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| TORONTO – They were making Morgan Rielly hold the shopping bags as they strolled through Eaton Centre during a rare day off the ice. Nazem Kadri was there and so was the 24-year-old walking backwards and documenting the light mocking of his junior teammate with a cell phone camera. Then he tripped over a garbage can. Things just aren’t going Jake Gardiner’s way these days. Gardiner has been a healthy scratch in each of the past two games, an odd show of faith to a player who signed for five years and more than $20 million in late July. The Maple Leafs, though, have consistently taken a tough love kind of approach to the former Ducks first round pick. The results mostly indicate that such an approach has failed to reap much in the way of reward, Gardiner struggling to find consistent form in each of the past two seasons – some of that, no doubt, the growing pains of a young defenceman. In question is whether such an approach is beneficial to the long-term development of a talent the organization is clearly high on, but also someone whom the head coach, Randy Carlyle, has prodded most often. Tough love from a coach can have its benefits, say various players in the Toronto room, but only if the personality in question is right for that type of motivation. Some respond to old-school types, benefiting from constant barks in the ear. Dion Phaneuf, for example, recalls his time under hard-edged former Flames coach, Mike Keenan, fondly. Others need that positive voice. Nazem Kadri would probably fall more under the latter. He took his share of prodding over his early Toronto years from the likes of Dallas Eakins and Ron Wilson. And while he hated it, he also was the fiery type to respond to it. “It sucks,” said Kadri. “I don’t like it all. But I’m not going to let it ruin my confidence or my self-esteem as a player because at the end of the day I know what I can do and I believe in myself. “I don’t want to say it works because then they’ll just keep giving me tough love,” he continued. “[But] I think I respond well to it. It doesn’t really bother me. I’m a pretty thick-skinned kid, even going back to minor hockey; I’ve had some pretty tough coaches. I don’t like it so much and sometimes I’m not so patient with it, but I think I react well. It doesn’t really bother me. It’s not like I go into a shell after I get ripped out or reamed out, I just continue playing my game.” Gardiner isn’t really that fiery type. And the odd seat in the press-box or even down to the Marlies hasn’t done much to affect his performance positively. When the lockout ended in Jan. 2013, Gardiner was first healthy scratched and then sent to the American League, where he lingered unhappily for weeks. He finally returned to the NHL in March – amid the ranting of fans, media and his agent at the time – played a couple games, and then was sent back to the press box for the final days of the regular season and even Game 1 of the playoffs. Gardiner flourished when the Leafs turned to him for the rest of that playoff series with Boston, but promptly struggled again the following fall – drawing another prominent healthy scratch in late November. Is this the best way, then, to motivate Gardiner? A player, mind you, who questioned his security with the Leafs before – amid ongoing trade rumours – only to believe he was done with all that when the team sprung for a five-year deal in the summer. There’s nothing wrong with scratching a player from time to time despite media and fan protests, but to do so three games in the season – given the history of disconnect between player and team, the splashy new deal, and fact that said player hadn’t played so poorly – seems off the mark. Gardiner has ultimately been pushed out of the lineup by rookie Stuart Percy, an early revelation in a top-four role. But is removing Gardiner, who was by far the Leafs top possession player a year ago and leading defensive point-getter at even-strength, best for the team and best for his development as a young player? That’s unlikely, especially given the predictable early season struggles of Stephane Robidas. Carlyle, speaking generally, says his motivational tactics are dependent on the individual. “I think a lot of that is feel and a lot of it is personality,” he said. “Some people take coaching as criticism and other people take criticism as personal. Those things are things that you to weigh and have to measure when you’re applying it.” Carlyle admits to making mistakes in how he’s handled things in the past, though not specifically with Gardiner. Sometimes, he says, it might be the wrong time or the wrong setting for certain tactics. “We’re all human,” he said. “We all make mistakes. Those are things that you have to gauge with experience. I think those are learning curves for a coach.” Communication can make all the difference. And to Carlyle’s credit, he has been up front with Gardiner about why he’s not playing – though not anymore so than usual. He’s told the Minnesota native that his play hasn’t been up to the level that they expect. Today’s players, Carlyle says, want more of that. They want answers and responsibility. And despite his old-school leanings, it’s apparent that Carlyle has tried to adapt. There was a point last year before a game in Philadelphia that saw him bring Gardiner onto the visitors’ bench at Wells Fargo Center, pull out the iPad and show him a few video clips on what needed improvement. More of that might be helpful. And through some film dissection this fall, Gardiner has been told that he needs to contain the opposition more effectively in the defensive zone and move the puck quicker. Cody Franson wasn’t afforded such treatment by the team’s previous head coach, Ron Wilson, during his first training camp in Toronto. Franson found out he’d be the seventh defenceman to start the regular season not from the coach himself, but from an online video of the coach speaking to media. The worst part about it, he says, was leaving the rink every day uncertain of why he wasn’t playing and when he’d get back in. “When I went through it it wasn’t the best thing for me,” Franson said. “But every guy’s a little different. Some guys need stuff like that. Some guys just need to be talked to. It all depends on the individual.” “It always helps when you get some words of encouragement,” Kadri observed. The leash for Gardiner, however, has seemed short at times and especially now. He seemed to