So they fire Yeo, then what? Its not like there is a glut of premiere coaches sitting there waiting for a job. Who would they bring in? Most likely someone else just LIKE YEO who hasn’t done it yet, but is available.
John Cooper isn’t a seasoned NHL guy and he led the Lightning to the Cup Finals last year.
Overall there is nothing wrong with the system that Yeo employs, you guys talk like its something way out there an no one else does it. That’s not at all the case. Most teams have a similar style, but as it sits right now we are not executing our game plan and the guys are not finishing the chances they do have.
You have to look beyond just who’s sitting out there looking for a job. That almost never happens for any team looking for a coach. The candidate pool has to involve insider knowledge about who MIGHT be looking for a job and just like players, it’s looking at and evaluating who’s got potential.
Look at Philadelphia picking up Hakstol. Obviously, of all the college coaches, they had identified him as both looking to move up and having the potential to fit their needs. Only time will tell weather they were right or wrong, but this is almost always how it works.
As far as the power play, I have to disagree. You have to look beyond the basic setup because, yes, that’s very close to identical between teams with some slight variations. It’s the more subtle things the Wild are missing. BTW, these aren’t my opinions, this has come up on broadcasts and in the hockey media from guys with a lot more coaching and playing experience
1. Wild have zero net-front presence. They are not putting big bodies out front to clog up the middle and block sight lines. Everybody down low has their back against the wall most of the time.
You look at the teams that are successful with a heavy shot defenseman like Dumba blasting from the point and it’s almost always because they have a big body or a fast stick parked in the middle and either deflecting or just taking up space and blocking sight lines.
2. Because of point #1, the blast from the point has limited effectiveness for us compared to other teams because we have nobody deflecting and nobody blocking sight lines.
3. Since Yeo’s system is so ineffective in filling the middle, the opponent gets easy clears from rebounds because all of our guys are backed up against the wall or the blue line when the shot comes. If there’s any rebound at all, it’s scooped up by the D and swept to the side or shot down to our end. We get nothing in terms of garbage goals and crazy deflections because we simply never get to the puck.
At any point in the next Wild power play hit pause a couple of times look where our guys are. Then do the same with the opponent. Just doing this randomly, I’ve seen a clear difference between how often the opponent has a guy or guys in the middle vs the wild are always just passing around out on the fringe with Parise and Vanek looking for the opportunity to dart in, but nobody’s in position to block sight lanes or deflect a given shot.
It IS a system issue, it’s just not as obvious as a radically different setup. Same issue with the 3-3 OT. We’re still struggling with having gassed players stuck on the ice, where obviously other teams have a lot better system solution to changing behind the play. It’s still 3 on 3, but there are major differences in approach and Yeo is still struggling to figure out what to do.
Sorry boys, but Yeo’s been given enough time. He should have been fired last year during the Olympic break, but now we’re WAY past the point where Yeozie should have figured it out.
Bottom line is what I said before: We have WAY, WAY, WAY too many players who are worse now than they have ever been. Yeo is not bringing out and maturing the talent in any way.
Yeo must go.
Grouse
