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Originally Posted by moon
I think the "meritocracy" BS was a great buzzword and along with a ton of other words and phrases just talk with little to no actually meaning but 5 games does seem fairly early to worry about meritocracy and I would hope that they give some of the vets some time to show what they can do rather than can them on a game by game basis.
I think the real frustration may have come from Feaster and co. acting like the previous regimes had done something wrong and they were going to do something different from what the 29 other teams do. When in reality the previous regime was just fine in terms of meritocracy and when you don't have a ton of talent it is hard to "promote" guys up the ranks quickly and give them a ton more ice time.
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Before Davidson hired Hitchcock, he asked the leadership (Backes, Jackman, McDonald) if the team was ready to buy in completely to a tough, winning coach. They said yes, and Davidson went ahead with the hire. That gave Hitchcock the authority in the dressing room to bench anyone, or move anyone to the fourth line if they didn't commit to total team defence. T.J. Oshie shows up late for practice? Enjoy the next game from the press box. Perron doesn't back check? Welcome to the fourth line.
The Flames haven't shown that kind of coaching buy-in for years. Flames veterans regard defensive assignments as optional suggestions. And the elephant in the room is that in the Flames organization, the coach is going to lose any fight with Iginla.