Can Alain Vigneault Take the Flyers to the Playoffs?
Alain Vigneault may not have won the Stanley Cup but there’s no doubt that the man has the pedigree to do so.
Nominated for the Jack Adams Award on three occasions, Vigneault has broken records at Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks, and the New York Rangers as well as taking two teams to the finals. But can he do it for the Flyers?
What’s apparent from his prior coaching career is that Vigneault is a master of the regular season. He knows how to set a team up to win over the season; a fact that is proven by his consistent breaking of regular-season records. He’s also a coach who obviously works with a long-term vision and who isn’t afraid to bend the rules if he thinks it’s good for his team. Anyone remember when he controversially chose Roberto Luongo as Canucks captain despite the rules clearly stating goaltenders could not hold the position?
Taking over a team like the Flyers was never going to be an easy job, but so far he’s enjoyed the fruits of Hextall’s labors as GM. His own coaching vision though is taking a little longer to come to fruition, but we can definitely see progress on the ice. However, what we really need for the coach and this team is patience.
If we need proof that patience works, then we only need to look at the current manager at European soccer giants Manchester United. Earlier this year, many asked if Ole Gunnar Solksjaer was good enough to take United back to the top. He even looked like he might be about to lose his job as recently as two weeks ago. But the owners had faith in his abilities and he has turned the club’s fortunes around in the last two games.
This is precisely the type of patience that is required now with Vigneault. All too often, fans call for a coach to be held accountable for a poor run of form when they should realize that sometimes it takes time to implement a coach’s tactics and training methods.
Of course, we haven’t hit a poor run as of yet, and we may never experience one under a coach that is a master of the regular season. But the truth is that should we get to the playoffs (we will) some fans will expect success and call for Vigneault’s head if we don’t get it immediately.
We have no doubt that this coach will take us to the playoffs, and for this season at least, anything more will be a bonus.
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Categorized:Flyers WegENT Blog