Report: "screaming matches" with DeBoer led to Ballard trade
by Donny Rivette on Sep 15, 2010 1:14 PM EDT
in Florida Panthers News & Analysis
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PrintAs a general rule, most NHLers don't comment on what goes on behind closed doors of a dressing room, and for good reason: working relationships can be irreparably damaged, intentions publicly misconstrued, or worse. Most of us would volunteer a healthy right arm to know what went down between Olli Jokinen and then-coach Jacques Martin during their "feud" from a few years back, but each has downplayed the accusation and treated the subject as Old News, as have the players from that era. Fire extinguished.
In an article published today in The (Vancouver) Province, author Tony Gallagher - interviewing former Cat Keith Ballard - drops this nugget on unsuspecting Florida fans:
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No surprise there
He’s a lifetime junior coach coming to the NHL to coach, in some cases, long-time veterans. It’s certainly not surprising that his style of motivation won’t work real well with the guys who have been in the NHL longer than he has. That being said, you need players who will play the system being implemented, and the coach’s job is to make sure that happens to the best of his ability.
DeBoer has been given almost not shot to succeed since he was hired. He’ll be another shameful casualty of the ineptitude of this organization from the top down.
Love it!
Another case of too many chiefs and not enough indians. Or these guys are fighting like cats and dogs.
Agree with you Donny on the point where you reference the individual performances deserved the “junior” treratment. Is it sour grapes? Not really sure, and not sure how many more players this affects.
Are they being treated unfairly, or just pouting because they know they could have played better?
DeBoer’s tactics behind the scenes will be something we’ll never know about, unless someone talks. It’s very obvious however that if a veteran player gets into scuffle with Pete, there’s a trap door that’s in his doghouse,and it leads out of town.
Boynton?!
Pete may be a good coach, he may not be. Unless he’s given the players to work with, we aren’t going to know.
Pete can’t shoot, make saves, or take stupid penalties. The players do that by themselves. But to whine about getting yelled at when your performance is below par?
That’s bush! Or Junior!
Could not agree more
I have been saying since the ‘09 – ’10 season ended that the responsibility for the huge drop in expectations of ’08 – ’09 was in both DeBoer’s and the players hands. I don’t know about the rest of you but Ballard having been one of the true standout efforts of 09 next to Booth probably deserved the tongue-lashing the most for his performance last season.
A quick run-down of Ballard’s Highlights:
1. Slashing Vokoun
2. Constant turnovers
3. Throwing the puck into his own net
4. I could go on…
My point is, I saw a half-arsed and lackadaisical effort on the part of a lot of the team last year, that’s not on DeBoer, that’s on them.
Nailed it...
Personally, TRT you got it – we have no idea if DeBoer’s a good coach and he doesn’t whack goalies with his stick, miss checks, lose pucks, etc. However, I will call DeBoer to task for his lineup choices. To me, we need to see what we have in the youngsters first and foremost this season, and we really should have been playing youngsters more in the end of last year. Frolik, Grabner, Repik, Mattias, Dadonov, and Ellerby need to be known NHL quantities by the end of the season or I think we’ve fallen backwards. The only way we find our way out of this hole is providing other scoring options not named Booth or Weiss, having better possession of the puck, and clearing the net in front of Vokoun. If we get lucky and find a superstar or just some first-line talent scoring talent, our fortunes could turn in a hurry.
From my perspective it is obvious that Tallon is supporting DeBoer by getting rid of the two malcontents, which whether right or wrong cannot be tolerated. You can argue all day, but, Horton and Ballard were two of the best players on the team. If Deboer gets off to the slow start which many of us are expecting…….Then Tallon may need to bring in someone he is comfortable with working with a young team.
Treating players like they’re in juniors… exactly what Benoit Groulx did in Rochester the last 2 seasons. No surprise. Cats better get off to a fast start if DeBoer wants to keep his job.
Ouch…Groulx.
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by Donny Rivette on Sep 15, 2010 4:48 PM EDT up reply actions
There was not much to work with last year or for that matter so far this year. You can not blame Deboer for the lack of talent on the team and not winning games. Sounds like a bunch of whining by players…At the same time as mentioned, sounds like Groulx. I would not be surprised to see Deboer gone after his contract expires…
no one is really blaming Deboer for the losing because he just doesnt have all of the players, but i am not confident in his coaching abilities at the NHL level at all. I would rather have a more experienced coach come in. I think he will be gone this year, is contract doesnt need to be up to be fired. All i can say is, he better hope that the panthers, for once, start off winning
The thing that I hate about last year’s callups was where were the enforcers? You need enforcers on your team from time to time when playing teams like against the Flyers Rangers etc.
The most telling tale from last year and why they lost so many games…No hitting.
How do you lose to the Caps without Ovechkin in the lineup. The caps have no “D.” Even Tampa could solve the Caps without Ovechkin.
You’re not going to find an argument to that here. While I can scream from the rafters of the BAC to see more of the young skill players, it’s useless if they spend all season in the trainers rooms with their heads scrambled. It would be wonderful if Skrewy would pass down some of his knowledge to these pups and toughen this team up.
You don’t need classical enforcers, but you do need guys who will stick up for their teammates. Someone willing to drop the gloves, who can hold their own, but can skate and primarily can play the game. Classical enforcers like Worrell have no use in the league now, as they’re penalty magnets and tend to do more harm than good when on the ice. Someone like Brian McGratton would have been nice, over Andrew Peters.
And Washington had a pretty decent team, even without Ovechkin in the line-up. Well, except for the defense last season. There was some really solid talent among the forwards.
by MrOmnipotent on Sep 16, 2010 4:59 AM EDT up reply actions
Agreed with pretty much what everyone else here has to say. It’s not like this is the first year that Horton—incredibly skilled, I’ll be the first to admit it—has been considered to be floating at times. And equally true that Ballard had a poor year last year. It’s DeBoer’s job to right that situation and how else is he going to do it? Bake them a cake? Ask them “pretty please?” They’re highly paid professionals. Perhaps this is what Tallon referenced when he kept talking about changing “the climate” in Florida.
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