2 Minutes for Wandering?

Although technically he's not our coach anymore, he spends enough time in the ol' barn that everyone in Chocolatetown still thinks he's part of the family.  And because our Caps bloggers have fallen off the face of the planet, I'm gonna take it on myself to say: Hey Bruce. How's it going? 

For those of you who were under a rock last year for US Thanksgiving, Bruce Boudreau was pulled up from the Bears to coach for the Caps, and for those of you under a rock near the end of the season, he also won the Jack Adams award for coach of the year. 

Beyond just the shiny blingy coaching stuff, however, Bruce, or "Gabby" as he's known to the media, is a stellar person, and you can see it in quite a few of his players. In Hershey, Dean Arsene picked up his knack for giving the media killer one liners, and in D.C, the Caps have only gotten goofier since he arrived. (Segway trip, anybody?)

Not that it's all fun and games under Bruce, though. One of the advantages of bringing him up from the baby team is that a lot of the big names on the Caps (Brooks Laich, Mike Green, etc etc) played under him, and already know his system. In addition, because Boudreau trained the current Hershey coach, Bob Woods,  the system is also more or less consistant throughout- never is a player going to get to DC and be completely blindsided by how everything works. 

Of course, Boudreau does have two Achilles heels... he has an inexplicable soft spot for Chris Bourque, and, straight from the horses' mouth,  he takes coaching advice from unqualified sources... "My 9 years old son texts me from Hershey what should I tell Ovechkin to do..."

Back down on the farm, the assistant coach who stepped up when Brucey left, Bob Woods, has managed to assemble a juggernaut of AHL talent. Working with GM Doug Yingst, he picked up Graham Mink, Keith Aucoin, Brian Helmer and Darren Reid to be the veteran leadership lacking last year. They're looking at a two-goalie rotation once Varlamov gets his groin back in line and honestly, even without Wood's leadership, this team could probably kill things (that aren't the Hamilton Bulldogs, but let's not go there.) 

Not to discount Woodsy though. By all reports, he's put together a team that gells on every level they need to. With Mink, Giroux and Arsene all back and playing, a core from the Calder Cup year is around to show the n00bs the ropes and bring back stupid traditions from prior years. From John Walton, the Voice of the Bears...

 On opening night after the win at Wilkes-Barre, we started to pull out of the Wachovia Arena parking lot when Graham Mink yelled up as loud as he could “WAIT A MINUTE, WAIT A MINUTE!” Our bus driver that night stopped suddenly, as if we forgot something or somebody (it happens sometimes…) The staff and rookies in the front all looked back, and Minker yelled “DID WE PACK THE TWO POINTS?” Laughter and cheering followed, we started on our way home and an old tradition was brought back in an instant. It may not sound like much, but that was something that guys used to do back in 2005-06 after a big road win, and it was good to hear it again. I thought of that again tonight, because it was Bryan Helmer’s turn to yell up front and ask Beaker if we packed the two points tonight. I think that’s what you get when you have a team that has great veterans that lead by example, but have fun doing it at the same time. That’s this team. They watch movies on the bus together, they go to the mall on off days on the road together, they laugh together and they shrug off disappointment and turn the page (see Bulldogs, Hamilton on Wednesday night).

While Woodsy may not be to blame for such antics, the fact that everybody works together decently has to make his job easier.  Instead of having a singular top line, he's got three or four to choose from. Heck, his beginning of season fourth line fielded rookies Mattheiu Perrault, Francois Bouchard and Oskar Osala, and right now Osala is tied with Andrew Gordon for number of goals scored, (6) and Keith Aucoin on the top line is in the top 3 all-AHL and was AHL Player of the Week for the first week in the season. 

If you hate your coach, that kind of chemistry isn't gonna happen, so as far as I'm concerned, the Caps organazation has the best of the best coaching their top players.

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Our One and Only

Hi, my name is Barry Trotz. I enjoy the occasional locker room freakout after a particularly bad on ice performance. I have an aversion to turtlenecks as they further accentuate the fact that I have no neck. Oh, and did I mention that I am often compared to a gorilla by Nashville’s fans? See Exhibit A:



Exhibit A

All silliness aside, Barry Trotz is holding his own as one of the NHL’s longest-tenured coaches with one team, second only to Buffalo’s Lindy Ruff. And since Trotz has been the only coach this franchise has ever known, we have little else to compare him to. With a franchise as young as the Nashville Predators, one should not expect greatness overnight. It took Trotz six years to find the right formula for a winning season. Since 2003-2004, the Predators have found themselves on the winning side of things every year.

While there is something to be said for making the playoffs four years in a row, people continue to argue that something is lacking when we never manage to make it past the first round. Every post-season, Predators fans pontificate about the shortcomings of the coaching staff and how they would do it better if they ran the show. When we failed to make it past the first round after our most successful season to date (2006-2007), the Fire Trotz Brigade kicked it into high gear. However, when Trotz and Co. managed to lead the team back to the playoffs last season, they were rewarded with contract extensions (and rightfully so).

His coaching style definitely has its share of quirks. He gushes over young players and sometimes puts more faith in them than I believe they deserve. He has his “favorites” that can never seem to do wrong by him, even if they always play a horrible game. He likes to keep the same team on the ice day in and day out, as long as we’re winning; even if that means continuously scratching players who should be in the lineup over ones that are just okay. He expects consistency from every player on the team and yet changes line combinations and defensive pairings faster than you can count to ten.

Quirks and irks notwithstanding, Barry Trotz has been very successful in his tenure with the Predators organization. Every year, he is able to take a group of guys and turn them into a true team in every sense of the word. He believes in team building, both on and off the ice. The guys are encouraged to build strong relationships throughout the season and I think that is testament to our ability to be resilient in the face of adversity. It’s not an every man for himself environment. There are no superstars, no divo-like mentalities; just 23 players with the same mindset and determination to go out and give their best performance every night.

Trotz might not get it right all the time, but he’s alright with me.

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Welcome To Quenneville

If you didn't know about the Blackhawks recent coach brouhaha, here's what happened.



Joel Quenneville's 'stache.

Four games into this season, Denis Savard was axed and replaced by Joel. After we beat the Phoenix Coyotes, he was fired. Not really the best way to keep everyone's interests at heart, I think. Little Kane cried. Dale Tallon, during the press conference, looked like his mom had died. McDonough…looked…normal. And there was Scotty Bowman looking solid and stern. Obviously it wasn't just Tallon, it was a group decision.

Personally, I thought he was doing a good job. We went up from 71 points during his first year as a coach to 88 points last year. We didn't start this season the greatest; we only had one win in the first four games. So this apparently shows that if you're not absolutely perfect, you're out (get ready for a Huet trade! Seriously, he needs to pick himself off the ice…but that's a completely different issue).

"It was a flat camp and we got out of the gate flat," Tallon said. "It just didn't seem that we carried over the energy that we had to finish the year last year. We felt we needed to send a message and invigorate this team."

I guess the days of good 'ole heart-to-hearts are over.

"It's about moving forward, about achieving and winning and developing a consistent approach. And we felt we needed a more experienced person in that position and that's why we made the decision."

Now's the time we need experience? What about two years ago when you hired him in the first place?

Savard took the blow well and will probably be offered a different position. That's what the organization told us at least (they also told us, over the summer, "Savard's our man." Whom can a fan trust?)

As for Joel, he's posted a 2-1-2 record so far. And I agree with a lot of philosophies (like zone coverage vs. man-to-man), and his 'stache is ridiculous.

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