They're just getting worse and worse

[flyersfan83]

there's no positive influence on this team, letting jagr go was dumb, he was a winner i dont care about his injuries.  they have a coach that has no winning experience unlike roy he did, he won stanley cups as goalie and he was coaching for a long time before he came to the avs, they like him because he was successful, just like stevens with the flyers.

 

like i said this team needs culture change, they need winners, coaching and players, it builds a winning atmosphere. it's what of bad teams dont do, they dont get winning coaches or players that has success.

[jammer2]

@flyersfan83  I was of the opinion that we let go of Jagr at the right time, but it appears I was dead wrong. His strong play (leading scorer for the Devils) certainly shows that he has a decent amount of hockey left in him. He didn't exactly light the world on fire during the Bruins playoff run last year, but Jagr still does a lot of subtle things that don't show up on the score sheet, one of them being puck possession....something the Flyers SUCK at.

 

 Of course, being the leading scorer on the Devils is kinda like taking your wife to McDonalds for your wedding anniversary....yeah, you can do it, but it does not make it right...LOL!

[fanaticV3.0]

i think it conceivable that the team decayed under laviolette from a systems perspective, and berube is doing nothing to fix that.  so, it isn't two coaches *causing* the same problem, it was one coach who caused and a second who is just incapable of repairing.

 

 

 

two things:  one, watch the team and watch how they execute the larger strategic things on the ice, breakouts, transition, forecheck, backcheck.  they are all a mess, they are all a jumble and any particular moment is likely to blow up in their face because no one is in any particular position, no one is where they need to accomplish anything as a unit.  the problem there is the individual players, sure, to the extent that they aren't anywhere useful, but it is more a problem of the unit on the ice having no coordination and not working to any common end.  that's the coaches job.  second, the breadth of the problems with the individual players just makes it impossible that they, one by one, are the issue.  i find it amazingly unlikely that 18 skaters colllectively began playing terrible hockey, all at the same time, because of shortcoming they as individuals have.  mistakes they as individuals are making.  a player here and there having a rough spot, sure, but an entire team's worth of players who can not execute anything in any aspect of the game is just too big to be about the individuals.  if giroux alone weren't producing, then ok, he needs to step it up.  when absolutely everyone is not producing, that's something else.

 

 

 

Plus, this is obviously a very deep and wide problem. There's a lot of people making mistakes here. Management, coaches, players. I just don't see the difficult thing about acknowledging that.

 

 

yeah, but the way acute nature of this thing says there has to be some specific root cause.  a root cause that is exasperating other issues, maybe, but one thing that is holding the team this far down.  maybe this squad as built by holmgren is only as good as winnepeg, but...winnepeg has almost twice the goal total the flyers do.  maybe these players are all overvalued and are all just middle of the pack, but...the league average for goals scored right now is 2.3 goals, and only 4 flyers are even at that level.  league average is 5.4 points, only 3 flyers have that many.  

 

many mistakes have been made, but something specific is causing this level of problem.  this team isn't playing poorly, this team is playing the worst hockey i've seen, definitely since The Bad Year 2006, and possibly worse than that.  this is for-the-ages bad, many things may contribute to that, but i think one thing has taken it to this potentially historic level.

 

Or maybe....its the players? At least in part? Just  a wild theory I've been throwing around.

[fanaticV3.0]

Yeah...I forgot...the "lost the room" problem.  Hasn't every Flyers coach in 20 years(expect Stevens) lost the room?

 

"sigh"

 

Pretty much, yeah. It's always the coach's fault, didn't cha know that? And for the record I was not a huge Hitch fan, but that group quit on him. He was too strict for their fragile little minds.

[fanaticV3.0]

What @aziz said.  He said it perfectly and there isn't much to be added on my part.  Yes, they have been bad with two separate coaches and both coaches had their specific shortcomings.  If you take your car to one incompetent mechanic, he screws it up, you take it to teh second equally bad mechanic, and he screws it up, does it mean your car is not fixable?  Just because tehre were 2 coaches and each failed, doesn't mean none of them had issues.

 

I am not solely excusing the players.  My point is I can't  see how these players be struggling to this extent.  Yes, it's a very serious issue, but I can't imagine it's all on players.

 

Nobody in this conversation is saying neither one of them were flawless, but common sense should kick in at some point. You have a bad team, you change the coach, and they're still bad. Obviously it wasn't just or even primarily the coach.

