This is the difference between being good or great. Great players rise to that challenge and do whatever it takes to win. Gaborik is showing that he is good and nothing more. Tortorella is an asshole but I don't think he is wrong to push for greatness from his star players.
Again see above difference between being "good" vs "great".
You know, Cherry is bombastic and overly opinionated at times but thats what he is paid to do. As for him knocking Gaborik about "pouting", he's not the only one. It was mentioned by the Pittsburgh hockey media, and they also made the comments (joining them to the bad post season that Evgeny Malkin had, following what should be an MVP award winning season) that a lot of European players don't handle adversity the same way as we (fans) and coaches want to see. Its not uniquely European (although it is more common among them) and not all Europeans respond in this manner (see Nick Lidstrom for a shining example of one that doesn't) but Gaborik and Malkin join some pretty illustrious ranks with names like Fedorov and Jagr as ones who did disappear, at times, when things got tough, instead of playing through and rising above. The only way this kind of criticism goes away is by playing hard and silencing the criticism, making defensive plays if the offense isn't comming.
Torterella won't ever see gaborik score a goal if he is sitting on the bench,
and gaborik won't play any differently after sitting than he did before.
He is trying to do 'his' thing, but the great defense will stop him most of the
time, and he will skillfully shove one in the net if given a quick pass in front
of the net, or he will send out a quick pass to the front for someone else, but
I see him and richards constantly being snuffed out on the boards over and over.
They don't have any time.
They can't break into the middle toward the net, there is no room, they, like
all the others have to wait for a 'mistake' by the other team, or a rebound.
I have followed gaboriks career since he came into the league at 18 in minnesota, lots of injuries, he played
thru many hardships because of those injuries, and had lots of down time, lots of surgeries, and finally
he was healthy, and while he was healthy in minnesota he showed how good he really was, on a not so good
team, he shone.
The defense is coached so good now days, and that is one part of the game that can be taught, and they
teach them to stop talented offensive scorers, and none of them in the league now can really shine any longer,
as the defense is 'overkill' coached, and they will block shots to the point of broken bones, and do
anything it takes to 'stop' goals, and on top of that the goalkeeping is better than it has ever been
since i've watched the NHL, which was around l953 or so.
It is asking a lot to insist that offensive players find a way to score and be considered 'great', when the
defensive side of the opposition has learned how to stop them almost all of the time.
So many goals now just come from a big turnover, or a deflection, no great players are allowed to dangle
up the ice any more and put on their famous moves, those moves have been nullified by defensive strategies.
Cherry had no reason whatsoever to say gaborik was 'pouting', and if you can see that he was pouting please
explain it to me because I watched those games, and he sat and waited till he was told he could play again,
and if anyone thinks he should have had a cheery bubbly frame of mind, that would be interesting, because
any player who has been sat on the bench because of a mistake, should not be looking happy about it.
They hate to sit out, they 'should' hate sitting out, they want to play, and when they can't it drives
them crazy, whether they are canadian, american, slovakian, russian or whatever, doesn't matter.
The best coach for a player like gaborik was jaque lamaire, a great teacher for the players, he knew what to do to make players play their best, and many players made
a point of mentioning that about him, and in minnesota he didn't have many good
players, so the game was all about defense, but with gaborik he encouraged him to
develope his offensive skills as well.
Gaborik isn't a player who can mix it up very well physically, he waits for opportunities away from the play, but that isn't what torterella wants, he wants grit
grit grit, and gaborik won't please him in that respect, they just shouldn't be on
the same team.
