Morning after
Dec 4, 2008
Morning after...
Good morning. It's been a tough 24 to get through. Yesterday's developments regarding the Canes coaching caught this guy by surprise. No, it wasn't that I didn't think the coach would get out of this unscathed, but the new direction is a shock. That's why I gave it a day to settle in and then take a quick look before getting to my game prep for tonight's game which we will call "meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
On Dec. 18, 2003, the Pittsburgh Penguins were in town and the Canes for the first time had someone other than Paul Maurice behind the bench. As as organization the Cane management was looking at someone totally different. Not a member of their Compuware hockey family but someone from the outside. Peter Laviolette rolled in and coached the team to thrilling 2-1 overtime victory. He immediately started making changes.
Bold statements were made in terms of how they prepared, played how they carried themselves. During that last half of a season the Canes made some improvements but not enough to get to the post season. It was the identity that started to change that was important. During that time, there was a learning curve for the decision makers, they had to learn and adapt to this guy from Franklin, Mass. After the NHL work stoppage the Canes came back hard and in the 2005-06 season history played out his methods to a tee. There is no need to rekindle all of that because we all know it. Instead, it's what has happened since. In the midst of the last two non-playoff years, there has been unrest upstairs. It came to a head at the end of last season. The questions that were thrown out publicly pointed directly behind the bench.
It is that lack of security in the guy calling the shots by those directing the shots that has led us to this day. The Canes could have gone in all kinds of directions. A past associate coach or current assistant could have switched offices. A new voice from the unemployed ranks like a John Tortorella could have been brought in. An AHL bench boss with a tie-in - like Kevin Dineen - could have been beckoned too. But no, this was about comfort and getting on the same page with the upper management with regard to "how" the Canes play.
Management and coaches need to been on the same page. For that reason and for that alone this one makes sense. The hiring of Paul Maurice provides the GM with that comfort zone, that in the opinion of this observer was starting to slip. The switch of roles by Ron Francis will give him a chance to learn about this racket without taking on the whole enchilada a la Wayne Gretzky.
Will it work ? Who knows. They only thing we do know is that this group of players played down enough for the Canes to lose a very good coach. Paul Maurice is a respected coach too. I know many of you automatically go back to the days of clutch and grab and say his style won't fit. Well, I'm not sure that's how they are going to play. I do know that he is capable of fixing their defensive system. That will be good. Most importantly all counter productive thoughts are gone. This has been a long time coming and now the Canes can move forward. It's starts with a win tonight.
To Coach Laviolette, thank you, for you sir left a mark that will never be erased.
See ya !
Most Recent Comments
RE: Morning after
Peter L. wasn't the problem. And I don't think bringing back Maurice is going to help. When you start trading players like Cole, your team does lose confidence. There's a guy who played and played hard and still got traded. Now you get rid of the coach. Come on....and they are wondering why they aren't playing well? Play great or don't. You'll probably get traded or fired anyway.Forslund is an idiot!!
I hate Hocket and wish Forslund, the Canes and the NHL would go back to Canada!RE: Morning after
Well said ..Mr Forslund, that Coach Peter L. left a mark that can only be matched but not topped, which is to win the ultimate prize..the stanley cup.It is unfortunate that someone had to lose their job for a shake up that was long overdue after last years end of season colapse. I think there were too many factors for Peter Lavoillette to overcome this year. One thing that led to his demise I feel is that he would rather have a "Patick Dwyer" in the line up for support that a "Dan Lacoture" for an element of grit(by the way, I was glad my phone call on Sunday night led you to remember for monday's blog a fan favorite from last year, Tim Conboy, who is racking up those fighting majors on the farm this year). As the new Pope of Toronto said last week, you need plumbers on a good team.
I will say though that now that we have a (somewhat new) coaching staff, even if the losses continue and the Canes stay where they should in the standings, which is a bottom eight playoff team, we will see a more tougher team that will make other teams hate coming to the RBC. Right now it looks like the toughness and hard hitting is few and far between with a lot of backing down. You can not win every night in the "New NHL", but you can make it an exciting game to watch regardless of who wins by showing up with some toughness.
Good luck to the Canes going forward, looks like upper management listens to the fans when things do suffer on the ice. Perhaps if us fans complained more about their decision to up prices for tickets and parking in a down economy, they would not be shaking their head with the empty seats we are seeing more of this year.
