Is this the first year the team has not made it to the playoffs with Tippett as the coach?

I am totally AGAINST the firing of Dave Tippett. My reasons are as followed:

1) Nearly 400 games lost to players due to injuries. I would like to see any team out there try to replace your top forward (Morrow) who was lost in Nov., your top D-man lost in the same month (Zubov), your second best center (Richards) during the playoff hunt, one of our top wingers (Lehts) and countless other injuries, yet still be in the playoff hunt till the final month
2) The whole Avery thing. Now, we don’t know if Tippett was on board with this signing or not, but clearly Avery divided the locker room and hurt the chemistry all around. Tipps tried his best moving him around in the lineup and finding the best spot for him, but clearly it wasn’t going to work out
3) Turco. Now, I will bash Tipps here, cause the way Turco started the season out, he should have been benched for another goalie till he got his head straight, but Tipps didn’t have faith in our backups. Part of this could be the GMs fault, believing that this team should go ahead with a rookie goalie to backup Turco instead of a Vet. We all saw how this played out
4) Retirements. Clearly it could be seen that this team was hurt by the retirements of Barnes and Norstrom. Barnes was clearly a leader on this team and made a difference on the ice as a checking forward, so his lost hurts. Norstrom’s retirement came as a shock, as many around the organization believed that he would come back. His retirement towards the end of the free agency period left us little time to try and find a replacement (a Vet D-man), so we had to go into the season with a young Defensive line. Clearly his lost was felt on the D-line and Grossman
5) The players. Yes, I know that it is a coach’s job to coach up the players and get them ready to play, but the coach can’t go out their and play for them. The players have to take responsibility for their performance out on the ice. Still, both the players and the Coach could have worked together to perform better (especially on the Power Play)

Now, it is tough for us fans to see our team out of the playoffs, and usually the first to blame will be the coach. But remember, Tippett lead this team to the Conference Finals last year. We just ran into a ton of bad luck this year that took its toll on the team. Next year, though, with hopefully a full year of Morrow, the return(?) of Zubov and a healthy Lehts, a backup goalie, and another year for Neal, Brunnstorm and the young Defense men this team should get back in the hunt for the Cup

Never once did he stand up and tell his team to suck it up and make the best with Avery. Modano, Turco and Robidas all bitched silently and made the locker room tense. The coach has to stand up and say enough is enough.

Completely mishandled Brunnstrom. Yes the guy was really, really bad in his own zone but playing forth line minutes with complete spares wasn’t going to improve his game. Benching him in favor of Conner, Begin, Barch, Wilson, Parrish, and Lundqvist was a travesty.

Sydor over Hutchinson for twenty plus games. It still blows my mind when I type that.

Personnel decisions on the power play besides just the system. Habitually throwing Robidas and then Modano on the point. Morrison there, but Daley wasn’t played on the powerplay. Grossman’s heavy shot was never given a chance. They were so bad for so long and it didn’t seem like Tippet was willing to try anything different. Oh and Neal on the 2nd unit, if he got any pp time early in the game at all, was just mind blowing. He was leading the team in pp goals, yet he still played second fiddle to Ott, Lehtinen, and Modano.

I could probably go on but seriously, he’s not the guy for this current roster. He’s defense first, which this team no longer is and completely unwilling to pull the plug on half effort from veterans.