Coaching issues and how to fix them

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

Just now, Devil Dan 56 said:

I feel like it SHOULD be “you should do this”. This mess seems to involve no accountability. So if someone reads a play wrong, or is totally out of position, the staff basically just listens to their excuse? 

What was Siegenthalers excuse for leaving the front of the net wide open when Severson and Bernier fumbled the puck against Winnipeg?? 

I agree, long term if things are going well and you are seeing improvements you can have more of a light touch, but at this stage I think we are in need of something more structured. 

[DevsMan84]

12 minutes ago, Chimaira_Devil_#9 said:

I agree, long term if things are going well and you are seeing improvements you can have more of a light touch, but at this stage I think we are in need of something more structured. 

It's feeling more and more like a country club atmosphere with the Devils these days.

[CarpathianForest]

35 minutes ago, DevsMan84 said:

It's feeling more and more like a country club atmosphere with the Devils these days.

Good Ole Boy Network

[Fansinz88]

Give me tortorella please 

[MadDog2020]

1 hour ago, DevsMan84 said:

It's feeling more and more like a country club atmosphere with the Devils these days.

Which is completely and utterly unacceptable. I don’t think any of the people in charge at any level of the organization understand where the bar was set for the franchise under Lou. It’s win or fvck off here in New Jersey. Win or pack your sh!t. I want people in here that will adhere to that bar, and make it their life’s fvcking mission to win the Stanley Cup. If not- fvck the fvck off. I’ve been patient. I’m out of patience. 

Edited December 8, 2021 by MadDog2020

[slasher72]

From the top on down they've seemed to become ok with being mediocre and losing. The organization has developed a losing culture to the point where it's now acceptable. I dont expect any coaching changes next year because I doubt Fitz has a problem with Nass and Recchi. Call it pessimism,  I just think it's reality. Our special teams sucked last year and the clowns returned. What would make next year any different?

[jagknife]

10 hours ago, slasher72 said:

From the top on down they've seemed to become ok with being mediocre and losing. The organization has developed a losing culture to the point where it's now acceptable. I dont expect any coaching changes next year because I doubt Fitz has a problem with Nass and Recchi. Call it pessimism,  I just think it's reality. Our special teams sucked last year and the clowns returned. What would make next year any different?

I literally finished my run just now to come and lose my sh!t about the culture of this team.

Losing and mediocracy has become the norm and the fact Fitz is sitting idly by, after all the SMART DUCKING MOVES HE MADE THIS SUMMER, is driving me apesh!t. He has the pieces to be a playoff team but they don’t have the mindset nor leadership to get there. I really wanted our start to be the norm going forward but it looks like this losing blip is the baseline for this team.

The trend of players coaches in New Jersey needs to end immediately. there’s no accountability, we have guys playing half-assed, lazy and in one GLARING CASE, dangerous hockey. You can see it with Dougie and Graves that they have no clue where their support is because our back end is so incompetent from what they’re used to that they really only play well with each other cause the know the other has a freaking brain on their shoulders and not blindly listening to the dumb mother duckers behind the bench. (YES THAT WAS AN OVER-EXAGGERATION, leave me alone I’m rolling)

PK Subban needs to be press boxed indefinitely for disgracing our uniform with his dirty play. I’m not kidding that he’d be healthy scratched if it was my call since the league is scared to suspend him for some freaking stupid reason. You want to play this dirty? Cool, you aren’t dressing for my team, I’m not risking our guys cause your game nose-dove and you’re compensating.

give me torts in a second cause someone needs to put the fear of being pathetic and unaccountable into these guys. Give him a blank check, tell him to pick his staff and to let him know if he needs a player in or out. He’d light a fire under these clowns so fast they’d be scared to hit the post instead of the back of the net. Would it be perfect or lead directly to a cup? Absolutely not, but it sure beats this pussyfooting around we’re doing now for the sake of these guys wittle feewings

 

okay I think I got it all out…. Whew

[SterioDesign]

2 hours ago, jagknife said:

I literally finished my run just now to come and lose my sh!t about the culture of this team.

Losing and mediocracy has become the norm and the fact Fitz is sitting idly by, after all the SMART DUCKING MOVES HE MADE THIS SUMMER, is driving me apesh!t. He has the pieces to be a playoff team but they don’t have the mindset nor leadership to get there. I really wanted our start to be the norm going forward but it looks like this losing blip is the baseline for this team.

