Randy Carlyle/Leaf Coach thread

[LuncheonMeat]

If this is in regards to the thread title, nobody seemed to mind when it was made up for Wilson. It addresses the two opposite opinions a Maple Leafs fan often has of a coach/player/prospect/GM, while being just a little bit funny.

Yeah, when I started the Wilson thread with the name it was just a comment on the way opinions tend to go to one extreme or the other. I liked it and I like it more for Carlyle.

Although nutman complained about that thread title too, chiefly because he didn't even bother to read the second half of it. Personally, I'm inclined to keep this up just to spite him.

When I started this one, I literally copied and pasted the title from your thread (sorry to steal your thunder).  I got a kick out of the other thread and know most around here have a sense of humour.  Who knew I would be poking a stick in the proverbial hornets' nest.

 

[LuncheonMeat]

about the fitness thing ..i guess it can go two ways too ..i remember hearing that tortorella tends not to drive his players hard during the year because he figured the games were grueling enough and didn't want to cause more injuries than he had to ...maybe i'm wrong about that..but i do remember something like that coming out when the lightning won the cup

And those Lightning teams had uncanny good health - fewest injuries/games lost.

On the flip side, I remember when Pat Burns took over the Leafs.  I remember he worked them really hard - much harder than they were used to - because he wanted them to be in shape to play that long, gruelling schedule.  If I remember correctly, it worked out pretty well.

 

[crazyperfectdevil]

about the fitness thing ..i guess it can go two ways too ..i remember hearing that tortorella tends not to drive his players hard during the year because he figured the games were grueling enough and didn't want to cause more injuries than he had to ...maybe i'm wrong about that..but i do remember something like that coming out when the lightning won the cup

And those Lightning teams had uncanny good health - fewest injuries/games lost.

On the flip side, I remember when Pat Burns took over the Leafs.  I remember he worked them really hard - much harder than they were used to - because he wanted them to be in shape to play that long, gruelling schedule.  If I remember correctly, it worked out pretty well.

agreed... i'm just saying that it doesn't seem as simple as just up the fitness level and the results will follow .it's apparently more complicated than that ..  like the one article i read recently in regards to carlyle's approach fitness wise was that pronger consistently did poorly on the fitness tests ...yet that didn't seem to be a problem in game for him.. 

in the end i think you hope the coach figures out what that team in particular needs as there's no cure-all for every team.

 

[Tigger]

Yeah, it's an excuse but isn't a bag skate or two kind of like saying 'I'm in charge'? It's probably just par for the course.

 

[Mack674]

Well i can tell you having met some of these guys before, they aren't on par with what I had assumed "professional athletes" would be, that's for sure.

They aren't unfit but it was surprising to see that guys like crosby, cammaleri, Roberts etc were actually pretty above the norm.

It won't cure all the teams problems sure, but the benefits of being in elite shape can go a long, long way.

 

[ZBBM]

No worries lhf I myself  am long married to a "ski" who proudly retains her birthname from the land of Chopin.

 

[LittleHockeyFan]

nice article on Randy Carlyle in the Star today:

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1144135--toronto-maple-leafs-coach-randy-carlyle-still-hangs-with-boyhood-pals-from-azilda-ont?bn=1

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

nice article on Randy Carlyle in the Star today:

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1144135--toronto-maple-leafs-coach-randy-carlyle-still-hangs-with-boyhood-pals-from-azilda-ont?bn=1

Thanks a bunch for sharing that, a really great read. 

 

[moon111]

Born in 1956, he lived on farmland first acquired by his grandfather, a Finnish immigrant.
Carlyle doesn't sound Finnish to me.

 

[Bender]

Born in 1956, he lived on farmland first acquired by his grandfather, a Finnish immigrant.
Carlyle doesn't sound Finnish to me.

Maternal grandmother?

My grandfather's Italian and my last name is Ware

 

[mr10am]

time to start a "fire Carlyle thread" anyone? not only is losing, the lack of offense is boring.

 

[skrackle]

time to start a "fire Carlyle thread" anyone? not only is losing, but the lack of offense is boring.

This is a team that needs to learn how to play defense. If any players or fans of the 'run and gun' get their noses out of joint during the transition, well boo-hoo.

 

[Strangelove]

He seems to have Kessel depressed.  The latter hasn't even pretended to play with any intensity the last little while.  Though the same could be said for most of the team.

If nothing else, I'm hoping Carlyle can instill some semblence of discipline in this bunch of wimps before the year is done.  They've shown year after year that they're happy to break when the going gets tough, and the first step towards establishing some semblence of identity will be showing them that this attitude is completely unacceptable.  The second step, of course, is to get rid of all the players who don't buy into the plan.  But with all the burdonsome high-price, low-value contracts Burke has signed, it'll be far from easy.

 

[ontariojames]

time to start a "fire Carlyle thread" anyone? not only is losing, but the lack of offense is boring.

This is a team that needs to learn how to play defense. If any players or fans of the 'run and gun' get their noses out of joint during the transition, well boo-hoo.

Some people on here act like playing a defensive style automatically means we'll be better. If that was the case, every bad team would do it. What makes people think we have the roster to play this style and be successful? We're still not going to be good and now on top of it we'll be boring to watch.

 

[skrackle]

time to start a "fire Carlyle thread" anyone? not only is losing, but the lack of offense is boring.

This is a team that needs to learn how to play defense. If any players or fans of the 'run and gun' get their noses out of joint during the transition, well boo-hoo.

Some people on here act like playing a defensive style automatically means we'll be better. If that was the case, every bad team would do it. What makes people think we have the roster to play this style and be successful? We're still not going to be good and now on top of it we'll be boring to watch.

I don't think anything is going to happen automatically. The Leafs don't have the roster to win right now, period. That's regardless of whatever system they play, or who is coaching them.

One thing that has been consistent with the Leafs for decades apart from the early Burns era, is that they've been awful defensively. That's got to start changing. If Randy Carlyle is the coach to start the process of building defensive awareness and responsibility with whatever he's currently got to work with, at least it's a start. It's Burke's job to find the players who can and will buy into that style of hockey.

Or, they could keep trying the run and gun, cherry-picking, outscore their problems style. And yes, that could actually work if they happen to acquire the best goaltender in the world and a couple more offensive superstars.

I tend to believe in the defense wins championships philosophy. But as Dennis Miller says, that's my opinion. I could be wrong.

 

[Bender]

time to start a "fire Carlyle thread" anyone? not only is losing, but the lack of offense is boring.

This is a team that needs to learn how to play defense. If any players or fans of the 'run and gun' get their noses out of joint during the transition, well boo-hoo.

Some people on here act like playing a defensive style automatically means we'll be better. If that was the case, every bad team would do it. What makes people think we have the roster to play this style and be successful? We're still not going to be good and now on top of it we'll be boring to watch.

Holy moses, I hate it when people use this logic. Guess what, nothing in this world is guaranteed. Don't you think it makes sense to try another approach when a previous approach failed the last 4 years?

If you believed in the nothing is guaranteed line of logic you'd be paralyzed to do anything your whole life.

 

[ontariojames]

time to start a "fire Carlyle thread" anyone? not only is losing, but the lack of offense is boring.

This is a team that needs to learn how to play defense. If any players or fans of the 'run and gun' get their noses out of joint during the transition, well boo-hoo.

Some people on here act like playing a defensive style automatically means we'll be better. If that was the case, every bad team would do it. What makes people think we have the roster to play this style and be successful? We're still not going to be good and now on top of it we'll be boring to watch.

Holy moses, I hate it when people use this logic. Guess what, nothing in this world is guaranteed. Don't you think it makes sense to try another approach when a previous approach failed the last 4 years?

If you believed in the nothing is guaranteed line of logic you'd be paralyzed to do anything your whole life.

There is no reason to think this team will be any better playing a defensive system, the style we were playing before would've been fine if we had a good #1 goaltender. We don't have the team tlo be successful with either style, so may as well stick to the exciting one and atleast give the fans a reason to watch and keep Kessel interested as I have a feeling he's not going to be very successful in this system.

 

[drummond]

In every single game under Carlyle there was at least one fight, in some cases more than couple of fights. I guess truculence is finally coming. Next season we may expect high PIM totals for Brown, Rosehill, Schenn, Phaneuf, Lupul, even from Grabovski  ;D

 

[Zee]

Look a lot better on defensive zone coverage lately.  Hope this keeps up, would be nice to be recognized as a solid defensive team next season.

 

[ZBBM]

Carlyle so far:

? 3-5 record
? during 5-game losing streak lost first 3 by 1 goal each, then got shutout the next 2
? have only given up more than 3 goals in a game twice
? 17 GF, 19 GA

I think in general the defense has looked much better, even though the above stats are not terribly impressive.  What I have liked, and which Cherry and the CBC guys highlighted tonight, is that they are getting the damn puck out better.  I also see more structure in their own zone.

IMO since Carlyle has come on they have had just 1 really bad game, against FLA.  Gus has posted 1 SO (in a loss), and Reimer essentially had 2, losing them both in the last minute or so when it didn't really even matter.

So far, I'm cautiously optimistic about the defense getting cleaned up.