Jen Breaks Up With Randy Carlyle
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Apr 15, 2010 6:35 PM PDT
in Slow News Day
Email
PrintARTHUR:
Anaheim calling to the hockey world...
Our offseason writer tryouts continue. If you're interested in joining the staff, you can still email me at anaheimcalling[at]gmail.com. We've gotten plenty of interested emails, but I haven't heard back from a lot of people, so you'll still be close to the front of the line.
We have PhantomPretender on deck for next week. He's interested in covering more of the off-ice stories of Ducks fandom. Ideal for the offseason, no? But for this post, we're giving Jen another at-bat after a solid debut. Again, show her some love and throw her some feedback.
After the jump, Bob Murray may be giving Randy Carlyle the Tammy Wynette treatment, but Jen's ready to see other coaches...
JEN:
My Dearest Randy,
We’ve had a good run. Can you believe it’s been seven years? The time has flown by. We’ve shared so many laughs (ok, me only, you don’t smile much), tears (again, me only, and mostly this season), and joy (mainly just me, but you were probably happy winning The Cup).
I just, well, I feel that things aren’t the same between us anymore. We’ve stopped communicating (hence the letter). You no longer inspire me (or our Ducklings, for that matter). There's no spark. The passion is gone. After Pierre Page, I told myself I would never be with another man who couldn't perform, and it’s become quite obvious that you can’t perform with the team you have now. I’m a fan. I have needs, too.
I think it’s time we start seeing other people. You’ve probably been eyeing a spot in Toronto, so go for it. You have my blessing. Yes, Ron Wilson is there, and Burkie is standing by his man. Still, I know Brian, and he'll come to his senses eventually. Until that time, maybe you should move back to Canada for a while and just reconnect with Burke. He needs you more than I do right now.
As a part of the breakup, I’ll give you custody of Newell Brown and Dave Farrish. Also, in an act of good faith, I’ll throw in Joff-- oh wait, I shouldn’t go there. Anyways, don’t worry about Bob Murray. Bob and I...well, it’s complicated. I was ready to write him off, but the Lubo trade helped…slightly. He knows I’m watching how he handles our little one, Bobby, this summer; it's a crucial point in our relationship.
I can’t thank you enough for all that you have done for us Ducks’ fans. After Mike Babcock dumped me, I didn’t think I could love again. You showed me that the dream was truly achievable (at least when you had all the RIGHT players). For that, I am forever grateful to have had you in my life.
But really, in the end, it’s not me, it’s you.
Xoxo,
J
Disclaimer: Jen is just a Ducks' fan and has been one since moving to California in 1996. She is not, in any way, connected to the Anaheim Ducks organization. What she writes are her opinions, and are intended for entertainment only. Relax, laugh, and enjoy the First Amendment at work.
33 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Very wel done J. enjoyed the read.
My Big Board
Lead organizer of the annual 7 round live mock draft at MtD and Moderator on Anaheim Calling
Oh God!!!!!!!!!!!
Jen now you are going to have Randy twittering about you. Look I can’t run a campaign for you for Ducks TV if you are going to piss off everyone in the organization. I’m good but I’m not Carl Rove. OK joking aside who should be the next head coach of the Ducks? You have to pick from OUTSIDE the organization to make this little exercise fun. Anyone is free to chime in. Just the first part of this comment was directed at Jen but Jen chime in if you want to.
Can we John Gruden away Alain Vigneault?
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Apr 15, 2010 7:59 PM PDT up reply actions
I don’t understand Arthur’s interest in Alain Vigneault. I can’t, think of anyone off the top of my head that I’d really like. I always remember how good Ted Nolan was before he was ousted from Buffalo. If we can just take someone, I might consider boudreau, might be misspelled. He seems to have a grasp on turning talent loose. If we aren’t going to play D, we might as well play an exciting offensive game.
by Daniel AC on Apr 15, 2010 8:15 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
you just want Ted Nolan because he’s native american.