The trend of players coaches in New Jersey needs to end immediately. there’s no accountability, we have guys playing half-assed, lazy and in one GLARING CASE, dangerous hockey. You can see it with Dougie and Graves that they have no clue where their support is because our back end is so incompetent from what they’re used to that they really only play well with each other cause the know the other has a freaking brain on their shoulders and not blindly listening to the dumb mother duckers behind the bench. (YES THAT WAS AN OVER-EXAGGERATION, leave me alone I’m rolling)

PK Subban needs to be press boxed indefinitely for disgracing our uniform with his dirty play. I’m not kidding that he’d be healthy scratched if it was my call since the league is scared to suspend him for some freaking stupid reason. You want to play this dirty? Cool, you aren’t dressing for my team, I’m not risking our guys cause your game nose-dove and you’re compensating.

give me torts in a second cause someone needs to put the fear of being pathetic and unaccountable into these guys. Give him a blank check, tell him to pick his staff and to let him know if he needs a player in or out. He’d light a fire under these clowns so fast they’d be scared to hit the post instead of the back of the net. Would it be perfect or lead directly to a cup? Absolutely not, but it sure beats this pussyfooting around we’re doing now for the sake of these guys wittle feewings

 

okay I think I got it all out…. Whew

i know that's an emotional post and that you even said that you're over-exaggerating.

But you have to understand that some of that frustration comes from stuff that isn't really factual either... Like, we've actually seen more accountability to the players than we've seen in a long time. But it's also good accountability. A young guy will make a mistake and he'll skip a part of the game but he'll be put out there so that he can have a positive impact on the game. Then well many of the guys like Bratt, Johnsson, Hischier we're publicly called out and held accountable for not doing enough. And they all responded pretty well to that. Other players got benched and some sat for a few games. Could there be MORE accountability? Well of course. But to say there's none when we've seen more than we did in awhile, well that's just not true. And i personally prefer that approach with young guys more than like Deboer who would sit a rookie for a whole game after one mistake while vets would be out there literally getting away with murder constantly.

Also well, if you look at this team, in this division and think that we're a playoffs team for sure and frustrated that we're not, well that's a bit on you. I think most fans before the season agreed that we should be a bubble team and fight for a wildcard spot and mayyybe make the playoffs if things went really well and with a bit of luck. Well your top centre missing 17 games from the get-go is not a good start to that.

[slasher72]

2 hours ago, jagknife said:

I literally finished my run just now to come and lose my sh!t about the culture of this team.

Losing and mediocracy has become the norm and the fact Fitz is sitting idly by, after all the SMART DUCKING MOVES HE MADE THIS SUMMER, is driving me apesh!t. He has the pieces to be a playoff team but they don’t have the mindset nor leadership to get there. I really wanted our start to be the norm going forward but it looks like this losing blip is the baseline for this team.

The trend of players coaches in New Jersey needs to end immediately. there’s no accountability, we have guys playing half-assed, lazy and in one GLARING CASE, dangerous hockey. You can see it with Dougie and Graves that they have no clue where their support is because our back end is so incompetent from what they’re used to that they really only play well with each other cause the know the other has a freaking brain on their shoulders and not blindly listening to the dumb mother duckers behind the bench. (YES THAT WAS AN OVER-EXAGGERATION, leave me alone I’m rolling)

PK Subban needs to be press boxed indefinitely for disgracing our uniform with his dirty play. I’m not kidding that he’d be healthy scratched if it was my call since the league is scared to suspend him for some freaking stupid reason. You want to play this dirty? Cool, you aren’t dressing for my team, I’m not risking our guys cause your game nose-dove and you’re compensating.

give me torts in a second cause someone needs to put the fear of being pathetic and unaccountable into these guys. Give him a blank check, tell him to pick his staff and to let him know if he needs a player in or out. He’d light a fire under these clowns so fast they’d be scared to hit the post instead of the back of the net. Would it be perfect or lead directly to a cup? Absolutely not, but it sure beats this pussyfooting around we’re doing now for the sake of these guys wittle feewings

 

okay I think I got it all out…. Whew

Amen! I would love Torts here but he doesnt fit the mold of what Devils brass looks for. They want coaches who are nice guys who won't be too "harsh" on the players. That's why we're stuck with Ruff and these two losers.

This team is defined by careless, soft, stupid play on defense (hello Severson, Smith, Siegenthaler, Subban) and sloppy, inept play on offense (hello Hischier, Zacha, and everyone not named Hughes or Johnsson). Our PP and PK are near the worst in the league and our goaltending is not a strength. If there's a bright spot, please let me know. 

Edited December 8, 2021 by slasher72

[jagknife]

36 minutes ago, SterioDesign said:

i know that's an emotional post and that you even said that you're over-exaggerating.

But you have to understand that some of that frustration comes from stuff that isn't really factual either... Like, we've actually seen more accountability to the players than we've seen in a long time. But it's also good accountability. A young guy will make a mistake and he'll skip a part of the game but he'll be put out there so that he can have a positive impact on the game. Then well many of the guys like Bratt, Johnsson, Hischier we're publicly called out and held accountable for not doing enough. And they all responded pretty well to that. Other players got benched and some sat for a few games. Could there be MORE accountability? Well of course. But to say there's none when we've seen more than we did in awhile, well that's just not true. And i personally prefer that approach with young guys more than like Deboer who would sit a rookie for a whole game after one mistake while vets would be out there literally getting away with murder constantly.

