'7' Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Ftorek was the guy who made the team bus leave without coaches Robinson and Fetisov right? Remember I think they were a little late leaving their hotels and Ftorek told the driver to just go. Lou was majorly pissed over that. Can you imagine the amount of jelly hitting the wall? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Not to beat a man while he's down, but this story about Ftorek always cracked me up. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1018837/index.htm Article quote: The Devils players, for their part, were not nearly as perplexed by the firing as they had been by Ftorek. Even while expressing sympathy for their former coach, players spoke of how high-strung he had been and lamented his tendency to complicate simple things. At one team meeting this season Ftorek wrote two letters on a marker board in the dressing room: a lowercase m and an uppercase W. "Who can tell me what this means?" he asked. Ftorek went around the room, demanding that players give their best guesses. Responses ranged from, "I don't know, Coach," to "Beats me." Finally an exasperated Ftorek said, "It's the little me and the big We? "How the hell were we supposed to guess that?" asks one player, who requested anonymity. "He was always talking in riddles. He didn't say things straight out, so you never knew where you stood with him." Ftorek did not return requests for comment. I'm not surprised by that. Almost sounds like he was trying to channel Herb Brooks and was failing horribly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecoffeecake Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 I know that he and Gretzky butted heads almost from the get go...when Gretzky was first dealt to LA, people were already speculating how long Ftorek would last. http://articles.latimes.com/1989-05-03/sports/sp-2544_1_coach-robbie-ftorek-kings-record-kings-american-hockey-league And this blurb had a lot to do with the speculation (I remember the New Haven crack quite well): Ftorek was fired after his first full year as coach because he did not have the support of the players. Wayne Gretzky was at odds with Ftorek this season, and many of the other Kings were frustrated with him at one time or another, voicing their feelings at their end-of-the-season meetings with Vachon. Gretzky, though, has been at the center of the criticism of Ftorek. Ftorek was not fired because of one confrontation with Gretzky in Detroit last November, but he was fired for reasons that are demonstrated by that confrontation. On the night of Nov. 23, the Kings were beating the Red Wings and Gretzky was having what might have been a record night for points. When Gretzky felt that he had lapsed and contributed to a Detroit goal toward the end of the second period, he hit his stick on the back of the net in his anger at himself. In the dressing room between the second and third periods, Ftorek announced that Gretzky would be benched at the start of the third period because Ftorek wanted to teach the team to be disciplined. Gretzky fired back at Ftorek: "Robbie, if you want to teach, go back to New Haven. We're here to win the Stanley Cup." I think a lot of Ftorek's problem was that he was much more suited to work with works-in-progress who he could teach and mold. It seems like he took the same approach with NHL veterans, which seemed to chafe a lot of them. Of all the crazy things I've heard about Ftorek, as he was fired when I was very young and watching my first season and don't really remember for myself, this is something I'd take his side on. I don't care where the team is or what the score is, it's not the Wayne Gretzky show. If I was coaching a team, and a player acted in any such manner, I'd do the same thing. The Devils do a great job in this regard, in that there are very few on-ice dramatics from anyone. They win and lose as a unit. I remember after the Colorado game, Schneider breaking his stick, and that's about it. The Buffalo announcers (who are actually terrible) were commenting last night on how stoic and business-like the Devils are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devils Pride 26 Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Ftorek was the guy who made the team bus leave without coaches Robinson and Fetisov right? Remember I think they were a little late leaving their hotels and Ftorek told the driver to just go. Lou was majorly pissed over that. Can you imagine the amount of jelly hitting the wall? sh!t, that is awful I never heard that one before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDevs4978 Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 I actually remember hearing that too 7, and reading the SI story about Ftorek and his m and W nonsense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neb00rs Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 (edited) Same thing happened to him with the Bruins in 2003...nine games left and with his team in playoff position. I know this, but that Bruins team was not even close to the record of the 99-00 Devils team at the points of his firing. Who else gets fired at 41-20-8-5? Oh, I can think of one: Claude Julien (47-24-8). Though I do find it interesting that every time Ftorek is fired mid-season, the Devils win the Cup. Correlation? Edited April 3, 2014 by Neb00rs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Why haven't we re-hired him? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Of all the crazy things I've heard about Ftorek, as he was fired when I was very young and watching my first season and don't really remember for myself, this is something I'd take his side on. I don't care where the team is or what the score is, it's not the Wayne Gretzky show. If I was coaching a team, and a player acted in any such manner, I'd do the same thing. The Devils do a great job in this regard, in that there are very few on-ice dramatics from anyone. They win and lose as a unit. I remember after the Colorado game, Schneider breaking his stick, and that's about it. The Buffalo announcers (who are actually terrible) were commenting last night on how stoic and business-like the Devils are. There was NO way in hell that Ftorek was going to win some kind of battle with Gretzky. If he wanted to make an example of someone, he picked the wrong guy, and Gretzky didn't even do anything...wow, he smashed his stick on the back of the net...how horrible! One guy was the best player the game had ever seen and had won multiple Cups and was still very much in his prime, and the other guy was a second-year head coach in the NHL who didn't have any track record, and who people were doubting would stick even before the season began. Ftorek basically messed with the wrong bull. But something is up with Ftorek...he's coached three different NHL teams and less than two years into each of those tenures, a large majority of players couldn't stand him...it's pretty amazing that not one but TWO franchises thought the situation was so hopeless that they canned him with his teams in playoff position. If he was a njdevs poster, he'd be MB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neb00rs Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 But something is up with Ftorek...he's coached three different NHL teams and less than two years into each of those tenures, a large majority of players couldn't stand him...it's pretty amazing that not one but TWO franchises thought the situation was so hopeless that they canned him with his teams in playoff position. No doubt about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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