Washington Fires GMGM and Oates

[Slimpikins]

[YOUTUBE]KjB6r-HDDI0[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Kevin12773]

Move had to be done! Feel sorry for Oates but doing a dance that I won't see GMGM up in the box anymore

 

[forty_three]

Barry Trotz's next stop?

He was a huge part of the organization once.

No. Honestly I've been more disillusioned as a Caps' fan this last half season than I can ever remember. Being busy at work in February and March didn't help. I've watched, read, and followed less than in a long time. I only went to two games this year and I live and work very close to the arena.

I'm tired of being a Caps' fan. I'm not saying I don't want to continue to be one. I always will be one. But it's a miserable, fucked up existence where you are beholden to being the record holder for the worst record ever and the team to collapse from 3-1 series leads the most in NHL history (and we're like 1/3 the age of some franchises, so that is insane). It's a joke.

I'm glad McPhee is gone because he deserved to be fired because he wasn't performing. You can't take a team not getting over that hump and think adding one mediocre 2nd or 3rd line forward is going to make the difference year-after-year. You have to be willing to shake things up and recognize the shortcomings. He wasn't willing or able to do that. So, like David Poile, he can now move on to another franchise and help them be a perennial playoff team that never does dick.

The thing I'd be most worried about is Leonsis' apparent name fetish. He likes to acquire big names and not necessarily the right names. Milbury and Melrose.

Or ex-Caps. So, Hunter and Bondra.

^ Only one of those is true.

So you're saying he's learned his lesson about calling press conferences so quick?

 

[ritari330]

As much as it was time for McPhee to go, Oates needed to go as well. The both of them weren't working well together. Erat and Penner were both seen as top 6 guys to McPhee while Oates only had room on the 4th line for them. Who is at fault for that? Both of them. Poor player management with the number of defensemen that were moved from Hershey to Washington then back to Hershey and back to Washington. Seemed as soon as someone go their footing in the lineup on that defense, they would be sent back down.

More importantly however, Oates just completely regressed this season and based off his style of play, it was going to be par for the course. Oates didn't think puck possession (fenwick) was an important stat. You're a whole lot more likely to score and the other team is a lot less likely to score if you've got the puck. How many times did the caps give up 2 goal leads? How many times did the capitals get scored on in less than a minute after scoring themselves? A LOT. Something was fundamentally wrong if both of those happened as often as they did. He wasted Tom Wilson's Rookie season. He continued to play players who had no reason playing (Urbom, Volpatti) while scratched much better players for significant periods of time (Fehr, Orlov). He played Ovechkin on the same line as Beagle...for 2 weeks straight...while their puck possession numbers were abysmal. He did the same thing with Brouwer and Laich who are too similar resulting in horrible puck possession. There was so much wrong with Oates as a coach this season.

RMNB did a piece a few weeks ago that is worth the read if you don't think he deserved to be fired: The Arguments For and Against Firing Adam Oates

*Spoiler alert! He did

 

[pixburgher66]

As much as it was time for McPhee to go, Oates needed to go as well. The both of them weren't working well together. Erat and Penner were both seen as top 6 guys to McPhee while Oates only had room on the 4th line for them. Who is at fault for that? Both of them. Poor player management with the number of defensemen that were moved from Hershey to Washington then back to Hershey and back to Washington. Seemed as soon as someone go their footing in the lineup on that defense, they would be sent back down.

More importantly however, Oates just completely regressed this season and based off his style of play, it was going to be par for the course. Oates didn't think puck possession (fenwick) was an important stat. You're a whole lot more likely to score and the other team is a lot less likely to score if you've got the puck. How many times did the caps give up 2 goal leads? How many times did the capitals get scored on in less than a minute after scoring themselves? A LOT. Something was fundamentally wrong if both of those happened as often as they did. He wasted Tom Wilson's Rookie season. He continued to play players who had no reason playing (Urbom, Volpatti) while scratched much better players for significant periods of time (Fehr, Orlov). He played Ovechkin on the same line as Beagle...for 2 weeks straight...while their puck possession numbers were abysmal. He did the same thing with Brouwer and Laich who are too similar resulting in horrible puck possession. There was so much wrong with Oates as a coach this season.

RMNB did a piece a few weeks ago that is worth the read if you don't think he deserved to be fired: The Arguments For and Against Firing Adam Oates

*Spoiler alert! He did

Great stuff. I think your point on player management is probably the most damning. GMs and head coaches NEED to communicate. That's why GMs are such a big part of hiring/firing coaches, and why Oates is gone most likely. I'm not in the room, so it's not like I know, but if GMGM is acquiring Erat with plans to put him on the top 2 lines, you'd think the head coach would know that. Need solid communication or the system breaks down.

