that this will turn a very rocky situation into an even more unstable situation. are they gonna implement a new system or just tweek some things? there are a lot of questions now that need to be answered. i think this was the wrong move at this point.

to know what kind of style Quenneville will be implementing. I know he had some great success with the Blues and Avalanche but I can’t remember if he is more of a defensive or offensive coach.

but replacing Savard with Quenneville is a smart one nontheless.

Like you, SCH, I’m interested to see what Quenneville’s master plan is.

From the Sun Times:

“I’m disappointed,” Savard told Sun-Times Hawks beat reporter Len Ziehm. "I know we’ve done a lot of great things.

“I put our young kids in a position to succeed. I thought we were on the right track.”

“I understand the business,” Savard said. “We made a commitment to our fans, and they’re going for what they think is the best coach available.”

Four games into the season and get fired? The Rangers and the Caps have been playing pretty good this season. I hope this wasn’t a performance based because it’s too early for that. Hopefully this move doesn’t backfire on us.

Saw this on the Hawks’ board, thinking maybe it’s due to the goalie situation? Perhaps Dale told Savvy to use Huet as the #1 completely and when Savvy went with Khabby that pissed him off? Although I can’t blame Savvy for using Khabby the way he’s been playing.

that’s what surprises me. only 4 games. I could see if it had been 20-25 games or something.

I hope it works out for the best. Bottom line i’m still concerned about wins.

Sometimes it just seemed like Savard didn’t have a real system in place and the players were confused. I think Joel is going to be an improvement behind the bench, ultimately.

is saying that Savard might have been fired for trying to force management’s hand on an extension.

that Bowman is behind it, and that McDonough and Bowman both have the “hire the best” mentality, hence Quenneville was brought in.
I still think this was way to soon though.
How does everyone think this effects the fans’ view of the front office, firing a Hawk legend? I personally don’t care, but what do others think?

but this was not too surprising. Denis has had over a season to put his stamp on this team and really they still don’t seem to have much of an identity. Quenneville is a solid coach and I look forward to what he will do. Specifically I’d like to see him getting our D-men playing better and with some purpose. I’m looking at you Seabrook.

I would have thought Tallon was safe but I question his off-season. Campbell was a great move to fill a need. However Huet signing was unnecessary and we lost scoring (Lang & Williams) that was not replaced. His clock might be ticking too.

Thanks for doing your best Denis. Hope everything works out for you.

that Bowman is behind this move. And I have to think that Tallon is probably next, most likely.

And I have to agree, the whole “firing a legend” stuff or whatever doesn’t bother me. Savvy wasn’t a great coach and they decided to make a change. The only thing that has me puzzled is, again, the timing of it. They should have just done it over the summer.

n

is really pushing him hard to give him some answers

they reported that Savard was getting orders from upper management to do things and he wasn’t following them. For instance, he wanted to play Khabby on Monday yet others wanted Huet in there.

I think Khabby has been pretty decent in a Hawks uniform with some crap defense in front of him for much of the time. Statistically, Huet has been a better goalie in his career and his younger age probably was a plus in Tallon’s eyes. I don’t think it was a terrible signing at the time, but the fact that it has led to us carrying two very expensive goalies, one of which we can not unload to save our lives, and now is probably a main cause of Savard losing his job, has turned it into a serious mistake for Dale. In hindsight, the Huet signing seems kind of unnecessary unless he has a seriously awesome year, but chances are he will not perform that much better than Khabibulin will in the same situation.

I agree with what everyone is saying here but bottom line is we have to just wait and see which goalie to go with. Its still early and Khabby or Huet could go by the wayside over the next couple games. We have to keep experimenting (unfortunately at the cost of some losses probably) to find who is the right guy in goal. Give Huet a few more chances and see what happens. Lets remember that he’s brand new to the team where as Khabby has had awhile to get accustom to things.

Not saying its right (or that I support one more than the other) but with the amount of money we have on both goalies we have to be sure we’re making the right decision before we do it and regret it and let yet another goalie go by the wayside.

On another note, thanks to Savvy for some great times and best of luck to you in the future. You will always be remember for the great things you brought and did for this organization whether on the ice or behind the bench.

Watching it and it seems like Dale is a man on the way out. He sure looks down and not feeling too optimistic.

I don’t think you should be losing interest this early in the season. Yes, this situation could have been handled better but I actually think the Hawks became a better team today by making the change they did behind the bench.

My only reservation is that it wasn’t done immediately when they hired Q over the summer.

In 4 games, after signing Campbell almost solely to improve our dismal power play, we were 2-16. And we were 2-16 for a reason, this team rarely even set up an offense while a man up. While I was surprised it happened 4 games in, better now than later.

Q will be a major improvement over Savard at this point. Under Savvy, this team never implemented a clear system, never established any consistent lines, never had a powerplay worth a damn. Great player, below average coach.

Now as soon as Tallon gets his papers, this organization can finally claim they are committed to winning with a straight face.

You can’t fault Savard for playing both goalies. It’s his job to keep both of these guys fresh and ready to play any day they need them to play. Also if you’re going to invest as much as we are putting in our goalies and we’re keeping Barker down because of it, why NOT play them? Why pay somebody $6M to sit on the bench when he can’t do any worse than Huet is doing? I expect the new coach to play the hot hand, whether its Huet or Khabby.

brining in Boudreau was the best thing to happen to that young team.

‘Coach’ Q is an old-school, defense-first, dump-and-chase coach. He stifled younger talent on the Avalanche’s roster, horribly mishandled a goalie situation that appeared to be driven by the front office rather than the play on the ice, and operated a PP that ranked 28th to 30th for nearly the entire season. Granted he worked wonders with a depleted lineup due to injuries, but at the same time, he thought stationing Ryan Smyth behind the goal was the most effective use of his talents, and had Joe Sakic on the point in the PP. He could go a completely different way in the Windy City, but he was let go in Denver because management wanted an up-tempo, offensive style that catered to the younger talent on the team. As a summary, here’s a post over at ITCS regarding Chicago hiring former Avs head coach Quenneville:

Young, inexperienced forwards? CHECK.

Two goaltenders and no clear starter? CHECK.

First pairing defenseman that is great on offense, not so much in his own zone? CHECK.

Team skill-set that excels in transition offense? CHECK.

I think Chicago found just about the worst possible coaching selection possible for how that team is built.