[fanaticV3.0]

It is a coaching issue when you bring in a coach with "0" - ZERO head coaching experince in the NHL.

 

Let me give you an example.....

 

Several years ago both my wife and I became foster parents.  We are new this who process.  Our first child we recieved into out home was way more difficult than what the social worker let on.  After several weeks of some very trying circumstances both my wife and I made a decision that this child needed more experienced foster parents than what we could give to this child.   We had ZERO experience in helping this child.  The same can be said with Berube..  He has ZERO experience.  Is it really his fault no....I blame the GM bringing a head coach with no experience to the mix, 

 

Is it really all Berube's fault....no ...but when you have NO experience to fall back on...well just saying......

 

IMO opinion this team needs an experienced coach.....not sure where to find one though.....

 

I don't understand you people who feel the need to constantly blame one person and in most cases someone in management. I really don't. I don't see how difficult it is to assess blame all those deserving of it: players, coaches, and management.

[fanaticV3.0]

We dont need a culture change! We like our culture the way it is! We know who we are dealing with!

Oh Eddie... You ass.

 

I don't like Snider. I haven't for some time now. He's too hands on and I'm pretty sure he's the driving force behind the bad contract signings. I can't wait until the old bastard is no longer calling the shots.

 

But the "we don't need a culture change" quote was bullsh!t. It was asked by a guy who doesn't know crap about hockey and wanted a sound byte. When you really sit back and examine the team over the last several decades, they don't resemble the cup teams from the 70s at all. In the last several years they've hired coaches from both within and outside the organization, have gotten a lot smaller, attempted to get fast, etc. This is nothing like the team many of us grew up on.

[aziz]

Or maybe....its the players? At least in part? Just  a wild theory I've been throwing around.

 

i guess i just can't figure out how it can begin and end with the players.  for them to be the major reason for the issues this season and last, one of two things would need to be true.  either A) they are just bad, terrible players to a man, or B) they are willfully playing terrible hockey.

 

focusing on just this season, where claude giroux has one goal through 16 games, A seems far fetched.  even if the roster as a whole has been overvalued, giroux is better than 1 goal in 16 games, isn't he?  voracek is better than 1 in 16.  timonen is better than 1 point in 16.  what we've seen out of this roster, especially this season, is way way way below what these players are capable of.  even if they aren't as capable as we'd hoped and management thought, they are capable of more than this.

 

which leaves us with B, that these players have decided to be terrible.  and i can't get my head around that at all.  i've seen maybe...4 or 5 truly lazy players in the league, guys who truly dogged it all the time.  these players stand in front of 20,000 angry fans for 3 hours for each home game, they are confronted by reporters, they see their reputations sink as the team's record gets worse and worse.  1 or 2 guys who don't care, sure, i could buy that.  15 or 16?  i have a tougher time with that.  i have to think the last thing they want is to go out and embarrass themselves every night, and would like very much for that not to happen.

 

and besides, we don't see a ton of prospal-stlye standing around looking bored.  we don't see kovalev-style only skating every third shift or so.  we see guys skating hard most of the time, just not able to translate that into good hockey.  which, like i said two paragraphs ago, we've seen these players play good hockey, it doesn't track that they just aren't capable.  i can't come up any explanation other than they are being coordinated poorly.

[fanaticV3.0]

i guess i just can't figure out how it can begin and end with the players.  for them to be the major reason for the issues this season and last, one of two things would need to be true.  either A) they are just bad, terrible players to a man, or B) they are willfully playing terrible hockey.

 

focusing on just this season, where claude giroux has one goal through 16 games, A seems far fetched.  even if the roster as a whole has been overvalued, giroux is better than 1 goal in 16 games, isn't he?  voracek is better than 1 in 16.  timonen is better than 1 point in 16.  what we've seen out of this roster, especially this season, is way way way below what these players are capable of.  even if they aren't as capable as we'd hoped and management thought, they are capable of more than this.

 

which leaves us with B, that these players have decided to be terrible.  and i can't get my head around that at all.  i've seen maybe...4 or 5 truly lazy players in the league, guys who truly dogged it all the time.  these players stand in front of 20,000 angry fans for 3 hours for each home game, they are confronted by reporters, they see their reputations sink as the team's record gets worse and worse.  1 or 2 guys who don't care, sure, i could buy that.  15 or 16?  i have a tougher time with that.  i have to think the last thing they want is to go out and embarrass themselves every night, and would like very much for that not to happen.

