Sheppard embracing Wild changes

Subject: Sheppard embracing Wild changes Fri Sep 25, 2009 3:16 am

From the Strib...

Sheppard embracing Wild changes

James Sheppard couldn't grasp what Jacques Lemaire wanted, but now the young center is comfortable with new coach Todd Richards.

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune
Last update: September 24, 2009 - 11:27 PM

In a training camp filled with clean slates for players because of a new coach, one Wild player is overjoyed the actual coach is a clean slate.

James Sheppard believes new coach Todd Richards' more aggressive system will better suit his game than that used by former coach Jacques Lemaire.

"I think I can be a bigger part of this team," said Sheppard, 21.

During Sheppard's first two seasons, the center butted heads with Lemaire over the way the game should be played. Last winter, there was such friction, then-General Manager Doug Risebrough intervened during a sit-down with a frustrated Lemaire.

After the season, Sheppard said, "I've been playing hockey since I was 3, so it's not like I'm new to the game. But I was new to the way Jacques did things."

Sheppard took a lot of flak for that quote, a comment Sheppard says he doesn't remember uttering but didn't mean to sound so "cocky."

On Thursday, Sheppard better explained what he might have meant.

Sheppard, who has scored nine goals and 43 points in 160 games, considers himself a forechecker, something he was almost forbidden to do in Lemaire's center-high system.

"It wasn't like I hated Jacques, and I don't think Jacques hated me," Sheppard said. "Sometimes I think it's just the way I play and the way I do things, maybe my body language shows something that's not actually what I feel like. We just didn't understand each other and what each other wanted.

"In juniors, I could go forecheck for 20-whatever minutes. But changing systems here, it was hard for me to not be able to forecheck because that's where I thought my game was best -- winning one-on-one battles down low.

"Maybe if we talked a little more, I would have understood."

Last season in Calgary, Sheppard and Lemaire missed half a morning skate "to get on the same page."

"That night," Sheppard said, "I played one of my best games of the season, and over the next three or four weeks, I played great hockey. So the communication was just the biggest thing, or lack thereof. I don't think it was that I wanted to make him look bad or he wanted to make me look bad. We just never could get on the same page. It was unfortunate."

Two weeks into training camp, Sheppard is relating better to Richards, 42, than Lemaire, 43 years Sheppard's elder.

"I think [Richards] understands me better and you just know where you stand now," Sheppard said. "It helps that he was a player and is still a young guy. He likes to joke around and have fun, too, but when it comes down to business, it's business. He finds that medium."

In Richards' system, the center is permitted to forecheck if he's one of the first two forecheckers in the zone.

"Once I get going, I'm more fast than quick, so if I forecheck, I think I can get to the puck first," he said. "In juniors, I was never really a shooter or a guy who would come off the wing and make plays. I was a guy who would come out with the puck down low and find the open guy with little passes.

"I'm hoping to do that a little more now."

Like many Wild players though, Sheppard finds himself getting caught in between systems because Lemaire's approach is so engrained in his brain.

"Even in pick-up hockey this summer with buddies, I played the trap oddly enough," Sheppard said, chuckling. "I'm not saying Jacques' system wasn't effective. It was. Just now, we can be more aggressive and take it to their team instead of just sitting back."

Richards is looking for Sheppard to "take a bigger role and have more of an impact." He hopes Sheppard is watching and asking questions of veterans such as Owen Nolan and Andrew Brunette. Sheppard says he is, even working on faceoffs -- one of his biggest weaknesses -- with Nolan.

"Growing up, I never really understood the importance of faceoffs," Sheppard said. "Here it's a big deal, and I see why. What I didn't get is it's a battle, and I need to have the right mind-set going into it. I think my battle level will be a lot more this year."

Posts : 274 Join date : 2009-09-20

Awesome article by Russo. I love Sheppard A LOT and am super excited to see him play in this more open system. Shep will finally get to play the way that made him such a threat in the QMJHL (and hopefully shut up all of the people who thinks he sucks).

Can't wait to see him play this year. Very Happy

Posts : 59 Join date : 2009-09-23

Another big reason I'm excited to see Lemaire gone. I've always thought Shep was at his best when he was forechecking rather than sitting back. And hopefully if he is as dedicated to winning draws as he claims, maybe he can step up into a second line center role.

Posts : 170 Join date : 2009-09-21 Location : Farmington

Jarick wrote:: Another big reason I'm excited to see Lemaire gone. I've always thought Shep was at his best when he was forechecking rather than sitting back. And hopefully if he is as dedicated to winning draws as he claims, maybe he can step up into a second line center role.

Would be great to see Shep develop into a 2nd line center; not sure if he can do it but it would great for the Wild if he could.

