General hockeying update:
Apr. 8th, 2007 09:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bzarcherWatching Hockey Night in Canada last night went from elation, to multiple cardiac arrests, to ecstatic, to arrest, to ecstatic again. Man, I love the playoffs.
Toronto's alive - JUST! - and now we just need the Devils to...well, be the Devils, and shut the Islanders down, or at least force them into an OT loss. (OT loss - even on points, but Toronto would have the edge in wins.)
I am a little disappointed that Nashville ended Colorado's attempt to squeak into the playoffs, though. Having their game against the Flames tonight be another Win Or Go Home battle would have been pretty cool.
As to Montreal - hell of a game, Michel Ryder can die in a fire, and honestly, this is a pretty clear example of why Montreal needed to do something at the trade deadline. To be a team that was as high as 4th in the East (and threatening Buffalo for first!) and then sliding from late december all the way out of the playoffs has to be maddening, and it's pretty clear that guys like Kovalev and Samsonov weren't going out there to get it done. I don't know if making some trades would have changed that, but at least shifting the chemistry of the locker room around a bit might have made a big difference.
And then, on the home front...
Reading the paper, it appears the pitchforks and torches are out for Doug MacLean.
Not only are the McConnells and the other minority owners meeting this week about "Doug's Future", but the columnists in the Dispatch have pulled out all the stops.
It's bad when a commentator like Brett Hull calls Columbus a team where "Players go to die."
It's a death sentence when the local paper runs 3 separate articles, all about why MacLean needs to be fired. Particularly when one of them was a report written by 5 NHL scouts, all of them outlining major problems with the team that the GM should be able to fix, and others include words like "cover-my-own-tail-at-all-costs mentality", "Strip away the BS and here's what we're left with: The Blue Jackets' record is the worst in the NHL the past six years. They are the only team in the NHL that has never made the playoffs. Attendance is dropping so fast, I think I saw one of the regular ticket scalpers working the drive-through window at McDonald's.", and "For nine years, MacLean has controlled the franchise and, on the hockey side, he has served with no great distinction."
The last article? Simply a list of all the potentially available GM's in the NHL, and what it might take to hire them away from their current teams.
I really, really, really hope that the Jackets ownership is paying attention to the way their team is being covered in the media. National disrespect can be tempered by local support, but when the locals also pull out, it's clear a big change needs made.
We're fine on coaching - Hitchcock's the guy, I think, to really work this team into a playoff contender. But MacLean's proven he cannot get it done, year over year, from when he was both Team President and GM, to his current "consolidation" to GM over the past few seasons. I don't care how much you like the guy - it's time for him to go.
Toronto's alive - JUST! - and now we just need the Devils to...well, be the Devils, and shut the Islanders down, or at least force them into an OT loss. (OT loss - even on points, but Toronto would have the edge in wins.)
I am a little disappointed that Nashville ended Colorado's attempt to squeak into the playoffs, though. Having their game against the Flames tonight be another Win Or Go Home battle would have been pretty cool.
As to Montreal - hell of a game, Michel Ryder can die in a fire, and honestly, this is a pretty clear example of why Montreal needed to do something at the trade deadline. To be a team that was as high as 4th in the East (and threatening Buffalo for first!) and then sliding from late december all the way out of the playoffs has to be maddening, and it's pretty clear that guys like Kovalev and Samsonov weren't going out there to get it done. I don't know if making some trades would have changed that, but at least shifting the chemistry of the locker room around a bit might have made a big difference.
And then, on the home front...
Reading the paper, it appears the pitchforks and torches are out for Doug MacLean.
Not only are the McConnells and the other minority owners meeting this week about "Doug's Future", but the columnists in the Dispatch have pulled out all the stops.
It's bad when a commentator like Brett Hull calls Columbus a team where "Players go to die."
It's a death sentence when the local paper runs 3 separate articles, all about why MacLean needs to be fired. Particularly when one of them was a report written by 5 NHL scouts, all of them outlining major problems with the team that the GM should be able to fix, and others include words like "cover-my-own-tail-at-all-costs mentality", "Strip away the BS and here's what we're left with: The Blue Jackets' record is the worst in the NHL the past six years. They are the only team in the NHL that has never made the playoffs. Attendance is dropping so fast, I think I saw one of the regular ticket scalpers working the drive-through window at McDonald's.", and "For nine years, MacLean has controlled the franchise and, on the hockey side, he has served with no great distinction."
The last article? Simply a list of all the potentially available GM's in the NHL, and what it might take to hire them away from their current teams.
I really, really, really hope that the Jackets ownership is paying attention to the way their team is being covered in the media. National disrespect can be tempered by local support, but when the locals also pull out, it's clear a big change needs made.
We're fine on coaching - Hitchcock's the guy, I think, to really work this team into a playoff contender. But MacLean's proven he cannot get it done, year over year, from when he was both Team President and GM, to his current "consolidation" to GM over the past few seasons. I don't care how much you like the guy - it's time for him to go.
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Re: you may appreciate this, though because of certain things i must HISSSSS at your icon.
Date: 2007-04-08 01:43 pm (UTC)However, much as I admire/respect the job the Sabres as a team have done this year, I denounce Buffalo because of the absolutely atrocious behavior their fans have shown when visiting other cities - including Columbus. Rudest fans I've -ever- seen, by far.