WTF is wrong with this team?

[Doohickie]

I'm sure they all look great in practice going up against Lehner.

 

:w00t:

[PASabreFan]

But he just signed an $80 million contract. Doing so is scientifically proven to increase your shootout numbers from anywhere from 50 to 100%. It's science.

It's not about science, it's about humanity. This is where analytics fails. Coaches need to be smarter than to rely solely on information spit out of a computer. Eichel comes out. The crowd goes crazy. Eichel finally gets over the hump and scores an enormous shootout goal. It could have been a huge moment in his career, and I'm not surprised he has faltered after not getting the chance. Risk vs. reward. The reward was high, the risk was what?

[Doohickie]

It's not about science, it's about humanity. This is where analytics fails. Coaches need to be smarter than to rely solely on information spit out of a computer. Eichel comes out. The crowd goes crazy. Eichel finally gets over the hump and scores an enormous shootout goal. It could have been a huge moment in his career, and I'm not surprised he has faltered after not getting the chance. Risk vs. reward. The reward was high, the risk was what?

 

There's also the humanity of a newly minted head coach who hasn't lived with this team and its players for the last several years.  There can be a lot of subtlety that goes into the decision, but in his first go-round, he decided to go with easily-defended numbers.  If he goes with Jack and Jack misses, we'd all be criticizing him for further hampering the development of his young star.  I think he was better off, in his first game, to go with numbers.

[nfreeman]

It's not about science, it's about humanity. This is where analytics fails. Coaches need to be smarter than to rely solely on information spit out of a computer. Eichel comes out. The crowd goes crazy. Eichel finally gets over the hump and scores an enormous shootout goal. It could have been a huge moment in his career, and I'm not surprised he has faltered after not getting the chance. Risk vs. reward. The reward was high, the risk was what?

 

I agree completely.  This was a mistake by Howie.

[darksabre]

It's not about science, it's about humanity. This is where analytics fails. Coaches need to be smarter than to rely solely on information spit out of a computer. Eichel comes out. The crowd goes crazy. Eichel finally gets over the hump and scores an enormous shootout goal. It could have been a huge moment in his career, and I'm not surprised he has faltered after not getting the chance. Risk vs. reward. The reward was high, the risk was what?

Analytics? What the hell does analytics have to do with Jack being crap at the shootout? It's about as pure of an old school eye test decision as you could possibly want. It's not like Jack was all over Price the whole game enough to warrant it.

 

This isn't a f*cking Disney movie. 

[Randall Flagg]

That's interesting, but I can't really get into it. I don't discount how important the psychological aspect of coaching a team of 23 individuals is, but I think Housley did the right thing. 

[LGR4GM]

If Jack Eichel crumbled because he didn't get chosen for the shootout, which they would have lost even if he scored, then seriously he should be stripped of his captaincy and fired because my left nut has more resiliency.

[Doohickie]

Well, obviously not the right thing, since we didn't win.  But he did the defensible thing.  Later in the year when he knows the team better I'll criticize him for that.  But right now he's still too green.  Go with the numbers; you can't argue with that.

[LGR4GM]

I agree completely. This was a mistake by Howie.

Completely disagree.

[Doohickie]

So I think it's safe to say there are strong opinions on the subject.

[darksabre]

There should be. He's getting paid a boatload of money while simultaneously not showing Housley enough in practice that would guarantee him a spot in the first 3 shooters of the shootout despite his bad record. 

If people want to blame Housley for not going with the emotional pick, then fine. But they're ignoring the role Jack plays in the decisions a coach has to make about his usage. 

[Thorny]

It's not about science, it's about humanity. This is where analytics fails. Coaches need to be smarter than to rely solely on information spit out of a computer. Eichel comes out. The crowd goes crazy. Eichel finally gets over the hump and scores an enormous shootout goal. It could have been a huge moment in his career, and I'm not surprised he has faltered after not getting the chance. Risk vs. reward. The reward was high, the risk was what?

This is really interesting.

 

There's also the humanity of a newly minted head coach who hasn't lived with this team and its players for the last several years.  There can be a lot of subtlety that goes into the decision, but in his first go-round, he decided to go with easily-defended numbers.  If he goes with Jack and Jack misses, we'd all be criticizing him for further hampering the development of his young star.  I think he was better off, in his first game, to go with numbers.

Also a fair take.

 

There should be. He's getting paid a boatload of money while simultaneously not showing Housley enough in practice that would guarantee him a spot in the first 3 shooters of the shootout despite his bad record. 

