It was kind of a slow week writing on TSOoA, but that's the breaks some week. Luckily, we can round out some of the stories in one fine package here with the F5.1. Lou Lamoriello said that John MacLean doesn't have to worry about getting fired. Coming from Lou, how worried are you about this vote of confidence??
The "Vote of Confidence" is almost always a death kiss for some coaches, but I think this could be genuine for MacLean....at least from Lamoriello. He's the guy who really put MacLean in a roster squeeze with his deals. Plus, he's a first year guy still trying to get the hang of this thing, so to fire him after 10 games seems a bit extreme. Not saying that owner Jeff Vanderbeek couldn't overrule and get rid of them both, but it'd be pretty crazy to do that knowing how rough it is to deal with a team that's flying so close to the salary sun on paper wings...or something.
2. If not MacLean, who would be the first coach in the hot seat for being replaced??
There's not one coach out there who I think could be in-danger, but not saying a team couldn't pull one out of left field. There's a lot of guys who are under pressure, but I don't know if 10 games is really the starting point to be threatening jobs. That said, I believe that after ten games, the kid gloves are going to be taken off and that the coaches are going to have to adjust on the fly very quickly and start to produce results or else risk getting the ax.
3. As it stands right now, all the Central Division teams are in the playoffs in the West. How long can this hold up for this division??
You have to expect the Columbus Blue Jackets to really drop off if any of the Central teams drop off, but they have a strong division. Home of the Cup champion Blackhawks, the Blues are looking like a team off the fringe loop with Jaro Halak in net now, the Red Wings-- regardless of age-- always seem strong, and the first-place Predators seem to have found their stride and really look like they are going to make a strong run, if they can stay healthy. With a lapse in other divisions, you can say that the Central is the hardest division to play in right now.
4. Is there ever going to be a chance where all five teams from a division make it into the playoffs??
It could happen this year, if the Blue Jackets can keep stride for stride, but it's a difficult task. The other teams definitely have to really tank out in a conference for a single division to run the table and have over 50% of the playoff teams. If that does happen, you have to wonder if the NHL would worry-- they want parity and having all teams in a division in the playoffs-- I don't see that as having too much parity. Of course, that division could rightfully claim the best division in the league-- so that's something.
5. With some people claiming victory in the Tyler Seguin/Phil Kessel trade; when can you actually declare victory in any deal??
It's definitely silly to battle on a trade after one game, but in the long-run the overall numbers could be a factor, but you should have to factor in head-to-head in all of that. Luckily, both Seguin and Kessel are young enough and will face-off against each other a lot while being in the same division, but I don't know how you can truly gauge a trade unless you use WhatIf Sports in order to put them in different scenarios with the team they would have been on if the trade didn't happen; but it's tough to definitely value a trade like that.
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That's another week in the books, if you have any topics or whatever, email Scotty.Wazz@Gmail.com to put your two-cents in or something. Like I say, if you don't like these topics and didn't contribute.....well, you should have done more to contribute. Jerkstores.
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