Frei On Granato

"He told Giguere, absolutely, he could win with this group. There were changes after his hiring, but we all knew at least the general outline of the roster. Absolutely, he wanted to coach up-tempo hockey. Absolutely, there was fine young talent on the roster and in the organization and he could get the most out of it. And as time went on, absolutely, you never can have too much grit, even if that contradicts the up-tempo message; and, absolutely, after Jose Theodore’s departure, Peter Budaj can get the job done."

about 1 year ago David Driscoll-Carignan 19 comments 0 recs |

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Wait, so Frei is saying the loss of Bruno and Theo is the issue, not Granato? Because that’s the major difference from last year’s team at this point in the season. Injuries plagued the team both years, and largely to the same people (Sakic and Stastny).

Certainly Theo played great in the 2nd half of last year and the Avs miss that excellent goaltending (and to be fair, Theo has not continued his stellar play in Washington anyways, so re-signing him wasn’t the answer). And they miss the shot in the arm Forsberg provided them late last year, but that was after this point in the year. I would argue they don’t miss Bruno at all — Stewart and Jones have 18g this year in 82 games combined, Bruno had 19 in 82 games last year. I simply do not buy that this team is devoid of talent like Frei and Sandy Clough continue preaching. You don’t make the playoffs with as poor a roster construction as they say this is.

But at this point in the season last year, before Forsberg returned, this team was better offensively, it was better defensively, and it was better in net — with largely the same personnel. We can explain the issues in net by looking at Good Theo’s departure, but why is the team so much worse defensively and offensively? There’s only one explanation. Tony Granato.

P.S. Do not think this is pining for Quenneville. He was a better coach than Granato, but one that wouldn’t have gotten this team anywhere near a cup with his goaltender habits, his treatment of youth vs. vets, and his inflexible systems.

by thedoctor on Mar 11, 2009 5:38 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

you know, we talk about Bruno and Theo…but we never bring up Kurt Sauer and Jeff Finger.

Hyphens cause writers more trouble than any other form of punctuation, except perhaps commas.

by David Driscoll-Carignan on Mar 11, 2009 5:53 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

we miss Sauer in a big way. Finger sucks.

by thedoctor on Mar 11, 2009 6:36 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Disagree

Finger’s had quite the impact on Toronto. He’s most certainly overpiad, but I always thought he was a decent defenseman.

Sauer was everything we have tried to pay Scott Hannan to be.

The 2008-2009 Colorado Avalanche: Slumpbusters

by Jibblescribbits on Mar 12, 2009 12:23 AM MDT up reply actions 1 recs

Sometimes Frei annoys me

1. I didn’t get the Danny Ainge comment. DDC … did you?
2. I don’t like the way TF is condescending towards fans in his blogs, especially since he also doesn’t allow comments.
3. The talent on this team isn’t this bad. As has been said on several occasions already, Q took similar talent, with similar injury problems, and was at least competitive. Right now, this team rarely competes. Including against the other lesser lights in the league.
4. I can’t get too deep into X’s and O’s, or line combos, or other detailed strategies. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to observe that this team often resembles the keystone cops. Especially on the power play. Great coaching might be hard to spot. Completely inept coaching, which this team has, eventually shows itself fairly clearly, even to us mere fans who pour our hard earned dollars into this garbage we are now being fed.

MHH: Shagging Dater one contributor at a time.

by Bob in Boulder on Mar 11, 2009 6:22 PM MDT reply actions 1 recs

1 – I didn’t get the Ainge reference. All I could think of was the Rick Pitino rant (“_ ain’t coming through that door”), but I don’t think that’s it.

2. I personally haven’t seen the condescension, but I agree about the comments. Also, why is his blog hidden? I didn’t even know it existed until someone linked to it on the HF Boards.

3. I think you know that I completely agree. This team isn’t an elite team, but it does have talent.

4. yeah.

Hyphens cause writers more trouble than any other form of punctuation, except perhaps commas.

by David Driscoll-Carignan on Mar 11, 2009 7:04 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Also, why is his blog hidden?

He buries it in the All Things Colorado Sports blog because he also writes about other subjects, like pimping his books. At one time he was on the Av blog when he blogged about the Avs but I think he decided he needed to rise above that or something. Maybe he and AD don’t get along? Could you be part of the reason? ;)

My favorite blogs in that topic are by Mike Chambers about DU hockey. He does a decent job of keeping up with their program.

MHH: Shagging Dater one contributor at a time.

by Bob in Boulder on Mar 12, 2009 1:25 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

1. i didn’t get it either. ainge is the GM of the celtics. he would laugh about being right. him being right relates to the Avs, Granato, FG, and Frei…in an inside joke.

2. I don’t know why he doesn’t allow comments, but I emailed him my comment above (edited as a personal note, of course). You should too — Dater and Frei have both always responded to me in the past.

