James Tanner: Buffalo Denied + NHL Awards are a JOKE Guaranteed half the people who voted for the Jack Adams couldn't even name the Senator's head coach.

I generally completely disagree with Tanner. but on this i have to agree. Torts is a bad coach. he had a good roster and a great Goalie. Edmonton has McDavid. Ott is mostly their system - which the coach puts in place. I still think Babcock wins it as he got the Leafs playing really well together at such a young age.

I was actually thinking along the same lines this morning-

Babcock has Marner, Matthews, Nylander who all had great years.
MacLennan has McDavid, Draisaitl and Talbot who has played great all year.
Torts has a really great team in CBus and you're right- Bobs was out of his mind.


Ottawa's success this year has been 1) EK's phenomenal all around game, and 2) Boucher's structure.

I don't think you gave Ottawa enough credit, but your point is accurate- he should have absolutely been consideration.

I generally completely disagree with Tanner. but on this i have to agree. Torts is a bad coach. he had a good roster and a great Goalie. Edmonton has McDavid. Ott is mostly their system - which the coach puts in place. I still think Babcock wins it as he got the Leafs playing really well together at such a young age.
- richardson30

So you fault the oilers for having McDavid, but make no mention of matthews and Toronto's other top picks?

I was actually thinking along the same lines this morning-

Babcock has Marner, Matthews, Nylander who all had great years.
MacLennan has McDavid, Draisaitl and Talbot who has played great all year.
Torts has a really great team in CBus and you're right- Bobs was out of his mind.


Ottawa's success this year has been 1) EK's phenomenal all around game, and 2) Boucher's structure.

I don't think you gave Ottawa enough credit, but your point is accurate- he should have absolutely been consideration.
- Jordo

I don't really agree about discrediting people because guys on their team are good. Connor McDavid's coach isn't about to win 10 straight Jack Adams - and I generally understand that the award goes to the guy who's team did the best 180.

But, if we're going to have an award for coaching, lets make it about coaching.

What's coaching? Special teams (Babcock) and defense (Boucher). By this standard, the Blue Jackets are not particulary great - they're a decent team propped up by a great goalie and an insane run of luck that culminated in a 16 game winning streak (with the league at Full Parity big win streaks are extremely luck based since every game is essentiall 3-2, it's not even hard to see how this happens).


Guy Boucher's team plays really boring hockey, but it's effective and I think Ottawa more than anyone else was impacted by quality coaching this season. As good as Babcock was, Matthews 30 5v5 goals don't have a lot to do with coaching.....If anything, I think you could criticize Babcock for having Polak on a first pairing in a playoff game, leaving Leivo in the pressbox and not getting Matthews enough ice time.

Torts isn't a bad Coach!!!!! He's won a cup, made the NYR a threat, and helped turn CBJ around. He is most certainely a D*CK but that doesn't make him a bad coach.

He gets in trouble when he refuses to take his foot of the pedal, and wears down his teams. Once his shtick gets old his players tune him out.

When his players buy into his system, they are some of the hardest teams to play against. Not to mention, he turned Vinny Lecaveliar into a great hockey player, and not just a sniper.

Give the guy some credit. Other finalists deserve some credit too.

Torts isn't a bad Coach!!!!! He's won a cup, made the NYR a threat, and helped turn CBJ around. He is most certainely a D*CK but that doesn't make him a bad coach.

He gets in trouble when he refuses to take his foot of the pedal, and wears down his teams. Once his shtick gets old his players tune him out.

When his players buy into his system, they are some of the hardest teams to play against. Not to mention, he turned Vinny Lecaveliar into a great hockey player, and not just a sniper.

Give the guy some credit. Other finalists deserve some credit too.
- rrentz

This might be the one time I'll give you credit and say you're right. Torts seems like a bad person. Does that make him a bad coach? Maybe not. No one said I was being objective about it though, I am an editorialist, not a reporter.

Have to agree, Bouchard doesn't have that much talent to work with but the Sens are still a great team.

McLellen and Babcock are terrible nominations. They have two of the most improved rosters in the league to work with and several of the hottest young stars the game has seen in a long time.

Bouchard should be top, and Torts is justified seeing as the expectations were low for the CBJs, and why not Laviolette? Why not A.V.? How about beadreau?

They should give out COTY every third year.

Have to agree, Bouchard doesn't have that much talent to work with but the Sens are still a great team.

McLellen and Babcock are terrible nominations. They have two of the most improved rosters in the league to work with and several of the hottest young stars the game has seen in a long time.

Bouchard should be top, and Torts is justified seeing as the expectations were low for the CBJs, and why not Laviolette? Why not A.V.? How about beadreau?
- jackzack87

thanks for saying this didnt wanna look like a homer

Boucher should have the consideration but the roster is better than 29th or 30th. Our depth is quite decent. C'mon Tanner.

And the fact that Phaneuf has a terrible contract doesn't mean he isn't a 3-4 Dman. EK + Methot is one of the best pairs in hockey because of EK. Phaneuf and Ceci are decent as 3 and 4. No one cares about nr 5 and 6 when the big guys are logging so many minutes.

Rosters which are worse: Arizona, Buffalo, Colorado, Dallas, Detroit, New Jersey, Vancouver. Please tell me how 6 of 7 of these teams have a better roster than Ottawa so we all can have a laugh.

Torts turned a playoff team plagued by injury last year, and made it a top 3 team this year. Doesn't make him coach of the year.

Mcllelan had the best player in hockey, and a team pretty well set up for him. everyone knew they were on the upswing.

Babs made the 30th place team contend with the best. Most predictions had the leafs out of a playoff spot prior to the start of the season. It's probably going to be given to him.

I agree that Boucher should have been nominated. He set up a good structured system that the boys in Ottawa can play. Only thing is 1-3-1 is B-O-R-I-N-G!

Other people that could be nominated are Doug Weight, for having the Islanders contend from where they were, and Jon Cooper, for icing an AHL squad and coming within a point of the playoffs.

This might be the one time I'll give you credit and say you're right. Torts seems like a bad person. Does that make him a bad coach? Maybe not. No one said I was being objective about it though, I am an editorialist, not a reporter.
- James_Tanner

Dude, you can just recklessly call people bad. C'mon. Do a little research on Torts with rescue dogs, Liam Treanor and the US armed Forces. Be Better.

Have you read many of Tanner's articles? Research or any kind of thought in general is not his forte. He is more of a low brow controversy fellow.

Torts isn't a bad Coach!!!!! He's won a cup, made the NYR a threat, and helped turn CBJ around. He is most certainely a D*CK but that doesn't make him a bad coach.

He gets in trouble when he refuses to take his foot of the pedal, and wears down his teams. Once his shtick gets old his players tune him out.

When his players buy into his system, they are some of the hardest teams to play against. Not to mention, he turned Vinny Lecaveliar into a great hockey player, and not just a sniper.

Give the guy some credit. Other finalists deserve some credit too.
- rrentz

Tainted cup win.
Gelinas scored.

Dude, you can just recklessly call people bad. C'mon. Do a little research on Torts with rescue dogs, Liam Treanor and the US armed Forces. Be Better.
- tomburton99

Nope Torts is a huge ass. Sorry, but I am better. You be better.

Have you read many of Tanner's articles? Research or any kind of thought in general is not his forte. He is more of a low brow controversy fellow.
- HoweHatrick

This is sort of like the time I got trolled by 200 alt-right wierdo's for who, in their bizarre opposite world, I am the dumb one. There is no higher-level hockey blog in existence. Yeah, we act dumb and make a lot of jokes, but that's only because when you're this good you don't need to have an ego.

This is sort of like the time I got trolled by 200 alt-right wierdo's for who, in their bizarre opposite world, I am the dumb one. There is no higher-level hockey blog in existence. Yeah, we act dumb and make a lot of jokes, but that's only because when you're this good you don't need to have an ego.
- James_Tanner

Nope Torts is a huge ass. Sorry, but I am better. You be better.
- James_Tanner

I am the dumb one.
- James_Tanner

Your writing speaks for itself.

Fantastic post Tanner. You nailed it.

Sens roster is no better than Toronto's or Edmonton's from last year. Why couldn't Babcock or Mclellan work the same magic as Boucher? As you insinuated, because they are much worse as coaches than Boucher.

I have to admit, it's pretty brave to claim the Boucher is so much better than other coaches with more historical success that he took a team of similar talent to 2nd place in the division when they couldn't make the playoffs...but hey, I guess this is why you have an impeccable track-record of predictions.

What really makes your case is the hundreds of threads on hockey forums by leaf fans who are furious about Shannahan picking Babcock of Boucher. Must be pretty vindicating to know that so many people agree with your take and that you are not just going against the grain in order to post another Ottawa troll job under the cover of a backhanded compliment to the teams coach.

Keep up the great work Tanner. You might get some flak now, but in 10 years time I guarantee that your name will be synonyms with insightful hockey analysis and predictions that came true.

Dude, you can just recklessly call people bad. C'mon. Do a little research on Torts with rescue dogs, Liam Treanor and the US armed Forces. Be Better.
- tomburton99

I never said he was a baD guy either tanner.. Enough of your comments about "alternative right weirdos" . you are such an arse

I normally like to disagree with everything Tanner posts for the simple reason that he's the Coyotes blogger, but probably only watches them play the two times a year they collide with the Leafs.

That said, spot on with this post. Even though (yes, I know) the Sens finished 2nd in the Hotlantic, they truly do have one of the worst rosters to make the playoffs. The owner is a world renown cheapskate, and the market is smaller.. doesn't make for the most attractive destination for players. Their record to date is thanks to the system of a Bond villain. He deserves some recognition for what he's done, and what he's still doing.

Is this what happens when you get shale in the vaseline?