And aside from his comments on sex, Alain Vigneault is a two-time nominee for the Jack Adams, one-time winner (the year before Boudreau) and he manages teams shorthanded by injury very well. So he’s shown the ability to put out a winning product when he knows he’s outgunned in the depth chart, a basic understanding of chemistry and motivation that goes beyond constant line juggling. Don’t see what’s not to understand, but you can just pretend I was talking about the sex comments.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Apr 15, 2010 8:31 PM PDT up reply actions
Lol solid read. Very creative, but I don’t think RC’s the problem. Good stuff though
There's nothing to see here. And nothing gazes back at me.
His system won a Stanley Cup. So saying it doesn’t work doesn’t make sense. It also led to a great second half record. We were just so far behind we couldn’t come all the way back. That’s a chemistry issue. I really don’t think it’s Carlyle’s system. I think it’s a situation where Murray didn’t get the right players for RC’s system and then RC didn’t adjust. That’s a very separate issue from whether or not the system works.
Personally, even though I answered the above question, I wouldn’t mind giving Randy another chance next year. If he’s learned his lesson, adjusts and sets the team right this next year keep him. If he doesn’t, show him the door. I know that’s a little more dangerous, but I think he’s earned it. I think he’s done a lot for this organization, and we should chalk this up as a bad season and see if he can pull us out of it. If he can’t, then he’s truly at the end of his rope with the team and I won’t feel bad about letting him go.
His system works, with the right players. I we have 75% of the right team in place for his system, BUT, I think those 75% have stopped responding to his coaching. How good is a system if your core players (cough, cough, Bobby, Corey, Getzy, cough) don’t follow it?
What concerns me the most with Murray’s decision to stand by his man is the thought that Bobby might not re-sign because of RC. Bobby took a lot of heat from Randy this season. BR’s young, with a fragile ego. I think it’s going to take huuuuge dollars for Bobby to play under Randy again. Just my opinion, though :)
"I'm not a lady. I'm a DUCK!" - Connie Moreau, D2: Mighty Ducks
I don’t think so. What Bobby really wants is to go UFA with his next contract. he’s only 22. If he can get the 5 or 6 year deal it takes to be UFA when the contract is over, I think he’ll take less money. Honestly, it might be the best move.
I think the real problem the Ducks have with the players you just listed, is that they are team leaders who can’t lead. Getzlaf is our best center, but if the guy doesn’t visit the box, he probably doesn’t feel like he’s having a good game. We, as in the organization, coaching staff, and probably the fans too, have asked Getzlaf and Perry to lose a little bit of edge in order to stay out of the box and provide us that constant presence and dominance. The only problem, as Arthur has constantly pointed out, is that Getzlaf, and I think Perry too, need that violence to get them to play in Carlyle’s hard nosed system. I think we took a lot of passion out of their game, and I don’t think it was the system. Let’s take away the letters, take off the leash and in a variation of some famous Aaron Sorkin shit: Let Getzlaf be Getzlaf!
Hulk smash! Yeah we do need to take the leash off Getzy and let him play his game. When he plays physical he is tough to beat. If he is in the box so be it but lets let the man get back to his roots.
by Newport Rebel on Apr 16, 2010 1:13 PM PDT up reply actions
i think the tough part about that is not matching him up against top lines. Getzy can piss off Joe Thornton, sure, but he was starting to get pissed himself at the Wings last year. A lot of the top lines in this league are going to dive and whine and act like Getzlaf shot them if he slashes them once. I can’t remember who it was, but there was a Wing who stayed down and acted like Manny Pacquiao got to him after Getzlaf tapped him in the face with his glove. That’s as bad as the refs calling everything on him.
