Thank god somebody finally beat the Red Wings, if only once. After helping the Wings win nine straight playoff games (two against Nashville, four against the Avs, and three against the Stars), Dallas decided they didn't quite want to go out in a sweep and won last night 3-1.
Chris Osgood, despite being the best goalie of all time, a sure bet for the Conn Smythe trophy and an obvious first-ballot Hall of Famer, allowed three goals on 22 shots. Marty Turco, the whipping boy of Stars and Wings fans alike, put on a clinic by stopping 33 of 34 shots. It's about damned time, Turco.
Obviously, the odds are still stacked against the Stars. As everyone has already heard a million times when one team goes up three games to none, the last team to overcome a deficit like that was the 1975 New York Islanders. I'm thinking 33 years is long enough to wait for a repeat of that come-from-behind insanity.
The Flyers, on the other hand, are done for. They were done for against the Capitals in the first round but barely squeezed by the upstarts from The District. Even though I want the Stars to beat the Wings (how sweet would that be?) I can't root for another Western Conference team to win the Cup, so the Penguins are definitely my adopted favorites. Say what you want about crying, whining or diving (good god that routine gets so old), but the Pens are talented, fun to watch, and a likable bunch of characters. Hockey is entertainment, after all.
Oh, and if you're not reading The Pensblog every single day, you're not really living. They hate Chris Osgood, too.
ADDENDUM: The Wall Street Journal analyzes the further decline of Emptytown and the hilarity of failing to sell out home playoff games. Even the Avalanche, a team nobody likes anymore (if you believe the naysayers), sold out all of their home playoff games. Step it up, Murder City.
The best quote, by far:
"I've seen them win a Cup, so I won't be totally disappointed if they don't win one this year," Bruce Anderson, a season-ticket holder for nearly 40 years, said.
The Avalanche announced the signing of forward prospect TJ Galiardi to a new contract (really, the Avs need two TJs?), but, as MHH member Jori reports at Avs Prospects, the press release comes nearly two weeks after he actually signed. Maybe it just got lost in the shuffle with all this coaching vacancy business.
Speaking of coaching vacancies, Adrian Dater has weighed in on the feedback he received regarding Patrick Roy's possible appearance as the top dog behind the Colorado bench. His verdict on whether or not it's a good idea is a resounding "maybe."
Patrick Roy is also a very high-profile, opinionated man. That doesn’t quite fit the Avs’ M.O. for coaches. But the reason why I think he does and should have a shot at getting the job is he’s paid some dues already in Quebec, he only cares about one thing - winning - and knows the organization’s blueprint on how things are done.
But has he paid enough dues? Maybe not. The new trend seems to be that coaches have to go through the minor-pro ranks some first before getting an NHL shot. Roy has coached junior hockey - and that is still the primary feeder system to the NHL - but the differences to the AHL and other minor-pro leagues are that you’re basically coaching boys in junior and men everywhere else.
As for who will really be the top tier targets of GM Francois Giguere in his search, Dater thinks the high profile names like Pat Burns and Ron Wilson will be passed over for guys with nice, if less impressive, resumes:
Todd McLellan and Kevin Dineen? They both have built up some good coaching resumes, and my hunch says it’s going to come down to a guy like that who gets the Avs’ job, if not those two specifically.
But, as always, the Avalanche media clampdown is in full effect and nobody will probably have any real idea who the new coach will be until Giguere and company get around to announcing it. Which could be two weeks after the new coach signs a contract.
The time for the switch to the new platform is fast upon us. We've finally received word that Mile High Hockey will be transfered to the new, fancy version of SB Nation on Tuesday, May 20th. That's one week from today for those of you without a calendar.
So what will this mean?
It will mean that next Tuesday the site will look totally different when you stop by for your morning visit. The URL will remain the same, however. You will see a post on the front page detailing all of the changes and the steps you will have to take to create a new user account and "claim" your old one (so that your old comments and diary posts appear under the new account---even if the name hasn't changed).
Trust me, this is going to be very cool for me, for Mike and DD, and for you as visitors and members of this here blog. You'll even get your own avatar! Woo!
Again, if you're not familiar with what it will look like, check out other fine SB Nation blogs like Bleed Cubbie Blue and Mile High Report (just as two examples).
Add another name to the list of candidates for the Colorado Avalanche head coaching position: Todd McLellan. Who is Todd McLellan? Why, he's one of the assistant coaches with the Detroit Red Wings.
If you want to know more about his resume, read Terry Frei's article (linked above).
