Has Therrien Overstayed His Welcome?
Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins
Jan 8, 12:25 PM | Hype this story!
Many will say that Michel Therrien was unwelcome from the start.
His famous tirade claiming his defensemen had the goal of being the worst defensive group in the NHL certainly didn’t make him the most popular person in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ locker room.
But with time (and not much of it), his sandpaper personality was enough to shape a group of inexperienced players into a playoff team.
By his second full season as head coach, Therrien led his team to within two victories of a Stanley Cup championship.
Oh, and he made it that far by fielding a team for much of the regular season without the reigning scoring champion, Sidney Crosby; without the team’s starting goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury; and without a handful of other players – all for extended stretches. In fact, the team, at one point, looked more like an AHL squad than an NHL squad.
Even so, rumblings over the summer were that defenseman Brooks Orpik had a beef with his coach and would not return unless Therrien got the axe. Orpik not only returned, but he did so at a discounted rate.
Obviously, that bold statement went ignored by many, as clamoring continued that there were several player/coach feuds in the Penguins’ locker room. Names of note included Jordan Staal, Marc-Andre Fleury, Darryl Sydor, and others.
The offseason was followed by the best start to a season in Penguins franchise history, but the success soon changed to failure, as the Penguins flopped (to put it mildly) in December and early January.
The first person to get the blame? Therrien, of course.
Many ignored that Therrien has had two successful seasons as head coach of the Penguins, speeding up the timeline in which they contended for the Stanley Cup.
Many ignored that his roster had suffered significant injuries that would drag any team down.
And many ignored that individuals simply weren’t playing hard.
Now, the blunt coach is facing possibly his harshest bombardment of negativity during his three calendar years behind the Penguins’ bench.
Media members, not just in Pittsburgh, but across the country and even into Canada, have indicated that, after the team’s recent five-game losing streak, Therrien’s job is on the line.
Interestingly, none of those claiming to have inside knowledge of the situation has divulged any sources.
Also noteworthy is that the man who follows the Penguins closest – Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – has said nothing of locker room issues. Yet those in Columbus, New York and Toronto are somehow to be believed?
Doesn’t it seem logical that the one who knows the team best is most likely to report something as important as a locker room feud between coach and players?
Who knows, maybe Therrien’s time is up.
The Penguins are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games and have fallen to ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings – putting them out of the playoff picture, if only for the time being.
The players appear unmotivated at times, and several seem to have regressed talent- and production-wise.
At some point, if the struggles continue, something has to happen.
If, indeed, Therrien is to be fired, such a move most likely would take place in the very near future – between now and January 20, when the Penguins begin an eight-day break.
But is Pat Quinn – the man rumored to be atop the list of candidates – really the best option? He’s a disciplinarian who has Therrien’s style.
If the problem is that players have had with Therrien’s tough ways, replacing him with another tough coach likely isn’t going to make the players happy, or productive.
A coaching change should be made if, and only if, it is just that: a coaching change. A change of personnel simply will not do.
Comments
Shlim
Jan 8, 12:48 PM
I vote Lemieux for head coach.
Andrew Rothey
Jan 8, 12:58 PM
I do not think Michel Therrien should be fired immediately, but the next few weeks are critical both to his employment status and the Penguins’ season. It has long been documented that he does not have a locker room full of swooning admirers and he is far from a “players’ coach.” I do think that while some of the players do not always appreciate the manner in which he has handled certain issues during his tenure, they respect that the results his style has produced. They remember the turnaround in 2005-2006, the 47 point turnaround in 2006-2007, and they remember the injury-riddled regular season and postseason run of 2007-2008.
They may not like his approach at times, but they must at least acknowledge the positive outcomes it has produced. Bottom line, he has helped to make them better players and a better team. I think players resigning for less than market value, particularly Orpick, underscores this fact.
That being said, if we are sitting here 2 weeks from now and the team has not begun to turn around its play, I would not be surprised to see a change made. Two characteristics of all of Therrien’s teams are 1) they play sound system defense and 2) they play hard. Therrien refuses to accept anything less than maximum effort and work ethic.
The most jarring part of the Pens’ recent woes has been their noticeable lack of passion, determination, and drive. The willingness to sacrifice, to take a hit to make a play, to go into high traffic areas, and to make opponents pay physically all over the ice have all been absent lately.
As Matt rightly points out, Therrien did not sign Miroslav Satan, he did not hurt Tyler Kennedy, or has ever put Marc-Andre Fleury out of position. Those examples were all the work of either GM Ray Shero or the players themselves. It is far easier, however, to change one coach than 23 players. As undesirable as a midseason coaching change can be, I do think Therrien’s job is on the line, fair or not.
Oh, and Lemieux would hate coaching almost as much as he has to hate Kerry Fraser and JJim Balsillie combined.
Doc Nagel
Jan 8, 02:06 PM
“Doesn’t it seem logical that the one who knows the team best is most likely to report something as important as a locker room feud between coach and players?”
In a word, no. One of the main problems in journalism ethics is that journalists, to get access to news makers, are under immense pressure to make sure those news makers don’t withdraw access. It would make Molinari’s job almost impossible to perform if he reported on locker-room feuds, because in that case, who in the Penguins organization would freely talk to him?
That’s not to say rumors coming from other cities are more likely to be true. I just don’t think a reporter’s proximity or intimacy with an organization gives a strong reason to believe that reporter will report candidly and objectively – quite the opposite. (Sorry, professional ethics instructor voice coming out a little much.)