If people want to blame Housley for not going with the emotional pick, then fine. But they're ignoring the role Jack plays in the decisions a coach has to make about his usage.

 

Yup, nothing should be bestowed upon Jack, he should earn the responsibilities he wishes to shoulder. Recent captaincy decision makes sense in this regard.

[Taro T]

My bigger question regarding the SO is: Pominville has beaten Price TWICE in regulation that evening, WTF was he not the 1st shooter? He MIGHT have had Price thinking a little (note, said might not would).

 

There's no way Price is worried about the scrub (granted, he's a 50% SO shooter but still can't see Price being more concerned about him) that is playing in his very 1st non-Devils NHL game. Why not let Pominville have the pressure of the 1st shot, then let Josefson go 2nd. The pressure on Josefson had to be immense there; should've lessened it by putting Poms in 1st.

 

Regardless of whether Eichel goes 3rd or not, by the time the 1st shot was easily stopped & Pominville shot over the net, we STILL would've needed at least 1 real stop from Lehner or another Hab to miss the 24 sq ft. Odds say: not likely.

 

Had Pominville scored 1st shot or Josefson scored next, the whole dynamic is different.

[LGR4GM]

Had we managed to get Crosby the whole dynamic would be different.

[nfreeman]

I will also point out that while I think it was a mistake by Howie, I don’t think it was a big mistake or a consequential one. More of a missed opportunity for a nice moment.

 

The team has much more important issues IMHO.

[Taro T]

I will also point out that while I think it was a mistake by Howie, I don’t think it was a big mistake or a consequential one. More of a missed opportunity for a nice moment.

The team has much more important issues IMHO.

Agreed.

[StuckinFL]

The team has much more important issues IMHO.

Amen

[Eleven]

It's not about science, it's about humanity. This is where analytics fails. Coaches need to be smarter than to rely solely on information spit out of a computer. Eichel comes out. The crowd goes crazy. Eichel finally gets over the hump and scores an enormous shootout goal. It could have been a huge moment in his career, and I'm not surprised he has faltered after not getting the chance. Risk vs. reward. The reward was high, the risk was what?

 

They (two head coaches) have watched him in practice shootouts more times than you have posted intelligent stuff here. 

 

They have seen him fail in games. Many times.  So have you, yet you ignore it for some reason.

 

He's not good at it right now.

 

Leave it alone.  He should not be among the top three.

[The Dominator]

There should be. He's getting paid a boatload of money while simultaneously not showing Housley enough in practice that would guarantee him a spot in the first 3 shooters of the shootout despite his bad record. 

 

If people want to blame Housley for not going with the emotional pick, then fine. But they're ignoring the role Jack plays in the decisions a coach has to make about his usage. 

 

Just to build off this, I was someone who was somewhat surprised to not see Jack out there in the top 3. 

 

With that said, it is up to Jack to leave absolutely no doubt in the mind of the coach to send him out there. Clearly there was some doubt from Housley, and it was probably justified to some extent. 

 

I expect and hope Jack changes that perception here soon and earns his spot in the top 3 of shootouts, simply from the fact that he has left his coach no choice but to give him that opportunity from what he's shown in practice/games. 

[woods-racer]

Shootouts.  The building and all of the grounds are on fire, Vikings are pillaging the castle, and we are concerned about the doorknob polish.

 

 

Nothing beats a nicely polished knob :ph34r:

[Doohickie]

Nothing. Nothing is wrong with this team.  Startinggggg...... NOW.

[dudacek]

I tried, Sabrespace. I really tried.

 

I collected every nuanced crack of our observations, every nugget of wisdom we've gleaned from five years of misery and suffering. Every 15,000-word Flagg thesis on Carolina's breakout, every GA plea for another minor league defenceman, every poignant Liger gif and heart-wrenching Josie painting. Every Callaway suicide note scrawled on the back of a season ticket renewal form. I put it all on a spreadsheet, tucked my laptop under my arm and I marched down to the building once called the Crossroads. This had to be fixed before the team touched down in San Jose.

 

"Trent Kaese, '89," I mumbled to a downey-cheeked security guard, flashing my fake alumni ID at the delivery bay door. "I'm here to talk to Rayzor about Kenny Priestlay's 50th birthday." I scuttled past before he could look too closely, but not fast enough to miss him mumbling "damn, some of these ex-players really let themselves go" to the UPS guy.

 

I kept my head down as I moved around a sobbing nine-year old boy carrying a battered Sherwood PMP 5030 featherlight, its blade worn to a dangerous point from countless road hockey matches. He was playing Showdown with a bearded blonde giant of a man. The tennis ball flashed, rippling mesh; fivehole, cookieshelf, waffleside. Again and again. "Please mister, let me stop," the boy pleaded. "I've scored ever time, every single time." "Again," the Viking grunted, his cheeks flush and nostrils flaring. "I must break you."

 

Two young men pedalled in behind me on a tandem bike. The one in the front didn't seem to know whether he should be steering down the middle of the corridor, or along its right-hand side. The one on the back wasn't moving his feet.

 

I knew I was headed in the right direction when I passed a guy carrying a stack of 17 well-worn whiteboards on his way to the dumpster. I found Coach Housley behind a manicured desk, practicing handclaps along to the rhythms of a video featuring a bald wrestler in a blue and red bison cap.

 

He looked at my face. My lanyard. My torso. And again at my face.

"Trent...?" he said. "You've changed."

 

"Never mind," I blurted, slamming my laptop down on the polished teak hard enough to nearly topple a neatly-positioned photograph of a pretty, blonde middle-aged woman wearing a "Lets make America Great Again" button. "It's all here. Everything you need. We've got it all figured out! Put Reinhart at centre, no wing, I mean Girgensons.I mean Larsson. I mean bench Beaulieu I mean Antipin and get Kane away from Eichel and O'Reilly away from Okposo and Risto away from everyone because they aren't good enough for him and for God's sake don't let Gorges ever play another game unless your only other choice is Tennyson and hire back last year's power play coach, no get Babcock, no Babcock, and balance your top three lines while concentrating all your firepower in the top six, and get tougher, and faster and try harder, and make the system fit the players, no, I mean the players fit the system, and make sure you use common sense, put Jack and our three best shooters in the shootout and demand accountability from the players while not forgetting to ask about their families or overlook those dramatic moments while..."

 

"Trent... TRENT!" Coach Housley said, his hand inching toward the phone. "Let me call Petey, he usually has stuff for times like these..."

 

"Richer was right about you'" I shouted. "Soft! Soft! SOFT! Put down your purse and fix this! Think of the children! Hall of fame my ass! Rammer was twice the defenceman! Lindy would know what to do!

 

I grabbed my laptop and ran.

 

I ran past a chiselled young black man flirting over cell phone pictures with an elegant Asian woman, past a befuddled-looking bespectacled white dude rambling on about God-knows-what to a short, brown haired man with a suit and a too-attentive smile, past a bearded emo millennial, tears streaming down his cheeks as he haltingly strummed the chords to "Hurt," past an older, round-shouldered gentleman ironing socks while mumbling about how he warned them what would happen if the kids didn't earn their numbers.

 

Rounding the corner at the bottom of the staircase I almost collided with my destination. He was big, bigger than he looked on TV, with hands the size of Easter hams and a jaw as stubborn as I imagine PA's to be. And that head...as enormous as Jason Kasdorf's five-hole or an RJ call on a playoff game-winner in overtime.

 

"Jas..., er, JBot, I mean Mr. Botter...OH WHY CANT YOU JUST HAVE A CATCHY NAME LIKE TEDDY OR PATTY OR...I mean, I'm sorry, but you have to do something. It's been three games and things haven't gotten any better. They might be worse...I mean, I never told the others, hell, I couldn't even admit it to myself, but the summer, the summer it always gives me hope and it's gone, it's gone already. I mean it's been so long and we've lost so many - Sizzle, JJ, X, Dwight, poor, poor Yuri - they've all gone and we're here, all alone. Oh god it just hurts, it hurts so much."

 

I flinched as he flashed his fist in my face. But then I relaxed. He wasn't going to hit me, he was showing me his ring. It was thick, heavy, and inscribed with the words "Stanley Cup champion."

 

"I've got three of them," he said.

 

"And I have plan. We have a way we want play, a culture we want to establish. We have good players, we just have to make sure we have the right players and we teach them how to play the right way. We're going to learn and so are they."

 

"WTF is wrong with this team? Not as much as you might think from Monday's game, but more than we can fix in five months."

 

"But we will fix it. We know how and we will keep working for as long as it takes.

Walk away, or watch and enjoy the ride."

 

"Keep your chin up. Read Qwk's movie opinions and learn. Laugh at the in-jokes. Bitch about the players. Hate the Leafs and the Bruins with everything you've got. Repeat the same old debates and start some new ones. Don't forget to enjoy the wins when they arrive.

 

"And make sure you keep Blue and Freeman in line."

Edited October 12, 2017 by dudacek

[Doohickie]

[Huckleberry]

 

I love this place :D

[bunomatic]

That was great. Thanks Dudacek.