Monday, January 02, 2006
A Motivating Factor
A few weeks ago, the Pittsburgh Penguins lost seven of eight games, punctuated by lacklustre efforts against the Minnesota Wild and the last-place St. Louis Blues, the result of which was the firing of head coach Ed Olczyk. Similarly, the Vancouver Canucks have just lost seven of their last eight games, including uninspired efforts against those same Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues.
I'm not suggesting that the Canucks fire Marc Crawford - far from it actually as I've personally never been a big fan of firing the coach - but I also believe that after this most recent string of games, where the Canucks have demonstrated as much heart as the Tin Man, Crawford has already done as much as he can with this group.
To jumpstart the team, he's mixed and matched lines, resulting in a little success, but without any long-lasting effects. After "horrible" losses, he's skated them hard in practice. Publicly, he's shielded the players from criticism, usually preferring politically-correct responses in front of the media.
At some point, the players have to show up. And do so every night.
If they don't, Dave Nonis has to answer one of two questions: Does the team still believe that they have the right mix of players? And if so, is Crawford still the right coach for them?
I'm not suggesting that the Canucks fire Marc Crawford - far from it actually as I've personally never been a big fan of firing the coach - but I also believe that after this most recent string of games, where the Canucks have demonstrated as much heart as the Tin Man, Crawford has already done as much as he can with this group.
To jumpstart the team, he's mixed and matched lines, resulting in a little success, but without any long-lasting effects. After "horrible" losses, he's skated them hard in practice. Publicly, he's shielded the players from criticism, usually preferring politically-correct responses in front of the media.
At some point, the players have to show up. And do so every night.
If they don't, Dave Nonis has to answer one of two questions: Does the team still believe that they have the right mix of players? And if so, is Crawford still the right coach for them?
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