Comments on: Best. Coach. Ever.

By: pt

pt — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:12:52 +0000

what is the layering defense all about?

By: Christopher Gent

Christopher Gent — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:45:37 +0000

Nice analysis JT. Darn near prophetic on Coach Payne taking over. I am glad to hear someone has said this long before he was named coach in STL.

By: Peter Ettinger

Peter Ettinger — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:44:29 +0000

Great Blog Justin and and so nice to see Davis Payne getting his well deserved shot.

Best of lock with the writing.

By: AcesFan

AcesFan — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:50:23 +0000

Davis Payne just announced as interim coach of the Blues.

Woo hoo!!!

By: jtbourne

jtbourne — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:55:05 +0000

Well said Kimbi, and thanks for commenting! (readers, “hockeydb” search Kimbi. Quite the hockey resume)

By: Kimbi Daniels

Kimbi Daniels — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:37:53 +0000

Love it Crox! I guess I should have told you that “free thinkers” are not thought of too highly in Pro hockey. My best meeting didn’t end with a broken sharpie, just a 30 minute stare off that led to me being late for warm up. I’ve played for guys striving in the NHL but none as good as Davis. There are lots of good X & O guys but he has the ability to communicate, inspire, and motivate which is now essential with you “young guys”! Great read Justin.

By: Kevin Croxton

Kevin Croxton — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:06:47 +0000

I guess I’ll get sucked into commenting on this article. No doubt that Davis was the best coach I ever had. Like you say in your article he knows how to prepare and how to make in game adjustments. Another thing he was really good at was when we were up big in a game he would take that time to really coach during the game. He wouldn’t just be sitting there content with blowing out a team but he took advantage of that time to make his team even better. The first couple of times it was a little odd to have a coach that would take out the board and give you pointers with 7 minutes to go in a game we were winning 6-1. I think this is part of what made him such a great coach. We definitely didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things and I think Bourney was waiting for me to comment on this article because I was dumb enough one time to speak my mind in a one on one meeting only to get Davis so fired up he broke a pen in two and kicked me out of his office. I thought he was going to punch me in the face. Probably not the best career move I ever made! I do think he’ll be in the NHL someday and he deserves it with all the hard work he’s put into coaching. I feel that he is ahead of his time in the sense that he’s not an old school Mike Keenan type that players no longer respond to and he knows how to get the most out of his players.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:46:44 +0000

Very interesting perspective on coaching, refreshing to read. What exactly is the “layering” system in D-zone coverage? Thanks in advance…

By: andy

andy — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:45:28 +0000

Jose Theodore? Dude! Man. I mean, he joins my small category of really good looking goaltenders (many have nice eyes, but … yeesh, keep that mask on!) but I never considered picking him up as my fantasy goaltender. Oh, I picked Tim Thomas, yeah, and Dwayne Roloson, but Dwayne has actually been doing pretty good lately. (But Price! I can almost forgive Theodore, but Price? After the way he folded like a cheap lawn chair last year … and it’s not his fault! He’s a great goaltender, honestly. But I think he’s not handling the pressure very well. I salute you for going with him, because I never would have. Now I would have grabbed Nabokov if I had gotten an earlier seat in the fantasy draft, then Emery. Did anyone see Anderson coming?)

Although it’s all the Flyers players, and Rene Bourque who have been pushing up my fantasy team standing. Go guys, go! (Am I bragging? Oh, a tad. But not really. I picked Bourque because I thought he was the best player on the Flames last year, next to Ignla and Kiprusoff.)

By: J.B.

J.B. — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:26:33 +0000

JB…from another J.B., thought you might see this more that I am a fan of your writing and less that I am stealing your material..http://ultimateofficials.blogspot.com/2009/11/hey-ref-you-got-coach.html