AJC > Sports Thrashers > Blog > Archives > 2008 > April > 05
Saturday, April 5, 2008
‘07-‘08 Post Mortem Pt. 2 of 3
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Again we find in the morgue, standing over the cold body of the Thrashers ’07-’08 season, scalpel in hand…Rawhide in smock, rubber gloves and mask.
Continuing with our autopsy…Today could get messy, so if you’re the squeamish type, you may wish to stay toward the rear.
Today’s topic of discussion: Coaching. Or better stated, the lack-thereof.
Last October, general manager Don Waddell decided to hit the panic button after the team’s 0-6 start and relieved Bob Hartley of his head coaching duties. At that time I wrote that judgment of the move would be withheld depending on who was brought in as Hartley’s replacement. Now I can make crystal clear what those of you who frequent this blog have probably already come to surmise.
It was the wrong move to make and it was a big part of why we are looking at this carcass now.
Now, I know I am probably of the minority opinion on this, but my reasons are thus…first of all, there were several new faces on the roster and six games into the campaign is not enough time to adequately judge the team, even though the stats were quite ugly. Even Don Waddell himself had indicated that he would wait at least ten games before making an evaluation. He made it 60% of the way there. Coach Hartley was given a smaller, “faster” squad to deal with. As we now know, it was not one that was destined to succeed. Getting outshot on a regular basis, as they were in those first six games, turned out to be the norm…not simply the product of Hartley’s system.
Also, in coach Hartley, the Thrashers had found the one person that can be attributed any measurable success in the team’s history. When he was hired in January of 2003, he inherited a team that had trudged through 3-1/2 season of losing in their initial years. It had started out 8-20-4-1 before letting the team’s initial coach go. Hartley then directed that team to a 20-14-5-1 record to finish the year with 74 points, (20 points better than the previous season). Over the course of the next three seasons the Thrashers elevated their success. First to 78 points in ’03-’04 and then 90 and 97 points in the first two season after the lockout culminating in their one and only appearance in the playoffs.
That, boys and girls, is an example of “incremental progress”.
One would think that this past history of such success would have earned him the opportunity to right the ship. After all, two years ago the team got off to a slow start, (4-9-1), and Hartley then guided that squad to within a Mike Dunham “phone in” from earning a playoff spot. However he is the one and only person who, to date, has been held accountable for this year’s debacle.
One of the knocks against Hartley was that some described him as a “hard [butt]”. True enough. But the fact of the matter, in my humble opinion, is that the one major thing this team sorely lacked over this past season was discipline. Not the type of “discipline” that sees a “coach” throw down is gloves and stick on the practice ice and berate them verbally. That, my friends, is simply losing the governance of one’s passions and venting frustration.
The type of discipline I am referring to, as any parent understands, is the type of action that leads to correcting an attitude and directing the subject of the discipline onto the correct path. One way might be to sit your star forward on the far end of the bench…the seat of shame, if you will…because he was dogging it on a shift or two. Ask Mr. Kovalchuk about that…then take a look at the type of maturity he displayed throughout this season.
That would be an example of “measurable results” from disciplinary actions.
Continuing, I know that by simply implying that maybe…just maybe…the team would have ended up better had Waddell not been trigger happy last fall will cause me to suffer the slings and arrows from those who believed then, and believe now, that it was the right move to make. That is perfectly fine. Reasonable, rational, respectful dissent is always welcome here and agreeing with what I say is not a requirement to participate.
However, I would ask you then… just how was the team better in his absence?
Can you tell me how the team could have finished “laster” in the Goals Against statistic?
Could the team have finished “laster” in the Shots Against stat?
Could it have finished “laster” in the amount of times outshot by an opponent?
Could it have finished “laster” in the Shots on Goal stat?
Could it have finished “laster” in total number of regulation wins?
“Laster” in GF/GA differential?
“Laster” in 5 on 5 Goals Against Ratio?
No Thrashers team coached a full season by Bob Hartley finished last in ANY of the above statistic…much less ALL of them.
“But Rawhide, your wrong because Hartley’s power play sucked”! Oh? What was the power play efficiency last year? 16.5%. What is it now? 16.6%, (going into Saturday’s game). So, was it just Hartley? Obviously not. Moreover, two seasons ago it was 18.9%, which was 7th best in the league. What’s the difference between ’05-‘06 and the two that followed? Oh I don’t know…could one of the reasons be that it was the last year the team had a true #1 center in it’s employ… maybe?
“But Rawhide, the young talent would have been wasted under Hartley’s watch”…Really? Two of the brightest stars that emerged from this mess of a season have been Tobias Enstrom and Bryan Little. In the six games they played under Coach Hartley, Enstrom played right at 20 minutes per game and Little logged more than 15 minutes per game and had accounted for a goal and 2 assists. In fact, when you consider Sterling and Haydar as well, of the nine goals scored in the first six games these young-uns had goals or assists on five of them. So, the rookies were playing and contributing.
Regardless, even if you disagree with me and feel that the firing was the right thing to do and the right time to do it…I’m sure common ground can be found in the fact that the person that pulled the trigger on that move, and then talked ownership into allowing him to remain behind the bench to coach the team toward “success”…that person completely botched the aftermath of the firing.
Like I said…the only way to gauge whether or not a coach firing is successful or not is what happens afterwards. Well, we look down at the warped remains of what happened after…and it’s un-good and ugly.
Butt-ugly.
zipping back up the body bag…wheeling it back into the cooler
Next time, we discuss the person who hit the panic button and his role in the demise of this season.