From what I can tell, this is the current short list for Joel Quenneville's old job (in only somewhat particular order), according to the actions of Francois Giguere and the astute journalistic hounds at the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News:
Pat Burns
Todd McLellan
John Tortorella
Patrick Roy
Kevin Dineen
Ron Wilson (doubtful)
Bob Hartley (highly doubtful)
Personally, I don't care where a guy used to coach. If Mike Babcock was looking for a job I'd trust Francois Giguere would pursue him, too, because Babcock is a good coach and that's what the Avs need. It's not like Peter Forsberg playing for the Red Wings or Darren McCarty playing for the Avalanche. Players are different, at least in my mind, empty though it is.
ADDENDUM: Speaking of Detroit coaches:
Q I apologize for opening with a Provincial question, but do you have any reaction to what happened to Joel Quenneville at Colorado?
COACH MIKE BABCOCK: Good for Joel. He’s a hot commodity now, and he’s out in the market. I think he’s a heck of a coach. I think he does a good job. He got his team two of the last three years out of the first round.
They were really hurt this year, and he still managed to do it. So I mean, probably he and his family didn’t want to leave, but in saying that, it will be new opportunity. He’ll get a great deal and probably with a good team.
Since anyone and everyone that is or has been a coach in hockey at any level appears to be a candidate for the Colorado Avalanche head coaching position, add one more name: Ron Wilson.
Ron Wilson is a good coach, but he's also aggressive and belligerent (if the reports are true) and he's a notorious choker in the playoffs. I have a feeling he won't quite top Pat Burns in the "who would you rather metaphorically make out with" competition being held among all the hot coaches currently on the market.
ADDENDUM: Also in the news, this from the World Wide Leader in Sports:
The Flyers are losing so bad they're beating themselves.
This has nothing to do with the Avalanche (unless rumors about Torts maybe looking for a new job count), but this has to be deseminated throughout the intra-webs as much as possible.
So who is Pat Burns, and why are some of us at MHH wetting ourselves at the prospect of the Colorado Avalanche hiring him as the head coach?
Pat Burns is notable for a number of things. First, he's the only coach to have won the Jack Adams trophy (best coach) with three different teams. He also won the Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 2003, his first year with that organization. He was forced to leave coaching after the 2003-04 season ended because of a cancer diagnosis.
Burns has remained with the Devils organization as a scout/player development guy, and is currently an assistant coach with the Canadian team at the World Championship tournament. Now that his cancer is in remission, he's made it clear that he is interested in a new head coaching job in the NHL.
Now, what kind of coach is Pat Burns? He's most well-known for his Cup win with the Devils, and the Devils are most well-known for their perfection of the neutral zone trap and the defense-first strategy that killed goal scoring before the Lockout. But Burns didn't invent the trap, he inherited it.
The trap first came to prominence during the expansion period of the early 1990s, in which more and more hockey teams fought for the same amount of overall talent, leaving goal scorers more spread out and rosters full of guys who would have been minor leaguers in the late 1980s. Or so the theory goes. The epitome of the trap was the 1994-95 Devils, who also won a Cup, but under the oversight of Admiral Jacques Lemaire.
By the time Burns got the reigns, the trap had been the dominant style of play in New Jersey for almost ten years. Also worth noting, Scott Niedermayer, Scott Stevens and Martin Brodeur had been around the entire time. When you have veteran talent like that, and a lack of top-end scoring up front, you don't rock the boat and dump the trap.
The top scorer for the Devils in 2002-03 was Patrik Elias with 57 points. That's right, 57 points in 81 games. The team as a whole scored only 216 goals, compared to the talent-heavy Red Wings (269), Avalanche (251), and Canucks (264). Burns' top offensive guys that season were Elias, Jamie Langenbrunner, Scott Gomez and Jeff Friesen. None are terrible players, but they're no Pavel Datsyuk or Alex Ovechkin. They're just not dynamic offensive players by any means. On the flip side, Burns had Niedermayer, Stevens, Brian Rafalski and Brodeur on the back end. Which group would you build a strategy around?
And worth noting is that Pat Burns didn't win the Jack Adams that season. He won it with Montreal, Toronto and Boston---two of which were prior to the trapping era.
His first trophy came at the helm of the 1988-89 Montreal Canadiens, a team that scored 315 goals and had some great forward talent in Stephane Richer and flash-in-the-pan Mats Naslund. The team won 51 games and the Prince of Wales trophy---without a trap system in place.
The 1989-90 Canadiens weren't quite as good, but they were still a scoring-oriented operation, with 288 goals led by 50 goal-scorer Richer. Richer had 421 goals in 14 NHL seasons, so he definitely qualified as "forward talent." Backing him up was Shayne Corson, who scored 31 goals and 75 points. While the team enjoyed some superb defensive talent (a young Chris Chelios, Mathieu Schneider and Patrick Roy), it was built on a high-flying, fast attack system that Montreal had always been known for. Maybe you've heard of Maurice Richard and Guy Lafleur. No? Those guys were kind of influential around The Forum for a long time.
