I wonder if Sauer's tried that spinning chair in Colorado that some claim is a possible cure for concussions. I know they say that's what helped Crosby.
Looks like it's AV. @aaronward_nhl: Alain Vigneault has indicated to the Dallas Stars that he no longer wants to be considered for the head coaching position there. #TSN @NYP_Brooksie: League source: Vigneault with inside track on Rangers' job, offer may be forthcoming.
They obviously wanted someone with experience, and so AV makes sense. I'm not in love with it, but it could've been a lot worse. I don't worry about the "choking" label with coaches like I do players. Last three head coaches to win the Cup were all veteran coaches with regular season success that came up short in the post-season (and one of them will win again this year.) So as far as AV goes, that's not a big concern of mine. No coach in the entire league started their top offensive players in the offensive zone more than AV did with the Sedins. I think they were both around 70% for a few years. For comparison, I think that Stepan led the Rangers this year at around 60%, which is quite a big difference. He'll definitely use Nash as an offensive weapon more than Torts did. He tends to get conservative with leads. More like the Renney trap than the Tortorella 5-on-5 PK. But if you're not playing that shot blocking style and you're letting Lundqvist be Lundqvist, it could be a smart strategy for our team. His history with young players is much the same as Tortorella's. Torts was overall much better with kids than his press would indicate, probably better than AV to be fair. I'm 70/30 in favor of the hire. I would've preferred Stevens, and probably Tippett if he was available, but Sather could have fucked this up a lot worse. I want to see what they do with the roster this off-season to get a better feel of what AV will bring to the table, how much his style will stay or change.
This is what I got from the hfboards, rich man's Torts they call this guy, can't get over the hump in the big ones, PP had the Sedins and struggled his last year, likes to sit on one goal leads...I can accept this if they have Mess and Leetch as assistants, grooming Mess to take over eventually
This guy won the presidents cup and had the best goalie in the league at the time, Roberto Luongo and couldn't seal the deal, they call this the safe choice...better start out good there isn't much patience around here
Kreider will hate this guy too, Renney trap...great...didn't like Stevens either or Tippet...not much out there
Mess is NOT gonna sit around and be AV's assitant MR. Mess will prolly go to another organization if he wants to be a coach soon
As far as AV not winning "the big one".....he was 1 game short of a cup. A couple bounces here or there and hes a stanley cup winner. I think its foolish to say hes an under-achiever
if were looking for Stanley Cup winners we should just rehire Torts. Is he more offensive than Torts? that's all i really care about..
Would have been happy with Boucher, don't know about this guy, probably should have just kept Torts, they sound a lot alike
Disagree with you as always, perfect spot for Mess, to learn under AV, and when he gets fired in2 years, he'll be ready
He's so wonderful why did they get rid of him? Stacked team with great goaltenders, Sedins, Kesler...etc...
My son says he rolls 4 lines...which is good, but too much 12 minutes a game, on this team that's a problem, unless we get a real 4th line
I can't possibly imagine Kreider hating Torts. If he does, then he's not accepting responsibility for his season last year, and that's a bad sign for the future. Torts' handling of Kreider was one of the few things he did right last year.
We'll agree to disagree on Kreider, he was never given a fair shake and proved what could have been in the playoffs, a wasted season for him
What was Kreider's excuse for being the worst player on the AHL team during the lockout, when Torts wasn't even allowed to have any contact with him at all? I was honestly surprised at how much of a chance Torts gave Kreider early in the year. He played him 10+ minutes a night for a good month even though he was absolutely terrible. Luckily, Kreider listened to Torts and became more engaged late in the season, and he started to make an impact. If he keeps playing with that mindset, that will have been a great parting gift from Torts.