 

and besides, we don't see a ton of prospal-stlye standing around looking bored.  we don't see kovalev-style only skating every third shift or so.  we see guys skating hard most of the time, just not able to translate that into good hockey.  which, like i said two paragraphs ago, we've seen these players play good hockey, it doesn't track that they just aren't capable.  i can't come up any explanation other than they are being coordinated poorly.

 

If ever there were an instance where it was obvious it wasn't the coach, I would think this would be it. When you fire one guy and bring in another and nothing changes, how red flags aren't being raised in your head that the players are playing poorly and responsible for their poor play is beyond my comprehension.

[aziz]

@fanaticV3.0

 

if i am your mechanic, and i screw up and break your car, you fire me, and then you hire a moron to be your next mechanic...does the fact that your car is still broken after two mechanics mean it obviously isn't the mechanics' fault?

 

ok, nevermind, i give.  18 skaters collectively and completely coincidentally are playing the worst hockey of their careers, there is no common anything that is causing it.

[SwedeFly]

@aziz

It could be that 18 players have all lost confidence to some extent, which in turn leads to all sorts of problems..both individually and as a team.

Could it be something simple as simply just getting confidence back...somehow ?

[aziz]

@SwedeFly

 

i think that probably has something to do with it.  maybe a lot to do with it.  i still can't get fully past the fact that they are always in the wrong places to do whatever it is they are trying to do.  breakout, forecheck, offensive posession, whatever, they are never set up like a unit needs to be to accomplish the task at hand.  confidence has a lot to do with their problems passing, their with-the-puck decision-making, but i don't think it explains how horribly out of position they all are all the time.

[Howie58]

Howdy:

 

I think my backyard Florida Panthers and the Flyers represent a study in contrasts. You could argue that the Panthers have been chronic underspenders who don't keep the good draft choice they accumulate because of salary limitations. This builds a losing culture that makes it tough to attract quality UFAs even if they were affordable. The Flyers overspend on past-their-prime UFAs and don't give their draft picks time to mature.  These are contrasting models that have (at least this year) similar results. You can replace Dineen with Horacek.  And you can switch out Lavy for Chief. But you still get cellar dwellers.  

 

I think the long-term question we have to ask is where we are historically? Is this a repeat of the 1990-93 stretch (I think) with no playoffs? Are we facing a kind of dark ages until the expensive headaches Homer has gotten us are off the books via retirement or trade?  I can't say. 

 

What I've said here before is that our history since the first strike suggests tremendous inconsistency between and within seasons.  From my vantage--that is the result of short-sided opportunism versus long-term drafting and developing. By chance we will have an occasional deep playoff run. Otherwise we will be mediocre. 

 

Best,

 

Howie

 

P.S. It is Memorial Day. We owe a lot to the people who protect our right to post here as we see fit.

[Mad Dog]

Nobody in this conversation is saying neither one of them were flawless, but common sense should kick in at some point. You have a bad team, you change the coach, and they're still bad. Obviously it wasn't just or even primarily the coach.

 

Well, again, the players on this team are capable of playing MUCH better than they have so far.  Surely, the players are responsible, but when watching every game, it becomes painfully obvious taht the players are running around like chicken without heads.  There is no sense of direction, coordination, cohesion, or structure.  I mean... AT ALL. 

 

Haven't you watched the Flyers play this season to make this observation?

 

If that's not on coaching, I don't know what is.

[fanaticV3.0]

@fanaticV3.0

 

if i am your mechanic, and i screw up and break your car, you fire me, and then you hire a moron to be your next mechanic...does the fact that your car is still broken after two mechanics mean it obviously isn't the mechanics' fault?

 

ok, nevermind, i give.  18 skaters collectively and completely coincidentally are playing the worst hockey of their careers, there is no common anything that is causing it.

 

You know what's funny? For all the blame you are laying at the coaches (not one, but two) feet, you haven't offered a single example of exactly what they are doing wrong to cause these players to play so poorly. If it's Berube and Lavy's fault Giroux didn't score a goal in 20 games and had a slow start least season too, I'd think you'd be citing plenty of examples of what they are doing wrong. Yet, not a one.

[fanaticV3.0]

Well, again, the players on this team are capable of playing MUCH better than they have so far.  Surely, the players are responsible, but when watching every game, it becomes painfully obvious taht the players are running around like chicken without heads.  There is no sense of direction, coordination, cohesion, or structure.  I mean... AT ALL. 

 

Haven't you watched the Flyers play this season to make this observation?

