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Post by Jack Bauer on Jun 14, 2023 22:48:32 GMT -4
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Post by hal on Jun 15, 2023 5:02:04 GMT -4
Goyens actually lived with Sly at his Home in Howie Center ..........that must have made for quite the conversations around the Supper Table . I wonder if we hear from Goyens ?
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Post by eagle78 on Jun 15, 2023 5:24:31 GMT -4
Goyens actually lived with Sly at his Home in Howie Center ..........that must have made for quite the conversations around the Supper Table . I wonder if we hear from Goyens ? |
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Post by eagle78 on Jun 15, 2023 5:26:28 GMT -4
Wow what an article, couturier definitely didn’t hold back , what a circus ride, a GM absolutely ripping his former coach to media .
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Post by Jack Bauer on Jun 15, 2023 8:11:49 GMT -4
Goyens actually lived with Sly at his Home in Howie Center ..........that must have made for quite the conversations around the Supper Table . I wonder if we hear from Goyens ? He has to talk now. That article was intended for the remaining hockey ops people to save face and they threw Goyens under the bus. A GM and coach not talking leading up to the draft when both are on contracts into the following season is a terrible look on both. What was the point of 2 hour discussion the day before? That relationship was destroyed way before then. And you know there's some players with a story to tell but we'll never hear some of those. |
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Post by Jack Bauer on Jun 15, 2023 8:37:01 GMT -4
Did anyone else read Jeremy's challenging or Irwin and his comments in response almost like Irwin himself didn't even believe what he was saying this time?
"I'm looking to hire the best people..." then references Gerard leaving and picking up the pieces. You know you're stretching when your 2 assistant coaches are 3 of the people you name regarding hiring good people.
"“It’s a team that wins, not a coach, but there’s a lot you learn from the coach and I think that’s the big thing.” - This really tells you how much he actually believes a great coach can right this ship...he doesn't. But when you don't expect your GM to be great its hard to put that expectation on your coach that is yet to be named.
Look at how weak this team is in its 19 and 20yr olds:
MacDonald - Great 20.
Biggar - I have to believe there is a bit more vs what we seen last season.
Shortall vs Boutin - Some would take the D. I'd take the F. But neither guy is an elite overage option.
Houde - Can he find another level?
Newcombe - See: Houde. 30/30=60 should be fair expectations. But a contender needs 40 goal guys.
Roy - OK depth forward
Schmitt - see: Biggar. And Houde. There's another level we need some of these guys to find.
Ruccia - The numbers speak for themselves.
This season 4 teams had 105 points+ and the 5th overall had 88 points. If you look back over the years...92 seems to be what most teams come in around. So we need to find a 30 point improvement to hit 5th overall.
This years 5th overall team had 2 40+ goal guys. 2 point per game D. 2 more point per game forwards. And one of the top goalies in the league statistically. And wasn't on the same level as the other top teams.
5th overall means you lose in round 2(this past year they lost in round 1). It's a scary target to set, especially when you'll need to trade deep to get there.
