DOH 198 – Contemplating Regicide
May 24th, 2012, 9:32 pm
Mike and Doug are back again, talking about the Kings being the favorite to win the Cup, the Devils-Rangers series, and the continuing non-info about the Sharks’ coaching situation.
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Tags: Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks
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Interestingly something I heard this week has softened my position a bit on Tmac. Watching the Devils make their way to the Stanley cup finals, everyone seems to be talking about Peter DeBoer and his coaching staff. I’ve heard several people talk about the great job Peter DeBoer has done, but can’t rant on too long without giving much of the credit to his assistants Adam Oats and Larry Robinson (two HOF players btw).
I’ve heard this simple statement several times this week about DeBoer; “A head coach is only as good as his assistants” – and I believe it to be true.
Even tonight during the game 6 broadcast they were praising Adam Oats over the job he’s done with the Devils PP. (After a ridiculous PP goal by Kovalchuk I might add…!)
So, Is the answer here really to just get rid of the assistants? Do much of the coaching issues really lie with Woodcroft and Shaw? Watching a HOF’er like Adam Oats run the Devils PP makes me wonder what a guy like Mike Ricci or Bryan Marchment could do with the Sharks PK.
All in all I don’t like the prospect of keeping a head coach while firing the assistants. It can set up the head coach to be a bit of a puppet. But, watching the Devils win under what appears to be a complete coaching staff makes me realize Tmac can’t solely take the blame either. DW has a tough job on his hands either way.
I’m trying to remember, what was the last team that went into a season by giving a goalie with zero NHL experience a chance to become the starting goalie? (or close to zero… I guess Stalock has, what, 10 minutes?)
Every goalie I can think of that is good (Quick, Rinne, Lundqvist, Smith, Thomas) all started out as clear backups to an established veteran and got their shot through injury or ineffectiveness of the starter. The only person I can think of is Ryan Miller, who apparently beat out Martin Biron in 05-06 but had a timeshare that year for the most part.
That is a long way of saying it would be highly unusual for Doug Wilson to ship out a starting goalie with the idea that he will let two relative youngsters (say, Stalock and Greiss) battle it out with no veteran safety net. It would be a gamble, a big one that no elite team has taken in recent memory.
Ruben, correct me if im wrong but I think the answer you’re looking for is the 2009-2010 Chicago Blackhawks with Anti Neimi…
And I think your perspective on these goaltenders you cite is different than I would describe… I may be totally wrong but I remember Quck job sharing with Bernier until it was clear Quick was the better net minder, not learning under anyone… Also, I certainly wouldn’t call Dan Ellis an “established veteran”… They job shared also until it was clear that Rinne was legit.
And Smith wasn’t inexperienced either… he job shared with Nittymakki in Tampa.
Neemo job shared only briefly with Huet and had the full time job most of the season in his first year.
So, I see your point and partly agree, but I don’t think there would really be much difference between a job share situation with Greiss and Stalock than with what LA or Nashville did with the guys you mentioned.
I thought Huet was the clear starter in Chicago, and then got bumped out by Niemi when he played awful?
Im just having a hard time remembering a team that came out of the gates with a rookie as their starting goalie, especially a team trying to win the cup. I actually would not be opposed to Niemi getting traded and Greiss being the starter (assuming that cap space went towards some other improvement) with Stalock ready to step in if he falters (or even a time share between the two). That, I guess, would be similar to what the Kings and Predators did with Quick and Rinne. I think all of the goalies you mentioned were more experienced than Greiss (except Ersberg), but same idea…
But if the Sharks were to actually hand the reins over to Stalock right off the bat… that would be quite the leap of faith. But hey, maybe it would be a rare instance if indivual thinking by the front office.
Also one other example is the 2009-2010 Monreal Canadiens… Halak and Price were both rookies and basically split the season. Price played 41 games and Halak played 45.
I checked myself… Quick split mostly with Ersberg in 08-09 who had only 11 more NHL games than him at that point and came into the league the same year.
Michalek was the recipient of the Torres hit. You might have been thinking of Marleau because of that hit from Cory Sarich…unfortunately, it’s not coming to me which Calgary series it was when that happened.
I think it was the one a couple years ago that went 7 games, where Owen Nolan featured prominently for Calgary and Roenick had a huge game 7 for the Sharks. That was followed immediately by the second-round loss to Dallas when they fell into an 0-3 series hole. That Dallas series also included the triple (quadruple?) overtime game that the Sharks lost.
I may be mixing and matching a few years, though. These playoff heartbreaks all blend together.
I think your both right, I seem to remember that Michalek was put out of games both years the first was as Tiffany said was off the Torres hit. He was also knocked out of the longest game in Sharks history after being hit by I want to say Morrow.
What was the name of the podcast you guys recommended? I couldn’t find what I was looking for, not sure if I’m spelling it right. Thanks