Burns' second Jack Adams came with the 1992-93 Toronto Maple Leafs, also arguably the last really good Maple Leafs team. Doug "How 'Bout Them Apples" Gilmour led the squad with 127 points, and though the Leafs weren't a high-scoring team compared to others (over 300 goals wasn't yet unheard of), they didn't employ a trap like the one that New Jersey became known for.
Finally, Burns won the Adams for his work with the 1997-98 Boston Bruins, which, judging by their overall record (39-30-13) and their top scorer (Jason Allison with 83 points), this was given to him for the same reason that Bruce Boudreau will probably win it with the Capitals this season: doing more with less. It's impossible to argue that the trap had not taken precedence among most NHL teams by this point, but it wasn't Burns' creation and it was more a product of necessity (less talent) than design.
What Pat Burns' record as a coach tells us is that he is capable of adapting his strategies to the players he has. The fact that he won three Jack Adams trophies with three different franchies and a Cup with a fourth is extremely indicative of his flexibility. If he's got the tools, he can probably lead them to success using whatever strategy works best.
Whereas Jacques Lemaire is hopelessly wed to the trap as a matter of principle (and to the detriment of talented players like Marian Gaborik), Pat Burns is not. He's a dynamic coach with an impressive record and a great reputation. He's got to be considered the top choice of Avalanche GM Francois Giguere---and just about every other coachless team in the league.
Former Avalanche goaltender Patrick Roy is a coach. The Colorado Avalanche currently have a coaching vacancy to fill with the departure of Joel Quenneville (remember Don Cherry, he wasn't fired). Therefore, Patrick Roy is automatically a candidate for the job.
Forget the fact that Roy has only been coaching hockey for a few years, and only at the junior level (in the offense-only QMJHL). Forget that hiring him would instantly be labeled a publicity stunt more than an actual move to improve the franchise. Forget that Francois Giguere would have to justify a growing string of nostalgia hirings, even if they've proven reasonably successful so far. Forget the fact that any and all mistakes or shortcomings suffered by the team would be magnified ten fold, just by the name behind the bench. It's a wonder Wayne Gretzky survived this long in Phoenix.
"Yes, I will talk to the Avalanche if they call," Roy said. "Yes, I will sit down with (general manager) Francois Giguere if he wants to talk about being the coach."
And he's at least somewhat interested.
But let's be honest. When your potential coaching candidates include Pat Burns and even John Tortorella (both of whom have won the Stanley Cup), you'd think Patrick Roy wouldn't be a major consideration, despite his ties to the franchise and the pedestal upon which he sits in the Denver sports pantheon. Maybe as an assistant coach, sure, but not as an untested head coach of a franchise looking to return to dominance.
To Roy's credit, his Quebec Remparts do play an open-ice, offense-first style of hockey, which is exactly what GM Giguere has said he's looking for. But the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is known for its complete lack of defense in comparison to tougher junior leagues like the OHL and the WHL. The greatest goaltending and defensive prospects do not come from the QMJHL. It's known as a goal-scorers league and has been for a long timeby some.
What actually is to Roy's credit is his rigid mindset and steel resolve to be a winner. Patrick Roy never wavers in his pursuit of dominance, and he's an expert at getting into (and then wrecking completely) the minds of his opponents. He's no softy.
Also, Avalanche fans wouldn't have to worry about the coach taking out his frustrations on the goaltenders just because.
Would Patrick Roy at the helm make Jose Theodore even better (if he returns?). What about Peter Budaj? No doubt the coaching combination of St. Patrick and Jeff Hackett could produce some really amazing performances in net for the Avalanche.
But, then again, maybe not.
Honestly, I don't think Roy is the right guy for the top job at this point. Assistant coach? Absolutely, in a heartbeat. But for once I'm afraid I'll just have to agree with Bernie Lincicome on this one, if only on just the overall theme that other candidates deserve more attention.
The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced today that Joel Quenneville will not return to coach the team next season.
"After meeting with Joel, we mutually agreed that the best decision for both parties involved is to go separate ways," said Avalanche Executive Vice President & General Manager Francois Giguere. "On behalf of the organization, I want to thank Joel for his years of service and wish him the best in his coaching career."
More to come.
UPDATE: As PPPacknowledged in the diaries, this has major implications for the world's dwindling kitten population. Obviously, with the departure of Q, we will have to retire the Power Play Kittens meme, and come up with something equally vicious and mean-spirited for next season.
UPDATE 2:Adam Proteau at the Hockey News says Coach Q will probably have no trouble finding a new bench to stand behind in the NHL. Good luck to him.
Giguere doesn't have a timeline for when he'll hire a new coach, but he does have one requirement -- an up-tempo philosophy. He wants the Avalanche to play with more speed.
"We've always been an organization that's been a puck possession, upbeat, high tempo, high energy, attacking [team]," Giguere said. "That's the way the Avalanche have always played and I think that's the way I foresee this team continuing to play."
