First off, I want to start this by saying the Ottawa Senators can no longer be brushed aside.
They are in the Final Four, and ANYONE who says they thought they would be here I would consider hiring on the spot.
I picked the Sens to finish third in the Atlantic and I was completely scoffed at, and even I kind of wondered what was wrong with me at the time... I picked them to beat Boston and was again in the minority. But I never would have said they were a final four team.
I will tell you why I picked them to be better than all expected...Guy Boucher.
And those who know me from way back might recall that I was NOT a Boucher fan his first time around in Tampa. That all changed this summer, when I heard him interviewed on XM radio about his experience in Europe. I heard a completely different person than the guy I interviewed in Tampa. Boucher was frank, honest, and admitted that he learned a ton of what he needed to learn. He talked about his shortcomings the first time around, and spoke of the thrill of coaching in Europe and seeing teams over there "trying new systems and more exciting offensive schemes." He talked of how the NHL was a league where teams played many of the same systems and it had grown stale...a point I completely agreed with and couldn't believe I was hearing from Guy Boucher.
When the Sens hired him I was all for it, and when I looked at the kinds of players he had I was excited to see how it would all play out. That is why I gave the Sens a little boost in my predictions...Boucher was a coach that was willing to change and adjust...and he even acknowledged what he did wrong the first time around. Boucher was progressive and whenever a situation grows stale a progressive thinker can thrive.
Counter this with Alain Vigneault. Alain Vigneault runs a great ship. His successes and record are strong and he does put together teams that can win. He is a true professional and he handles everything around him with great ease. But he HATES change. In my experiences covering him closely, the Stanley Cup Final, he showed time and time again an unwillingness to be progressive or to change what he believed in. He hates putting too much pressure on younger players...even when the team depends on those players. As good as he is long-term for a team he can be as much a hindrance in the near term because to win in certain key situations you need to be progressive and willing to put yourself out there with a gutsy decision. I still, to this day, believe Vancouver should have beaten Boston, but Vigneault's inability to realize Luongo was lost in goal in that series killed them.
And all of this may point to a bigger issue...
The new guard vs the old guard in the NHL.
We are seeing more and more young coaches making headway, while some older coaches are unwilling to adjust...I am a big Hitchcock fan, but what happens in Dallas will be telling...
What say you?
I will be back later with my look at the game 7s tonight....and the Rumor Chart is very close to prime time.
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— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) December 12, 2016