Comments on: The chaos that was October…

By: Codey Holland

Codey Holland — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:53:25 +0000

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

-No improvement in power play
-Nobody can carry the puck across the blue line
-Offensive firepower has no chance to form an identity in Nashville

It’s time for a different vision. Trotz’s is lost amongst the players.

By: Brendan

Brendan — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:40:13 +0000

Alleging that firing either Trotz or Poile would improve the performance of the Predators is nothing short of ludicrous. The Nashville Predators are the Calcutta orphan child of the NHL. In terms of ticket sales, they are near the bottom of the league. In terms of corporate sponsor money they are int he bottom of the league. In terms of TV deal income they are in the basement too. What these two men have done is make a team that is competitive every season, and they’ve done it with a payroll of a glorified minor-league club. That is coaching and scouting at its finest. If you want a successful Predators club, the way to do it is to draft and sign cheap, quality players who will grind it out for a season. Guys like Joel ward last season who they can pay under a million dollars and squeeze 35-50 points from. I agree that they need to dump Legwand and Erat, then they can sign 6 quality players at 1.5 million a season. If anyone wants to see and example of why the Predators organization is working, look at Minnesota. The place is hockey-crazy. They have money coming in from every direction. Still, they have had equal or less success than the Preds in their time in the league. For Christ sake, they sell out the Wild arena for the QUARTER FINALS of the state high school hockey tourney up there. Nashville high schools have JOINT-TEAMS with other schools, some have no team. trotz and Poile are near-miracle workers.

By: Robby

Robby — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:15:55 +0000

Shea Weber is the best defenseman in the league. period

By: JW

JW — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:37:59 +0000

I think that Barry Trotz is a great, calming influence on the bench, but the system stinks in Nashville and should be fired. Case in point: Rich Peverley. He was a scrub in Nashville (albeit a hard working penalty killer and hustling scrub) and he goes to Atlanta and INSTANTLY becomes a point a game guy…and he’s not even playing with Kovalchuk anymore! This is the metaphorical nail in the coffin for me. Don’t be fooled by the recent scoring “surge” that’s happened in the past couple of games, I seem to remember a similar one at the trading deadline last year causing the Preds to stay put and then they just reverted to an inability to put the puck in the goal, or even on net for that matter. BUT, is Poile the victim here? Certainly not. If they were ready to pull the trigger to get Kessel in the offseason, then doesn’t that indicate that they have money to spend on ANYBODY who can put the puck on the net? I think so, even at a cheaper price. But no, they spend $9 million a year on Legwand and Erat who have 4 points and are a combined -14 in 24 combined games. Both need to go, with a thank you letter from the fans for their outstanding prior service to the organization.

By: Jeremy K. Gover

Jeremy K. Gover — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:19:07 +0000

You answered your own question Bryan, when you said “I’ve read analysts from around the league…”

Those aren’t people that watch this team on a game-by-game basis. They watch them occasionally and look at box scores. To clearly understand what the issue with a team is, you have to have intimate working knowledge and watch every game. Nashville media and Season Ticket Holders are the place to go for that.

The age-old notion that “he’s done with more with less” is a cop-out, IMO. As I said in the blog, we have plenty of talent on this club. Talent that we’re not given credit for because we play in Nashville, not Vancouver, not Toronto and not New York. If this team played in one of those hockey hot-beds, than getting this much out of these players wouldn’t be acceptable.

Thus, because standings aren’t on a curve, this team needs to live up to it’s potential every single night.

Hence, a coaching problem.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:11:01 +0000

I don’t understand why people call for a firing of Trotz when things go bad. I’ve read analysts from around the league claim he is one of the best because every year he manages to keep the team competitive with less talented players. I think what we need is a new gm. One who can actually succeed in acquiring more talent. He has failed multiple times since the trade deadline to bring in a offensive talent that this team needs so bad.

By: Big Kev

Big Kev — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:33:26 +0000

Peter Laviolette is still without a job… I’m just saying.

By: Sesana

Sesana — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:50:02 +0000

It really is all about the lack of consistency with this team, or the lack thereof. I’ve seen Those Expensive Players earn their money, and I’ve seen them play like they’re on vacation. I’ve seen this team play like Cup contenders, and I’ve seen them play like they’re hoping for first overall draft pick, sometimes in the same game. About the only consistent thing about this team is the power play, which I needn’t say is far from a good thing. Is this a coaching problem overall? Maybe. Almost certainly in regards to the power play. Would canning Trotz help, or would it take a total coaching overhaul like Colorado did? Maybe we really need to be calling up coaches from Milwaukee.

By: Big Kev

Big Kev — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:50:25 +0000

As always, a great read. I too was calling for Trotz’s head. Thursday should be encouraging with the return of 22 & 19. I think Toots is far more valuable to the team than his points totals would suggest. Keep up the good work.