When Will The Criticism Of Therrien End?
Jesse Marshall | Pittsburgh Penguins
Jul 18, 01:04 PM | Hype this story!
I am convinced that if Michel Therrien leads the Penguins to their third Stanley Cup championship next year, it would only take two weeks for someone to find something to whine about in regards to the Penguins head coach.
The vehement and often baseless hatred for Michel Therrien is so strong that, at times, I don’t even think a championship can satiate the masses.
The Penguins are two months removed from the Stanley Cup final where they were a mere post away from pushing the best team in the NHL to a game seven in Detroit. Yet, I constantly receive e-mails and read threads on message boards laced with vitriol for the Eastern Conference Champion coach.
Before we get into the absurdity of some of the claims I’ve read from Therrien detractors, let’s revisit what the Penguins looked like prior to his arrival in Pittsburgh.
Eddie Olzcyk was the head coach.
That’s really all I need to say. Eddie Olzyck was the head coach. The Penguins were in disarray. I still carry with me the memory of the 6-2 drubbing the offensive powerhouse (sarcasm) Minnesota Wild handed out to the confused Penguins at Mellon Arena behind a barrage of “boo’s” and jeers from the crowd. Most of those jeers were directed at Mr. Olzyck.
Michel Therrien brought a winning attitude to the bench in December of that season, and things turned around from there. Follow that up with the biggest single season point turnaround in Penguins history and the encore presentation being a trip to the Stanley Cup final.
But, to some people, none of that matters. In fact, Therrien’s coaching success behind the bench is downright insignificant.
The first thing you’ll hear is that Michel Therrien isn’t responsible for the victories. It’s the talented youngsters on the team that are propelling him to victory and any doofus with a knowledge of what icing and offsides is could coach this squad to the finals.
However, ironically enough, these are the same people that are quick to point the finger at Michel Therrien when that same young talent fails to show up for a game. But, wait? Which is it? Is it the coach or the young talent? It’s a chicken/egg argument, one that is absurd at best. If talent can coach itself, there would be no need for coaches in the NHL, and let me assure you that the Detroit Red Wings would not have autonomously made their way to the Stanley Cup Finals without Mike Babcock at the helm.
If the argument that the team wins by itself is true, then Penguins fans will have no problem with Ray Shero re-instating Eddie Olzcyk back behind the bench. After all, any dummy could coach this team to the finals, right?
Compound that with the baseless rumors that players “don’t like” playing for Michel Therrien.
That’s fine; we’ll bring in a happy-go-lucky guy that can just reinstate the old “country-club” attitude of the late 90’s. Hard work is overrated. I’m sure Sidney Crosby will love the extra days off and the pampering that will occur.
Give me a break.
The silly assumption that players “don’t like” playing for Michel Therrien was shot down twice this summer. Once when Brooks Orpik demanded the media provide him an instance where he had said that, and again when Brooks Orpik re-signed with the Penguins long term.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that Therrien detractors hate facts. They hate to hear that he’s been successful behind the bench and they hate it when their unsubstantiated rumors get shot down in big time media.
I also have inkling that they’ll hate it when Sidney Crosby is skating the Cup around with Michel Therrien smiling with his crew from the sideline.
In fact, it’s downright embarrassing that I have to write this article in the middle of the summer when the team is fresh off of a trip to the promise land and a fingers-length away from grabbing that Cup.
There is just no pleasing some people.
Comments
Canaan
Jul 18, 01:22 PM
“There is just no pleasing some people.”
double true.
Chad
Jul 18, 01:24 PM
Very good editorial, Jesse. I agree with you 100%.
DS
Jul 18, 01:26 PM
MT’s critics are soff.
He cares, he makes everyone around him care, and that’s what’s important.
(oh, yeah, and the small matter that he now has more total wins for the Penguins than anybody except EJ and more playoff wins than anyone except EJ, Scotty Bowman, and Badger….)
Vive le Therrien!
Hali
Jul 18, 01:28 PM
Thank you for writing this. It needed to be said. Just remembering Edzo’s training camp compared to Therrien’s should make any Penguin fan a believer. The conditioning levels are night and day. It literally felt like life was in slow motion watching Edzo’s team practice, but Therrien’s team skates in fast forward. I don’t think the players even broke a sweat with Eddie. There is a fine line that a coach has walk concerning discipline and motivation, and he has to do this without disconcerting the players. I think Therrien does this beautifully. He know when to sit a player out, he knows what to say to the media, and he knows how to motivate a guy to play better the next opportunity he gives them. He does juggle lines frequently, and while this can be frustrating, it has lead to some amazing lines that produce. Even though we may not always understand what he’s doing, he usually ends up being right. I think he’s a great coach.
DS
Jul 18, 01:39 PM
I also think it’s worth pointing out that since the beginning of this past season, literally a third of all the head NHL coaches have been dismissed. If Shero openly stated he wasn’t going to do it in Black November, why on earth would he fire MT now, or anytime soon?? (Oh, right. I forgot we’re all waiting for MT to take the team down with him. 9_9)
Ben Schmidt
Jul 18, 02:55 PM
Most of the people who point to the talent always overlook (and never address) a very key factor in the Penguins’ run through the playoffs: their defense.
No Penguins team has ever been as strong defensively as the current team. And this is with a blueline corps that many were bemoaning at this time last year.
What other coach has ever gotten Gonchar to play as well in his own end as Therrien has? How many people were bemoaning the retention of Scuderi last summer? How many had pegged Orpik as being less than a top-4 defender, much less a top-2 defender?
I remember last summer the Therrien detractors claimed that Therrien would never get the team to the Stanley Cup Final. Now they claim he’ll never get them to the Cup itself. I can only hope he’s as quick to prove them wrong this time as he was last time.
Dabich
Jul 18, 03:53 PM
In Therrien we must trust.
Chris
Jul 18, 04:04 PM
Well, well, well, well said. I have season tickets and the people in my section HATE Therrien. Sure, he makes some mistakes. But in the long run, wouldn’t you say he makes the right decisions?
Again, well said.
~Chris @ pittsburghpucktalk.com
Pens1967
Jul 18, 04:26 PM
Here’s another often overlooked fact – Therrien makes his players better. Look no further than Malone, Orpik, Fleury and even Malkin. He got these guys to play up to their potential.
The other thing is that Therrien has also grown as a coach. He may still be just as demanding, but clearly he’s not the same guy who was canned by Montreal.
To Edzo’s everlasting credit, he’s the one who identified Therrien to Craig Patrick for the head coaching position at WBS from where Therrien eventually succeeded him.
Head Coach Michel Therrien
Jul 18, 04:48 PM
I could not ‘ave said it bedder myself, Jesse.
Living it up wit de new contrack,
Michel
Eric Politowski
Jul 18, 06:36 PM
Welcome back MT
Chris Wassel
Jul 18, 07:45 PM
Therrien is a very good coach no question but I am sorry there was no accident that several players left. Some will say that it needed to be done. I want to see what he does this year because if the team does almost as well or as well as last year, he deserves the Jack Adams on the spot. The light is on MT now.
Pens1967
Jul 19, 06:11 AM
Care to name the “several players”?
HOCKEYpAT
Jul 19, 08:39 PM
Ilove MT and give Shero all the credit in the world. He is a good man and knows MT worth the so called fans who put him down are the same fans who booed Edzo nothing can make them, happy if they dont like MT give up your tickets and let some fans who want to go the game and be happy for what we have. He does not have to prove himself to me he already DID. Very good Jesse thank you for the article.
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