Late on this news item, but here we go anyway.
Talking to Chris Vivlamore of the AJC over the weekend, Slava Kozlov had some intriguing things to say:
“To me, this was the best team in 11 years of the organization," Kozlov said on Sunday. "This franchise had the best players. Right now, they can not blame [Ilya] Kovalchuk or [Slava] Kozlov. They have to take responsibility, because I think ownership did everything right, signed good players, they have a good goalie, good defense -- but something is missing. I think we are missing from the coaching staff. Looks like they have fun, but unfortunately in the NHL you have to work. You have to prepare for every game.
"There are lots of good teams in the NHL and you think you are a good team if you see the roster. That doesn’t work in this league. You have to do homework and work hard. I think I can put a big question mark that they weren’t preparing.”
Slava also criticized the system put in place by the current staff, pointing out that opposing teams know in advance exactly what the Thrashers will do in breakout situations, etc.
My take? Never did think it was a good idea to bench him for so long. More to the point: it's juicy to hear a player call out a coach, but in many ways this is a Dog Bites Man story. "Thrashers coaching not very good," says hockey player. Well, yeah.
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4 comments:
Can I be the first this offseason to say fire don waddell? Tampa has already started handing out pink slips. whats it like to have ownership that actually notices the team?
Enjoy your swan song in the KHL, Slava.
If these rumors of Dudley becoming GM and Waddell becoming President become true (wait, management changes? huh?), I don't really see them getting rid of Anderson just yet. It's not that I don't think we should consider getting rid of him, it's that I don't even know what candidates are out there to replace him at the moment. Who's out there?
Cue Big Shooter's cries for Craig MacTavish. And well he should.
I think Slava is right about a lot of this. It has been blindingly obvious that our team's offensive scheme is too predictable and that our defensive scheme allows too many shots on goal.
And he's right that you can't blame Kovalchuk (though many do). However, you CAN blame Kozlov for being ineffective on the ice. He played himself into irrelevance before he made comments that landed him further in the doghouse.
CRAIG MACTAVISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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