Rien ne va plus pour les Hurricanes de la Caroline, ils se sont fait massacrer cet après-midi à Philadelphie.

Est-ce que Michel Therrien serait appréhendé comme le prochain entraîneur des Hurricanes ?

Coaching styles don’t change; they simply evolve.

Boston Bruins Claude Julien

I remember Claude Julien distinctively from the American Hockey League Hamilton Bulldogs coaching position. He was voted the best dressed man of the year and appeared on the store front of a man’s suit company. He was smart and distinguished, but come playoff time he was tough laying down discipline on his team. He had certain rules which he learned when he coached the Hull Olympiques of the QMJHL. These were unspoken rules, not written in black and white. The most important rule was keeping emotions in check.

Ironically, after that AHL playoff series in 2003, he was called up to coach the Montreal Canadiens when Michel Therrien was relieved. He was fired by the Montreal Canadiens in 2006 after missing the playoffs the first season and losing in the second round his second season as coach. At the time he was fired, the Canadiens were the third best team in the Northeastern Conference of the NHL.

And as Denis Wideman placed it during last night’s press conference, “”There’s been bad blood between these two teams. For years, anytime we play them it’s always extremely emotional and high intensity game.”

Nothing less is to be expected. Claude Julien spoke about the Boston Bruins being flat in the first period, but remarked about the gain of momentum on the team during the rest of the first game of the quarterfinal series against the Montreal Canadiens. He made a point of letting the press know that their captain, Zdeno Chara, led the team with discipline and that it was appropriate that he scored the winning powerplay goal. “We need to maintain our physical game but we don’t need to get caught up on all that stuff that happens after the whistle.”

Of course, this is the same coach who in the AHL had the Hamilton players disciplined enough not to talk to fans after the game so they could focus on the next game at hand. The team was led with concentration and silence. It was based on inner self determination similar to that of a martial arts fighter channeling on battling their next opponent.

“I’m one of those guys who understands that in the playoffs there is a lot of emotions and maybe frustrations,” he said at the Boston Bruins press conference after the first game of the quarterfinals. “It’s part of the game, It’s important for us to be smart and react properly. “

Red Ice

With the NHL trade deadline quickly approaching, it’s becoming clear who will be buyers and who will be sellers.

The playoff races are getting closer and closer.  In the East, just seven points separates Montreal in fifth place (71 points) and Pittsburgh in 10th (64).  In the West things are just as tight.  Virtually no one is eliminated and eight points separates fifth placed Vancouver (68) and 13th placed St. Louis.

The tide is changing as well.  Team’s are hitting the wall, firing coaches and placing themselves in the middle of trade talks because of it.

Here’s a look at the nonsense and news from around the league:

EASTERN CONFERENCE:

On the decline:

The New York Rangers are epitomizing what it seems at least one team does every season: plummet off the face of the earth down the stretch.  They’ve earned just seven of a possible 20 points in their last 10 games and might just miss out on the second season come April.

Tom Renney was fired (insert link) and John Tortorella was hired soon after.  Could this be the spark?  Possibly.

It could also be a rash move that provides nothing for a team that is known for underachieving.

The Montreal Canadiens are also falling, and fast.  They are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games and boast the worst record on the road of any team in the East’s top 8.

What’s worse?  The Kostitsyn brothers are involved with organized crime and it is rumored that Alexei Kovalev might be on the outs.

No on in the Eastern Conference is really showing that they are above all “elite.”  Boston has fallen off its scorching pace from earlier in the season and not many teams are playing much better than .500 hockey.

Thus, anyone could be a player at the deadline.  Some, though, appear more fit to make moves or help in making moves than others.

Ottawa looks like it might dish off some talent.  Filip Kuba and Chris Neil are unrestricted free agents at the season’s end, and GM Eugene Melnyk is not saying for sure if Jason Spezza will be staying or going.

Toronto will be in the mix as well.  Nik Antropov seems likely to move, and with his size and potential he ,any teams might look to bite.

Pittsburgh would appear to be an ultimate buyer, but after making dynamic moves the last two seasons Ray Shero might keep everything in tact this time around.  After firing Michel Therrien and hiring Dan Bylsma, he said that was the big move — anther reason to expect little from the Pens.

Western Conference:

On the decline:

Believe it or not, you could say San Jose has been struggling.  At 5-4-1 in their last 10, they still are playing respectable hockey.  However, that mark is far off the pace they have been accustomed to since the season started.

Dallas is faltering as well, just breaking even lately.  Being wrapped up tight in the race for the playoffs, they need every point they can get.