Maybe Getzlaf won’t get another shot at overpowering grind lines or epic (and mutually beneficial) battles like he had with Phaneuf all the way back to the WHL. But if we don’t give that to him, I think we have to give him time to adjust. Right now, he’s still the player we drafted, and he got a taste of early success being himself. If we want him to be someone else, we’ve got to give it at least one healthy season.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Apr 16, 2010 1:29 PM PDT up reply actions
He plays great until he loses his temper. Then he just doesn’t play well and the team seems to sink in their play. I heard he’s getting married over the summer. If that is true, maybe a little of the anger goes away and the passion and physicality can remain. Then he can play the tough style without being angry.
he actually plays horribly UNTIL he loses his temper. The Columbus game was a great example of that. People have tried to peg him with consistency issues since his draft year, but even in the WHL, Getzlaf needed to mix it up physically in order for him to turn it on. That’s what made battles with Phaneuf so great. When you try to bang or intimidate Getzlaf, he actually becomes better. With us putting him against top lines, he has to find his own aggression these days, which involves hunting people down and initiating something, but once he’s gotten a slash or punch in the face under his belt, he’s good to go.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Apr 17, 2010 10:04 AM PDT up reply actions
First, I’m kinda bummed about him getting married because I’m not the one he’s marrying ;)
Second, I agree with Arthur, to an extent. I think that other teams are learning how to get under Getzy’s skin causing him to retaliate, instead of upping his game. That may be a result of the team’s struggles and him trying to do too much, but I think the rest of the league is catching on. Think of how many games this past season he took really really dumb penalties in the last 5 minutes of the game because he retaliated. It’s like his focus was waaay off and his temper turned against him.
"I'm not a lady. I'm a DUCK!" - Connie Moreau, D2: Mighty Ducks
There’s a lot of speculation in that post. As fans, I don’t think we can do much more but speculate given the little inside information we receive. But it’s been popular belief among Duck fans this season that RC’s system is the problem and that the players have tuned him out. What evidence is there to support this? I’ll tell you what, there’s more evidence not to support those claims. For example, why would Scott re-up his contract twice (and possibly thrice) to play with Randy? Like I said, we can’t do much more than speculate so I don’t fault you for making such claims, but I just don’t see any evidence to support the fact that either the players have stopped listening to Randy or that his system doesn’t work anymore.
There's nothing to see here. And nothing gazes back at me.
It’s nt speculation that carlyle’s system doesn’t work. That’s like saying it’s speculation that Datsyuk and Gaborik won’t respond under a Lemaire system.
Carlyle’s system is oversimplified on the backend. It doesn’t foster creativity. All breakouts naturally push to the outside; all first passes must use the outside. This makes it especially difficult for offensive defensemen like Whitney (who believes in breaking out up the middle), Wisniewski (who believes he can make a first pass center ice), Mikkelson (whose greatest strength is his skating/carrying), and Boynton who believed he could wait out an open lane. Murray wanted to give Carlyle offensive defensemen to run their version of a Pittsburgh/Detroit system. Problem is, offensive defensemen don’t want to play like Sheldon Brookbank, and they don’t want to have to be as good as Scott niedermayer to get a longer leash.
As for forwards, Carlyle could never really transition to the three line system Detroit has because he favors big players who don’t skate so well. We didn’t wear anyone down this year on the forecheck (the bottom 6 corsis are proof enough of that), and we didn’t send three competitive lines out there. It was a tranvestite version of the system that Carlyle said he was fine with going into the season
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Apr 16, 2010 10:38 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions
There are definitely defensemen that can run Carlyle’s system, but he doesn’t have them. He had a lot of guys who feel like they’re offensive geniuses or were trying to prove themselves to be offensive geniuses so they could get a raise on the next contract.
From an X’s and O’s standpoint, if you want to see the difference between a player that’s bought into Carlyle’s system and one who hasn’t, compare Brookbank to Wisniewski. How often does Brookbank leave position to change his shooting angle on? How often does he take a loose puck where it is instead of bringing it to the boards? How often does he attempt to first pass or breakout of his zone in the middle of the ice? How often does he escape into a direct breakout, rather than using his partner and the boards for an indirect? It’s boring mayonnaise sandwich stuff, but he will never be scratched, because that’s Carlyle’s system.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Apr 16, 2010 10:50 AM PDT up reply actions
He doesn’t warrant any creativity to the defensemen who can’t add any without making costly mistakes so often. As you added, guys like Scott have earned that right. Guys like Wisniewski haven’t. I’m more than fine with that assessment. But how exactly does that mean that Carlyle’s system doesn’t work? Does that mean that it didn’t work with the tools he was given on the back-end this year? Definitely. But as we’ve all observed, that means there is a desperate need of new tools. You can’t fix an entire car engine with a kit of screwdrivers and the occasional tire-jack. Randy’s system would be better suited if he had better than marginal (at best) tools to work with. We’ve all witnessed that testament. Was defense a problem last year? No. Because he had more tools than he needed. Murray made some mistakes and for that I warrant the loss of the season to him (mostly). Daniel made a good point in that Randy didn’t adjust and that’s why some blame rests with him. But to say that he is the sole problem and everything will be fixed by bringing in another coach is simply ludicrous. And no disrespect to Jen, but Hitchcock? God no! I like my exciting Ducks hockey even if they lose (like this year). I don’t want to see 55+ minutes of the fucking neutral zone trap!