 

If that's not on coaching, I don't know what is.

 

If the players are capable of playing better, that's the end of the conversation. That right there puts an end to the idea it's any one area, particularly coaching. And that's not me saying coaching can't use some improving, but enough is enough. The players need to step up. They're capable of much more and even you admit that. This is not a one-dimensional problem, especially when you already replaced that one part. They have players who are playing poorly, an owner who meddles too much, a GM who has made some bad decisions, and an inexperienced  coach. That about cover it?

[mojo1917]

well, yes.  that really is exactly what they do.  and they'll set it up in practice, throw a puck in the corner and have the forwards sprint in and set up as directed by the coach.  blow the whistle and do it again.  and again.  then add live dmen and do it again.  and again.  then add a goalie and keep doing it until the players are going to the spots the coach wants under those conditions, until it becomes habit.

 

i mean, outside of conditioning, that is what practice is for.  it isn't like an NHL team works on passing in the abstract in practice.  "today, we're going to work on heel-to-toe passing.  what you do is start with the puck near the heel of the blade, then push like this and snap your wrists like this and fling the puck to your target.  let's try it."  that doesn't happen.  what does happen is, "when the puck dumped into the corner and there are two defensemen back, i want F1 to press them hard, F2 to follow in 10-15 feet behind and board side, and F3 to curl into the slot just above the hashmarks.  strong side dman will hold the boards at the blue line, and weak side slide across to support his partner and F3.  hartnell, you're F1, giroux F2, voracek F3, go. ... ok, stop, giroux, stay higher, you're allowing their dman to cover you both, step back and stretch him out, let's try again, go...."  

 

different coaches have different ideas on how these things should be done, and they can be really specific.  the players need to know where they need to be and where to expect their linemates based on the situation.  laviolette's system pushed everyone into the boards, but as far as i can tell wasn't real specific on where to go from there, other than to press the play around to the weak side winger holding the boards at the hashmarks, relying on creativity by that player to make things happen.  worked when that guy was jagr, less so when it was hartnell, and not at all now that the entire team has stage fright.  last night, everyone had "boards" in their head and that's what they all did.  worked the puck around and around and did nothing else.  it needs to be someone's job to add dimension, part of the plan everyone understands that there will be options in open ice from specific directions.

 

 

rephrased:  imagine a football team trying to win games without a playbook.  just because a wide receiver is a wide receiver doesn't mean he knows where to go on any given play.  it has to be coordinated.  the QB and the WR have to be on the same page or there is no way a pass gets completed.  offensive linemen need to know where the running back is going to go so they can open a hole.  one defensive lineman needs to know direction the other defensive linemen are going so he can work to the same end, and the safety needs his head around all of it.  hockey is faster than football, players need to be able to anticipate where their support is, where the passing lanes will be, what their coverage is, and because all of that is dependent on what everyone else is doing, it needs to be coordinated at the coaching level.  if it isn't you have a mess.  as we see.

@fanaticV3.0

 

You know what's funny? For all the blame you are laying at the coaches (not one, but two) feet, you haven't offered a single example of exactly what they are doing wrong to cause these players to play so poorly. If it's Berube and Lavy's fault Giroux didn't score a goal in 20 games and had a slow start least season too, I'd think you'd be citing plenty of examples of what they are doing wrong. Yet, not a one.

 

there's a lot in the post i quoted here about what coaches do.

 

I think the role of devil's advocate is suitable for you.  Perhaps you missed this post in this thread, i'd say it describes pretty accurately how a coaches system can affect players and the way they play.

 

If in the games If you are missing 4 guys below the goal line in the offensive zone, the inability to break out of the defensive zone , the way fast skaters always seem a second too slow...all year;  then I really don't see any need for further discussion, you have your take "overvalued bad players 1-18" hope you love it. 

Edited November 11, 2013 by mojo1917

[pilldoc]

I don't understand you people who feel the need to constantly blame one person and in most cases someone in management. I really don't. I don't see how difficult it is to assess blame all those deserving of it: players, coaches, and management.

Several posters on this thread have given examples how it is the coaches fault from @aziz, @mojo1917, @Mad Dog and others whom I have missed.  The example of have 4 players below/behind the goalie line and not one in front of the net is a clear example of improper coaching.

 

Let me ask you one question then....err make that 2 questions.....

 

Do you think Berube was the right choice to make head coach?

Do you think Berube has enough experience as a Head Coach to make this team work?