Matt Bodenschatz
Jan 8, 02:12 PM
Doc, I disagree, and can use fellow PG reporter Dejan Kovacevic as my evidence. He frequently reports rifts in the Pirates clubhouse, yet he keeps his job — and is considered one of the best at it.
As long as he is reporting the truth and not blowing it out of proportion and discussing it out of context, there is no reason he should/would be shunned by those within the organization.
Dave
Jan 8, 04:06 PM
Let’s see…you’re in your early 20s, single, making $3M+ a year. You’ve always been the best player on all your teams and because of that you’ve never really been criticized much. Certainly problems have never been your fault. Now you’re losing, the coach is getting on you more, he wants you to work harder, he is being critical of your screw ups. It’s not as much fun or as effortless right now.
So…a new coach is the answer. That will get rid of all this passive aggressive sub-optimal hockey playing behavior. :-)
Or course, it’s possible that Therrien really is unnecessarily nasty to the players. The reality is what it is — he’s got to motivate the players he has.
My guess is that Therrien will be gone quickly if that is what Lemieux wants. If it is up to Shero, I think he’ll stay around for a while.
Matt Bodenschatz
Jan 8, 04:13 PM
Dave, as I said in my initial story, I’m okay with firing Therrien — I’m not for it, but I can live with it. But — and this is a big but, like the ones Sir Mix A Lot rapped about — his replacement better be a totally different style of coach. If not it would appear to be a change for the sake of change, which I don’t agree with, at least with regards to coaching.
Dave
Jan 8, 04:24 PM
Matt, I agree with you about not just replacing him with the same kind of coach, which I have heard that Pat Quinn is. But in any case if you replace the coach and you don’t start to win, then what? If Fleury keeps up his inconsistent ways will a new coach be ok with that, for example?
I think it’s difficult to pin most of the Penguins problems on Therrien, while there’s considerable evidence that he can succeed. As you say, a change for the sake of change is a really bad idea. I wonder how much actual discontent there is with Therrien between Lemieux and Shero. We are essentially talking about two down months here, following taking a very young team to the Cup finals last year and a strong start this year. Is it really that much what have you done for me lately? The players better hope they don’t get measured with that yardstick.
Also, the best way to get even less productivity from players who didn’t like their coach would be to get a rumor going that he might be fired. Let them know that what they think matters in that regard.
Matt Bodenschatz
Jan 8, 04:41 PM
Dave, I’m right with you. I’m not in favor of a coaching change and haven’t been all season. But, if it HAS to be done, it better be a totally different style of coach coming in, and the team better succeed.
DS
Jan 8, 06:00 PM
If Lindy Ruff and John Stevens came through 10-game streaks of fail last year with their jobs and without any recent trips to the Final behind them, why should the immediate mass reaction be that MT’s getting canned for half of that?
(This was my reasoning to counteract my gut feeling that he was gone after the Rangers game)
There’s so much automatic negative bias w/regard to Michel Therrien that it’s almost comical to watch people jump on the bandwagon and continue to give him no quarter because they just assume he’s not really a truly skilled coach and is only a detriment tolerated by the players. And someone else, anyone else, would do better with the opportunity.
I feel like starting a fanclub with Jesse sometimes.
I’m not an athlete, and I don’t know that I’d enjoy playing under his regime, but I think he’s good at his job (Mike Yeo is another story), and I LIKE the guy. Which is more than I can say for Scotty “Super Genius” Bowman.
Slipstream
Jan 9, 12:05 AM
Matt,
Comparing Kovacecic to Molinari is like comparing fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies to a stale bag of Chips Ahoy.
Molinari is very old-school, and that doesn’t have to be a criticism, but it is in this case. Read Molinari’s Q&A’s. Where is the informality, the opinions that he must form from his inside access? Hard to find, and usually buried in a snoozy three-paragraph answer. What about his blog? Oops, sorry, there isn’t one. Check out Tarik El-Bashir of the WaPo if you want to see a great example of what a beat writer who’s not mailing it in can do with a blog. (Or Dejan’s, for that matter.) How about Dave’s online chats? Nope, he’s never done one that I know of.
Molinari strikes me as the type who believes beat reporters cover games and write solely the facts and nothing else. His game stories are drier than burnt toast. More often than not, they could be AP pieces. Often they tell me nothing I couldn’t see from watching the game myself. And getting an opinion out of him is like pulling teeth—whether on his Q&A or on the rare radio interviews I’ve heard him do. It’s pretty obvious he doesn’t feel comfortable with that side of things, and I’d be willing to bet he’s proud of his strict objectivity — no doubt he was trained that way. But in the age of the Internet, blogs, chats, etc., people are looking for more than that in sports coverage. And newspapers who stick to that traditional journalistic style will go the way of the dinosaur.
Not saying he has to go out and be a raving lunatic like some of the nuts on the Internet, but a little more effort would go a long way. And, yes, I fully understand the difference between a reporter and a columnist, but see the examples above for how a reporter can engage and use new media and maybe even express an opinion occasionally—without crossing that line.
Sorry, you gave me the chance to rant and I ran with it!
Matt Bodenschatz
Jan 9, 12:18 AM
Slip, I’m not going to disagree with you on 99% of your points. To be honest, I think you summarized him quite well.
One thing I will say is that I have seen him give his opinion on several “controversial” topics — and he answered. He may not be forthright with divulging subjective news in his articles, but he doesn’t avoid them in his Q&A either.
I just feel that, if there was such a rift, it’d be impossible to hide — not only through Molinari, but Rossi, Anderson, and all of the other Pittsburgh media who are in the locker room daily. I just don’t see how Madden, Mckenzie, and other who never visit the locker room can talk accurately about such topics.
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