So the day after I post my previous Weekly Roundup, there were three coaching changes. They are as follows:
Bruce Boudreau was fired by the Washington Capitals on Monday and replaced him with former Capitals team captain, Dale Hunter. In the same day, Paul Maurice was fired by the Carolina Hurricanes and replaced him with Kirk Muller. Then on Wednesday, Randy Carlyle was fired by the Anaheim Ducks and replaced by the recently fired Boudreau. I will breakdown each of their coaching schemes and how they will affect their teams after the jump...
First, we'll deal with Dale Hunter. He has begun his coaching career with a man-to-man scheme that is more conservative and defense oriented and will rely heavily on trapping and using turnovers to their benefit. It's going to take a good amount of time for this team to adjust to a very structured plan like Hunter's, especially for the underperforming offensive players like Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom. Here's hoping some discipline and a shake-up behind the bench will wake up the Capitals and help find some consistency and power in their play.
Second, Kirk Muller for the Hurricanes. He's a coach that communicates well with his teammates and that should help for this struggling team. The new system is a "attack-style system" according to Eric Staal. Pretty much he explained that they will put the pressure of the offensive end and take the game to them. It's great to hear but it's hard to do so when the team has stars who are struggling to find any kind of consistency in their offensive output. Still, it's good to see that they want to push the offense to help Cam Ward build his comfort in playing games. Here's hoping this helps some players out of their slumps and issues.
Finally, Bruce Boudreau for the Ducks. He's a very accomplished coach that knows how to effectively use an offense. His system will try to awaken a poorly producing offense and hopefully turn their dismal season around. I think Boudreau has learned his lesson on trying to switch from an all-offensive to very-defensive schemes and he'll stick to what he knows best, which benefits the Ducks in a big way.
One thing that needs to be said is while these are new coaching schemes for these teams, that doesn't necessarily translate in success. Sometimes, all a team needs is a shake-up behind the bench to get them back on track, win games and produce great stats for fantasy owners. But sometimes, it doesn't work out at all and a few times, it makes things worse. Just as a suggestion, it might be a good time to buy low for some of these players but keep in mind there's still that risk of failure that has brought about the original coaches firings in the first place.
Injury Report
Mark Giordano, Flames - A report was released today that he has a torn tendon in his leg and prompted his time table to shoot up to indefinite. Those in leagues with IR slots, can go ahead and use him but those in ones without IR slots, can freely dump him. He'll be out for a while.
Jeff Carter, Blue Jackets - He injured his ankle and has been considered day-to-day for a couple of games. He could return sometime this week.
Taylor Hall, Oilers - He injured his shoulder and was considered to be out for two to four weeks but now that he is skating, it seems his return could be in the short end of the time frame.
Mike Richards, Kings - He seems to have suffered a concussion on last Thursday and indications seems to say he'll be out for a while. Here's hoping to a speedy recovery from his injury.
Niklas Backstrom, Wild - He suffered a groin injury on Friday but he is day-to-day and it is not considered serious. Still groin injuries are tricky in hockey so with Josh Harding in net, the Wild can afford to wait it out if he needs more time to recover.
Rick DiPietro, Islanders - He also suffered a groin injury but nothing is said about how severe or how long he'll be out. He is currently day-to-day at this time but that may change considering how breakable DiPietro has become lately in his career.
James van Riemsdyk, Flyers - All we know is that he has an upper-body injury, he is considered day-to-day and it may take him out for two to four weeks.
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