mathonwy wrote:So.. you're in favor of the tough love. The my way or the highway type of leadership eh?
Yep, that style sure worked out for Mike Keenan (who's in Russia right btw).
So, this "strong message" that you feel that it's important to send to a group of adults. Shape up or I'm going to punish you like I did to Luo?
The tough love was needed for this group. There were some players here who simply loved the country club and were content with the current system where the inmates ran the asylum. These "adults" are coddled millionaires who get everything they want. The only true adversity in their lives is having to deal with the Vancouver media. Very few successful sports teams are run by the players. Vigneault gave them the keys to the kingdom and for 12 months they couldn't figure out how to play consistent hockey. Gillis fired AV and gave the keys to Torts.
mathonwy wrote:
Let's just pretend that the Canucks still want to make the playoffs. Who gives you the better chance to do so? Luo or Matthias and Markstrom?
Team can't score a goal to save their skins. They can't hold onto leads late in the game. Eddie Lack has been putting up much better numbers than Luongo. So we subtract a very good goaltender who is struggling and whose very presence is adding drama to the mix, and we add a young backup goaltender and a center who should anchor our third line. Yes this gives us the better chance right now.
While I think it was a dick-move to play Lack over Louie in the Classic, that's a coach's job some times. If Torts is being straight up, and there's no reason to second guess his honesty here, then playing Lack was the smarter hockey choice for a team that desperately needed 2 points. It didn't work, but it was the smarter choice. Politically it was terrible, but politics aren't why you hire a coach.
[quote="mathonwy"
I think Torts is bad for the team and needs to be gone. Too many bad things have happened this season with the entire team and the common thread is Torts. His lack of a filter is concerning and his judgement at the Winter Classic was horrendous (as well as his follow up comments). We need cool and calm right now. Not firey and hot tempered.[/quote]
Scotty Bowman would be bad for this team right now. You may be right when you say that this is a hockey team, not the army, however, some of these guys make more in a season then a soldier will make in 20 years. I think they should be held at least as accountable as a $40K/yr soldier. And quite frankly, the other teams in the league show up with marching orders, "Give no quarter." Other teams approach this as time to go to war, but the country club Canucks wilt when facing that kind of opponent. Why shouldn't these guys be ready for that. I think Torts was brought in specifically to be "bad for the team".
Our team was full of mentally fragile players who just collapse and screw up in big moments. Torts is here to weed out the ones who can't be toughened up and to toughen up the ones who just needed a new motivator.