Things are a little different in the West.  With five teams 6 through 10 in the standings being either tied or separated by one point, the deadline moves become more tricky.  The closer things get, the less a GM might want to make a move for fear of upsetting the locker room.

Columbus has come up alot in talks.  Will they pursue Jordan Staal?  The Jackets might cross over conference lines to pursue the Penguins’ young center, who has been rumored to possibly be on the outs in Pittsburgh.

Los Angeles and Colorado have also come up recently in trade rumors.  They have been mentioned in almost every kind of deal there is, to be honest.  Most recently rumored to be in three-way talks with Pittsburgh.

–

It all comes down to … none of us have any idea what will happen.

Listen to what you want, believe what you want, but be cautious.  You will likely be disappointed if you cling to close to any rumor.

À Tout le monde en parle dimanche soir prochain à Radio-Canada, on attendait Michel Therrien, récemment congédié des Penguins de Pittsburgh mais c’est Jean Perron auquel on aura droit.

Perron nous fera un plaisir de nous décrire sa vision des choses sur la vie nocture de Carey Price et Christopher Higgins.

Il nous parlera sûrement aussi de la situation Kovalev et du temps qu’il était entraîneur.

En espérant qu’il y aille de quelques perronismes.

Parlant perronisme, j’en ai entendu une bonne le week-end dernier.  Au lieu de l’expression “comme un cheveu dans soupe” la personne a dit “comme un cheval dans soupe”.   Éclaboussant n’est-ce pas?

Je l’ai tellement ri.

Ça serait vraiment plaisant que l’équipe de Guy A. Lepage tente de convaincre Michel Therrien de venir parler de son congédiement à l’émission Tout le monde en parle diffusée le dimanche soir à Radio-Canada.

“The league has been especially brutal on its coaches this season. We should have seen it coming, when Chicago fired Denis Savard about a week into the campaign. It started then, and hasn’t really let up.”

Fire the coach!

When all else fails — or even when just a little bit fails.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are the latest NHL team to render the ziggy. Michel Therrien got it Sunday, barely eight months after leading his team to the Stanley Cup Gosh Darn Finals, no less.

If that’s what happens to a Cup Finalist less than a year later…

It’s easier, they say, to can the coach than change all the players. Even though, ironically, it’s probably the players who are the cause for the coaching change to begin with.

Therrien was too tough on his players, it’s been theorized. Too strict with the discipline. Too rigid in his insistence that everyone — EVERYONE — play defense. Well, the nerve.

Time to change the messenger.

Former football coach Bum Phillips said it best.

“If they want to fire you, they’ll think of a reason. You’re too nice. You’re too mean.”

And this: “There’s two kinds of coaches: them’s that have BEEN fired, and them’s that are GOING to be fired. And I’ve been both.”

Therrien’s dismissal was accompanied by the usual excuse: his players were beginning to tune him out. Now, Therrien has only been on the job in Pittsburgh since midway through the 2005-06 season, when he took over for Eddie Olczyk, who now gabs into a microphone (and quite nicely, I might add) for network TV hockey coverage. So this was Therrien’s third full season — and the last one of those, as I said, featured a berth in the Cup Finals. Yet three years is like dog years: it might as well be 21, if you’re talking about the patience GMs and owners exhibit with their coaches.

Fire the coach!

So that’s what you can look forward to, if you’re a coach in the NHL. You can look forward to making it to first runner-up, and still end up getting canned less than a year later anyway.

The league has been especially brutal on its coaches this season. We should have seen it coming, when Chicago fired Denis Savard about a week into the campaign. It started then, and hasn’t really let up. Tampa Bay gave Barry Melrose about a month. And that after luring him from his broadcast lair, making a big show of it.

Therrien will be replaced by someone named Dan Bylsma, who was minding his own business, coaching the Pens’ top minor league affiliate, when Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero called him up to The Show. The replacement of Therrien with the minor leaguer Bylsma is a repeat of how Therrien himself came to be the Penguins’ coach; he was coaching in the minors when Olczyk was ziggied. Bylsma, 38, is a former NHL player and assistant coach, and a little research revealed that he was born in Grand Haven, Michigan. Fancy that.

Bylsma immediately started saying things that sounded just like a new coach who’s trying to make an immediate imprint, which he is, of course.

“With the strengths we have, we should be able to go into buildings and make teams deal with the quality of players we have at every position,” Bylsma was quoted on ESPN.com. “I look at a group that can win games right now, and we need to do that. We can do this, but the players have to believe we can do this.”

Yadda, yadda, yadda — right?

And, as scripted, Shero played the role of anguished executioner thusly: “I didn’t like the way, the direction, the team was headed. I’ve watched for a number of weeks and, at the end of the day, the direction is not that I wanted to have here. I wasn’t comfortable, and that’s why the change was made.”