Also well, if you look at this team, in this division and think that we're a playoffs team for sure and frustrated that we're not, well that's a bit on you. I think most fans before the season agreed that we should be a bubble team and fight for a wildcard spot and mayyybe make the playoffs if things went really well and with a bit of luck. Well your top centre missing 17 games from the get-go is not a good start to that.

Problem with the bolded part of the post is we looked better without our number 1 center. That’s a huge freaking problem, especially when we look like a disorganized clusterduck with him back and things, theoretically, should have gotten only better adding him back.

For the first part there’s selective accountability, certain guys get in Ruff’s doghouse, a la DeBoer, and others are allowed to do what feels like whatever the hell they want. Also, regarding a playoff bubble, yes realistic expectations were bubble/good chance for wild card if things fell right way. Zero argument there. But with the Islanders and Flyers in matching free falls, and us carrying the Jack-less momentum should have built a good space. Hell just seeing the Islanders flounder opened up a potential spot, or at least improved wildcard chances. 

my real big issue is with the damn staff and Fitz sitting idly by while we spiral.

[DevsMan84]

5 minutes ago, jagknife said:

Problem with the bolded part of the post is we looked better without our number 1 center. That’s a huge freaking problem, especially when we look like a disorganized clusterduck with him back and things, theoretically, should have gotten only better adding him back.

For the first part there’s selective accountability, certain guys get in Ruff’s doghouse, a la DeBoer, and others are allowed to do what feels like whatever the hell they want. Also, regarding a playoff bubble, yes realistic expectations were bubble/good chance for wild card if things fell right way. Zero argument there. But with the Islanders and Flyers in matching free falls, and us carrying the Jack-less momentum should have built a good space. Hell just seeing the Islanders flounder opened up a potential spot, or at least improved wildcard chances. 

my real big issue is with the damn staff and Fitz sitting idly by while we spiral.

When Ruff chooses to give McLeod more minutes in a game than Bratt, Hughes and Johnsson then that is Brent Sutter level BS.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

12 minutes ago, jagknife said:

Problem with the bolded part of the post is we looked better without our number 1 center. That’s a huge freaking problem, especially when we look like a disorganized clusterduck with him back and things, theoretically, should have gotten only better adding him back.

For the first part there’s selective accountability, certain guys get in Ruff’s doghouse, a la DeBoer, and others are allowed to do what feels like whatever the hell they want. Also, regarding a playoff bubble, yes realistic expectations were bubble/good chance for wild card if things fell right way. Zero argument there. But with the Islanders and Flyers in matching free falls, and us carrying the Jack-less momentum should have built a good space. Hell just seeing the Islanders flounder opened up a potential spot, or at least improved wildcard chances. 

my real big issue is with the damn staff and Fitz sitting idly by while we spiral.

Re:  the bolded, as we know, a key guy coming back doesn't always lead to a seamless transition.  On that count, I'm willing to have a little patience, mostly because I still believe that Hughes is going to be a terrific player.

Fitz is where Lou kinda was pre-Lemaire (though most of those teams were at least squeaking into the playoffs).  I think Fitz has assembled a pretty good batch of ingredients (Lou had done the same), but now needs to find the right chefs to whip up the meal.  I know nASS and Recchi aren't part of the solution, and they're very much part of the problem.  And like DM84 alluded to, if playing McLeod more than Bratt, Hughes and Johnsson against Ottawa is the answer, I'm not sure what the question is (and not sure that I WANT to know).  That makes it really hard to me to defend Ruff a whole lot.

After stewing on this for a while, I think the first move will be a roster shakeup...pick any one of the not-so-fab-D (the S guys...obviously not Hamilton nor Graves), Kuokkanen, Sharangovich, or McLeod.  There's enough bodies down in Utica that, if they're coming up here at all, are going to be 3rd and 4th-liners, and middle-to-bottom-pair D.

Take a look at the 1995-96 team...Lou tried like hell to get that team righted...lots of tinkering moves.  I know it's not like the Devils are coming off a Cup-winning season, but at the same time, I don't think this entire roster should just be given all of 2021-22 to sink or swim.  I think at some point, the GM has to show that "Stay the course" can't be the mantra forever...you signed a top UFA to big money who's already 28 years old.  Can't go wasting prime years due to seemingly endless patience.  I'm not saying to blow up the roster, but I think it's time to start legitimately tinkering with some of these pieces...especially if Fitz is insisting on keeping the coaching staff as is for now.