Peter Laviolette Named New Flyers Coach; Longtime Carolina Assistant Kevin McCarthy Leaves Hurricanes To Join Him

They have one less coach. Coaches contracts are not openly disclosed. I assume Laviolette gets the balance of what he is owed (ie, he made, say, $3M/year with Canes, is getting $2M Philly, Canes on the hook for $1M until the end of his contract — all prorated, since it’s the middle of the season)

to be fair, John Ferguson ruined the Leafs. Look at all the first rounders they traded away.

While I agree with some of your points, your reasoning is at best… skewed

First off, you negated your own point before you even made it:
“Maurice is simply not a good coach and why we brought him back I have not clue”

When previously you said this:
“granted it sparked a change and got us deep into the post season”

Bringing PaulMo back last season was hardly a screw up, the first playoff appearance since the cup and a run to the conference finals doesn’t exactly sound like a failure does it?

Also I love your ignorant lamenting of his hire “We had a Stanley Cup winning coach with Petey at the helm”

Dude, PL wasn’t fired in 2007, he was fired in 2008, yes, he won a cup, that was great, but then he couldn’t get into the playoffs for two straight seasons and had a stagnating team early in the year.

Bringing Mo back last season sparked the team to the playoffs, I agree with you that now that his system is entirely in place we’re seeing that he’s not the right coach for this team, but firing him and bringing in somebody else has more potential for harm than good. I would support booting him if there was any hope of a playoff run, but there’s not, and anybody that thinks there is needs to reacquaint themselves with reality. So what would firing Mo accomplish for this season?

I would say that bringing Maurice back was a mistake….

But then I remember the good time that was had by all during that playoff run last season….

Thanks for keeping us posted!

Ask him if he would be so kind as to take Mo’s place here…
;-)

+1 (well, I don’t know about the success, but good for him anyways…)

-1

It’s not that I dislike Lavi.

It is just that I sat through a game in Philly earlier this season…. and after putting up with their fans… I hope they lose ever game the rest of the season….

And I will be horrible to their fans who come here on the 26th. Karma is a bitch (which is why I’m afraid to leave my house).

this in the same post, tho it doesn’t give answers:

Maurice isn’t the only head coach on Carolina’s payroll, though. The Canes are also still paying former coach Peter Laviolette, who was let go in December. The five-year deal that Laviolette signed in July 2006 after winning the Stanley Cup, worth at least $1 million annually, was set to run through the 2010-11 season.

agreed. a change, if any, would come in the offseason. not now. and even that, imo, is unlikely.

I should’ve said we were consistantly/constantly bullied by other teams.

Peter Laviolette is the kind of guy that can rally the troops, and has a highly disiplined style. He is organized and demanding. That works well until the high paid players decide their lives are too hard and stop listening. It is like a hard deep muscle massage. At first it feels uncomfortable but you know it is good for you. Then it starts to feel comfortable and hey you like it(good results)….after a period of time, you start to think…hey I want to have my ego massaged too….then the muscle massage begins to be a pain…..eventually it has to stop and finally, you just want to do whatever it takes to end it. Lavi was the massage that our team needed to get to the cup.

Big heads prevailed in ‘07. It was vacation season time. Players win the “I deserve an easier life” war and Lavi is replaced with Paul Maurice. Mo’s style is a little more laid back and seems more player friendly. Last year, that is what the team needed to rally. Rally they did. The talent and confidence of last years team was enough to get them to the confrence finals. “See Lavi, we can do well without all the disipline”…..Mo was the right guy for the job last season.

This season started out ………..well like it has ….and it is clear that this team now needs an organized, tough coach again. Maurice jumps onto the “we don’t need to work hard” mantra and was clearly not prepared for this season. The first few games don’t turn out the way we like and the team struggles out of the gate. Maurice trys to play bad guy but it is not his most effective style. He cannot and will not rally the troops. It is not his format for success. While he was the guy to spark the team last year, he does not have the ear of the guys this season. Oh sure, they will all say they are listening but the on ice team is just terrible.

Ok, so what can we say about the psychy of our team? They were hungry and won the cup. The year after, they felt they deserved a year off. After missing the playoffs two seasons ago, they got angry and hungry again and used the coaching change to get to the ECFs. You bring Aaron Ward back for this season and we are right back to “we deserve a year off again.”

This team needs a new coach for next season. We are not going to make it to the playoffs so….lets get the best pick we can. Next year needs to be under the thumb of a tactical, finatical, task master that refuses to lose. The most important part of this equation is that JR needs to let everyone know that this guy is the boss. He is staying…so players will be traded if they are not performing. Accountability rules…..no more Club Carolina. The Red Wings have done it for years. We can do it too. The hardest part is who is that coach. The Canadiens did it with Pat Burns….a police officer for Goodness sake. They won the cup. It is less about the x and o’s of coaching and more about motivating.

I am sure the goal of every season in Detroit is to win the cup. That is it. Win the cup. In Carolina, some people in the Canes organization play lip service to that concept. The reality is, the Canes seem to have this goal….“Win the cup while making our players comfortable so other players would like to play here too.” If winning the cup is half of your focus, you will get close to the cup half the time or less. That is the state of our team.

I mean if we get a top 3 pick this season then get that disiplined coach in place for next season and make another run….one can argue that we are the model for small market clubs. Club Carolina for a season….then work your butts off for a season. Are we ok with that? Or do we want to be Detroit South?

Isn’t Paul Maurice a connection?

I think everyone that wants Mo gone, feel that way because of two main factors. First, the struggles on the ice you see today, are the same we saw through most of Mo’s first reign. Overworking the number 1, failure to hold Vets accountable, poor PP %, and an MIA Offense despite having good offensive players (then, it was O, Roddy, Francis,Sami, and Batesy)

The second point is Mo’s track record with prospects. I feel he ruined Tanabe, Svoboda, and Vasicek. In TO you had great young guys like Tlusty, Antropov, and Ponikoravski. All of them, IMO, were stunted by Mo’s influence. He was starting to do the same to Sutter until JR came out in the media and dictated his minutes directly.

We have a cash crop of youngsters coming up, do we want this guy harvesting, given his track record?

    I am neither a Mo-hater or a Mo-fan. I was shocked when he was re-hired; but thought he did an excellent job last season. I think Mo has made some inscrutable coaching decisions this year; but I don’t lay the failure of the blame for this flop season at his feet entirely.

   In the end, the players have to be responsible and accountable for their own play. The scores of wooden-headed penalties, blown defensive assignments, fanned shots on open nets, etc. go to the players not the system. Neither do I blame Mo for giving Brind’Amour the many opportunities to succeed because I think Brind’Amour has earned the right to be given every possible chance. I happen to think Brind’Amour has proven to the world he needs to retire; but there is nothing Mo can do about that situation.

   If I were Jim Rutherford, I’d be livid at the veterans and particularly Aaron Ward. I’d feel like I put my own reputation and the entire team’s success on the line for them and that they let everybody down. In my view, Rutherford has been a professional and a gentleman. I’d be chewing nails and I doubt seriously I would be showing the patience and restraint Rutherford has shown. On the other hand, I’d have a very serious conversation at the end of the season with Mo about the things I expected from the team and him next season.

LOL…. I guess I should have read the rest of the comments before I posted this one…..