 

If you answer NO to either one or both of the above questions, then tell me whose fault it is to bring in a coach with such little experience? I'll help you out here.  Ed and Homer.

 

Show me what he has done right in terms of turning this team around?  Your original statement to us was that you were inferring that this was NOT the coaches fault.  However you have an inexperienced coaching in guiding a team such as this.  I will give the fact that the players are not absolved from this issue.

 This is not a one-dimensional problem, especially when you already replaced that one part. They have players who are playing poorly, an owner who meddles too much, a GM who has made some bad decisions, and an inexperienced  coach. That about cover it?

Your first statement were we actually agree.  From your earlier statements, it appeared to many that you were holding Berube totally blameless.  He is not blameless, and I, along with others on here will feel that he should share more of the blame since he is the coach. 

[aziz]

@fanaticV3.0

i have. the breakout, transition, forecheck are all completely disorganized, scattered, chaotic. no one is working to a common plan. the flyers went out and got a "puck moving defenseman" over the summer, because that was the common thought on their breakout woes. turns out it didn't change anything because the problem wasn't the personnel themselves, but no rehearsed plan to get the puck from player to player and up the ice. most teams have several breakouts, the different versions being called when the dman takes the puck behind the net. i don't think the flyers have any. offensively, the flyers get stuck in that "work the puck along the boards endlessly" rut not because they have no talent, but because they are trying to figure out "how do you wanna do this" second to second, rather than having a shared idea of how they want to work to build a scoring chance. there is no situational "when this happens, then i go there" that lets everyone on the ice work together to put the pieces in place for successful possession hockey.

you know when you see a team that runs like a well oiled machine, they are never in trouble, always having passing options, are able to tic-tac-toe the puck around and into a shooting hole? some of that is player execution, but most of it is good coaching, getting players to be where they need to be to set those things up.

look, you can come over for the next game and i'll point out, "see, where is the support?," and "look, he has no passing options, everyone else is up against the boards, too," and "why are all three forwards completely square to each other on that 3 on 1, they made that easy for the D," if you'd like.

 

edit:  you know what is most telling for me?  the one thing the flyers are doing well right now, the penalty kill, is the one situation where basic zone coverage works, so long as it is executed by players who individually know how to play the game.  it's the one place where coordination as a unit is fairly obvious and simple, where effort and individual execution are what gets things done.  and in this, the flyers have performed admirably.

Edited November 11, 2013 by aziz

[flyersfan83]

even some of the media were saying some of the players werent on board with berube, if that's not telling us something, i dont know what is, like i said the coaching staff needs a complete change, look the patrick roy he's a rookie and the avs are playing like chicago blackhawks. alot of that has to do with the fact he was a successful player plus he was doing alot of coaching when he retired and won a memorial cup in 2007. berube is nothing like him, if the flyers have a patrick roy for a coach i think this team would be alot better

[fanaticV3.0]

@fanaticV3.0

i have. the breakout, transition, forecheck are all completely disorganized, scattered, chaotic. no one is working to a common plan. the flyers went out and got a "puck moving defenseman" over the summer, because that was the common thought on their breakout woes. turns out it didn't change anything because the problem wasn't the personnel themselves, but no rehearsed plan to get the puck from player to player and up the ice. most teams have several breakouts, the different versions being called when the dman takes the puck behind the net. i don't think the flyers have any. offensively, the flyers get stuck in that "work the puck along the boards endlessly" rut not because they have no talent, but because they are trying to figure out "how do you wanna do this" second to second, rather than having a shared idea of how they want to work to build a scoring chance. there is no situational "when this happens, then i go there" that lets everyone on the ice work together to put the pieces in place for successful possession hockey.

you know when you see a team that runs like a well oiled machine, they are never in trouble, always having passing options, are able to tic-tac-toe the puck around and into a shooting hole? some of that is player execution, but most of it is good coaching, getting players to be where they need to be to set those things up.

look, you can come over for the next game and i'll point out, "see, where is the support?," and "look, he has no passing options, everyone else is up against the boards, too," and "why are all three forwards completely square to each other on that 3 on 1, they made that easy for the D," if you'd like.

 

edit:  you know what is most telling for me?  the one thing the flyers are doing well right now, the penalty kill, is the one situation where basic zone coverage works, so long as it is executed by players who individually know how to play the game.  it's the one place where coordination as a unit is fairly obvious and simple, where effort and individual execution are what gets things done.  and in this, the flyers have performed admirably.