say as much in his exit meeting with Carlyle last spring – revelations that went beyond the imagination of the head coach. All that being said, Carlyle did doll out more even-strength minutes to Gardiner than any other player on the team last season, an indication of trust if there was ever was one. “We feel that we have a quality hockey player that can play to a higher level and he agrees with that,” said Carlyle earlier this week. “So to me that’s end of story.” Asked what Gardiner could do to impress once he earned another opportunity, Carlyle responded bluntly, “Play better.” Time will tell if he does and Carlyles tough-love approach is worth pursuing. Tug McGraw Phillies Jersey . Rousey (9-0) is the undisputed queen of 135-pounders, with three successful UFC title defences already. Eight of her nine wins have come in the first round, lasting a combined 13 minutes 34 seconds. Carlos Ruiz White Jersey . Instead, his strategy was relatively simple: Just pitch the ball and see what happens. http://www.mlbphilliesshop.com/Black-Cliff-Lee-Womens-Jersey/. The final ranking of the tournament was then decided on penalties. The Union opened the scoring in the 29th minute when forward Jack McInerney brought in a long ball behind the Impact defence, just inside the box. Greg Luzinski Jersey . Pressley missed all of last season with Cincinnati because of a knee injury. The 5-foot-10, 249-pounder has made 20 career starts in the NFL for the Bengals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Mitch Williams Phillies Jersey . -- Arizona general manager Kevin Towers had been talking trade with Chicago White Sox GM Rick Hahn for a month when he arrived at the winter meetings last weekend and sent a text to Angels counterpart Jerry Dipoto. INDIANAPOLIS -- Steve Nash thought the game changed when the Phoenix Suns started controlling rebounds and loose balls. The Indiana Pacers thought the problem was not controlling Nash. Marcin Gortat had 23 points and eight rebounds, Nash added 12 points and tied his season high with 17 assists, and the Suns beat the Pacers 113-111 on Friday night. "We let Steve Nash control the tempo of the game," Pacers centre Roy Hibbert said. "We did not do a very good job of controlling them." Nash leads the league with more than 11 assists per game. Hes had 17 assists in three other games this season. Grant Hill scored 22 points for the Suns, who never gave up the lead in the fourth quarter. For Nash, it was just a matter of playing better in the second half and doing the little things necessary to pull off the win. "I think we came up with a lot of loose balls, some hustle plays," Nash said. "Got stops, rebounds, gave us a chance to get out and get some baskets. I thought we were just tougher in the third quarter than in the first half." Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry gave credit to his defence for being able to stay ahead of the Pacers. "We did a good job defensively in the second half," Gentry said. "We didnt come up with a lot of the 50-50 balls in the first half. We came up with defensive stops, but we still end up fumbling the ball or they come up with it. Thought we did a real good job with that in the second half." Danny Granger had 28 points and Roy Hibbert finished with 19 points and seven rebounds for the Pacers, who played their second game in a series of three games in three days. They beat the Washington Wizards, 85-83, on Thursday and go on the road to face Milwaukee on Saturday. The Suns are in the middle of a four-game road trip and avoided heading into the last game of the trip in Cleveland on Sunday with three losses. "It would have been real tough to go 0-for-4 on this trip or go into the Cleveland game 0-and-3 and put all that pressure on ourselves," Nash said. "We got some good feelings back. Got some confidence back. So weve got a big game in Cleveland weve got to win." Pacers coach Frank Vogel was ejected from the game with less than two minutes left after picking up his seccond technical.dddddddddddd Hill hit a jumper and Nashs free throw after Vogel was called for his first technical with 5:11 left in the game gave the Suns a 99-93 lead. The Pacers came back to get within 101-99 when Granger hit a 3-pointer with 2:31 left. He had 10 points in the fourth quarter. But thats when Hill went to the line and hit two free throws to make it 103-99 and Vogel was called for his second technical after the Pacers turned the ball over. Nash hit the free throw and the Suns led 104-99. Paul George followed with a jumper before Hibbert made two free throws to get the Pacers within a point. But Gortat answered with a layup and Frye hit his 3-pointer with less than 30 seconds to play. The Pacers nearly tied it in the final seconds. George was fouled with 1.7 seconds left and made the first free throw. He missed the second and grabbed the rebound, but missed the layup as time expired. "Could have been a little better with our defensive execution down the stretch and our guys other than Steve shooting free throws," Hill said. "Got in a really good rhythm there in that third quarter and it carried over to the fourth and did what we had to do down the stretch." The Pacers were never able to take more than a five-point lead in the first quarter and neither team took more than a seven-point lead throughout the entire game. "A tough loss, but Im proud of the way we competed," Vogel said. "I thought we outplayed the Suns for three quarters." Indiana made multiple roFoster announced his retirement on Wednesday because of chronic back problems and the Pacers announced Friday that they signed centre Kyrylo Fesenko from the Utah Jazz. Fesenko sat behind the bench in street clothes. Both moves came after the Pacers acquired Leandro Barbosa from Toronto on March 15. NOTES: The Suns are 10-4 since the All-Star break, second-best record since that point behind the Chicago Bulls, who are 12-2. . The Pacers are 10-4 against teams from the West this season. . The Suns have won four straight against the Pacers. This game was the first and only meeting between the two teams this season. The Suns game against the Pacers means the Suns have played every single team in the league now this season. cheap nfl jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap jerseys cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' ' |
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posted on: 12/01/2015 08:07:45 AM
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