Time for Ted to Show Up
Nyisles has made a very good point about Ted Nolan. An excerpt from his most recent post reads as follows:
"To an outsider, I see the team frustrated on the inside beyond belief, but outwardly they're pretending it isn't there. I attribute this to Nolan's leadership style. He's the calmest person I've ever seen coach a sport, and I'd put money on the fact that he spends a lot of his locker room talks calming the guys down and telling them not to panic. Which is fine, except the guys are panicking!"
Very good point about Nolan. There are times when a coach needs to remain relaxed and cool in order to keep the guys at ease. But there are others when the coach needs to show a little emotion, to show there are times when he's not content with the effort on the ice. This is the perfect transition into another one of my NY Mets analogies.
During the recent historic collapse, where the NY Mets proceeded to lose a 7 game lead with 17 games to go, Mets' Manager Willie Randolph played the "I'm relaxed and cool" card. He repeatedly told the press (and the players I presume) that he was not worried, that he believed in this team, and that when push comes to shove they would get the job done. Sound a little familiar?
Not once during this landslide did Randolph seem upset or angry or fearful of what all Mets fans could see was looming. If he just would have thrown a water bottle or got himself objected for arguing a borderline call, the Mets might have woken up in time to right their ship.
Willie Randolph couldn't stop the Mets snowball. Let's just hope Ted Nolan can pull his head out of the snow (no innuendo I assure you) and right this ship.
Game Notes:
Bryan Berard created a horrendous turnover when he attempted a behind-the-back pass on a 5 on 3 power play that led to another breakaway for the Lightning. MAB was benched for 3 games, then 5 games for similar if not less horrendous plays. Further, MAB has been benched for the last two games for showing a little fire on the bench. If Berard is in the lineup, then we can all be assured that Nolan does indeed play favorites.
Jeff Tambellini has been told that this is his shot to make it. Yet he again received less than 10 minutes of ice time last night. So much for a legitimate shot.
The Isles passed on Mark Recchi, a player who is a future hall of famer, and who has been a power play specialist over his excellent career. Recchi has always had good wheels, so it's not like he would resemble the Silingers and Simons already employed by the Isles. Where's Garth Snow?
If the Isles can use a pick and a prospect to get Schneider, then Snow better be all over this. Tambellini and a second rounder might get it done. We will most likely be able to restock on picks at this year's trade deadline anyway. It would also allow us the flexibility to include either Gervais or Campoli in a package for a scorer, if the Isles choose to go down this road.
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19 comments:
[Bill's post from the last thread]
Bill said...
DP was the difference tonight (again). This game could have easily been 6-2 or worse if not for him.
This was a lucky win, but hey I'll take it.
Tonight, I was very impressed with Sillinger. His play has been much better lately and his pulling Campoli aside and reading him the riot act in the overtime really showed me who should have been the Capt of this team.
He got right in Campoli's face and the result was the game winning goal. That's true leadership.
Guerin still look awful despite his "shotput" goal.
I also hope that Tank is out for a couple of games. He wasn't setting the league on fire and did anyone really miss him? Hopefully, they will bring up Walter to take his place.
I'm thinking that they only dressed FMV because Walter couldn't get a flight to Fla in time for the game. I think that FMV playing was strictly a convience move by Nolan.
Bergy continues to impress with his desire to crash the net. He and Tambellini both seem to be adjusting well. If they keep playing like this the goals will come.
Berard had another rough game. He is just not doing the job.
It's nice to get a win finally, but this game really was all about DP. It took two Tampa penalties in OT to finally bang one home. Not the worst, but not the best either...Bill
[Nyisles' post from the last thread]
Nyisles82 said...
"They aren't scoring because they aren't driving the net. They aren't driving the net because they are not working hard. The forwards as a group are not working hard and will not score until they get back to doing so."
Yup. And it's so much more obvious in person than on TV. Comrie was by far the worst. There were a number of times he barely got back to the offensive blue line when DP already had covered up the puck from a Tampa offensive possession. His weakness on the puck and immaturity to be able to hide his frustration when he's not scoring are painful to watch. I'd rather have Blake out there again. At least Blake took shots and didn't look to make the highlight pass every time.
I thought Guerin had a good game actually. He had a number of chances in front of the net, and thats where he scores. He's not a puck possession player as some have pointed out, and he didn't try to be one last night (as much as he has tried in the past few games).
TV does such little justice to DP's puck handling abilities. I took a number of people to the game last night who have never seen a hockey game...ever. They all mentioned repeatedly that "we" have such a good goalie. (I made it clear if they wanted to come they had to root for the Isles... :) ) His vision for the breakout passes is better than some of our defensemen! In person you can see how little room he actually has, and how he can still thread the puck in there. Maybe he should teach Berard a thing or two.
Without replay it was hard to see if the OT penalties were legit or not, but either way, we've been on the short end of calls a number of times this season already so I don't care. Their PP in OT looked good, with good puck movement and faster decision making. They still took a number of low-percentage shots for being up 4-3, but at least they retained puck possession long enough to sustain pressure.