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Post by Briwhel on Jun 15, 2023 9:09:59 GMT -4
Did anyone else read Jeremy's challenging or Irwin and his comments in response almost like Irwin himself didn't even believe what he was saying this time? "I'm looking to hire the best people..." then references Gerard leaving and picking up the pieces. You know you're stretching when your 2 assistant coaches are 3 of the people you name regarding hiring good people. "“It’s a team that wins, not a coach, but there’s a lot you learn from the coach and I think that’s the big thing.” - This really tells you how much he actually believes a great coach can right this ship...he doesn't. But when you don't expect your GM to be great its hard to put that expectation on your coach that is yet to be named. Look at how weak this team is in its 19 and 20yr olds: MacDonald - Great 20. Biggar - I have to believe there is a bit more vs what we seen last season. Shortall vs Boutin - Some would take the D. I'd take the F. But neither guy is an elite overage option. Houde - Can he find another level? Newcombe - See: Houde. 30/30=60 should be fair expectations. But a contender needs 40 goal guys. Roy - OK depth forward Schmitt - see: Biggar. And Houde. There's another level we need some of these guys to find. Ruccia - The numbers speak for themselves. This season 4 teams had 105 points+ and the 5th overall had 88 points. If you look back over the years...92 seems to be what most teams come in around. So we need to find a 30 point improvement to hit 5th overall. This years 5th overall team had 2 40+ goal guys. 2 point per game D. 2 more point per game forwards. And one of the top goalies in the league statistically. And wasn't on the same level as the other top teams. 5th overall means you lose in round 2(this past year they lost in round 1). It's a scary target to set, especially when you'll need to trade deep to get there. Adding on to this, Drummondville currently has something like: Cote - Woodworth - Gauthier Oliver - Roy - Peddle Beaudry - Lamoureux Tomov/Rotondi - Diotte Mercer Halifax has something like: Cataford - Vidicek - Dumais Then 2 open import spots and 1-2 OA that they will add. Whynot - MacKinnon Furlong - Phillips Rousseau RN has something like: Fontaine - Loshko - Bourash Perron - Verdon - Zonnon Langlois - Gill Buteau - Carr Rousseau BLB could have: Denis - Fauchon - Sarrasin Euro* - Swan - Carbonneau Lemieux - Larose Villeneuve - Euro Gravel That's 4 teams that I can quickly work out. And that's before Victoriaville with the best OA corps in the league, and returning plenty of depth. Even looking at THIS division, Moncton could have: Loshing - Desnoyers - Auger Euro - Trenholm - Collard Morin - Plandowski Boutin - Grenier Steinman |
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Post by jamesnorris on Jun 15, 2023 9:25:18 GMT -4
Goyens actually lived with Sly at his Home in Howie Center ..........that must have made for quite the conversations around the Supper Table . I wonder if we hear from Goyens ? He has to talk now. That article was intended for the remaining hockey ops people to save face and they threw Goyens under the bus. A GM and coach not talking leading up to the draft when both are on contracts into the following season is a terrible look on both. What was the point of 2 hour discussion the day before? That relationship was destroyed way before then. And you know there's some players with a story to tell but we'll never hear some of those. The way they build their coaching staff/front office actually translates perfectly to how they're building the roster, completely backwards. Like the Assistant GM was in place before the GM. The assistant coaches were in place before the Head Coach. Who the hell is running the Hockey Ops? And why are they making the decisions that should be, at the very least, heavily influenced by the GM/Coach. Like are you selecting a Head Coach based on how he fits with the 2 assistants now? Because if the Head Coach comes in with a completely different viewpoint of the 2 assistants, it's unlikely to become a great partnership. |
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Post by Jack Bauer on Jun 15, 2023 9:31:35 GMT -4
He has to talk now. That article was intended for the remaining hockey ops people to save face and they threw Goyens under the bus. A GM and coach not talking leading up to the draft when both are on contracts into the following season is a terrible look on both. What was the point of 2 hour discussion the day before? That relationship was destroyed way before then. And you know there's some players with a story to tell but we'll never hear some of those. The way they build their coaching staff/front office actually translates perfectly to how they're building the roster, completely backwards. Like the Assistant GM was in place before the GM. The assistant coaches were in place before the Head Coach. Who the hell is running the Hockey Ops? And why are they making the decisions that should be, at the very least, heavily influenced by the GM/Coach. Like are you selecting a Head Coach based on how he fits with the 2 assistants now? Because if the Head Coach comes in with a completely different viewpoint of the 2 assistants, it's unlikely to become a great partnership. Excellent point. Any coach coming here has to be 100% out for himself. The GM has no loyalty to him. He can't pick his own assistants. Direction is already pre-determined by the owner. Roster in place with no real direction. Owner with no knowledge of the league has no clue how he's destroying the product with his boardroom style demands for success in a league where patience is what gets you there after you completely bottom out. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2023 10:06:20 GMT -4
How many coaches in this league are truly selecting their own assistants? I would say the # is very small and probably wouldn't extend beyond 1 at most. I see no issue with a coach reporting 2 a team who has 2 assistants in place.
As for the 40 wins, honestly it's not that far of a stretch, and additional 10 wins is running at 2 games above .500 each month, I would say the bar has to be set at least that high. Let's assume we add a goalie in the Euro draft and another forward prior to camp, the pieces are there to surpass the start we had last season, which could easily kick start a 40 win season.
