Any time Joel Quenneville was discussed in the Avosphere, there was always a caveat. The speculation has always been that if Q were to leave, Tony Granato would be one of the candidates to return to the bench. That other shoe dropped today; Granato is the new / old coach of the Avs.
I’m decidedly “meh” about this move. I like Granato think it’s commendable that he stayed on as an assistant after being dropped as a head coach. I think there’s better candidates out there…and some worse ones as well. Granato screams out as the “safe” choice. That’s not a terrible thing, but I think Francois Giguere missed a chance to really shake things up behind the bench.
yep, well said. I have deep worries he will lose the room here — would you respect a guy who already got fired from this job once?
I am decidedly madder than hell about this move. Granato took a loaded roster and won one out of three playoff series. He lost in the first round with Patrick fricken Roy in net. To the Wild. And are they trying to say that he had nothing to do with last year’s horrific PP?
This is the worst of all possible scenarios for me. I would have rather they kept Q and dumped Granato’s arse. This is horrible, imo. Absolutely horrible.
yeah bob I gotta agree- and I thought everyone decided here that Q was the “safe” coach and we didn’t want that; or if we did we coulda stuck with him. I thought adrian dater had a good point at his blog- this has lacroixs stubborn fingerprints all over it. i won’t quite kiss off next season yet, but my enthusiasm for a new direction is decidedly tempered.
Agreed
I challenge anyone to tell us what Granato really brings to the table that can improve this team, because I don’t see it…
The only one I can come up with is camaraderie with the vets. But that’s even speculation - I don’t know if they like him or not.
I agree with everyone else tho - I’m absolutely disgusted. Our last year with Foote, Sakic, and possibly Forsberg is going to be ruled by this guy.
I remember sitting in the stands in ‘03 knowing that the glory years were going to be gone soon - the salary cap was coming, and management acquired Teemu and Kariya for a last hurrah. All of us were so excited - until we realized the coach had isolated these guys to the third and fourth lines of the team and letting them essentially rot away. That season was a disaster.
I see this season possibly being the same. One last hurrah. I definitely don’t see Foppa, Sakic, and Foote coming back for 2009-2010. This is his second chance not to blunder it away. And call me crazy, but I don’t think a couple years of assisting Q is going to make all that much of a difference from the first implosion.
Just another point, and I think I typed this somewhere else as well. With all of the candidates out there, and of all of the current HC vacancies, how many of those vacancies other than ours would have even considered Granato? And why would they have?
All of this great regular season record stuff is crap. He took a loaded team and failed miserably in the playoffs twice. Then he was an assistant coach in charge of one of the worst PPs in the history of hockey. Quite a resume there. Sure, he deserves a promotion. No, really.
the more I stew on this, the more I think this was worked out back when Q came aboard. Tony agreed to become Q’s assistant with the understanding that he’d get the job when Q moved on. That’s my theory.
I’ve thought about this for a little while now. I’ve reviewed some of my posts on the guy from five years ago. I looked at what a lot of other fans commented on at the time.
Some of my observations from five years ago:
1.-Granato is the worst of cliche’d coaches in interviews we’ve ever had. Crawford and Hartley kept things pretty close to the vest but gave you something insightful or funny from time to time. Granato was the Peter McNabb of hockey coaches.
Examples:
2.-Granato mixed his lines to distraction. If the team got behind or played poorly in the first period he would mix up forwards like crazy.
3.-Granato had a doghouse. He had certain players who he buried. See Selanne.
4.-Granato’s powerplay at times featured four forwards at times. Some wondered why Blake and Liles didn’t manage the powerplay instead of the forwards.
5.-Granato coached in the the clutch and hook era prior to the lockout yet the Avalanche played as one of the more dynamic offensively up-tempo’d teams.
6.-He was/is well respected for his passion of the Bertuzzi incedent by his players and most fans.
7.-Tocchet left with little reason or explanation for a latteral position in Phoenix. It never did pass the smell test.
8.-The “stacked team” season with Selanne and Kariya was undercut by injuries like this year. It was also the year that Abby was under severe pressure and he was exceptionally good for Abby who in retrospect was a pretty average goalie.
9.-During Granato’s tenure he did get the big free agent signings of Kariya and Selanne. But he also had to deal with some pretty heavy chemestry changes when Morris/Ballard was delt for Gratton and Vannanen. PL brought in Salo for a playoff run (no pressure Abby, you’re still the starter for the playoffs just don’t look over your shoulder). In retrospect those deals really hurt the Avalanche back end which was a total mess for a while.
10.-Granato managed his forward matchups well in so far as he was able shift his defensive forwards well against the top lines. He did well to get his top lines out in advantagous shifts. Unlike Q, Granato got a lot of shifts out on the fly with possession of the puck rather than dump ins and losing possession. For whatever reason his defensive shifts weren’t so great. That could be blamed on Cloutier I suppose.
All in all there are a lot of simularities with Q. Most if not all of them being negative ones like line juggling, powerplay inconsistancies and the doghouse policy. The silver linings are that Granato is much, much better on goaltenders. He coached a more transition-styled offense with puck possession and speed through the neutral zone during an era where defensemen got away with a lot more. But, he also let Jeff Shantz play 72 games. Say what you will about how top heavy the Avalanche were in ‘02-’03 and ‘03-’04 but the bottom was horrendous with no depth in the system to call up. He played Hendrickson, Worrell, Aubin, Cummins and Larsen significant minutes. Consequently he shifted his first three lines for heavy minutes.
The Avs were 6th in the PP for ‘03 and 3rd in ‘02. Those trends pretty much held up for the post season as well.
Who will the assistant coach in charge of the PP be? Will the Avs stick with Cloutier as the defenseman coach or is it time for a change there?
I think goaltending will be better. I think the offensive will be more prolific but I don’t know if the Avalanche can ever be great under Granato. I do think he will be a better coach than he was in his first two years.
Watch Joe Sacco promoted or Eric Lacroix hired as the assistant coach. The off-season is off to an ominous start.
I’m not trying to justify all this crap, but it is interesting to note how much we’ve all screamed for home grown talent and less patch-work stuff…and now it’s here, and we’re bummed.
For whatever reason, coaching is subject to a serious “grass is greener on the other side” mentality.
I hope TG shows us all and motivates the guys, coaches the hell out of the team, and wins the cup. But I doubt it.
You are a cruel, cruel woman.
Interesting post Dario….
I have to wonder how much of this years PP debacle had to do with Q instead of Granato? As Dario pointed out we’ve had good or decent power play units with Granato at the helm as assistant and head coach, so what happened this year? Was in Granato? Q? a combination?
Overall I don’t know what to think of this move by FG, there is definitely better coaches out there…but I’m not ready to jump off a bridge.
Any thoughts on where Quenneville might wind up?
As a Blues fan, I’ve always kept tabs on him - liked him when he was in St. Louis.