 

Rux said it best earlier in this thread. What NHL level players need to be told what to do? If you are good enough to make it to the bigs, even if you have a coach with issues, who can't figure the basics of the game at this point? We're talking about grown men here.

 

The team is playing poorly. They are playing poorly now and were playing poorly under the last coach. They changed coaches because they thought it could fix the problem. You know what that approach didn't work? The coaching wasn't "the" problem.

[fanaticV3.0]

Several posters on this thread have given examples how it is the coaches fault from @aziz, @mojo1917, @Mad Dog and others whom I have missed.  The example of have 4 players below/behind the goalie line and not one in front of the net is a clear example of improper coaching.

 

Let me ask you one question then....err make that 2 questions.....

 

Do you think Berube was the right choice to make head coach?

Do you think Berube has enough experience as a Head Coach to make this team work?

 

If you answer NO to either one or both of the above questions, then tell me whose fault it is to bring in a coach with such little experience? I'll help you out here.  Ed and Homer.

 

Show me what he has done right in terms of turning this team around?  Your original statement to us was that you were inferring that this was NOT the coaches fault.  However you have an inexperienced coaching in guiding a team such as this.  I will give the fact that the players are not absolved from this issue.

Your first statement were we actually agree.  From your earlier statements, it appeared to many that you were holding Berube totally blameless.  He is not blameless, and I, along with others on here will feel that he should share more of the blame since he is the coach. 

 

I haven't said a single positive thing about Berube, so I'm not sure where you are getting that I said he's blameless. Because I called out the players I'm a fan of Berube?

[fanaticV3.0]

@fanaticV3.0

 

 

 

 

there's a lot in the post i quoted here about what coaches do.

 

I think the role of devil's advocate is suitable for you.  Perhaps you missed this post in this thread, i'd say it describes pretty accurately how a coaches system can affect players and the way they play.

 

If in the games If you are missing 4 guys below the goal line in the offensive zone, the inability to break out of the defensive zone , the way fast skaters always seem a second too slow...all year;  then I really don't see any need for further discussion, you have your take "overvalued bad players 1-18" hope you love it. 

 

All you have to do is look at the players stats. There are several guys on this team with barely any points, and they are way down over their  past years. I'm not talking about unproven players, but guys who have reached and maintained a certain level of play for a few seasons. You know what to expect from them. You know what they are capable of. Simmonds, Voracek, Giroux, and Hartnell are the primary culprits. They are all down in points. They all played and succeeded (on an individual basis) under Laviolette. But he's suddenly the problem this year? How did firing him work out? Did those players turn it around? No, because Laviolette was not "the" (as in only or biggest) problem. These players are capable of more than they are showing. Even if you have poor coaching, it doesn't matter when the players don't show up. Grown men are responsible for their own actions.

[aziz]

Rux said it best earlier in this thread. What NHL level players need to be told what to do?

Every single one. Like I said to rux in response to that statement, it is no different than thinking a football team just goes out and plays football without a playbook. Being adults and all. Who needs routes or blocking schemes, just go out and play.

Example, right wing has the puck against the boards in the corner, back to the ice. There is no abstractly correct place for the center to be. There is only where the coach wants him to be, and where the right winger expects him to be. The winger is busy, he can't just turn around and survey the ice, he needs to rely on the system the team has in place. He needs to know the center is supporting him left, right, or square, needs to know which way to take the puck that will make use of that support. Stick taping on the ice works ok in a rec league, but an NHL team better have a well practiced plan in place. If that plan is vague and really only involves having jam, the team is going to struggle. It's like a football team's playbook beginning with "run fast" and ending with "get open".

[mojo1917]

Offensively the team has continued to struggle under Chief, no question.

However, the team is not running around in the defensive zone with no purpose, they aren't puck watching as much as earlier this year.

That was the thing Berube said he wanted to concentrate on first, cleaning up the defense and getting the boys in skating shape, it became obvious after the first 4 games that those things were happening. 

The lack of a successful transition game speaks directly to coaching , I am starting to see some improvement there also.  This was a team that was not coached up very well by Laviolette this summer, for whatever reason and are learning new things on the fly.

Berube has said a lot of the right things as far as i'm concerned, he's said it's a skating league ,he's right, He has an idea of how he wants his team to play and it is starting to come to fruition.  

We will see for certain if there has been any improvement on this road trip , they play 2 very good skating teams and a team that has been a match up problem for them recently .   if they play well  on this trip does that mean they magically became better players ?