Official fire johnston thread - join the crew

[shmenguin]

i don't see any benefit in keeping sprong up at this point.

[NAN]

Ever since I joined on to fire MJ, the Pens are 7-1.

[Algernon]

@mikey


Boston's pp is 35.5%

[columbia]

Ever since I joined on to fire MJ, the Pens are 7-1.

Become a Penn State fan.

[mikey]

@mikey


Boston's pp is 35.5%

Wasn't our PP like 40% last year at this same time...?

You're not big into sports...I respect that...

[Gaucho]

[Rylan]

Are we firing this **** yet?

[dodint]

Extend Johnson!

League leading defense!

[mikey]

Source of the post Extend Johnson!

Reported as spam.

[Craig]

Lead leading defense and a league last offense...with a stacked set of forwards and a barely nhl caliber set of defensemen. The hc should be getting praised for overcoming the senility of the gm.

[count2infinity]

Their offense is last in the league? I didn't realize it was that bad.

[Craig]

They aren't. They're near the bottom though.

EDIT" 5th worst in goals per game.

[tfrizz]

They aren't. They're near the bottom though.

EDIT" 5th worst in goals per game.

6th worst. Over the past 4 games they've gone from 29th to 24th.

[NTP66]

They aren't. They're near the bottom though.

EDIT" 5th worst in goals per game.

6th worst. Over the past 4 games they've gone from 29th to 24th.

[Factorial]

People, like the OP, are too impatient.

[FistOfCaufield]

I think what you are seeing is the foundation, groundwork... engraining of this style of hockey onto this team courtesy of Mike Johnston. We've all said it - this team can't win playoff style hockey when the time comes. Free Wheeling and Dealing offense during the season looks great, but when teams start locking it down - that same free wheeling and dealing style fails miserably in the playoffs.

My guess is Johnston is trying to imprint defensive hockey as much as he can here in the early season, and will taper the reigns off a bit as the season wears on, fully confident that when he needs to win a close game or protect a lead that he can snap his team back into the defensive hockey he's working on installing early in the season.

Sure there's a bit of a learning curve - but it's necessary for success down the road.

Listening to Madden and Steigerwald complain about goal is laughable and shortsighted given those same people were complaining about losing playoff games.

[NTP66]

Listening to Madden is laughable.

FIFY (and, I agree).

[large garlic]

I can't believe I'm going to defend Madden here a bit, but here it goes...

It's clear that the post-2009 Bylsma Pens didn't have the defensive soundness to win in the playoffs, so the Pens clearly need that. But, that doesn't mean that defensive soundness has to come at the expense of dynamic offense. I think both Cup finalists last year were dynamic and aesthetically appealing offensively, while being pretty solid at the other end too. I know Madden puts it a bit more strongly and says that he'd rather have an entertaining team than win another Cup, but I think it's reasonable to want both. The Pens have the personnel offensively to do that, it would seem.

Madden has a secondary argument concerning the Kessel trade. If you're going to play conservative, defensive hockey, why trade for Kessel? With his cap space, they could have gotten a $3 million #4 d-man and a $3 million winger (say Joel Ward) who would have made them better suited to play a defensive game. I think part of the frustration in the fan base and media is that the Kessel trade, the Cullen signing, and maybe to a lesser extent the Bonino trade seemed to signal that the Pens were betting the house on being able to overwhelm teams offensively, and instead, we've gotten the opposite.

[Tico Rick]

I don't think Madden gets that MJ may be trying to instill solid defensive habits before unleashing the offensive hounds.

[llipgh2]

I don't think Madden gets that MJ may be trying to instill solid defensive habits before unleashing the offensive hounds.

This makes sense. But isn't controversial. So even if he believes it, Madden isn't going to say it. Common sense doesn't generate calls.

[Jim]

I don't think Madden gets that MJ may be trying to instill solid defensive habits before unleashing the offensive hounds.

This makes sense. But isn't controversial. So even if he believes it, Madden isn't going to say it. Common sense doesn't generate calls, which he can call idiots and hang up on.

Fixed

[tfrizz]

I don't think Madden gets that MJ may be trying to instill solid defensive habits before unleashing the offensive hounds.

Here are my thoughts on that:

I don't think any of us are under the illusions that we've got a strong group of defensemen. I also think most of us would laugh at the notion of them even being considered average. There are some good players in the mix but, as a whole, they're pretty sub-par. Right now, Johnston has the forwards playing a very strong defensive game to try to help insulate the defenders. Fleury's fantastic play aside, it doesn't seem to be working too poorly. The forwards have been much more responsible, and it's become even easier to see when someone (or someones... 9/87) screw up and blow the zone early. This is good. This is what you need of your forwards come playoff time - every single one of them needs to be responsible defensively.

But there's a second part to this, which relates back to the weaker group of defensemen. If/when the time comes and Johnston loosens the reigns a little offensively, that's going to leave the defense exposed. This means that hard backchecking and defensive responsibility from the forwards is going to be even more important. So, as you and others have said, I believe what we're seeing right now is Johnston having the Pens playing overly defensive hockey in order to try to ingrain those defensive responsibilities into the forwards. It's great to have Crosby or Malkin out there dancing around the offensive zone and generating scoring chances, but if they're loafing back defensively then the end result is going to be failure.

Oddly enough, this is actually Johnston doing exactly what he said he'd do when he was hired. He said he was going to break things down into a simpler system, he said he was going to instil fundamental hockey, and he said he was going to break the bad habits formed under Bylsma. We're not 100% of the way there, but progress is visibly being made.

[Algernon]

People, like the OP, are too impatient.

IMPATIENT????? IMPATIENT??????


WELL FORGIVVVEEEEEEEEE MEEEEEEEE for not wanting to waste the rest of Crosby and Malkin's prime with some tool coach. Already wasted enough time with that **** up DB.

[tfrizz]

People, like the OP, are too impatient.

IMPATIENT????? IMPATIENT??????


WELL FORGIVVVEEEEEEEEE MEEEEEEEE for not wanting to waste the rest of Crosby and Malkin's prime with some tool coach. Already wasted enough time with that **** up DB.

But that's exactly why what Johnston's doing isn't a waste. He's trying to rid them of the bad habits they formed under Bylsma. He doesn't want the forwards blowing their defensive assignments so they can cheat up ice; he doesn't want them loafing on the backcheck. He needs his forwards to be responsible in their own end before he can let them loosen up offensively.

[Algernon]

People, like the OP, are too impatient.

IMPATIENT????? IMPATIENT??????


WELL FORGIVVVEEEEEEEEE MEEEEEEEE for not wanting to waste the rest of Crosby and Malkin's prime with some tool coach. Already wasted enough time with that **** up DB.

But that's exactly why what Johnston's doing isn't a waste. He's trying to rid them of the bad habits they formed under Bylsma. He doesn't want the forwards blowing their defensive assignments so they can cheat up ice; he doesn't want them loafing on the backcheck. He needs his forwards to be responsible in their own end before he can let them loosen up offensively.

This is becoming apparent to me.

When I made this thread, I saw a team that reminded me of the ECF with Boston.... Which is by far the most painful time in my hockey fandom history

HCMJ is growing on me.