Its really bothersome to me the guys out on the ice are not exhibiting the sustained intensity they are capable of for 60 minutes. There were bouts in last night's game where the Isles were buzzing hard, but they followed that up with a period of lazy and low-percentage choices (hence the number of penalties against). Its clear the team is feeling the pressure of the recent slump, yet they haven't adjusted appropriately. To an outsider, I see the team frustrated on the inside beyond belief, but outwardly they're pretending it isn't there. I attribute this to Nolan's leadership style. He's the calmest person I've ever seen coach a sport, and I'd put money on the fact that he spends a lot of his locker room talks calming the guys down and telling them not to panic. Which is fine, except the guys are panicking! Frustration and urgency can be productive, but I think Nolan is stifling it. And it comes out in the wrong ways- people losing confidence with the puck, making the extra low percentage pass in hopes of a high percentage shot, or over/under committing to a play. Nolan himself playing the "nothing is wrong card" so much he also makes poor personnel/roster/line up decisions. Let the guys feel pressure- they better get used to it if they want to be successful in the playoffs!
If someone told me we were only allowed to win one game in the last week, I'd have chosen the Tampa game (and not just cause I was there!). They have a few days rest now, and they can go home with a good feeling. They need to practice hard, get some good rest, and get ready for a tough end of the week. Great to see my Isles in person again!!
The Mets analogy is good but for the sake of giving the other side to that situation, we need to look no further then to the Yankees. After there horrible start, 21-29, which is roughly a third of the baseball season, Joe Torre was preached patience and created an non-panic locker room. While it took over another month to reach .500, the Yanks were able to make the playoffs in the long run of the season.
While our talent level is clearly not as close to what the Yankees talent level is, the calming effect that Torre set in the locker clearly helped the players.
I strongly disagree. You're right when you mention the fundamental difference between the Yankees and Isles, in that the Yanks had the BEST TEAM IN THE LEAGUE. When you have the best players in baseball then you can afford to be patient. When you have a bunch of 3rd liners who need to be continuously motivated, then you need to light a fire under their butts.
In baseball, you play everyday, which makes a huge difference. The season is much longer, and you can afford to be patient. The Isles cannot afford to be patient for much longer or they will find themselves way out of a playoff spot by the allstar break, as Geoff has predicted.
Forgetting these baseball analogies, I don't care what worked for Joe Torre. I know what's not going to work for Ted Nolan. And that's sitting here smiling promising us that everything will be alright. The lackluster efforts we have seen over the past 2 weeks only furthers the need for a shakeup.
The Yankees poor start was because a numerous amount of injuries. They had a new guy pitching everyday. We all knew once the Yankees got their rotation back they would be fine. The Islanders don’t have enough talent period. If it wasn’t for DP we would of easily lost again last night. The truth is all these baseball analogies mean nothing to hockey. It’s a completely different sport and you have to coach your team with a completely different attitude. With the way the Islanders are playing I would agree with Justin and say Nolan needs to show some more emotion. However, The fact is this game is played on the ice and the talent we have it would be hard for any coach to be successful with this team. We can’t score goals. If DP isn’t perfect we have no chance of winning. Don’t expect DP to win us the game every night and to score fluke goals like Guerins. Our D has been great all year but, With the fowards we have this team is going absolutely nowhere.
Tambellini played almost 33% of the even strength time last night. I'm not really sure why you'd think he'd get more. I don't think he's done anything to warrant more ice time. He's got zero shots in his last two games.
As for Nolan, I don't think any of us have been in the locker room, so I don't see how we can speculate on what he says to the team. He has said numerous times to the media that they are not playing hard enough.
I'm not 100% sure how the waiver system works, but at the time Recchi was put on re-entry waivers, I believe the Islanders were ahead of Atlanta in the standings, so Atlanta would have had priority over the Islanders. Either way, the last thing the Islanders needs is another old guy who can't score.
shinkdew,
33% of the even strength time? What does that even mean? I've never heard anyone judge ice time by percent of even strength time. But if you want to focus on even strength time, let's focus on even strength time.
Tambellini played his 9 minutes of even strength time. Only two other players played less than 10 minutes of even strength time--they are Park and Simon (the 4th liners). Further, Park received over 4 minutes of power play time and 6 minutes of PK time. Simon also received some PP time. Receiving comparable "even strength time" to that of 4th liners is not a fair shot at the NHL. Further, I don't know how anyone can prove anything in under 10 minutes of ice time per night.
As for Recchi, according the Newsay.com, the Isles had higher priority over Atlanta. So the Isles could have had him if they wanted. If the Isles would rather have Richard Park, Mike Silinger, Trent Hunter, instead of a hall of fame power play producer, then heck what do I know. I'm a high school coach, not an NHL one.
As for Nolan, who cares what goes on in the locker room. I'm calling for some fire on the bench.
Bergenheim had no problem proving he belonged on the Islanders with less than 10 minutes of ice time.
As for Recchi, he has 4 goals in his last 45 games. Sounds a lot like a third liner we already have that everyone seems to think shouldn't even be on the team.
Has Bergenheim proved he belongs? He averages less ice time per game than Tambellini! Sounds like Ted really trusts him.
Bergenheim deserves more ice time though. He could probably fill Hilbert's spot on the PK if we would just demote him already and call up Walter. Bergenheim is also a rare bird in that he can play the 4th line role, jumping into a game once a period and giving it his all. Most players can't do that.
Recchi has more points than Hilbert and Simon combined!
Recchi has also had 50+ points in each of the last 10 seasons. He had 68 last year. Mark Recchi at age 39 v. Andy Hilbert today? I'd take Recchi. It would have been worth a shot. Let's see how he does with Atlanta.
Good posts by everyone today.
My opinion of Nolan, is that he is was too calm. A coach needs to kick some fannies once in a while in order to show who is in charge.
He needs to bring some passion to his game. Give me a Torterella any day.
I also think that he is a horrible judge of talent and that his bais toward older players has really hurt this team.
I see the younger players not playing the game as they should. They always know that Nolan is just waiting for them to make that one mistake, so that he can bench or scratch them.
This is no way for a younger player to develop. No one can perform under these conditions up to their capibilities. Young players are going to make mistakes. It is part of their growing pains. Deal with it.
Since we are all using baseball analogies, I recall that Willie Mays went 0 for 21 in his big league debut and that Leo Durocher found him crying in the locker room.
Leo the Lip told Mays that if he went 0 for the season he was still his centerfielder. We all know how Mays responded.
Nolan needs to learn to instill confidence in his younger players and stop yanking them out everytime they make a mistake.
As for this nonsense about "just working harder" he is delusional.
This team lacks talent. No matter how hard they work, the talent is still lacking.
Snow has completely disappeared. I can only hope that he is hard at work attempting to obtain Schneider.
The Buffalo game will tell a lot about this team. Will they regress back to the team that got shut down by Florida or will they build on the Tampa win.
Bring up Ben Walter to replace Tank.....Bill
Looks like the Ducks are getting close to moving someone. Lets hope the reason Bill isn't seeing Garth around Uniondale is because he's been on the phone, or in Anaheim these past few days! :) I'm intrigued to see how this pans out.
I keep having to remind myself the Ducks do NOT need to move Schneider, and this opens up so many more trade options, with other teams. We spoke about it before- only a few East coast teams are able to take on Schneider's salary, but if the Ducks choose to keep the D intact, and move one or more forwards, things could get interesting- lots of possibilities.
My hope is if the Isles aren't able to land a big fish, this opens the floodgates for more trades around the league. The Flyers trade today is the 2nd (I think?) trade all season, which is just crazy to think about. Lets hope Snowy pulls off a big one again as he did last year with Smyth.
I'm itching for another game- maybe I'll watch the recorded Tampa game tonight. Hopefully that becomes something to build off of! Lets make it 3-0 against Buffalo this year...some redemption for the playoffs last year.
I'll drink to that.
Some have been saying that the Ducks do not want to move Schneider b/c they fear that Neidermeyer will retire again at the end of this season, thus leaving them again with out a top defenseman. MS would be a perfect fit on the Isles, so I guess we can hope it works out for us.
Did you know...that Mike Comrie is tied for 710th place in the league with a +/- of -11? Hunter isn't too far behind/ahead in 700th place with a -9,
Where's Garth Snow?
Call it a hunch or intuition or whatever you want, but I think that Mathieu Schneider is going to end up in an Islanders uniform.
The Ducks only need to move 900,000 this year, but more than that next year. And what if Selanne wants to return?
With Neidermeyer and Pronger, the Ducks don't need Schnieder.
I also feel that Burke will at least attempt to trade him to somewhere he wishes to play. I think Schneider has been quoted many times saying that he likes Long Island.
We are also a good fit because we have extra picks in next years draft.
I am thinking Tambellini or Walter along with a pick will get it done....Bill
"Deal imminent"
Lets get this done Snow!!
I'll be refreshing hockeybuzz & tsn all evening I think...
Bill thats a great point, giving the Isles an edge for Schneider. He appeared to like his time on LI (which clearly is a rarity, especially for toothless hacks from Alberta who look the gift horse in the mouth). I agree that Burke, if he decides on trading Schneider, will factor in his preferences. If Burke chooses to trade another player though, I think we've fallen even or below other teams who can give more in return (picks & prospects, not salary).
Another of Eck's "imminent deals"
fails to materialize. I am convinced that this guy just reads every other hockey blog and website and rewrites it on his own.
Robert Nilsson gets another assist tonight. That makes points in 6 straight games.
24 games 3 goals 9 assists +4 rating.
I know that Nolan had no use for this kid, but boy I wish they had used him correctly when he was here. He is just coming into his own in Edmonton and is turning into a solid playmaker.
The Islanders are doing the same thing to Tambellini. It is quite clear that Nolan must be under orders from above to play him.
I still have the feeling he is being showcased to Mr. Burke...Bill
I think Nolan is losing this team.
Another lackluster effort filled with lazy, stupid penalties. Where have I seen this before?
It's not even worth commenting on...Bill
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