There's nothing to see here. And nothing gazes back at me.
Ahahaha. Now I’m going to tweet about you! Nate really rattled me…
I’ve been waiting all morning for a reaction to Hitchcock :)
"I'm not a lady. I'm a DUCK!" - Connie Moreau, D2: Mighty Ducks
It’s the Texas in you that said that, huh? That’s a big belly behind the bench, girl. To have that rubbing against your back while he’s pacing? (shivers)
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Apr 16, 2010 12:20 PM PDT up reply actions
Well, Carlyle has no excuse for not changing his system. Unless his three offensive line talk in the offseason was lip service, he had time to figure this out and say he couldn’t do it. I understand the “if they’re going to ask you to cook dinner, they’ve got to let you shop for some of the groceries” argument, but Carlyle knew what he was getting. He saw two of the long-term offensive defensemen (Whitney, Wisniewsk) LAST season and Murray even threw him a bone in Eminger. Has he gotten rotten produce with which to make dinner? Certainly. Did he know about it ahead of time? You better believe it.
Beyond that, Murray refuses to pay a defensive defensemen. No money for Pronger, no money for Beauchemin, no money for Brookbank. If he actually does sign a Volchenkov to 5M+, it’ll be a new frontier for him. The chances of Murray giving Carlyle the “right tools” for his system are zero. If the chances of Carlyle changing his system to fit Murray are also zero, then last I checked, the boss always wins.
I’m not trashing Carlyle’s system, because I love it. And when he got a guy like Beauchemin, who was happy to get on a top pair, did what he was told and managed to hit and contribute offense without getting himself out of position, everything looked rosy. Truth is, most offensive defensemen don’t want to BE in position all the time; they want to put what they can do on display. And I respect that. Lemaire’s system didn’t work for Gaborik, after all. And if tens of millions of dollars in your lineup are going one way, you better believe the coach can’t go the other.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Apr 16, 2010 12:12 PM PDT up reply actions
Lol ya it was really boring to watch them win the Stanley Cup. Do you actually watch duck games? Because if you do, you’d know that the ducks have made the playoffs 4 out of 5 seasons playing Carlyle’s system. Has ducks hockey been boring that whole time?
There's nothing to see here. And nothing gazes back at me.
well, it’s true that a sound defense wins championships, and Niedermayer/Pronger could’ve gotten us to the playoffs in their sleep. But what Murray was seeing from the Red Wings/Penguins, especially when the Red Wings beat us was the the absolute need to create more offense. That way you can shutdown a Datsyuk, a Zetterberg and a Hossa, but you have tough/capable players like Franzen, Cleary and young guys like Helm coming at you. Then you balance high paid offensive guys like Rafalski and Lidstrom, with mid level hitters like Kronwall and Stuart on the blueline.
I wouldn’t say that hockey is more exciting, it’s just the way the NHL is going. And the same way that teams looked to copy us after we won, they’re now looking to copy the Wings. I don’t think Murray’s a good enough GM to pull it off, but I also don’t think he’s a good enough GM to realize that. And if he signs some long term contracts this offseason, I think he’s effectively putting all the pressure on Carlyle to make it work or hit the road.
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Apr 16, 2010 1:08 PM PDT up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
SBNation.com Recent Stories
CK Photo Galleries
