Imagine telling a friend, "guess how much I won?" and having her saying, "A million dollars?" It's deflating, but you still got 10 bucks, which is a down payment on a beer at the K-Rock Centre. Point being, now that Dougie! is behind the bench, there is no joy in junior hockey's Mudville. As is this site's wont, there is a symposium of the best from Fronts Talk, the New OHL Open Forum, TSN.ca, and the Kingston Whig-Standard.
"Doug (Springer) has done what he has done for 732 OHL games: assumed that Kingston hockey fans are stupid."There is a press conference today at 1 p.m. in Kingston. The king of Kings is headed down there in some of his myriad media capacities. It should be a hoot.— Save Our Kingston Frontenacs
"Hopefully Dougie gets out gis chequebook and buys the Fronts. Its current owner has no business being an owner of an OHL team!"
"This is not about improving the team it's about the Springers' effort to put fannies in the seats and Kingston's Leaf loyalty to Dougie. Mavety is the one who needs to go and Dougie is putting his future coaching career in jeopardy by signing with this outfit."
"He was a good player, thus he'll immediately be a great coach? Seriously? How's Phoenix been doing the past few years (with Wayne Gretzky)?
"I can't for the life of me believe such a smart fanbase is being so easily fooled."
"Changes with this team need to come from the TOP DOWN. How many coaches have we gone thorough, with the same average underperforming teams? That's why people aren't as excited as they should be. It's the same old song and dance we went through with (Jim) Hulton and (Bruce) Cassidy. Mavety is still going to ruin this team by running back to his usual buddies, and picking up their spare parts."
"The team is still owned by the Springers so the whole sticking-it-to-the-Springers by staying-away surely still applies city-wide and, if not, it is always the best available soft-option."
"Mav's still GM, Springer's still owner. Call me underwhelmed by the news. I don't care if we brought in Scotty Bowman to coach this club, as long as Dumb and Dumber run this club, it'll always be a failure.
"This team had 2 bonafide coaches that came in and tried and could not do it with Mavety and Springer there how do you expect someone that has never coached let alone coached teenagers to do it?"
"Gilmour can't do any worse than Mavety. He'll get the players' attention for a number of reasons, least of which is the fact that he played in the NHL, which should get him immediate respect for knowing what it takes to make it in the pros."
"Way to put a gun to your head, Gilmour. As a Kingston native, he should know the Frontenacs are one of the most poorly run franchises in the O. The Springer family co-opts the city into building a shanky new arena, then doesn't have the foresight to put a good product out on the ice. Maybe Gilly's beefing up his resumé. The Frontenacs are a joke."
"Well that confirms that Gilmour took too many shots to the head ... The fact that we have Gilmour as a coach is nice BUT what does it mean. UNLESS he is going to coach the same way as Mav and he is going to address the players the same way that Mav and Springer are which means you can't yell at a star or bench them or make them work hard he is not going to do anything with this team but get fired and prove that there needs to be new owners."
"This means more Springer, more lame promos, more Brenda Mavety and the team store that resembles a flea market, more cluster*** when buying tickets. Argh!! Doug Gilmour say it ain't so that you didn't fall for this."
"As long as Springer and Mavety are still around, they're still in control."
"If Gilmour takes this job and Mavety stays as GM then it will be career suicide for Gilmour. Even though Doug is a strong personality, as a first time new coach he will have to stay away from environments where a guy like Mav is looking over his shoulder. I know that there are a few out there who think that Maverty is a decent GM, but the Kingston situation demands a clean slate start to be successful."
"I'm liking this less and less. It appears Mav stepped down and was actually the one who hired Dougie. Just another PR stunt. More smoke and mirrors."
"How does Doug G change things? Well he already says he will be in Toronto two days a week to see his boys ... remember he is inheriting Mav's coaches. So how is he going to reprogram them and the players. Emotion will carry them for a short time but the biggest need is the introduction and adaptation of both offensive and defensive systems.I hope Doug G has lots of time, patience and determination to make it work."
"Seriously, what evidence is out there that suggests that (Gilmour's) a good coach? He has less than three months experience as an assistant."
"My question is why did this take so long? This should have been done before the draft and season started. I don't know how much damage has been done in Kingston but it has been significant by the numbers in the stands. It will take time for some fans to come back."
"I am not excited by the move, it is basically to stop the public relations hemorrhaging. I want Springer completely out of the picture, end of story."
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1 comment:
From the perspective of this 67s fan, the appointment of Gilmour sure looks like progress to me.
First off, do you really think Mavety voluntarily gave up the coaching gig? That seems dubious to me. This change has almost certainly been imposed on him by the owner. This means that Gilmour has a lot of clout in his new role, and may be the de facto GM. The owner will want to have a direct connection to Gilmour, and will almost certainly be speaking to him daily. Where does that leave Mavety? He can either do Gilmour's bidding as a figurehead GM, or leave.
Gilmour also brings instant credibility and respect to the dressing room, and of course understands the modern game and player far better than that dinosaur Mavety. There is no magic wand that Gilly can wave that will change the players on the bench short term, but in terms of getting the most out of the group he has, this is an infinitely better option for Kingston.
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