3. totally agreed.

4. this is a particularly excellent way of explaining this. nice!

by thedoctor on Mar 11, 2009 7:19 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don’t know why he doesn’t allow comments, but I emailed him my comment above (edited as a personal note, of course). You should too — Dater and Frei have both always responded to me in the past.

yeah, I emailed Frei the other day about a different article and he responded pretty quickly. Ditto for AD.

Hyphens cause writers more trouble than any other form of punctuation, except perhaps commas.

by David Driscoll-Carignan on Mar 11, 2009 7:23 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

as expected, he sent me a well thought out response. He has a clear disclaimer on his emails stated he doesn’t want them posted, but the gist of it was that we disagree on the talent level of the roster, and we disagree on the effect a coach can have. And that’s fair.

He also admitted that he may be erring on the side of the coach for various personal and experiential reasons, and that he’s got his own bias to overcome that he’s not always successful with. that’s probably my favorite part of Dater and Frei’s reporting — they both have a candor about tough issues lots of reporters seem to lack. not many reporters would even consider their own bias; most simply consider themselves above it.

the only thing I was a little disappointed in was his lack of response to the issue of “what’s changed from last year?” I guess he thinks that roster significantly overachieved, and this one is performing at more typical levels. Could be, but this still seems too far a drop to attribute to overachieving…

by thedoctor on Mar 12, 2009 10:30 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

2. I don’t like the way TF is condescending towards fans in his blogs, especially since he also doesn’t allow comments.

I was a bit taken aback by this statement:

Tony Granato is under considerable pressure and fire now, including from some people who actually can put together a coherent sentence and have lives. I certainly understand why that is.

I’m not sure if that’s a shot at some of the comments on the DP website and Avalanche boards (which can admittedly become a cesspool of insanity, wrapped inside lunacy, engulfed in full-fledged stupidity), bloggers, like myself, who have advocated firing Granato since about the 1/2-way point or just a general commentary on how coaches too often take the blame for stuff beyond their control (A point I agree with most of the time).

No matter how he meant it, it certainly comes across as anyone who judged Granato before now is a knuckle-dragging moron. I’m not sure that’s what he meant, but it certainly came across as a bit haughty and abrasive.

The 2008-2009 Colorado Avalanche: Slumpbusters

by Jibblescribbits on Mar 12, 2009 12:28 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

That is exactly what I was talking about. Don’t agree with me? Then you can’t put together a coherent sentence and have no life. Wtf? The fact that many people saw the train wreck coming from a mile away doesn’t somehow make them stupid.

I used to exchange emails with Frei too. And he used to be one of my favorite writers in the area. However, when he started writing books and also writing for ESPN, his writing style changed significantly. And not for the better, imo. He can pack a whole lot of nothing into several long paragraphs now. With gratuitous condescending shots at his readers thrown in just for good measure, I guess.

MHH: Shagging Dater one contributor at a time.

by Bob in Boulder on Mar 12, 2009 10:25 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

he seems more put out by people sniping at him behind a wall of anonymity, at least in the email he sent me. I signed my email with my real name and he seemed pretty surprised to have that occur.

by thedoctor on Mar 12, 2009 10:31 AM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

And that paragraph was followed by:

Debating the merits of the job he is doing behind the bench is secondary to a more major issue. This might be pointless for me to try to say this to some of you, but I ask you to read on before you reach conclusions about that statement. I am not letting him off the hook.

Translates to “so while I try my best to explain my oh-so clever thoughts to you knuckle-dragging morons, my dear readers, I don’t expect many of you to understand my brilliance.”

MHH: Shagging Dater one contributor at a time.

by Bob in Boulder on Mar 12, 2009 1:10 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

I didn't get it either

What a condescending douche. This is sports, not James Joyce (you either get it or…wait a minute).

Frei’s got the Obama-like ability to talk down to the people. I loved being scolded that yelling “Red Wings suck!” is bad, when the guy who’s lecturing me hasn’t paid for a game ticket in years (and if he has, those times have been few and far between).

The talent on the team is this bad. And what isn’t already bad ~~is underperforming~~ has a great agent.

Frei’s Danny Ainge reference is exactly what Doc said, an inside joke. It’s journalistic masturbation (and I won’t explain that reference either, you either get it or you don’t or you could just Google it). Save that too-clever-for-you-simple-people shit for Rolling Stone or the New York Times.

by Dan Winkler on Mar 11, 2009 9:42 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Frei’s got the Obama-like ability to talk down to the people.

again, i would request we keep our political views to ourselves. Some of us feel the last guy was talking down to us, and this one is talking to us. I’m sure we have an eclectic mix of political views here.

The 2008-2009 Colorado Avalanche: Slumpbusters

by Jibblescribbits on Mar 12, 2009 12:20 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs