NHL awards/draft/off-season/training camp/preseason running thread

I think Therrien may fall into the Tortorella, Mike Keenan school of coaching---the 1950's Punch Imlach badass school which gets really tired really fast and younger players aren't going to put up with it.

(See "My boss yelled at me" over on the journalist board. Same princple)

 

I also thought he was completely outcoached in the final. On at least 2 different occasions after TV timeouts and the faceoff in the wings end he had his fourth line out there. That is inexcusable when your first 2 lines have the talent they do. You have to take any advantage you can get, this isn't the regular season.

 

Lynn Zinser, who's quickly turning into one of my favourite hockey writers on the difference between the Red Wings and the Rangers in Slapshot, the NYTimes hockey blog.

It is the difference between going to the grocery store with a list of ingredients for a recipe and wandering around in the store looking for things that look good. The Red Wings are tinkering with a gourmet recipe and the Rangers gravitate to things that look yummy. Lots of yummy things mixed together do not necessarily taste good.

Slapshot is probably the best newspaper hockey blog around and significantly better than any Canadian newspaper's blog. Best part is, it's not NHL centric.

http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/a-lesson-for-the-rangers/#more-669

 

Looks like Ron Wilson has the Leafs job. Poor bastard.

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Hockey/article/439533

 

This is a guy who played for the Leafs during the Ballard era, and he still hasn't recognized a shit show when he sees one? Fuuuuck......

 

Maybe he's just the guy the Leafs need for the young kids.

Ron better learn not to bristle so much when he doesn't like media questions.

Should have a long chat with the consummate media guy Maurice

 

Marc Crawford out as Kings coach ... (from Yahoo.com via AP) ...

Marc Crawford was fired as coach of the The Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday after his team finished with the fewest points in the Western Conference this season.

He spent two seasons with the team and had a year left on his contract.

Kings president and general manager Dean Lombardi said the team appreciated Crawford’s commitment.

“However, we believe that in evaluating where we are at and, more importantly, where we are going as an organization, we feel this coaching change was the right decision to make,” he said.

Crawford coached the Kings to a 59-84-21 record in his two seasons. Last season, the Kings had 71 points, tied with Tampa Bay for the fewest in the league.

 

New 3-year deal for Babcock with the Red Wings (it was well-known this was coming) ...

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=AuWHa8u7KC4BURTtGsK4Tnl7vLYF?slug=ap-redwings-babcock&prov=ap&type=lgns

 

It will certainly feel a bit weird without Trevor Linden playing for an NHL team for me. He announced his retirement today in Vancouver. He's old, but he was a really good player.

 

One of the classiest players ever to play.

 

And the Globe is reporting that Cliff Fletcher will be the GM for the '08-09 season.

 

Hmm, I wonder who will replace him after that