plays, etc. The idea is that some GM out there might think otherwise.

There are always GMs out there who think they can "fix" a player... somebody will bite, Risto is still relatively young and he's been on bad teams. One man's trash is another man's treasure.

RK doesn't know him... JBOT does, so he should be the one making the decision on his future with the club. Risto sucks because he has low hockey IQ, and he's a terrible skater in tight areas. RK can't fix that with motivational speeches.

Enough of this "well... let's see what this new coach can get out of him..." He's been given every opportunity to succeed under multiple regimes and he's failed. He's simply not a good defenseman, time to cut bait.

His only lengthy head coaching experience was high school. Very risky hire for a young team.

Sounds like a Sean McDermott type of character.

I hate everything about this. If it's not Tippett then I hope it's because of his decision and not Botterroils.

Wonder what % of NWHL attendance is female... vs NHL.

Keefe may in fact be the best long term option... however JBOT doesn't have the luxury of giving Keefe a few seasons to adjust to the NHL... JBOTs job is on the line, he needs a guy that can immediately turn this team around. That said, maybe Keefe is ready and won't need seasoning... but I haven't had a chance to interview him yet.

I like his potential, but I'm not sold. He's been playing U20 since 2015-16. He should dominate in year 4 at that level, and he has... which is nice. I'd leave him in Roch for at least 2-3 seasons, maybe give him a game or two in 2020-21, a few more in 2021-22.. and go from there.

I think you'll be surprised how much better this team will play with a competent head coach.

They're lucky they get to play competitively after school.... they should be thrilled to have the opportunity, even if it's just a glorified beer league. To me this seems like posturing. They're just trying to bring attention to the fact that they don't get paid much and whatnot... which is good to raise awareness, and I wish them luck, but I just don't see it going anywhere due to the underlying economics.

Two close friends of mine played for Sheldon in Pembroke. They love the guy, and can't say enough good things about him. I don't think he would be a bad choice, however, given that JBOTs job likely hangs in the balance, I'm not sure he can afford to take another chance on a hot coaching prospect with no NHL experience. But who knows, maybe Pegula has told him not to try and rush things... Or maybe he's given him an ultimatum... we don't know.

JBOTs job is on the line. If he's smart he'll choose the most experienced guy willing to come here who has a history of quickly turning around bad teams. He doesn't have the luxury of giving a Sheldon Keefe a season or two to adjust to the NHL. Tippett is the only choice that makes sense.

They just killed their entire league. Dumb.

I just cannot get into this draft. Just underwhelming options up and down the board. If I've learned anything over the last 5-6 years, it's that BUF needs to start hitting on some mid-round picks. Any idiot can pick BPA in rounds 1 and 2, but those middle rounds are where you differentiate yourself as a GM.

Keefe, as a rookie HC, would be a good fit on a more veteran team with established leadership. Kind of like how Cooper fit in Tampa when he was hired. Tippett would be good for a young immature team trying to figure out how to win in the NHL... similar to Babcock in TOR.

No... the HC hires his assistants... not the GM. Does Tippett have a connection to Gronberg? Shane Doan on Tippett.... http://sports.mynorthwest.com/472786/he-sees-the-game-the-right-way-former-nhl-player-shane-doan-talks-dave-tippett/? “We’re like five days into training camp… and we’d finished 25 points out of a playoff spot; we were embarrassingly bad. And Tipp came in that year and we went from being 25 points out of the playoff spot to being third overall in the NHL. We finished with the highest points that we’d ever finished with as an organization. And I was sold, hook-line-and-sinker, on the ability of him to coach and manage a team. It was unbelievable what he did with that group, and the turnaround; he won Coach of the Year, and everything kind of went from there. It was absolutely phenomenal. And I really enjoyed getting to know him that year and that kind of was the start of my relationship with him. It showed his ability to take a team that wasn’t very good and instill a whole bunch of discipline and belief in the group, and kind of turned us around.”