Wednesday, April 14, 2010
The Hammer Comes Down
Oh shit:
The Thrashers named Don Waddell president, promoted Rick Dudley to general manager and dismissed its coaching staff Wednesday, the AJC has learned.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. More in a moment.
UPDATE: What will Steve Weeks do now? The Thrashers have submitted an official press release, for your consideration. It says, among other things, In his new role, Waddell will focus primarily on all business aspects of the organization, and as General Manager, Dudley will be responsible for all hockey operations.
Four syllables, people. Beginning in "Craig" and ending in "ish."
UPDATE II: I did like John Anderson personally. Impossible not to like him, really, as I said way back in 2008 after interviewing the guy. I remember being excited to have him on board. But, alas...
UPDATE III: Much longer press release from the Thrashers here. Anyway. Have some things to do; talk amongst yourselves. And don't forget what Ric Flair might say in this situation.
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21 comments:
Step one. Check.
Happy about the changes, but I am sorry for Anderson. He's a nice guy and I still think a very good coach. Hope he gets another shot somewhere.
From an article on Tampa coaching possibilities:
Craig MacTavish: Eight seasons with the Oilers; took them to the 2006 Stanley Cup final.
Andy Murray: In 10 seasons as coach of the Kings and Blues, Murray has 333 victories but just four playoff appearances.
Larry Robinson: He led the Devils to the 2000 Stanley Cup and the 2001 final. He is a special assignment coach for New Jersey.
Tom Renney: The former Rangers coach is an associate coach with the Oilers.
Mike Sullivan: The former Lightning associate coach followed John Tortorella to the Rangers. He coached the Bruins from 2003 to 2006.
John Stevens: The Hockey News 2008 coach of the year, he was fired this season, his fourth with the Flyers.
http://www.tampabay.com/sports/hockey/lightning/candidates-for-tampa-bay-lightning-ceo-gm-and-coaching-jobs/1086993
Sweeeeet! It's a start.
Morty - I'll have you know that I discovered this news by checking your blog!! You have arrived.
I think this is a great sign. Sorry to see Anderson go, but the fact that ownership (or management) wasn't happy with "almost" making playoffs is a good thing. I thought we had the personnel to make the playoffs before the Kovy trade and after the Kovy trade. I was worried about our goaltending, but Moose had a very good year (IMHO). Now if we quickly re-sign Max and Kubina rather than wait until FA starts, that will be another VERY good sign that we are serious about winning next year.
Not that there's never a good time to use a Tombstone clip, but nothing says "get the hell out of this town" like a cat playing an organ...we need to market the team around instrument-playing animals!! Well played Morty, well played!! Now, on to hiring a coach.
Who ya got? Should we start a wagering pool?
h - very good points about getting those UFA's signed early and pro-actively. Hire the coach, a proven coach with a legit NHL track record, sign those two players and send a message to the NHL that the Thrashers will no longer be a team to be trifled with. Then think about making a splash at the NHL Draft and bring home one of those young pieces from Chicago. We've got potentially 2 of the Top 20 (we must pull for Ilya to lose in the 1st round to improve our draft lot) in this year's draft and we may be able to work something big with the Hawks considering Duds connections in the 2nd City.
CRAIG MACTAVISH!!!!!!!!!
Now then, interesting times for sure. Really, this is the only thing the ASG could have done in this situation. Dudley isn't may favorite, but at this point any change is welcome. May I say his coaching hire is going to be HUGE.
MacTMacTMacTMacTMacTMacTMacTMacTMacT
Whoomp. There it is.
To answer your question, Morty... Ric Flair would say: I live in the biggest house, on the biggest side of town. Woooooooo!!!
We won't know the result of the coaching change until we see who comes in to take JA's place, and even then, I guess we won't know until the season is in full swing. I think every move this organIzation makes this off-season should be analyzed in 2 ways: Are we better? OR Are we worse? Once free agency period cools down we need to look at all of the moves in the aggregate and see if we think management made us better or worse. The answer better be that they definitely made us better, otherwise it will be the same o'l thing, and that is too depressing to think about. Let's hope we truly are moving forward.
That video is life-changing.
I'll have you know I was watching that video at work and started laughing my ass off, thereby blowing any chance of people thinking I am actually working.
This is unfuckingbelivably awesome news.
Dudley came off well in his interview on 680. He was using words like "elite" and "sustainability" and it didn't come off like a used car salesman pitching a '87 Escort.
I'm grilling out and getting slam-hammered tonight to celebrate this. Hell has officially frozen over.
Aaron-
It IS, isn't it? I originally just wanted Powers Boothe as Curly Bill saying "Well...bye," because that alone is incandescently hilarious, but then you add the keyboard cat...
JuneyMoon-
Yes, success! It is our mission to enliven people's work days, including our own, with laughter and the bizarre.
And GPY-
Didn't hear the interview, but "elite" and "sustainability" sound really good. Let's hope he can actually deliver it on some level.
To the grills!
Not to bring anyone down, but I've been in contact with a former famous hockey blogger (I can't mention his/her name) who said about MacTavish, "He gets his troops to work hard enough, but he's not a great coach by any stretch of the imagination. He seems more suited for being an Assistant."
Wayne - It may come as a surprise, but I really don't care what anyone thinks but me. Especially a former famous hockey blogger.
Apparently John Stevens is interested in the job, so says The C&C Blogging Factory
http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/The_Grinder/entry/view/62770
I don't like Anderson getting fired. He's a good coach who didn't get a fair shake. Last year was a transition year in getting players used to his system, which the second half showed they got familiar with it and thrived. This year started off good, but then the trade of Kovalchuk and players like White, Kozlov, and Little showing their age/lack of talent/or underperforming hurt the team, which isn't Anderson's fault. The entire PP was based around Kovalchuk and had to change in midstream. Not exactly the easiest thing to do. Just ask Enstrom who is still looking to set up Kovalchuk as I speak. Kozlov, who I think was more bitter than truthful in his rant, was a huge reason for the team missing the playoffs. He looked old, slow, and nothing close to an NHL player when he was on the ice. I can remember on several occasions him mishandling a pass on the PP that either went out of the offensive zone or was a turnover going back the other way when he had absolutely no pressure on him from the defense. I look at players like Maxim Afinogenov, Rich Peverley, and Jim Slater who took their play to much higher levels under Anderson than they had for more accomplished coaches. I would have given Anderson one more year with these players. I think this move was window dressing for the fans to take the spotlight away from Waddell still remaining with the organization, which most fans don't want. It's a shame that the Thrashers lost a good coach.
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