As for 5th in the league, I can't really get behind that comment, as the Eagles can't control what other teams are doing. No one would have predicted Victo's performance from last season nor Drummondville's. If this group gets the right leader who can get everyone pulling in the same direction, momentum and compete can go a long way.
Ivan will be missed, at least some aspects of this game, MacDonald is more complete player and will provide better leadership hands down, the rest are all replaceable by the pieces we have in place.
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Post by Jack Bauer on Jun 15, 2023 10:21:56 GMT -4
How many coaches in this league are truly selecting their own assistants? I would say the # is very small and probably wouldn't extend beyond 1 at most. I see no issue with a coach reporting 2 a team who has 2 assistants in place. As for the 40 wins, honestly it's not that far of a stretch, and additional 10 wins is running at 2 games above .500 each month, I would say the bar has to be set at least that high. Let's assume we add a goalie in the Euro draft and another forward prior to camp, the pieces are there to surpass the start we had last season, which could easily kick start a 40 win season. As for 5th in the league, I can't really get behind that comment, as the Eagles can't control what other teams are doing. No one would have predicted Victo's performance from last season nor Drummondville's. If this group gets the right leader who can get everyone pulling in the same direction, momentum and compete can go a long way. Ivan will be missed, at least some aspects of this game, MacDonald is more complete player and will provide better leadership hands down, the rest are all replaceable by the pieces we have in place. I'd say most coaches would want at least to have 1 of their own people in an assistant role. Or at least have some level of input into the hiring of 1 of them anyway. 40 wins is a stretch to me. It's a 68 game season. Only 5 teams hit 40 wins this past season. Thats playing at almost a .650 winning %. We just won 30 and barely got there after a stretch run of playing many rebuilding teams after we added pieces and as of right now our goaltending depth isn't even just "not great" it's completely non-existant. We at least need to see who our goaltenders are before we say 40 wins is attainable. Right now it's one of the leagues worst and...a question mark. Add a #1 goalie in the Euro draft and 40 wins could be attainable. But with Ruccia and ? I think a 5 win/10 point improvement to 75ish points and 7th/8th overall and home ice in round 1 is as positive as it can be right now. That's still a long way from 90 points and a top 5 team. |
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Post by gocapebreton on Jun 15, 2023 11:01:07 GMT -4
This team had better get their administrative ducks in a row before setting any high season achievement goals. It's no secret they're being viewed as lacking stability at this point. They already had a very good young hockey prospect in Desirreaux wanting out, for whatever reasons, last year. The last thing they need is a a kid like Lavoie wanting out. Top picks, like Lavoie, expect and deserve to have stability in the coaching and managing of the team they choose to come and play for. I look at this years draft, and from the outside in shake my head a bit. They have a top 8 pick going in, but seemingly have chosen a prospect who appears to at best be ranked 19th before the draft even started. Hence they move down before the draft even started. The announcers on Eastlink made a big point in Charlottetown getting a steal at pick 20. The comment after the Eagles pick, with a couple of top 10 ranked still on the board, was certainly not in line with what they expected.
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Post by Jack Bauer on Jun 15, 2023 11:30:41 GMT -4
This team had better get their administrative ducks in a row before setting any high season achievement goals. It's no secret they're being viewed as lacking stability at this point. They already had a very good young hockey prospect in Desirreaux wanting out, for whatever reasons, last year. The last thing they need is a a kid like Lavoie wanting out. Top picks, like Lavoie, expect and deserve to have stability in the coaching and managing of the team they choose to come and play for. I look at this years draft, and from the outside in shake my head a bit. They have a top 8 pick going in, but seemingly have chosen a prospect who appears to at best be ranked 19th before the draft even started. Hence they move down before the draft even started. The announcers on Eastlink made a big point in Charlottetown getting a steal at pick 20. The comment after the Eagles pick, with a couple of top 10 ranked still on the board, was certainly not in line with what they expected. They also moved down early...like they did with the Peddle pick. The other 2 picks directly ahead of them went for a higher return during the draft itself. Why move down early for just a 2nd rounder? Was a 2nd rounder not going to be the price at minimum after picks 6 and 7 went for a future 1st as well? All I see is panic moves leading to other mistakes. I don't care if you move from 2 to 8 or 8 to 12...but you better at least capitalize on the return. And we're making these deals for less as compared to our competition. When we buy...we pay more as compared to our competition. When we sell...we get less as compared to our competition. All that adds up when you're already a small market team trying to change your culture and turn your image around. You can't keep doing things so differently as compared to the teams you're ultimately trying to compete against. Even this "top 5 finish, 90 points" talk is just what we want. What if there's already 6 teams head and shoulders above us? We're still trading up? Why is trading down and setting up the next 2 years not at all discussed? No wonder we're in such a terrible state. We're constantly evaluating our chances against our own roster and not anyone elses. Look at what Halifax returns. No other team, just Halifax. Can you regularly beat that team with our current roster? I don't think so. They have a huge edge in every major area. And their fans are wondering if they'll empty the cupboards or trade down. We're here again talking about buying and competing from the bottom. With holes everywhere. It's extremely frustrating. |
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Post by jamesnorris on Jun 15, 2023 11:48:07 GMT -4
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Post by countryboy on Jun 15, 2023 11:52:48 GMT -4
Sure seems like a sad state of affairs over there.