“I can’t quit, you fired me!”

For sure, the Penguins have struggled, especially lately. The straw that broke Therrien’s back was a grisly 6-2 loss in Toronto on Saturday — a game in which the Penguins led, 2-1, going into the third period. Last week I wrote of how feeble the Penguins’ effort was when the Red Wings manhandled them in Pittsburgh on national television. So it’s not like the Penguins don’t have their troubles, because they do. No question. They’re having an awful time of it this season, trying to regain that mojo, and the playoffs are beginning to edge further and further from their grasp. Therrien, I’m sure, can’t be judged an innocent, either. The buck has to stop somewhere.

It all just serves to re-prove a time-worn axiom — one succinctly stated by former Pistons coach Earl Lloyd, shortly after becoming coach following Butch van Breda Kolff’s self-ziggy way back in 1971.

“It’s funny,” Earl said. “But when you sign on to become coach, you’re also signing your own termination papers.’”

Fire the coach!

It can’t hurt…right?

The Pittsburgh Penguins have made a big shakeup behind the bench, firing head coach Michel Therrien on Sunday.

Dan Bylsma, head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League, will take over as interim head coach.

Read the full story here:
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=267328

We’re off to the Autoshow today.  What will be there?  Never been and with the industry in a nosedive…who knows?  But we’ll report back here later 2nite. Congrats to Kenseth for the Daytona win!  Now we start our Fantasy Nascar season from the back row! Whoops!  Speaking of Nascar, we predict this is the last season for the COT.

Canucks win! Burrows shines!  Brilliant!

Michel Therrien fired!  Just like we predicted in October:

Also, we predict the Penguins will fire their coach Michel Therrien by the end of the season.  We’re still at a loss as to why this guy got an extension after failing miserably in the cup finals last season.

About freakin’ time! What was the final straw… a loss to the Maple Laffs? More news at 11.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have made a big shakeup behind the bench, firing head coach Michel Therrien on Sunday.

Dan Bylsma, head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League, will take over as interim head coach.

Check it out here:
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=267328

La blessure prolongée à Sergei Gonchar, qui a totalement modifiée l’offensive des Penguins cette saison aura fait perdre le poste d’entrâineur-chef à Michel Therrien.

On ne peut pas blâmer Michel Therrien, son équipe a atteint la finale de la Coupe Stanley l’an dernier.

Un entraîneur ne devient pas médiocre l’année suivant la finale de la Coupe Stanley.

Malheureusement il est plus facile de changer un homme que d’échanger 3-4 joueurs pour relancer l’équipe.

Les Sénateurs d’Ottawa ont enfilé une troisième victoire de suite hier et l’écart avec le Canadien de Montréal n’est plis que de 16 points.

La question que je me pose maintenant est la suivante.

Est-ce qu’Ottawa cumulera plus de points que le Canadien en fin de saison?

Perso, je ne serais pas surpris.

Supposons que dans les 10 prochains matchs, le Canadien en gagne 4 et que les Sénateurs en gagnent 7.  L’écart ne serait plus que de 10 points.

Le Canadien devrait se reprendre ce soir, il joue contre la pire équipe de l’Ouest, l’Avalanche du Colorado.  Une équipe en reconstruction et décimée par les blessures.

Le tricolore ne peut pas l’échapper ce soir sinon Panthers et Rangers s’affrontent, soit que les Panthers rejoignent le Canadien ou que les Rangers creusent l’écart au 5e rang.  Ensuitre les Sabres recoivent les Sharks, une victoir des Sabres et ils rejoient le Canadien.

Ce scénario défaite du tricolore, victoire des Panthers et victoire des Sabres, placerait le Canadien dans une bien mauvaise situation.  Les optimistes diraient à égalité au 6e rang.  Les pessimistes diraient, à égaliter au 8e rang.

Vous allez me dire, ha le CH est certain de faire les séries, Pittsburgh, Caroline se cherchent.  À Pittsburgh lorsque Sergei Gonchar reviendra au jeu, l’équipe de Michel Therrien sera très difficile à battre.  Quant à la Caroline la défaite d’hier de 5-0 va ressaisir cette équipe.

Va falloir que Guy Carbonneau se trouve une autre cravate chanceuse à moins que le vendredi 13 porte chance.

Thanks to the folks at Kukla’s Korner for this one. A Pittsburgh Radio host is apparently reporting that the Pens are “contemplating” bringing in PQ to replace Michel Therrien. The report goes on to say that had the Pens lost to the Thrashers a move would have already been made.

I hope PQ ends up in Pittsburgh