vic wrote:I posted in another thread and I'll post here too...
Yes, AV's time has come and gone. I still say he should have been fired after the 2010 loss to Chicago. Had the team been able to show something in their 2nd consecutive year facing the Hawks then maybe, but they got blown out twice by the same team. The following year they almost lost again to that team after taking a 3-0 lead in the series.
The team lost 4 of their final 5 playoff games that year and duplicated that feat the 1st round the following year bowing out to LA in 5. That's 2 victories in their last 10 playoff games.
Whenever AV is asked about an injured player he always has the same answer - "that player is not on my roster right now and I'm moving forward as if he's not here at all" - after the loss to LA, AV admitted not being prepared as he thought the injured Daniel Sedin was going to be back on the ice in-time to start the playoffs.
When a coach admits to not being prepared for a playoff series after capturing the president's trophy 2 years in a row and making it to the SCF the previous year, something's wrong.
Year after year it's the injuries, travel, refs, starting goalie not performing up to expectations, back up goalie not getting enough starts, no 3rd line center, losing to the better team, blah blah blah blah blah...
+1
The Blues dumped their coach last year when they were around .500 (7-7-1 or something?) because management felt that they were not playing up to potential. Same deal here.
Just to add to Vic's post - Leaving Lu to get gassed for 8 goals against Boston and then explaining that "Lu told me he wanted to stay in" ... WTF? Who the **** do we pay to coach the team, AV or Lu?
Didn't he realized that his goalie was shitting the bed, and it was going to deflate the team for the next game?
And another snow-man on the scoreboard this year against the Wings, and Lu left to hang out to dry?
How the **** is that going to help improve Lu's trade value so we can get something decent in return?
Too bad some of the better coaches have already been snapped up, but AV has gotten stale, time for a change