Not watching closely, I'm almost left to imagine that the Eagles are making a documentary about the days of the PEI Rocket. I just can't figure out if Simon or Couturier is playing the role of Serge Savard Jr.
When Savard sold the PEI Rocket to our local ownership group, Grant Sonier was hired as GM and Gordie Dwyer was retained as head coach (holdover from the previous regime).
Everybody got a free pass in year one 2013-14. We sold large at the deadline (traded away 20 y/o captain Jack Nevins, 20 y/o Euro forward Matej Beran, traded away 18 y/o Yan-Pavel Laplante who just wasn't working out, traded away 17 y/o former first round pick Alexis Pepin who also wasn't working out, traded away Ryan Graves, traded away Antoine Bibeau).... with the plan to build around Daniel Sprong, Alex Goulet, Mason MacDonald, David Henley, etc.
Sonier was a well traveled hockey man, but he really did not have much experience in junior hockey. In 2014-15, after a loss in the second round, Sonier let Dwyer go. A second round appearance was a success for our franchise and it was also a great achievement for such a young core of players. It also must be mentioned that Mason McDonald went down in round one with a season ending injury and we still won the series with our backup goalie. Our loss in round 2 was to Quebec who went to game 7 of the finals and lost. Was Sonier to hasty to let Dwyer go? Maybe. But also, Dwyer was there before Sonier so maybe Sonier was just looking to hire "his guy"....like most GMs want to do at any level.
Anyway, Sonier's "guy" he hired was Jim Hulton, who was an unknown in hockey circles in this area. But along the way, someone with some power decided to pay attention to what Hulton was doing and where his strengths were as a hockey coach.
In 2015-16, Hulton's first season behind the bench, drew Rimouski in the 2nd round, and managed to knock them off and advance to the second round where we lost to Shawinigan who made it to the President's Cup final where they lost to Rouyn-Noranda. That year we had 77 points, which would have to be considered a disappointing year considering what the GM was trying to build with our team. Sonier was let go after the 2015-16 season.
At this point, were the Charlottetown Islanders looking like the PEI Rocket? Maybe....but someone with some power and insight had the smarts to realize that they would be wise to stick with Hulton. The head coach and GM job were consolidated and Hulton was given his chance to put a stamp on the team. We made it to the semi-finals in 2017 and again in 2018. 2019 was 87 points and a first round loss to Cape Breton. 2020 was 71 points in 64 games at the Covid shutdown and a likely first round loss. 2021 was a loss in the semifinals and 2022 was a loss in the finals with a great team.
When I read the article about Couturier justifying why Goyens had to be fired, etc. etc.....It just makes me wonder...
Sure, Goyens is an analytics guy first, but he's a very smart young hockey mind. Is the rush to get clear of him to make sure that someday Couturier isn't fired only to be replaced with Goyens? In firing Goyens, did they just fire the guy who is maybe the smartest hockey mind in their organization?
One major difference in this is that when Hulton came here his family moved down and really settled into living on the East coast. It sounds like Goyens and his family just wasn't into doing a similar move to Sydney.... which is fine, but does make things a little harder.
I just don't know what comes next for the Eagles...But things sure don't look to be showing any improvement as far as the disfunction that this franchise has been circled in for years.
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