Funny think I took away from this article was the quote about Shep paying the trap in pick-up hockey over the summer.
Couple that with Richard's comments about JL's style being ingrained in so many players...

Yet why is it we never saw them really properly execute JL's style of play when he was here?

Posts : 59 Join date : 2009-09-23

They executed just fine, it was more that they didn't generate offense. Past four years GAA was 2nd, 9th, 1st, and 5th. But when you're not scoring, you start to question the game plan and try to make things happen on your own.

My two biggest faults of Lemaire's coaching was that he didn't have an offensive scheme, just defensive, so he relied on players to "make things happen" on their own. That's fine if you have Crosby, Malkin, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Ovechkin, etc, but not when your only elite offensive talent is Marian Gaborik. The other fault is that the system was too passive offensively, lacking pressure on the forecheck, and allowing the other team to keep attacking. That's fine if you stick to the NZT 100% and frustrate the other team, but when you're playing a superior opponent with 3 or 4 very good lines, they will wear you down, force you to take penalties, and finish you off on the PP.

Then again, I'm just some hockey rube so maybe I have no clue what I'm taking about.

Posts : 1218 Join date : 2009-09-22

This is one of the things that is giving me hope this year, that a new coach can get players excited and help them succeed, it gives me hope that guys like Benny and Shepp and even Butch can play at another level, not that JL couldn't do that, but i think a chance of pace and a change in leadership might inspire players. At least i'm telling my self that so i don't cry as much if we flop.

Subject: Re: Sheppard embracing Wild changes Fri Sep 25, 2009 1:38 pm

The team really, really needs Pouliot and Shep to step up, otherwise its going to be a very, very long tough year IMO.

Lemaire's Trap can without a doubt generate very good offensive numbers IF the team has decent talent AND plays with discipline. Here's a question - when the Devil's won with this exact same trap in 94-95, where did they rank in the league in Goals For? I don't know, just wondering.

But I do know teams like Dallas, Detroit, NJ, and Ottawa HAVE been at or near the top playing the same counter-attacking Trap Lemaire preachs. It's just like a race car, you have to have the horses to get the speed. The Trap without a doubt can generate goals, with decent players.

And the true Bottom Line is a Win is a Win. Everyone loved the trapping Wild in that WCF run. There were NO Wild fans bitching about the Trap then!

That being said, I do enjoy a more open game and am anxiously waiting to see this new aggressive two man forecheck. I just have my doubts if it'll be a winning strategy. And cut the insulting crap about playing a "puck possession" game. Only a kid or a fool could think the Wild has the players to play that kind of system - it takes very talented puck handling Dmen AND Forwards with speed and skill. The current Wild roster does NOT have that. How many of the Wild's current Forwards are good puck handlers? I can think of TWO - PMB and Mikko. That's it.

Posts : 59 Join date : 2009-09-23

How did the Devils rank in 95-96 when they missed the playoffs the next year?

It's all about utilizing talent the best way that you can. Lemaire maximized the talent on the 2003 team but couldn't get anything out of them the last few years. Now it's time to try someone else.

Posts : 199 Join date : 2009-09-20

Quote :: "I think I can be a bigger part of this team," said Sheppard, 21.

I should hope so.

Posts : 138 Join date : 2009-09-22

'94-95 NJ Devils 136 GF. Tied for 12th w/ Caps, Oil and Stars.

I hope Shep can step it up. Kind of ironic that one of Lemaire's strengths as a coach was great teaching ability, but the last couple of seasons here he seemed to have communication issues with his players. Not just Shep either. And I think in teaching, the importance of good communication is second only to subject matter knowledge. If not more.

Posts : 59 Join date : 2009-09-23

Awesome job by Shep tonight, great job in the circle, gets a goal too.

Posts : 51 Join date : 2009-09-24

I think Sheppard will have a breakout year this season.

Subject: Re: Sheppard embracing Wild changes Sat Sep 26, 2009 4:01 am

We need him to, along with Pouls... Hope you're right!

Subject: Re: Sheppard embracing Wild changes Sat Sep 26, 2009 4:07 am

Sounds good.

Subject: Re: Sheppard embracing Wild changes Sat Sep 26, 2009 2:27 pm

Jarick wrote:: How did the Devils rank in 95-96 when they missed the playoffs the next year?

It's all about utilizing talent the best way that you can. Lemaire maximized the talent on the 2003 team but couldn't get anything out of them the last few years. Now it's time to try someone else.

Another thing to consider about the '95-'95 Devils team is that they played a strike-shortened season that year. I'm not sure if that helped or hindered the Devils that year, but it IS interested that they failed to even make the playoffs the season after. I guess it's just something to think about...

Subject: Re: Sheppard embracing Wild changes Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:46 pm

Yeah, and the year after that they made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs... So?

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