Run it back (again)

@GordsTake @GatineauGreg Jensen has a 51.1% xG share at 5v5. Every defenseman on Ottawa last year had worse numbers than that except for Sanderson and Zub.

@ITheSpace @GatineauGreg It's a yes or no answer on this one, amigo.

It’s truly amazing what Green did with this group. Every player has bought in and plays a 200’ game. Playoff hockey mentality all season.

@GordsTake @GatineauGreg Your question assumes it's fact that Green is giving minutes players can't handle. Last year Hamonic was one of the worst defensemen in the entire NHL. This year Jensen is still winning his minutes, so your claim that he can't handle the minutes simply isn't true.

@JFreshHockey Well I was using points as an example. Assume everything else is mostly equal as as well and they provide virtually the same raw value, would you not factor teammates into the equation of who had the better year?

@ITheSpace in that case your problem is that you're basing player performance on points alone.

Since there's more Hart Trophy discourse, bumping this article. The Hart Trophy is for the best player in the league that season. All the hand-wringing over "most valuable to his team" is 1. dumb and 2. makes the award debate dumb 🔗: jfresh.substack.com/p/the-hart-tro…

@GordsTake @GatineauGreg Well first of all it's not veteran players plural, it's literally one guy. Every coach in the league has the same issue, they will always love their veterans. We have the best defensive metrics in the league, I'm not going to pretend Jensen is sinking the team.

@ITheSpace @GatineauGreg The question is if Green is accountable for giving veteran players minutes and assignments they can no longer handle, not how the team is doing defensively.

@GordsTake @GatineauGreg

@ITheSpace @GatineauGreg OK, so if Green is responsible for the players, then he's also responsible for giving veteran players minutes and assignments they can no longer handle, right? Green is accountable for playing Hamonic, and playing Jensen over Spence even though Spence has had better numbers?

@GordsTake @GatineauGreg and by playing "well" I mean "below average but good enough to win most nights"

@GordsTake @GatineauGreg They simply stand in the net and react to what the players are doing and make the saves they need to make. They couldn't do that for most of the season, only the last 20 game or so have they played well. The players have played well all year.

@CakeMcJabe It's definitely a case of piling on. Minten played 1 game is a 1C like in January and got 2 assists and they acted like this kid was the next Seguin

Losing Minten also sucks but no one in the media seems interested in mentioning he has fewer goals and points than Bo Groulx since February 1st

Of the four worst clear cut trades in Leafs history, two were with Boston, while a third indirectly happened because of Boston. Fun!

@GordsTake @GatineauGreg And again, the PK was the second best in the league under Baumgartner in terms of xGA/60. Yeo took over the day before Ullmark came back. Last time Baumgartner ran the PK their goalies were Leevi and Reimer lol of course their PK% was horrendous.

@ITheSpace @GatineauGreg So if Green directly decides that, why are there forward and defence coaches?

@GordsTake @GatineauGreg nhl.com/senators/team/… There aren't lol. The only position that has its own coach is goaltending. Everyone else is an assistant and is there to a) run set faceoff plays b) be a liaison between the video review coaches and the head coach c) run the PK and PP

@GordsTake @GatineauGreg Hockey isn't football where the defense coordinator does 50% of the work and the offense coordinator does the other 50%. Green directly decides how the forwards and d play.

@ITheSpace @GatineauGreg Sorry, I'm not clear why he has no control over the goaltending because there's a separate coach for that position, but DOES have control over the players even though they also have their own separate positional coaches?

@GordsTake @GatineauGreg If you think the way a goalie coach interacts with the goalies is the same as how the head coach interacts with the forwards and defense then you really don't understand how a coaching staff works. Goalie coaches aren't even on the bench, they're essentially 1-on-1 tutors.

@GordsTake @GatineauGreg He's coaching the players lmao. How they play 5v5 is 100% on him. If the team was getting caved in 5v5 obviously Green would the one responsible. He has no control over the goaltending, neither did Baumgartner and neither does Yeo.

@ITheSpace @GatineauGreg But we just established that he's not responsible for the underlying numbers because he isn't coaching the defense, forwards, and goaltenders?

@GordsTake @GatineauGreg Because this team has the best 5v5 underlying numbers we've seen since the '07 Cup run and the only reason they aren't contending for the President Trophy is the thing he as no control over: goaltending. That's on the goalies, Peters and Staios.

@ITheSpace @GatineauGreg OK. So: Green is not responsible for coaching any position or system that has its own coach: PK, PP, G, D, F. He also doesn't have the authority to manage his own staff. Absolved of both responsibility and authority, why does he deserve credit for any successes?

@GordsTake @GatineauGreg Green doesn't have the authority to do that, that's also on Staios. Green can't fire other coaches.

@ITheSpace @GatineauGreg I agree that Staios should have done something sooner. The flags were there in the preseason. But you said Yeo doesn't deserve credit b/c he doesn't coach the goalies. I asked why Green shouldn't be accountable for addressing the goalie coach (who does) as well.

@GordsTake @GatineauGreg Actually it was more like an .830 sv% lol, you could have 4 Lidstroms being coached by Scotty Bowman killing penalties with those numbers your PK% is going to be awful.

@GordsTake @GatineauGreg Because the Sens had literally 0 goalies. Leevi had to play 10 games in a row and put up an .860 Sv%. No amount of changing the PK coach was going to fix their numbers, all they could do was wait until Ullmark returned and hope he stabilized, which he has.

@GordsTake @GatineauGreg If anything it should be Staios getting the blame for not addressing the goaltending until it was probably too late. Again, the difference between Baumgartner and Yeo pales in comparison to the difference between Leevi and Ullmark post-return.

@ITheSpace @GatineauGreg OK, so then if we agree that coaching was A factor, why should Green not be held accountable for not addressing the coaching--either on the PK, or at the goaltending position, where you think 90% of the problem was--for so much of the season?