 

[pixburgher66]

Also, how'd it take this long for this gif to appear? Get it together guys.

 

[evolver115]

 

[Johnnydollaz89]

As soon as Forsberg was traded I would have canned him...

 

[dash]

"Wayne does Washington" sounds like a bad pron movie...

 

[forty_three]

Because it worked so well when Jordan joined the Bullets.

Ted Leonsis is functionally retarded. That name fetish he has is ridiculous.

 

[dash]

I gotta say, for an "insider", John Shannon is batting around the Mendoza line lately.

 

[Dacks]

I figure a lot of fans are rejoicing at this decision. But I wouldn't get too hopeful - you still have Leonsis running the show. I don't know if I'd trust him to bring in the right personnel.

 

[forty_three]

I figure a lot of fans are rejoicing at this decision. But I wouldn't get too hopeful - you still have Leonsis running the show. I don't know if I'd trust him to bring in the right personnel.

Tops on his shopping list:
Brodeur
Heatley (50 goal scorer)
Alfredsson (leader)
Whitney (Wizard)

He wasn't fast enough to get Jagr.

 

[elocomotive]

(1) I'm going to hope that this is what it's listed as - a rumour.
(2) People pummeling Leonsis are really not giving him a fair shake. The guy has not been involved in making the hockey decisions surrounding this team for a LONG time (and wasn't much in the first place) and has been a GREAT owner for this team. The teams from 2009-2012 are by far the best in the franchise's history. I still think if one series had gone different the teams from 2009-2011 were downright dangerous and totally legit contenders. St. Louis lost in the first round this year - so the fuck what, you're telling me they aren't one of the best 4-5 teams in hockey? Ted has built a strong fanbase that has sold out every game for years now, their TV ratings have smashed previous records, etc. He built the game experience into something awesome/fun. The guy has 12,000 season ticket holders. When I was a kid going to games it felt like there were 12,000 Flyers' fans at some games. You know how much I miss that experience? Not one fucking bit!!! It's OUR fucking building now. We drown the fuck out of opposing team chants. It's a sea of red. Pens are in town? Better watch how you fucking act, because this isn't the Cap Centre anymore. We have rituals, chants, etc. "Unleash the fury" - you can't tell me there is a louder minute from a hockey crowd in the NHL. He's reached a lot of new fans who simply never watched hockey before. I won't say Ted has always made the right decisions, but we fucking love him here in DC. He's built a once uncertain franchise into something real and something people care about. We love Ted. Love him. You think he's a bad owner? You clearly don't know our history and you clearly don't understand his role in this franchise.

 

[Dacks]

(1) I'm going to hope that this is what it's listed as - a rumour.
(2) People pummeling Leonsis are really not giving him a fair shake. The guy has not been involved in making the hockey decisions surrounding this team for a LONG time (and wasn't much in the first place) and has been a GREAT owner for this team. The teams from 2009-2012 are by far the best in the franchise's history. I still think if one series had gone different the teams from 2009-2011 were downright dangerous and totally legit contenders. St. Louis lost in the first round this year - so the fuck what, you're telling me they aren't one of the best 4-5 teams in hockey? Ted has built a strong fanbase that has sold out every game for years now, their TV ratings have smashed previous records, etc. He built the game experience into something awesome/fun. The guy has 12,000 season ticket holders. When I was a kid going to games it felt like there were 12,000 Flyers' fans at some games. You know how much I miss that experience? Not one fucking bit!!! It's OUR fucking building now. We drown the fuck out of opposing team chants. It's a sea of red. Pens are in town? Better watch how you fucking act, because this isn't the Cap Centre anymore. We have rituals, chants, etc. "Unleash the fury" - you can't tell me there is a louder minute from a hockey crowd in the NHL. He's reached a lot of new fans who simply never watched hockey before. I won't say Ted has always made the right decisions, but we fucking love him here in DC. He's built a once uncertain franchise into something real and something people care about. We love Ted. Love him. You think he's a bad owner? You clearly don't know our history and you clearly don't understand his role in this franchise.

That's all great, but I was talking about his personnel decisions. I don't think it's a strength of his but we'll see.

 

[DevilishWon]

Milbury for GM, Melrose for head coach....do it Teddy!

 

[Comeds]

Even if you don't think Leonsis does a good job hiring people, I still understand the happiness that GM was let go. It needed to be done.