As evident from the comments, it's clear that we're all extremely happy with Giguere right now. It's obvious that our concerns this season were shared by him every step of the way. We all knew Coach Q's style of coaching wasn't right for the Colorado Avalanche, and the general manager was right there with us.
Sandy Clough, please feel free to email Mile High Hockey (or create a user account) and let us know how stupid we are.
UPDATE 4: Adrian Dater got some comments from Patrick Roy about the departure of Quenneville, suggesting that perhaps he could be a candidate for the job. Says Roy:
"Am I interested? Right now I am very happy in Quebec with the Remparts. I really haven't thought about one day making the move to the NHL. Right now this is only a rumor or speculation," Roy told RDS.
But Roy seemed to leave a little wiggle room that he might be interested.
"We'll see what's going to happen. Francois Giguere will certainly have a list of candidates that he would like to meet."
I'm thinking Patrick Roy is probably 1) not ready to coach in the NHL and 2) not right for the Avalanche at this point, but who knows what could happen? I'm not a big fan of putting Roy behind the bench, whatever that's worth.
UPDATE 5: Bernie Lincicome finishes off his last bit of credibility with this howler of an article, which includes such gems as this:
In a hockey season with enough man-hours lost to injury to overcrowd an outpatient ward, Quenneville was Mr. Fix-It, armed with spackle and spit, keeping a competitive team on the ice and, somehow, a reinterested Jose Theodore in goal.
It was one of the great coaching jobs of any year, and for that, Quenneville gets the door.
This little bit from Rick Sadowski over at the RMN wasn't posted until late yesterday afternoon so I didn't get a chance to link to it, but it's definitely becoming more clear that Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere is shopping his options. Or shoptions, if you will.
I spoke with Giguere the day after the season ended and, except for saying that he'd welcome Joe Sakic back "with open arms," wouldn't comment specifically about any player or coach.
Frankly, I didn't get the feeling that he was too enthusiastic about Quenneville.
...
Seems to me, if Giguere wanted Quenneville back, a new deal would already have been struck. And if Quenneville wanted out -- I don't really think this is the case -- it would have made sense for the two sides to make some kind of mutual announcement.
That hasn't happened, obviously, and now Giguere is heading to eastern Canada to check out the World Hockey Championship tournament.
Who's also in eastern Canada at the World Hockey Championship tournament? The sexiest of all the potential coaching prospects in the NHL: Pat Burns.
Now, Giguere could just be flying out there because he loves hockey and wants to catch a few games---or check out all the undiscovered talent on the Latvian team. But you have to assume he's scouting unemployed head coaches, and Burns has to be up there on his list.
Just so you know, Mile High Hockey will be sponsoring the Joe Sakic page at Hockey-Reference.com as soon as "the check" clears and the message is approved.
It's kind of pricey at first-glance but not really that expensive as far as advertising on heavily-trafficked sites goes.
Anyone who has ever been an athlete (or even just a casual game-player) knows that to avoid injury you need to increase your strength. The stronger you are, the less likely you'll be to get hurt.
I learned the hard way that bicycle racing had created a major discrepancy between my quad and hamstring muscles when I dislocated my knee in April 2007. One of the main reasons I got hurt was because the front of my leg was much stronger than the back, creating an imbalance that ended with me in surgery and then on crutches for a month. Live and learn, I suppose.
Another real-world example of the importance of strength training: the Colorado Avalanche.
I linked to it in the previous entry about Coach Q, but Adrian Dater's recent blog post (in which he joins the chorus of "nays" on Q's future with the team) was full of interesting tidbits. In response to a reader's comment that the team's entire training staff should be fired:
About the training staff thing: I’ve heard some whispers that the Avs are one of the most poorly trained teams in the league when it comes to weight training. I am not going to sit here and pretend I have any idea whether that’s true or not, but I will say that there were a few guys on the team I wouldn’t have sweated in an arm-wrestling match.
Now, nobody expects Marek Svatos or Jordan Leopold to become the next Rod Brind'Amour* or Raitis Ivanans, but some serious strength training would definitely come in handy for a team that spent much of the season being pushed around and/or sitting out due to injury.
Some injuries can't be prevented through training, like Ryan Smyth's shoulder separation. Getting hit full-speed into the edge of the boards is going to hurt, no matter what. But fatigue and stress-related problems like back spasms and groin pulls are all preventable through proper training. And by proper training, I'm not referring to the incorrect form of Milan Hejduk's squat routine, which resulted in a sore back and missed games early in the season.
The Avs need a solid program to increase their size, speed and strength. Not only would they be a harder team to push around on the ice, but it would also go a long way to preventing many of the injuries that sidelined them all season.
May I recommend the fine folks at Poliquin, who have a solid record of building strong hockey players:
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