Guest Posted October 12, 2004 Share Posted October 12, 2004 (edited) My biggest and most pressing concern right now is that Robbie Ftorek continues similar overly stubborn trends with his defensive pairings which ultimately led him on the fast track to his demise as coach of the Boston Bruins. Read: Insisting on continually paring up the likes of Jonathon Girard and Bryan Berard all season long when it was obvious to everyone including the popcorn vendors at the FleetCenter this was absolutely catastrophic in terms of maintaining such extreme defensive liabilities in the soul interests of developing Girard's defensive game alone. You can't play with fire like this for months and months at a time. He really did this to a fault at the expense of way too many regular season wins. Robbie is much better at coaching offense then he is at coaching defense imo. Here's to hoping he's learned from past mistakes. Keep a close eye on the defensive decisions and penchants he makes in the meantime though. Edited October 12, 2004 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyFan42 Posted October 12, 2004 Share Posted October 12, 2004 The thing is, Robbie was never cut out for the NHL head coaching role. He excelled as a head coach in the minors and he got good reviews as an assistant with the Devils, but he was never able to pull off the bad guy role that is required of NHL head coaches. The example you provided was of a learning experience. However, that's what the minors are all about. If Robbie does the same thing here, he'll be excused (by Lou, if not by the fans) because he's doing his job. Remember, in the Devils organization, winning at the minor league level is secondary to player development. Granted, winning isn't completely irrelevant; Red Gendron was replaced because he couldn't get a reasonably-skilled group of players to win. One more thing to remember: Many NHL teams rush their prospects along because they don't have any other choice. In those cases, the prospects are learning as they go along in the NHL rather than taking the time to properly develop in the AHL. Everyone is developing in the AHL, not just a select few, so I don't think you'll see that type of situation here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidgetess Posted October 12, 2004 Share Posted October 12, 2004 First off, the Rats fans are a very loyal bunch. The season ticket holder base may not grow, but I doubt it would shrink at this point either. The attendence for the Rats has ALWAYS been low. Albany is a small city (less than a million in the whole Capital District). If you want to get technical, the Rats actually attract a higher percentage of the surrounding population than the Devils do in New Jersey (assuming the NJ/NY Metro/Long Island area is equally divided between the Rangers, Isles, and Devils). Second, the Rats desperately needed a change, and firing Red Gendron was a step in the right direction. He's a nice guy and all, but he just could not get the team working together (as Rowdy said, we had a talented team on paper last year, but it wasn't clicking). Third, Robbie Ftorek has a winning history with the Rats. He took the team to the Calder Cup in 1995, and I feel it was only after Robbie left to coach the Devils that the team started turning downhill. (The talent level of the players did drop due to the Devils success, but not nearly as severely as the record shows.) He was available when Red left, so why not give him another shot? He seems more suited to teach the young players than to get the established vets to change their ways to his style. Finally, I'd be ok with the Rats losing game after game (after all, we've been doing that for the past four years, why would this year feel any different?), SO LONG as there is a trend to fix the mistakes made the past few years. Right after Robbie joined the Rats last year, there was an immediate change in the team. It fizzled a little later, but this is a brand new team, and I think Robbie is a good choice to lead the Rats. Basically, my least worry this year is Robbie Ftorek. I have full confidence in his ability to get the Rats to develop and win. The change isn't going to happen overnight. Yes, there is more pressure to perform this year, but every team is under the same microscope. I, for one, am going to be patient with this team. I think there will be a big improvement, I'll even go out on a limb and say that the Rats will still be in the hunt for a playoff spot come April. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triumph Posted October 12, 2004 Share Posted October 12, 2004 (edited) I don't know much about minor league hockey, but it seems very unlikely that Ftorek could be put in situations where things like a Girard/Berard pairing would be a problem. If a player seriously struggles at the minor league level, it's unlikely he's ever going to make it to the NHL. "Trial by fire" wouldn't exist down there. That said, I don't think Ftorek should be doing everything possible to make the team win either. The club shouldn't be going with a top line of McAmmond-Rheaume-X with Schultz and Allen in back for 22-25 minutes a night. That helps no one. But as Figdetess and Rowdy have both said, the Albany club is there to produce NHL players; it's not like, say, the Phantoms (of a few years ago) or the Chicago Wolves who add a lot of veteran players in order to compete. The Rats should be very good this year. Edited October 12, 2004 by Triumph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDevs4978 Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 I think the Rats will at least make the playoffs this time, with Robbie (who I hate as an NHL coach, love as an AHL coach lol) back and Parise alone should help, never mind the other additions. Hopefully they will be pretty good this year with the extra attention on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas0nMacIsaac Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 I have a feeling our secondary scoring won't step up. Pihlman and Pikkarainen just aren't proving that they have NHL potential. This is a huge surprise with Pihlman who was said to be one of the most dominating forwards allround in SMLiga during his final year. I don't feel our defense moves the puck well enough also. Hale, Schultz, DeMarchi, Allen, Cole, and Brooks are all stay at home physical defensmen. Redlihs is the only defensmen with true offensive capabilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidgetess Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 Coming from the Euro leagues to the North American leagues is a big step. I wouldn't say that Pihlman and Pikkarainen are flops just yet. Last year was only their rookie seasons. Give 'em a chance, Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devils731 Posted October 13, 2004 Share Posted October 13, 2004 I'm worried about them both. I just don't see what is being raved about with Pihlman. Granted I've only seen him in a few pre-season games last season, the one rats game I saw, and what 1 or 2 Devils games? but he just didn't seem to have "it" to me. I can't tell you what "it" is exactly but I saw Suglobov and I thought this guy is going to be a good offensive guy and I saw Pihlman and thought the play just moves away from him instead of coming to him. Maybe I just didn't see a lot of intensity from Pihlman, but again thats only based on like 6 or 7 games so maybe the Rats people can tell me Pihlman does have "it" and I'll see it reflected in this years numbers. -Scott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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